App Install Campaigns on Instagram [An In-Depth Tutorial]

If you have an app, you need to advertise it online in order to keep it alive (or to give it any life at all).

If you want to learn how to run app install campaigns on Instagram, stick around, because we will show you everything you need to know in this post.

Today, we’re excited to introduce you to the world of app install campaigns on Instagram. 

We’ll show you some in-depth setup tutorials later, so stick around for those. Let’s get started with the basics. 

What Is An App Install Ad Campaign? 

An app install ad campaign is a campaign you run to promote your app. If you have an app at all, you should be running app ad campaigns. 

You can use app ads to: 

• Find new users (these are app install campaigns).
• Re-engage existing users (encourage them to take a specific action). These are app engagement campaigns.
• Enable users to sample your app.

In order to get the most out of your app ads, you’ll want to register your app.

We’ll go over the steps for doing that briefly, but it is more advanced.

If you have an in-house, freelance, or Instagram advertising agency to help with your ads, then let them handle this part.

1. You should first register your app. In the App Dashboard, be sure to set the platform for your mobile app.
2. Select your Business Manager (Settings > Advanced > Business Manager).
3. Provide your ad accounts (Settings > Advanced > Advertising Accounts).
4. Check availability and make sure your application is publicly available in the correct app store.
5. Then in the App Dashboard, under App Review > Make new app public?, select Yes.
6. Verify your app setup.

Types Of Ads You Can Run For Your App

Each ad type will have different objectives available.

We’ll go over each, as well as include instructions for setup and any best practices or things you need to be aware of. 

1. Automated app ads
2. App install ads
3. App engagement ads

Now if you’re a small business that has its own app, then don’t forget to also read our post on Instagram for small businesses.

How to Set-up Your App Ad Campaign in Facebook Ads Manager

1. Go to Ads Manager.

2. Choose the ad account associated with your app.
3. Click +Create in the top left.
4. Choose the app installs objective.
5. Choose the App Ads option if you wish to create standard app ads.

We’ll show you how to set up the automated app ads next, so keep reading for that.

Click Continue.

6. There’s a new option for Create iOS14 Campaign that you should select if you want to run ads to Apple users. Toggle that on.
7. In the App section, choose the app you want to promote.

Note that if your app is not linked to your ad account, your ad will optimize for link clicks rather than app installs.

You will not be able to optimize for any app events without first linking your app to your ad account.

8. We recommend you toggle on both the A/B test and campaign budget optimization options, then set your budget. Now click Next.

If you want to know more about the Instagram ad cost per click, then we also have another post for that. 

9. If you want to use dynamic creative (we recommend it), toggle that on here. Choose your budget, audience, and placements.
10. In the Optimization & Delivery section, choose your optimization goal.
    

Choose App Installs to optimize for people most likely to download your app.

Or, App Events to optimize for people who are most likely to take a specific action within your app.

For instance, making a purchase or completing a level in a game.

After that, click Next.

11. In the Identity section, select your Facebook Page and attach your Instagram account, if applicable.
12. In the Ad Setup section, select Single Image, Video, or Carousel.
13. In the Ad Creative section, choose the image(s) or video(s) that you would like to use for your ad.
14. Add the headline, description, and other text to include in your ad. Include the call-to-action button that is most relevant to your app ad.
15. Complete the rest of your ad by adding information in the Languages and Tracking section, if applicable.
16. When you’re done, click Publish to publish your app ad.

If you want to see the full video walkthrough for the steps above, then watch the video at the top of this post.

You can also create an app ad using the Traffic or Conversions objectives and entering your App ID in the Traffic or Conversion section, respectively.

These ad objectives cannot run automated app ads. Speaking of which, let’s look at how to set up automated app ads. 

Automated App Ads Or Dynamic Ads

These ads are all about achieving the highest performance with the least effort on your part.

They use machine learning to create the best combination of creatives to show the right person, in the right place, at the right time. 

Benefits of Using Automated App Ads 

• Automatic Placements

These built-in options show your ad to people in as many places as possible on Instagram (and if you choose on Facebook, Audience Network, and Messenger).

Facebook finds the right place to show your ad to the right person, at the right time. 

• Ad Creative Optimization

You can upload up to 50 unique images or videos, up to 5 primary text options, and 5 headline options.

And then, Facebook will show the best combination that’s most likely to get each user to click.

You don’t even have to create 50 images or graphics. If you have a product catalog, you can choose from that for some or all of your 50 images. 

• Campaign Creation Simplified

There are fewer inputs – only one ad set and one ad per campaign – so it’s not as formidable for beginners. 

• Audience Options

You choose a combination of country, language, and app store to show your ads to.

To help make sure your ads don’t compete against each other, you’re limited to one campaign per:

• country,
• language, and
• optimization goal

…for each of your promoted apps.

Some regular advertising features may not be available to you while you run app install campaigns on Instagram…

…like targeting by age, gender, and other demographics.

By the way, if you’re wondering how do Instagram promotions work, then read this post next.

So now let’s set up an Automated App ad from the Ads Manager.

To Create Automated App Ads from Ads Manager:

1. You’ll follow the same steps we did above for app ads, all the way through choosing the app installs objective. 
2. Choose the Automated App Ads option and name your campaign, then click Continue.
3. Add your special ad category information, if applicable, then click Next.
4. In the App section, choose the app you want to promote.
5. In the Locations & Language section, define the information for who you want to see your ads. Note the following:

• • You can only run one campaign and ad set at a time for targeting combinations, like with manual ads. 
  • Age targeting will default to 13+ or your minimum store age. 
  • The same 90-day exclusion window applies as with manual ads.
  • Unlike manual App Install ads, Automated App ads appear on all placements with no ability to manually remove specific placements.

