-
Posted by: Viki ZabalaMarch 13, 2013
Since we announced that Fiksu officially supports Facebook mobile app installs, we've been dying to put the new integration to the test and see how this new channel performs relative to other ad networks. We've gotten results from a few different client apps so far, and wanted to share some of them.
- Click through rates are twice as high as what we see when testing on typical networks
- Conversion rates are significantly higher than many other sources
- Loyalty and user retention are higher than a typical network
- CPI ranges are highly variable, but for the apps we've tested are within a reasonable range relative to costs seen on other networks
We should say clearly that these are preliminary results and can’t be guaranteed for every app. We're just beginning the in-depth optimization that really makes a Fiksu campaign work, so we expect to improve on the results we're seeing so far. Overall we're confident that for many apps, Facebook is going to become an important component of a comprehensive marketing plan.
Go get your likes
One audience segment that predictably works well is people who already 'like' you. By targeting a campaign at users who had already connected with their brand on Facebook, one of our clients was able to see a CPI that was less than half of their next-best-performing segment - and a third of their typical CPI on traditional ad networks.
While it's not surprising that users who've already made a connection to your brand are easier to win over, it's an important audience for you to go after. Big brands are learning that they can't just assume that a customer on their mailing list will like them on Facebook, or that a Facebook fan will download their app. There's an element of winning the customer over on each of these channels. So, it's good news that it's cheaper than other venues - because it's the first place you should start building your app user base.
Want more tips?
We're holding a free webinar this Thursday titled App Marketing on Facebook: Using Social Media to Drive Mobile App Installs. We'll have more examples from our clients, best practices for app marketing on Facebook, and some suggested strategies. Sign up here.
-
Posted by: Viki ZabalaFebruary 4, 2013
Last week, Facebook crossed a significant threshold, announcing for the first time, it has now more mobile users than desktop users: 680 million daily mobile active users, to be precise. For app marketers, Facebook presents a massive opportunity, but reaching out to and acquiring volumes of loyal users has always been an expensive and complex challenge and one that Facebook itself has wrestled with.
Today this changes.
Today we are thrilled to announce the integration of the Fiksu Mobile App Marketing Platform with Facebook to support optimization for Facebook mobile app installs. With this integration, Fiksu becomes one of the first mobile advertising platforms to combine centralized media purchasing and world-class optimization with the expansive audience that Facebook delivers.
Through this integration, mobile app marketers can now make precise media buys that tap into Facebook’s massive audience, providing an extremely efficient new channel to acquire large volumes of new, dependable loyal users. What’s more, they get to blend their social media and mobile app user acquisition programs into one cohesive program, a longtime desire for many app marketers.
You can read more about today’s announcement in our press release here and also on the pages of TechCrunch, TheNextWeb, AppNewser, Mobile Marketing Watch, Mobile Marketing Magazine and AllFacebook.
If you’re a mobile app marketer looking to understand the changing landscape for app promotion across social media platforms, we’ll be hosting a webinar Thursday, March 14, at noon ET: “How to most effectively use social media to generate mobile app installs and loyal users.” Be sure to join us for this interesting and informative discussion.
-
Posted by: Viki ZabalaFebruary 4, 2013
- Facebook reports that mobile use exceeded PC use for the first time ever in Q4 2012.
- In just five short months since its release, Apple’s iOS 6 is now powering a whopping 300 million devices around the world.
- As the app store giants continue to jostle for first place, Apple's App Store hits record revenue numbers while Google Play boasts faster growth.
- During Q4 2012, Apple sold more smartphones than any other seller in the U.S. market, a first for the company.
During its Q4 earnings report last week, Facebook announced that, for the first time, it has more mobile users than desktop users and also hinted at plans for improving mobile ad targeting and relevance, critical to building its mobile ad revenues. In fact, Fiksu is a part of those plans, as we announced a new integration with Facebook this morning. (More details coming later today.) Mobile ads accounted for 23 percent of Facebook's revenue during the 2012 holiday season, and of its 680 million mobile monthly users, 157 million now interact with the service exclusively on mobile devices, reports Ad Age.
On Monday, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, announced, “iOS 6 is the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, with nearly 300 million iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices on iOS 6 in just five months, it may be the most popular new version of an OS in history.” This is certainly motivation for mobile developers and marketers to take advantage of Apple’s latest innovations, reports Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web.
