Author: Lian

How Traditional Brands Are Profiting Through mCommerce

Posted on by Lian

In today’s post, learn why mobile-centered advertising will be critical to retail profitability in the next few years. See how traditional brands like Bath & Body Works are profiting through mCommerce.

How Traditional Brands Are Profiting Through mCommerce

Bath & Body Works Bursts into Mobile

  • 44.2% of retail eCommerce sales in the US will be mobile by 2025
  • mCommerce retail sales increased 15.2% in 2021
  • Top 50 brand apps saw 13% more installs in Q2 2022 vs. 2021
  • Nike expects DTC to drive 60% of total revenue by 2025
  • DTC beauty and retail apps saw more daily engagement in August 2022 than previous record highs from December
  • Bath & Body Works drove record-breaking installs of their 5-year-old app this August based on data.ai research

By 2025, 44.2% of retail eCommerce sales in the US will be mobile, says Insider Intelligence. Digitally native direct-to-consumer (DTC) and eCommerce startups advertising on Instagram and TikTok have already mastered a mobile-first marketing approach and it pays off. 2021 retail mCommerce sales increased 15.2% from 2020 up to $359.32 billion. With two out of every five online shoppers making purchases through their smartphones and tablets, mobile-centered advertising will be critical to retail profitability within the next few years.

Social media platforms continue to test out native purchasing capabilities with varying degrees of success through “buy” and “shop” buttons that allow users to stay in-app. One-click payment options like Google Pay and Apple Pay streamline purchasing through mobile devices while also streamlining DTC offerings. While mobile-first GenZers hold massive spending power, mCommerce will increasingly attract consumers from other demographics as app usage grows and mobile payment capabilities evolve.

For example, as Nike moves away from traditional wholesale retailers like Macy’s, they expect their DTC arm to drive 60% of total revenue by 2025. According to data.ai, Nike’s iPhone app ranking hasn’t dipped below 13 for US shopping apps in the past year, usually sitting comfortably in the top five.

mCommerce D2C
Source: eMarketer

 

 

 

Traditional Brands Invest in Mobile DTC

In H1 2022, the top 50 brand apps saw 13% more installs in Q2 2022 compared to 2021 according to Sensor Tower. McDonald’s was the fastest growing brand app based on installs with three million more installs in H1 2022 compared to H1 2021. The fast-food giant spent $12.6 million on digital ads for its mobile app in July 2022, a 124% increase year-over-year.

mCommerce Apptopia
Source: Apptopia

 

Apptopia

An August report from Apptopia showed daily engagement in DTC beauty and retail apps saw more daily engagement in August 2022 than their record high from December 2021; DAU typically spikes in December. Notably, with the August launch of an app-based loyalty program, beauty retailer Bath & Body Works (known for its ubiquitous brick-and-mortar shopping mall presence) achieved 1.2 million new installs of their app.

mCommerce App Store Rankings
Source: App Store Rankings

 

 

 

Beauty Retailer Bath & Body Works Bursts Into Mobile

The Bath & Body Works app leverages a customer-first loyalty program aimed at the mobile consumer. Diving into app metrics through data.ai, ads for the updated Bath & Body Works iPhone app claimed a 1.24% share of all impressions across Instagram between August 28 and September 3, 2022. The app appears to have been advertised only on Facebook and Instagram within the United States during this time.

Bath & Body Works Rewards

iPhone App

While Bath & Body Works’ iPhone app has been around since 2017, the recent download boom was due to freshly launched mobile advertising promoting the new app-based loyalty program. Lifetime downloads of the B&BW app are 11 million, with over 10% of lifetime installs (1.2 million) occurring within August 2022. Data.ai shows the app rank peaked at #3 overall in the United States and #1 in US Shopping on August 23.

mCommerce iPhone Ranking
Source: data.ai

 

Traditional Brands

Traditional brands incorporating and embedding mCommerce into their growth strategies can learn from successful digitally native DTC companies. Hyperfocus on specific SKUs, customer-first responsiveness, and subscriptions/memberships are often part of DTC’s success. Arguably the most important tactic, however, is profitable customer acquisition through paid social campaigns and mobile ad networks.

The meteoric rise of the Bath & Body Works app is a direct result of Facebook and Instagram advertising, buoyed by the virtuous halo effect of the top ten app store rankings. Actual revenue impacts remain to be seen. But the initial response to this traditional beauty retailer’s mCommerce investment and subsequent app advertising appears to be a positive one.

