DESKTOP VS. MOBILE
ADVERTISING ON FACEBOOK
Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Key Insights
Mobile advertising is growing at an unprecedented rate as people are abandoning the desktop
Mobile ads were launched on Facebook in 2012 and currently account for 84% of Facebook's
version of Facebook in favor of accessing the site by smartphones. Facebook’s recent Q2 2016
total advertising revenue1
earnings announcement noted that mobile ads currently account for 81% of the organization’s revenue. Mobile-forward thinking is paramount. In this guide, we discuss recent changes in
Of the 1.71 billion Facebook monthly active users, 92% of them (1.57 million) are mobile users
the advertising landscape, and compare desktop and mobile advantages. Mobile active daily users number 1.03 billion on average, an increase of 22% year-over-year Mobile monthly active users increased 20% year-over-year
1
According to Facebook Reports Second Quarter 2016 Results
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Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Introduction Cross device conversions over time
Since going public in 2012, Facebook has developed a robust mobile advertising platform. Mobile ads have played a key role in Facebook’s Q2 2016 results beating
Mobile Ad Revenue
03
Desktop Ad Revenue
6000
projections for both earnings and revenue, with mobile advertising accounting for 84% of Facebook’s advertising revenue and 81% of total revenue.
5000
of Facebook’s revenue growth in each of the eleven previous quarters, while desktop
Revenue (in millions of dollars)
Mobile ads have grown explosively for Facebook, contributing to more than 90% 4000
ads and payments have stayed flat.
3000
Facebook’s mobile advertising services have been widely successful especially since the platform receives 1.03 billion daily mobile users on average. The development
2000
and speed with which mobile ads have become the largest source of revenue for the company is astounding. This is precisely why mobile-forward thinking is critical 1000
in today’s rapidly changing environment on social media. Mobile commerce is thriving as consumers are increasingly on their smartphones.
0
What are the advantages and disadvantages for businesses that wish to excel with
Q4 2013
Q1 2014
Q2 2014
Q3 2014
Q4 2014
Q1 2015
social ads in the competition between desktop vs. mobile? Source: Facebook
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Q2 2015
Q3 2015
Q4 2015
Q1 2016
Q2 2016
Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Desktop and mobile strengths Desktop Advertising
Mobile Advertising
Ideal if you need the user’s undivided attention
Great for media companies that engage their audience within a quick glance
Better for longer or rich content (videos, HTML5, Flash etc.)
Ideal for links with microsites and landing pages
In B2B ideal for lead-generation that requires filling out the forms on the landing page
Helpful for a clear Call-To-Action (CTA) that can grab attention on any screen size
Driving website traffic and conversions
Driving website traffic and conversions
Use Custom Audiences and target the people that have already visited your website, e-mail subscribers,
One common mistake brands make is neglecting to optimize campaign images for mobile displays,
and your contacts through their customer journey:
leading to cut-off and unwieldy graphics. Make sure your campaign visuals are mobile-friendly.
Target leads, prospects, and clients with relevant messaging
It’s also essential to have a responsive website and landing page if you go mobile. Forms that need to be filled should be easily clickable on any screen size or ideally prefilled by offering users a social log-in via Facebook, Twitter or other profiles.
People have a longer attention span than on mobiles, so it’s important to test a lot of images Use Lookalike2 audiences to target the message to similar recipients Target your Fans - they are cheaper and have a nearly 3x better Click Through Rate (CTR)
2
Lookalike audiences in Facebook gathers a similar target audience to help you target people who are similar to your current customers for Fan acquisition, site registration, off-Facebook purchases, coupon claims and brand awareness.
Facebook analyzes your Custom Audience list and creates a new segment that is optimized based on either similarity or reach.
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Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Raising Brand Awareness Desktop
05
Mobile
Identify the best-performing organic posts (by high reach and engagement) in real-time, and promote
Publish videos natively (they have better reach and engagement than videos leading outside
them quickly to maximize your reach
the platform e.g. posting a YouTube video to Facebook)
Promote posts that are strategically important such as those featuring your latest campaign or product
Videos render better on mobile devices than on desktops
If video content is being used, have a clear CTA at the end to direct users to the desired place
Ensure that the video does not require a lot of data Use location-based targeting whenever relevant
Desktop vs. Mobile
Cross device conversions over time
Since mobile is very often the first source of contact with Facebook for a lot of users during the day, mobile
70%
ads can help to support a campaign designed for desktop ads.