While Apple’s App Store grew by one-fifth from Q3 to Q4 in 2012, Google Play saw its revenue double, according to a recent report from App Annie. “Google Play owed this boost to Japan, the U.S. and South Korea, which respectively led the growth, and contributed nearly half of the store's app revenue in the fourth quarter of last year,” reported Anita Li in Mashable. The report also noted that the majority of app revenue from these countries came specifically from gaming apps.
For the first time ever, the iPhone was the most popular phone in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2012, reportsGigaOm’s Erica Ogg. The company sold 17.7 million smartphones during the quarter, just barely edging out Samsung, which sold 16.8 million phones, according to Strategy Analytics’ new Wireless Device Strategy report. In total, 52 million phones were sold in the U.S. between October and December 2012, and Apple and Samsung dominated the competition, selling two out of every three phones.
Image courtesy TechCrunch.
Tags: App store, Apple, Facebook, Google Play, iOS 6, Mashable, Ad Age, The Next Web, GigaOm, Strategy Analytics -
Posted by: Viki ZabalaJanuary 28, 2013
- Apple reported record revenue numbers this week, along with record iPhone and iPad sales.
- As if the App Store isn’t packed enough, 2013 will bring an estimated 435,000 new apps to iOS users – further aggravating discovery challenges for app marketers.
- Across iOS, Android, and RIM, Facebook is the No. 1 app in the U.S., with nearly 86 million unique visitors per month.
- Experts believe 2013 could be a year of explosive tablet growth, as global tablet shipments are expected to reach 145 million. What does this growth mean for mobile marketers?
This week, Apple reported its first quarter earnings, revealing the company sold a record 47.8 million iPhones, 22.9 million iPads, 4.1 million Macs and 12.7 million iPods. In total, some 75 million iOS devices were sold during the quarter. “We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.” AllThingsD has more here.
A recent year-end adeven report forecasts that the Apple App Store will boost its inventory this year. More than 435,000 new apps are expected to launch in the already jam-packed App Store, creating more user acquisition headaches for app developers and marketers. “Growth in terms of App Store size will continue to increase steadily as it has during the past few years, but it also points to a steady climb in the number of apps that fall into its ‘zombie’ category, which accounted for 60 percent of apps in June, but climbed to 64 percent in its most recent tally,” reports Darrell Etherington in TechCrunch. Zombie apps are those that aren't ranked and so have very little chance of being discovered by users.
While the competition is fierce, Facebook sits atop the crowd as the most popular app brand in the U.S., according to comScore. In 2012, the Facebook app enjoyed 85.5 million monthly unique users across iOS, Android and RIM platforms. Of note, Facebook not only has the largest number of users, but also the highest level of engagement. And while Facebook sits at number one, Google apps (including maps, search, and YouTube) occupy slots 2 through 6. Seth Fiegerman of Mashable has more.
New research from ABI Research suggests that 2013 could see dramatic growth in tablet sales. A projected 145 million tablet shipments are set to hit the shelves across the globe this year, meeting the demands of tablet-crazed consumers, reports Mobile Entertainment’s Daniel Gumble. This boost also produces a huge opportunity for marketers. “The concept of mobile advertising started with smartphones but tablets are changing everything, rapidly establishing themselves as universal media players (TV programs, movies, radio, news, magazines) in a way never achieved through ‘personal’ computers,” said Magna EVP and Director of Global Forecasting Vincent Letang to MediaPost.
Tags: App store, Apple, Facebook, Android, iOS, iPad, iPhone, tablets, ABI Research, comScore, TechCrunch, MediaPost, Tim Cook, RIM, AllThingsD, Mobile Entertainment -
Posted by: Viki ZabalaJanuary 18, 2013
- A new report shows mobile advertising prices rose dramatically in the fourth quarter of 2012, underscoring the role of mobile as a key marketing strategy during the recent holiday season.
- After much industry speculation, Facebook debuted its beta Graph Search, a social search engine powered by Microsoft Bing.
- Check out seven ways mobile apps are driving revenue for major brands this year.