 

How We Can Help

From cinematic trailers to influencer-style UGC, our Creative Studio provides clients with ad creative driven by Hollywood storytelling and quantitative analysis. Our creative expertise comes from managing $150m in monthly ad spend across Facebook, Google, TikTok, Snap, and Apple Search Ads with clients like Disney, Zynga, Rovio, Nickelodeon, Yelp, Sun Basket, NBA, MLB, Roblox, Glu Mobile, Jam City, and many others. Our creative team is masters of influencer-style UGC creative, live action, post-production, 3D animation, motion graphics, and illustration.

Creating and testing 100K videos and images each year for clients provides us unparalleled insights into the evolving mobile advertising ecosystem. From our strategic analyses of IDFA loss and media buying automation to tactical guidance for A/B testing, we ensure our clients can adapt and thrive. Contact us at sales@consumeracquisition.com to work with our elite creative team.

Travel App Ad Creative

Posted on by Lian

In today’s post, learn about the top Travel App Creative Trends and why Hopper Ads work, based on high-performing ad creative from Facebook Ad Library and TikTok For Business.

Travel App Ad Creative

Why Hopper Ads Work

  • Travel app downloads are up 45% compared to last year
  • 61% of US travelers prefer using their mobile device for booking tickets and hotels
  • Top ad trends include reshared UGC-style social media posts, hacks, and quizzes
  • See successful travel app ad creative from Hopper

2022 has seen a triumphant revival of the travel industry which had been severely impaired during the global pandemic. People all over the world have been enjoying long-awaited trips, in a phenomenon, some call “revenge travel.” Proving to be a valuable tool for travelers, travel app downloads are up 45% compared to last year. 61% of US travelers prefer using their mobile devices to manage tickets and make hotel reservations. And ironSource reported that 55% of consumers booked their vacation rental through phone apps, while 48% chose to book their flights through them. Of these users, 35% installed a new app specifically for this purpose.

With mobile-first information and accessibility, travel apps provide users with a one-stop solution to map an entire journey in just a few taps. While users may be willing to try new services, they will only stick with those that prove to be trustworthy and reliable over time. In this unprecedented market, both old and new industry leaders are leveraging cross-platform and omnichannel integration with a strong focus on user engagement and retention.

Some top competitors in the travel app market include Airbnb, Booking.com, Priceline, Expedia, Hopper, TripAdvisor, JetBlue, Kayak, The Dyrt, GyPSy Guide, Roadtrippers, Wanderlog, and TripIt. As summer travel cools off before holiday travel heats up, we’ve analyzed top-performing ad creative for travel apps to see what’s moving travelers.

 

Travel App Ad Creative Trends

Based on high-performing ad creative from Facebook Ad Library and TikTok For Business, below are some of the top trends we’re seeing for travel apps.

  • App Overview: screenshots and descriptions that quickly highlight the main features of the app
  • Key Feature: focusing on a single app feature and explaining its benefits
  • Virtual Reality: VR ads offering an engaging sneak peek of a high-profile destination
  • Tips & Quizzes: communicating app features through advice, lists, and quizzes
  • UGC-Style Testimonials: a portrayal of a user’s experience with the app
  • Limited-time offers: showcasing time-limited offers that urge immediate action from the user

 

Ad Concept Model

As part of our creative process using our Ad Concept Model, we identify different user motivations within an app category to target users based on their emotional drivers. Below are typical user motivations for travel app users.

  • Convenience: I want “seamless travel experiences” that encompass all elements of a trip in a one-stop solution
  • Information: I want to be informed about my options and travel opportunities
  • Accessibility: I want a user-friendly experience that is easy to navigate through to make decisions/purchases
  • Cost: I want to easily find the best deals and discounts
  • Expertise: I want a reliable service, backed by expert knowledge I can trust

 

Travel App Creative Trends x User Motivations

At the intersection of trends and user motivations, we develop ad concepts to target specific personas. Pairing five user motivations (across the top) with six trends (along the side), advertisers have a wide spread of concepts for creative teams and media buyers to explore.