60%
Mobile Click
66%
67%
67%
50%
Raise awareness with light messaging on mobile
32%
40%
22%
30%
Continue desktop ads for final conversion
20%
11%
10%
According to an analysis of Facebook ad performance in the United States, of the people who showed interest
0%
in Facebook mobile Ads, more than 32% converted on desktop within 28 days3.
1 day prior
7 days prior
Source: Facebook internal data, US, measured May 15, 2014 - JuLy 25, 2014, reported August 2014 3
Facebook for Business
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28 days prior
Mobile View
Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Post and promote videos natively Native videos get more reach than any other type of post - that’s why it pays off to promote them
Average Organic Reach
While videos are relatively more promoted than photos – 27% of all videos are promoted, compared to 17% of photos – there are so many more photos than videos that the new format is still far more effective at reaching audiences⁴.
6%
4%
Because Facebook videos auto-play silently, it’s essential to make them visually appealing right from the start
4%
3% 2%
Try including a dialogue right at the beginning of a video. If people want to hear what’s being said, they’ll click for sound – and video churn rates show that viewers who make it past the first 5% of a video will likely stay engaged to watch until the end
2%
2%
Photo
Status
1% 0%
Make your native videos as shareable as possible - the objective is to make your content worth sharing (when someone shares your post it reflects the highest form of brand endorsement) thus helping to increase brand awareness
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5%
5%
Link
Date Range: April - JuLy 2016 Note: The sample consisted of 4.705 company pages and more than 300.000 posts
Native Advertising and Organic Reach
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Video
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Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Driving online sales Desktop
Mobile
Remarket the visitors of the website or visitors that did not complete a purchase
Responsive design is essential
Desktop is more suitable, as it ensures users are more likely to catch the ad in their feeds since it occupies more space
Creating a mobile app can be beneficial; get customer feedback to see whether they’d prefer the app Use mobile advertising IDs - Android, Apple, Facebook App
Target your fanbase, provide special deals and not only discounts
Connect it with your your offline activities by targeting the users that are nearby your shop
Pay attention to the frequency of retargeting to minimize the times a person sees the same ad
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Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Stimulate local in-store sales Desktop
08
Mobile
Target your fans, website audience and newsletter audience, cross-testing effectiveness across multiple ad sets
Target ads to people close to your location and offer them something extra for additional value Use the Offer ad format to provide one-time-one-time-only deals that will be shown to those near your stores
Improve performance with carousel ads. Carousel link ads drive 30 - 50% lower cost-per-conversion and 20 - 30% lower cost-per-click than single-image link ads5.
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Facebook for Business Carousel Ad Performance Image: Facebook for Business
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Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Get new installs for your app Desktop
Mobile
Is your app available on Facebook? Use desktop ads to drive valuable traffic Use bright and catchy images to grab attention
Use mobile targeting and leverage Audience Network⁶ targeting, which posts your ad in other 3rd party apps, to reach the broadest audience beyond Facebook. Ads in the Audience Network use the same imagery you use for your Facebook Ads, so there’s no need for new creative.
Videos are great - learn how to succeed here
Segment your audience and test many different ads
Make the ad relevant to the interests of those being targeted e.g. a fitness app for fitness buffs
Cross-test the video auto-play and click-to-play formats Use the carousel format
Incentivize users to install the app by promoting a special offer e.g. if 1 order is made through the app, the user will receive a 50% discount
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Facebook for Business and the Audience Network
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09
010
Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook
Gain more Likes for your Pages Desktop
Desktop
People have a longer attention span than on mobiles, so it’s important to test a lot of images
Be sure to target your Fans Use a newsletter tab for your Page (don’t worry - this can be done almost pain-free with tools like TabFoundry)
Mobile
Do not send users away from Facebook to complete the newsletter subscription by redirecting them to another website - use a Facebook native-app on your Page to capture emails for subscriptions
Use extremely clear images - faces work great!
Target Lookalike audiences of your Fans and your newsletter subscribers
Keep texts short and catchy Performs well for younger age groups
Mobile This is difficult to achieve, and so it requires the landing page to be responsive and ideally prefilled The good news is that, that Facebook is now testing new lead gen forms that should simplify the process for mobile⁷.
Facebook is testing lead ads⁸ to make the mobile signup process easier by automatically inserting contact information from their Facebook Profile - in the form of an email address, name, and surname.
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Facebook for Business
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Facebook for Business Mobile Sign-up Process
Mobile Sign-up Process
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