A new report from MoPub reveals a surge in mobile ad prices for the past quarter, up 50 percent since last year. “Advertisers really looked to mobile during the holidays, which validates the channel and the overall marketing trend,” said Elain Szu, MoPub director of product marketing, to Samantha Murphy of Mashable. The largest spike in effective cost per thousand impressions (eCPMs) was tracked on iOS, with 66 percent higher prices than the beginning of Q4. Apple’s larger screens also proved more valuable, as iPad overtook iPhone as the most popular device among advertising sources.
On Tuesday, Facebook shared its big announcement about its newest addition called Graph Search, according to The Verge. Intended to round out Facebook’s other pillars of information, such as News Feed and Timeline, the beta social search engine is integrated with Microsoft Bing as part of an ongoing competition with Google. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg highlighted four use cases in the search launch – people, photos, places and interests – demonstrating the search feature through items, such as “My college friends from San Francisco” and “Friends who like Star Wars and Harry Potter.” According to Zuckerberg, “This is a new way for people to see information.” The Graph Search is far from complete, but mobile implementation is on the horizon, Tomio Geron of Forbes reports.
Today’s consumers rely on mobile devices loaded with apps that make everyday life more fun, memorable, and productive, and smartphones have opened a whole new world of opportunities for brand marketers. Mashable’s Ryan Matzner explores seven ways mobile apps are driving revenue for businesses.
-
Posted by: Viki ZabalaJanuary 11, 2013
- The Apple App Store hits a new record – 40 billion downloads!
- Recent reports indicate that Apple’s iOS tops 50 percent of U.S. smartphone sales, up nearly 36 percent from last year, achieving the highest percentage of sales in the American market to date.
- Expect to see many more tablets in the workplace this year as the BYOD (bring your own device) trend adds more personal tabets to the business environment and companies seek to purchase these devices over computers.
- Mobile ad spending will increase 400 percent in the next four years, reaching a staggering $37 billion in 2016.
This week, Apple announced that consumers have downloaded more than 40 billion apps – with nearly 20 billion in 2012 alone. Today, the App Store has more than 500 million active accounts and had a record-breaking December with more than 2 billion downloads during the month. Apple’s developer community has created 775,000+ apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users worldwide. Also, developers have made $7 billion in revenue since the App Store launched in 2008. Tom Cheredar of VentureBeat has the details.
Data released by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech signals a milestone for iOS, as Apple’s operating system powered 53.3 percent of all smartphones sold in the U.S. from November 2011 to November 2012. Among U.S. iPhone sales, 34 percent of consumers upgraded from an earlier iPhone, and 40 percent acquired their first smartphone. The growth of iOS translated into market share declines for Android, down nearly 11 percent from last year, writes Jason Ankeny of FierceMobileContent.
Analysts from Piper Jaffray and Forrester predict greater adoption of tablets – especially the iPad – for businesses in 2013, reports Lance Whitney of CNET. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reveals recent survey results of CIOs, where 57 percent of them indicate plans to deploy tablets this year, compared with 46 percent last year. Additionally, corporate users utilizing their own tablets in the workplace are increasingly relying on apps to help manage their busy lives and day-to-day tasks, such as finding a taxi or hotel, following current events, or making payments.
Estimates from eMarketer indicate mobile ad spending will experience 400 percent growth during the next four years. These estimates incorporate display and search advertising and exclude message-based formats (such as SMS, MMS, and P2P). The major beneficiaries would include Google and Facebook, with gains by Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo!, writes Chuck Jones of Forbes. North America leads globally, with the average ad dollar spend per mobile user expected to reach $46 in 2016. eMarketer’s estimates include analysis of various elements, such as macro-level economic conditions, historical advertising trends, estimates from other research firms, and mobile usage trends.
-
Posted by: Viki ZabalaJuly 29, 2011
Mobile apps, once just nice-to-have accessories for your smartphone, have become an important, dare we say essential, part of everyday life. In fact, we learned this week that Apple’s apps are selling nine times faster than America’s favorite menu item - McDonald’s hamburgers! We’ll check this out, and also explore Facebook’s future mobile plans, in this week’s Fiksu Feed.