Travel App Ad Creative

Winning Ads For Hopper

Hopper, the tech company offering a “world-class” travel agency experience through their app, is utilizing several creative trends along with specific user motivations. Below are some examples from Facebook Ad Library and TikTok for Business.

travel apps winning ads

Always Keep Testing

While these concepts work for Hopper, they may not be relevant to every travel app. By integrating performance data, competitive analysis, and UX, advertisers can build a comprehensive creative strategy that is relevant to target users. Iterative testing at the intersection of trends and motivations will yield winning concepts that perform. Once a winner is found, then it’s time to resize, localize and scale.
travel apps ad creative

How We Can Help

Testing different creative trends paired with different user motivations is the cornerstone of our creative process, the Ad Concept Model. From cinematic trailers to influencer-style UGC, our Creative Studio provides clients with creative driven by Hollywood storytelling and quantitative analysis. Our creative expertise comes from managing $150m in monthly ad spend across Facebook, Google, TikTok, Snap, and Apple Search Ads with clients like Disney,  Zynga, Rovio, Nickelodeon, Yelp, Sun Basket, NBA, MLB, Roblox, Glu Mobile, Jam City, and many others. Our creative team is masters of influencer-style UGC creative, live action, post-production, 3D animation, motion graphics, and illustration.

Creating and testing 100K videos and images each year for clients provides us unparalleled insights into the evolving mobile advertising ecosystem. From our strategic analyses of IDFA loss and media buying automation to tactical guidance for A/B testing, we ensure our clients can adapt and thrive. Contact us at sales@consumeracquisition.com to work with our elite creative team.

August 2022 Mobile App UA and Creative Roundup

Posted on by Lian

Instagram’s branded content ads let advertisers easily connect to creators while maintaining brand control and performance visibility. Updates to Facebook’s Advantage+ campaigns bring new A/B testing features. And studies show that consumer trust in UGC drives purchasing decisions. Get details on these trends and more in our August 2022 roundup for mobile app marketers.

 

August 2022 Mobile App UA and Creative Roundup

See UGC-Style Ad Creative in Action

UA and Creative Trends in August 2022

facebook advantage+ app campaignsFacebook Updates Advantage+ App Campaigns

Get guidance on bulk ad creation, 7-Day click attribution, and campaign level A/B testing.

UGC-Style Ad CreativeUGC-style Ad Creative Earns Consumer Trust

Only 19% of consumers find brand-created content to be authentic and 77% prefer to purchase from a brand that markets with UGC.

Instagram Branded Content AdsInstagram Updates Branded Content Ads

Advertise through creator accounts while maintaining brand control and performance visibility.

TikTok & Mobile Games in July 2022 Infographic[Infographic] TikTok & Mobile Games in 2022

Understand TikTok ad placement, targeting, and creative tactics along the user journey.

For apps and mobile games looking to scale their paying user base, look no further than TikTok. Skeptical about the platform? TikTok owner ByteDance generated $1 billion of player spending across its mobile games in the last year.

 

Consumers Prefer UGC to Brand Content

UGC Brand Trust

Despite strict brand guidelines demanding highly polished marketing assets, only 19% of consumers find brand-created content to be authentic, according to Social Media Today. In contrast, nearly 80% of consumers say that user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions.

Similarly, a 2022 survey on consumer buying decisions found that for brands incorporating UGC into marketing initiatives:

Read the full article for more on UGC and consumer trends.

 

On-Demand Webinars 

webinars

Explore our On-Demand Webinars here, including our most popular topic ever, Influencers vs. TikTok: Get the Right Ads For Your Brand.

Performance marketers using influencers for direct response campaigns must focus on how over who: how well ad creative performs, regardless of who is in it. Based on managing $3.5 billion in creative and paid social spend for the world’s largest mobile apps—including $102 million on TikTok— we are sharing expert recommendations on advertising with talent-driven and influencer-style ad creative.

Watch this webinar to learn about:

  • How influencer-style and user-generated content work together
  • How to focus on people over product
  • When to use actors instead of creators to minimize brand risk
  • The value of scripts vs. improvisation
  • How much of your brand is too much

Check Out Our Creative Reels!

Reels May 2022

For more information on the UA trends we will be watching in 2022, please contact sales@consumeracquisition.com.

Instagram Branded Content Ads

Posted on by Lian

In today’s post, we’ll share the new features and updates of Instagram Branded Content Ads. Learn how you can use branded content ads to thoroughly engage your audience, build your brand identity, and catch up to your top-performing competitors.