6. In the Optimization Controls section, define the goal for your ad and how you’d like to spend your budget.

Automated App ads have four options for optimization goals – app installs, app installs with app events, app events, value optimization.

7. Choose your budget and schedule and click Next.
8. In the Identity section, select your Facebook Page and attach your Instagram account, if applicable.
9. In the Ad Creative section, you can add individual images or videos or choose to select media from a product set in your catalog.

Upload the maximum number of images and videos for best performance.

10. Check out possible variations of your ad here.
11. Click Publish to publish your Automated App ads.

Again, if you want to see the full video tutorial for these steps, watch the video at the top of this post.

Use The Facebook App Ads Helper 

Before you can run ads you need to make sure that your app has been properly registered on Facebook.

To do this, you’ll need to visit the Facebook App Ads Helper.

You’ll be able to check the status of your ads, check app events to ensure they’re functioning, and see if you have any app installs.

You can also verify that your app is registered with Facebook. 

If the App Ads Helper shows that your app is registered and available for use, you’re ready to start running app ads.

How To Optimize Your App Install Campaigns On Instagram

You’ll want to use Event optimization to set up your ads and find the ideal audience for your goal.

You’ll get more downloads this way and find people more likely to take whatever action you most desire. 

App Events

According to Facebook:

“App events are the actions people take while using your app and they can be used for ad targeting, optimization, and measurement solutions.”

In order to use App Event Optimization, make sure you’ve installed the Facebook SDK and app events on your app.

Facebook also recommends you set up App Events so you can understand who is engaging with your app and run app ads to the right audience. 

The standard app events you have available to you are: 

• Optimizing for installs
• Link click optimization
• App Event optimization
• You can also use the API to set up an event of your choosing.

You’ll want to choose the objective that most closely matches your business goals. 

Use app events for AEO to increase installs and in-app actions in one campaign. 

Facebook shared this example and we thought it was great, so we’re going to share it directly from their help documents. 

For example, say you want to run a campaign to get people to download a new gaming app…

…and you also want to make sure the people who downloaded the app will play the game.

In using AEO, you could optimize your ads for an app event such as Achieve Level.

This is so your ads would be shown to people who may be more likely to download your app and also achieve a new level within the game.

You could also optimize for in-app purchases using the Purchase app event in AEO.

Facebook also recommends adding deep linking, so let’s take a look at that.

Deep Linking

You want to use Deep Linking so that you can send the user exactly what they’re interested in.

This helps prevent people from dropping off while navigating between the ads and the content they want.

It’s a seamless transition and makes for a nice user experience. 

How to Add a Deep Link on Your App Install Campaigns on Instagram: 

These instructions are for your iOS ads. You can find instructions for your Android ads on Facebook for Developers.

We’re just going to briefly tell you what the steps are, for the sake of time, but you can find full instructions on Facebook for Developers.

1. Add Deep Linking settings.
2. Deferred Deep Linking (optional).
3. Verify Deep Link setup.
4. Add a Deferred Deep Link to your ad.

Best Practices On Running App Install Campaigns On Instagram

In order to run the most effective ads for the best price, you need to follow best practices.

Fortunately for us, Instagram wants you to be successful on the platform (so you keep advertising), so they share a bunch of great tips. 

Here’s what they suggest for setup and targeting: 

• Your target audience should include at least 100,000 people.
• Use Custom and Lookalike Audiences for better performing (less expensive) ads.
• Exclude folks who have already installed your app so you don’t annoy them.
• Use automated app ads and use campaign budget optimization.
• Make sure your audience doesn’t overlap, or you end up bidding against yourself and driving up the cost of your own ads.

Here’s what they suggest for developing compelling creatives: 

• Describe what your app does.
• Use visuals over text. Check out this post to see a tutorial on how to design Instagram ads.
• Show images or videos of your app on a device so people know what to expect while using it.
• Quantify value when possible (i.e. we have over 100,000 easy recipes for busy families).
• Use a strong CTA button to tell users what you want them to do after they click.
• Use the Carousel format to show more looks, features, or games. 
• Use dynamic ads featuring your catalog to provide personalized ads to users.

This example from Facebook follows the best practices for Mobile App Install campaigns.

Take a closer look at these and follow their example. 

Here are some app ad campaigns you should run:

• Run an app install ad any time you release new content into your app.

Target new folks with the cool new tools, and retarget current users to announce the additions. 

• Retarget folks based on activity.

Send incentives to users who haven’t used the app in a while (another free trial, a bonus pack of tools or toys, extra content just for them).

You can find more ideas for an Instagram giveaway in this post.

Retarget folks who haven’t made a purchase in your app in a while with incentives.

Some examples are a small discount or coupon code, to encourage their next purchase. 

• Build a Lookalike using your most active users.

Your most active users (or those who spend the most in the app) are your most valuable group.

You want to find more people like them, right? Use those people as a custom audience and build a Lookalike audience targeting them.

This is called a Value-Based Lookalike Audience. 

So there you have it! A complete guide on how to run App Install Campaigns on Instagram!

If you need more help with your Instagram ads, then contact us today to get started.

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