There is no end in sight to the explosive growth and success of the mobile app space, according to FierceMobileContent. In addition to showcasing his favorite apps for July 2011, writer Jason Ankeny reported on findings from a recent MTV Networks survey indicating that 83 percent of mobile app users claim to be "addicted" to their apps. One consumer respondent even went as far as saying, "Apps are like Xanax in a phone." While that might be pushing it a bit too far, we are confident that apps will continue to delight and entertain smartphone users for years to come - and research firm IDC agrees, forecasting that mobile app downloads will rise from 10.7 billion in 2010 to 182.7 billion in 2015.
In an interesting ZDNet piece, Andy Lai compares the rapid growth of Apple’s apps – reaching 15 billion downloads in three years – to that of McDonald’s best-selling hamburgers. Turns out that it took the fast-food megabrand nearly 26 years to reach 15 billion hamburgers sold! Lai infers that Apple could reach the 100 billion mark within five and a half years – or roughly nine times faster than McDonald’s. We may love hamburgers, but it looks like we love apps even more.
Further validating consumers’ insatiable "app addictions" is a new In-Stat report predicting that smartphone users will download more than 45 billion apps by 2015. Additionally, smartphone use will continue to climb, and will account for almost half of total phone shipments in the year 2015. According to the report, "The market for mobile applications, although well developed, continues to transition as consumer perceptions of applications shift. Players within the market continue to grapple with dilemmas regarding sustainable business models, an over-crowded marketplace and an increasingly sophisticated consumer base." For more, check out Computerworld’s Matt Hamblen’s take on the research findings here.
In other news, Bloomberg reported that Facebook may let developers sell virtual goods within mobile Web browsers in the near future. This would allow developers to use Credits – Facebook’s currency – on mobile applications. Though the Facebook app is one of the most popular apps in the app stores today, Facebook currently makes no revenue from this. However, with the addition of this virtual goods market, Facebook could receive up to 30 percent of revenue from virtual good sales. We’ll continue to follow Facebook’s rumored mobile plans – it will be interesting to see how things shake out.
-
Posted by: Viki ZabalaJuly 1, 2011
New industry research this week validates our own predictions here at Fiksu that mobile app downloads have officially taken off and will continue to soar in the next few years. Today, both Apple and Google are each enjoying one billion app downloads per month, and it's only going to skyrocket from here. We highlight these new findings from both IDC and Canalys, as well as other important industry buzz including Facebook's rumored plans to become a mobile app platform, in this week's Fiksu Feed.
In a new report, IDC forecasts that people will download more than 182 billion mobile apps by 2015. That is a huge surge from the 10.7 billion apps downloaded in 2010, according to analyst Scott Ellison, the author of the report. But according to Ellison, more interesting than the sheer volume of app downloads will be the way that app developers monetize the apps in the future. He predicts that the current shift toward monetizing through in-app purchases will require app developers to think differently about how their business models must, by definition, engage users, both within the app itself and over time. For more details, check out PC World's take here.
On Wednesday, Canalys also announced predictions that app store direct revenue from the sale of apps, in-app purchases and subscriptions across smartphones and tablets combined will hit $14.1 billion next year, up 92 percent from an expected $7.3 billion in 2011, and will reach $36.7 billion by 2015. According to the analyst firm, this projected revenue growth presents an opportunity for mobile network operators (MNOs) to compete with vendor app stores. It'll be interesting to watch how these predictions play out.
In other news, details have emerged recently about Facebook's rumored designs to become a mobile app platform. It is said to be building an HTML5-based platform that will allow the company to provide an app-like experience that runs entirely over the Web within a mobile browser. Liz Gannes at AllThingsD wrote an interesting piece on how Facebook could potentially help mobile app developers with two of their biggest challenges – discovery and retention. But her ultimate take is, when it comes down to it, Facebook's "imagined or real designs" aren't incredibly realistic and instead, the company should focus on what it does best – connecting people.
To wrap things up, here's a reminder of how quickly the tech industry moves – Apple's iPhone turned four years old this week! The iPhone sparked a revolution in the cell phone industry. Now flat, touch-screen slabs are the standard for smartphones worldwide. Similarly, the Apple App Store has transformed smartphone software from an extra, nice-to-have feature to the foundation of any mobile platform. Even as rumors of the next iPhone continue to spread across enthusiast sites, gadget blogs and more, the iPhone 4 continues to be highly imitated and respected as an engineering marvel.
Follow Us