Instagram Branded Content Ads

Features & Updates

Posting branded content on Instagram is an integral part of building a brand identity. On average, Instagram business accounts can expect to grow their followers by around 1.7% per month. But with the right paid social advertising, a business itself can grow much faster than its follower count. 58% of users say they’re more interested in a brand after seeing it in an Instagram Story, with 50% of users actively visiting the brand’s website to make a purchase. To capture this intent, some brands post up to 17 Instagram Stories per month.

Instagram creators can now directly help brands distribute content by allowing a brand to boost their posts. This means any post, Story or Reel can be turned into a Branded Content Ad with a creator’s permission. By boosting a post, a brand expands its reach well beyond the creator’s usual audience, targeting people relevant to their business. The creator additionally benefits from the increased exposure, which has made this kind of partnership very popular.

Instagram Branded Content Ads
Source: Meta’s July 2022 Global Branded Content Ads Setup Guide

Advantages of Branded Content Ads

  • The paid partnership feature provides brands more control over the post coming from the creator’s account. Just remember that an influencer’s creative freedom is why people follow them, and why you want to partner with them.
  • Advertisements can feel more authentic when reaching an audience through a chosen influencer rather than a brand handle. This workaround amplifies brand content, while not giving up control over it.
  • Brands get direct access to performance data, which is essential in building a comprehensive marketing strategy over time
  • Brands and agencies have a more secure alternative to sharing Business Manager information
  • Reels branded content ads massively increase discovery and reach to global audiences
  • Instagram can deliver branded content ads dynamically from either the creator handle or the brand handle, depending on the user
  • Advertisers with an Instagram shop can run branded content ads with product tags for seamless shopping through the native Product Details Page
  • Once a creator accepts the brand permission from the Meta Business Suite, they will not need to accept any further permissions from the brand, saving approval time

Branded Content boosting is done through Ads Manager, and we’ve set up a handy guide below to help you get started. Branded content can run on Facebook and Instagram for maximum exposure as long as both profiles are linked to each other, along with creator partners.

 

Get Started With Branded Content Ads

 

Connecting With Creator Partners

To partner with a creator, head into Meta Business Suite and access the Paid partnerships tab, under Settings. Find a specific creator partner by Instagram handles or check out “recommended partners,” which are those creators who have interacted with your brand in the past. By partnering with a creator you both gain Account Level Permissions, which lets you create Branded Content Ads without having to request access for every single post.

Instagram Branded Content Ad Partners
Source: Meta’s July 2022 Global Branded Content Ads Setup Guide

 

Launching Ads Through Ads Manager

Once paid partnerships are set up, head into Meta’s Ads Manager to start creating Branded Content Ads.

Creating an ad from an existing creator post
  • Select +Create and pick Branded Content. You’ll be prompted to select your campaign objectives, just like any other type of ad
  • For Ad Identity, ensure your brand is populated in both the Facebook page and Instagram account drop-downs
  • For Ad Setup, pick “Use Existing Post” to browse eligible posts made by creators you’ve partnered with
  • Pick “Select Post” then enter the Branded Content tab to see the list of available posts ready for boosting
Instagram Branded Content Ads Select Post
Source: Meta’s July 2022 Global Branded Content Ads Setup Guide
Creating an ad without a pre-existing post

Proceed as above until reaching the Ad Identity section. Access the Creators section and select the desired creator from the drop-down list. The system will automatically check all boxes corresponding to Branded Content. Ensure the Facebook page and Instagram account fields are filled in properly, with the creator’s username at the top and the brand’s name at the bottom, as shown below. Then create an ad by uploading an image or video.

Instagram Identity
Source: Meta’s July 2022 Global Branded Content Ads Setup Guide

 Want better results from Instagram UA?

Working with a knowledgeable marketing partner that can provide extensive quantitative creative testing ensures you get the best performance from your Instagram ads. Our creative expertise comes from managing $150m in monthly ad spend across Facebook, Google, TikTok, Snap, and Apple Search Ads with clients like Disney, Zynga, Rovio, Nickelodeon, Yelp, Sun Basket, NBA, MLB, Roblox, Glu Mobile, Jam City, and many others. Email us at sales@consumeracquisition.com to discuss your user acquisition goals.

