Digital Ads in Mobile Apps

Consumers today are spending more time looking at their smartphones than any other screen, including TV’s and desktops. In fact, research shows the average American adult spends three hours and 35 minutes per day on their mobile device. Considering app usage accounts for more than 90 percent of this time, modern marketers recognize the opportunity that smartphones and application platforms create for brands. Here we’re taking a look at some of the leading ways brands are advertising on apps and how they’re doing it.

Socialize

Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter all hold a spot among the most downloaded apps world wide. What each of these apps happen to have in common, is that they’re all social platforms. This suggests that if brands are going to advertise via apps, social media and communication platforms are ideally the way to go. Additionally, because these social platforms all offer a slightly different interface, it’s perfectly acceptable to run the same campaign, with similar content, across each platform. And, for those brands already running social media influencer campaigns or other more grassroots marketing, integrating ads within these campaigns is simple.

Instagram

With Instagram for Business, advertisements are seamlessly incorporated into your target audience’s feed. Depending on your preferences and ad style, Instagram offers an array of options for presenting ads including: Story ads, Photo ads, Video ads, Carousel ads and Collection ads.

Facebook

Facebook for Business is essential for brands interested in creating any sort of presence on the platform. Aside from the ability to create a business account page, Facebook allows for six different variations of advertisements. Just follow a simple process of deciding the objective, target audience, format and budget of an ad, and you’re set to go. 

Snapchat

Advertising on Snapchat is still fairly new but showing excellent results thus far. Utilizing Snapchat Ads Manager, brands can create ads customized to their ideal target audience, both geographically and demographically. Snapchat offers a range of options to build and supplement your add in order to be the most impactful towards viewers. Branded geofilters are a great example, allowing companies to engage audiences in their personal snapchats.

Twitter

Twitter advertising comes in a variety of ‘promoted’ formats. Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts and Promoted Trends all enable brands to interact with followers in a natural way. Additional benefits of this sort of advertising include the fact that you can increase add visibility by creating ads that encourage people to like and Retweet. The more people who share Promoted tweets with their audience, the more visibility brands gain. 

Target

Promoting ads in the wrong place is a waste of time and money. Advertising on apps however grants marketers the ability to more accurately target customers wherever they are. Thanks to these apps’ ability to collect exact demographic and geo-location data of users, it’s easier to reach target audiences at the right time and in the right place. Hyper-targeted ad placements contribute to more valuable ad campaigns, ultimately producing the results brands want. 

Taking it a step further, if the creators of an ad campaign want to specify what types of devices their target audience is using, there are options to target consumers directly based on mobile users, tablet users and the specific brands or models.

Attract

One thing that’s important to keep in mind about in-app advertising is that whatever your ad may be, it’s going to need to compete with whatever app brought the audience to it in the first place. Quality graphics, unique content and a clear Call-to-Action are essential. 

Depending on your specific platform and audience preferences, there are a number of different ad stylings to choose from.

Banner Ads

Tried and true banner ads are the original mobile ad format. Typically embedded within a webpage, users deploy these in hopes of visitors clicking on it at the top or bottom of an app page.  

Native Ads

Designed to blend in with the content around it, as a part of the app rather than an added advertisement. When done well, these ads can attract viewers just as much as the app content they sought out in the first place. In fact, studies have shown that users spend just about the same amount of time watching native ads as they do the original editorial content.

Interstitial Ads

Ideal for apps that present users with a transition point, interstitial ads take up the entire screen. While they do tend to have a higher click-through rate, these types of ads do always make an impression because of their size. A key to making a positive impact with this sort of ad is to only display the ad after a user has completed a task, never in the middle.

Video ads

A simple yet creative video ad is excellent for captivating users attention. By making the video non-skippable, brands have a great chance of locking viewers in. This ad type provides marketers with a lot of creative flexibility and an opportunity to really showcase their brand message.As apps continue to advance and develop we’re sure to see new ways to incorporate effective ad campaigns. Have any recommended tips or tricks we missed? Let us know in the comments!