UGC-Style Ad Creative Earns Consumer Trust

Posted on by Lian

In today’s post discover how UGC-style ad creative can earn consumer trust and foster authenticity.

  • 80% of consumers say UGC highly impacts purchasing decisions
  • Only 19% of consumers find brand-created content authentic
  • 84% of consumers are more likely to trust a brand that markets with UGC
  • 77% of consumers would be more inclined to purchase from a brand that markets with UGC
  • Discover how different types of UGC-style ads drive trust

UGC-Style Ad Creative Earns Consumer Trust

Pre-pandemic, pretty product shots and feature highlights were reliable tactics to attract consumers. Over the past 2+ years, consumers increasingly turned to their mobile devices to buy essentials and find entertainment, alongside connecting to loved ones. In fact, 56% of consumers said they were now more influenced by social media images and videos when online shopping than they were before the pandemic. Brands that sought to meet consumers where they were, began moving their messaging from products to people.

To earn the attention of mobile consumers, brands need to show they understand their audiences, both potential customers and existing ones. Consumer trust and loyalty are founded on authenticity, and brands can foster authenticity through UGC-style ad creative.

Consumers Prefer UGC-Style Ad Creative to Brand Content

Despite strict brand guidelines demanding highly polished marketing assets, only 19% of consumers find brand-created content to be authentic, according to Social Media Today. In contrast, nearly 80% of consumers say that user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions.

Similarly, a 2022 survey on consumer buying decisions found that for brands incorporating UGC into marketing initiatives:

  • 84% of respondents were more likely to trust the brand
  • 77% of respondents would be more inclined to purchase their products or services

UGC-Style Ad Creative

As consumers consider different brands, content created by people not “officially” part of the brand is seen as trustworthy or authentic. The high value of authentic content is precisely what marketers are leveraging by creating ads with regular people to mimic typical UGC. For pitfalls and pointers when making UGC, check out our on-demand webinar: Influencers vs. TikTok: Get the Right Ads For Your Brand.

UGC-Style Ad Creative

Top creative trends for UGC-style ad creative include testimonials, POV, picture-in-picture video, tips and quizzes, social connection, and commentary. We’ve outlined some of our favorite UGC styles that specifically help brands earn the trust of potential customers and users.

 

Testimonials

Directly addressing the camera and sharing a personal experience with a product is nothing new for commercial advertising. However, testimonial UGC–even with actors–puts authentic experience above brand polish to drive consumer trust. This type of creative looks like a native social post of someone sharing their skills or their day-to-day experience. And a critical part of their daily experience is the app, product, or service they are advertising.

 

Third Person, Picture-in-Picture & Commentary

These UGC styles highlight the experience of a person using a product or app in real-time but from different perspectives. This approach helps earn consumer trust by highlighting scale, features, and user interactions so new customers or users know exactly what they’ll be getting. Picture-in-picture mimics live streaming like Twitch, while third-person and commentary mimic reaction videos. As ads, these may require some suspension of disbelief (who’s holding the camera, how was that edited?). But as organic UGC increases in sophistication along with native platform capabilities, brand counterparts can follow.

 

Tips & Quizzes:

Stylized and presentational, this type of UGC ad creative often includes a person listing off statistics, steps to a process, or quick facts in a direct address. This conversational style brings the viewer into a relationship with the narrator and pairs well with comedy. Using both facts and innuendos, this approach opens up highly personal and potentially embarrassing topics for discussion. By illuminating these topics, marketers build a sense of trust with the target audience. The combination of absurd humor with earnest discussion is a novel break from the ordinary which helps keep viewers’ attention.

 

Want better results from UGC for Paid Social?

Our creative expertise comes from managing $150m in monthly ad spend across Facebook, Google, TikTok, Snap, and Apple Search Ads with clients like Disney, Zynga, Rovio, Nickelodeon, Yelp, Sun Basket, NBA, MLB, Roblox, Glu Mobile, Jam City, and many others. Email us at sales@consumeracquisition.com to discuss your user acquisition goals.

Facebook Advantage+ App Campaigns

Posted on by Lian

Today’s post guides you through the new features and updates for Facebook Advantage+ App Campaigns, including:

  • Bulk Ad Creation
  • 7-Day Click Attribution
  • Campaign level A/B testing

Facebook Advantage+ App Campaigns

New Features & Updates

To help UA and creative teams adjust to the evolving ad ecosystem, we have compiled the latest updates and guidance for Advantage+ App Campaigns (A+AC), previously known as Automated App Ads. Meta has introduced several new features to enhance its advertising capabilities, so UA teams have some great new tools to try out. And if you’d like expert Facebook recommendations from our UA team, feel free to contact us here. Our market insights and creative expertise come from managing over $3.5 billion in creative and social ad spend for the world’s largest mobile apps and web-based performance advertisers.

According to Facebook, key benefits of automation include:

  • Real-time machine learning provides up-to-date, optimized placements
  • Sustained performance facilitated by continuous operation versus naturally slower reaction time of human input
  • Optimization across the audience and creative settings, which considers both well-established and newly added creatives
  • Scale, as the algorithm is trained for broader reach, allowing you to engage audiences beyond your core performing sectors
  • Efficiency in the number of inputs required thanks to bulk ad creation

Top new features for Facebook Advantage+ campaigns include bulk ad creation, 7-day click attribution, and campaign level A/B testing. Facebook has also implemented compatibility for placement asset customization, dynamic language optimization, and deep linking.

 

Advantage+ Bulk Ad Creation

This new feature enables advertisers to automatically create ads by uploading up to 50 videos and images into the platform, thus removing the need for manual ad duplication. By also uploading up to 5 headlines and lines of text, the system will dynamically test which combination of these performs best for each resulting asset. The ability to upload images, videos, and text in bulk lead to a much more efficient campaign process.

bulk ad creation
Source: Meta Advertising: What’s new with Advantage+ App Campaigns?

 

Advantage+ 7-Day Click Attribution

For Android and Non-SKAN iOS campaigns with longer conversion events, advertisers can now utilize 7-day click attribution which is effective when most purchase events are expected between days 2 and 7 after installing. When using the setting “Automatically Set Attribution,” Facebook will select the attribution window that is most likely to perform best based on an app’s historical conversion data across optimization type and event.

Historical data is taken from manual campaigns but if an app is new to Facebook or does not have data for manual campaigns, the automated default is based on similar apps using the same optimization type and event. Advertisers that would like to change the default window can do so by changing the attribution window selection for the optimization type in app settings.

7-day click attribution
Source: Meta Advertising: What’s new with Advantage+ App Campaigns?

 

Advantage+ Campaign Level Split Testing

Advertisers can now directly compare performance through campaign level A/B testing. By analyzing variables such as creatives, targeting, and optimization, advertisers can quickly test and identify the best-performing strategies at their disposal.

campaign level split testing
Source: Meta Advertising: What’s new with Advantage+ App Campaigns?

 

Testing Automation

Split tests are available for both manual and automated campaigns, so this should be your first stop if you want to test automation. First, find an A+AC setup that matches your current campaign goals. Facebook has provided a handy diagram that can help find the right setup for you.

Testing Advantage+ App Campaigns
Source: Meta Advertising: Testing Advantage+ App Campaigns

 

Comparing Campaigns

Once your automated campaign is up and running, the next step is to compare it against your manual campaign. Testing both across different markets and audiences help to ensure the automated structure is a good fit for you.

Test only one variable at a time while all others remain constant throughout both campaigns. This will ensure you acquire accurate data. When evaluating performance, focus on the relevant KPI for the optimization type you chose for your A+AC campaign.

However, keep in mind that extending the testing process for a longer period of time can bring negative results. Recent research done by Facebook shows that having both Manual and Automated campaign types active at once will end up increasing CPM. Thus we recommend you aim for no more than 20-30 days for the duration of your initial tests.

Once the tests are finished, the platform will let you know which campaign came out on top. In the case of no clear winner, you’ll have to pick which one to keep. If the Advantage+ App Campaign proved to be successful, you can pit it against another of its kind in your next split test. By continually testing campaigns of the same type against each other, you’ll further refine your results over time.

Here are some suggestions on A+AC variables you can focus on when testing:

  • Single Country/Country Grouping
  • Amount of Creatives/Creative Layouts
  • Different Media Types
  • Different Asset Placement
  • Dynamic Language Optimization

 

Want better results from Facebook UA?

Working with a knowledgeable marketing partner that can provide extensive quantitative creative testing ensures you get the best performance from your Facebook ads. Our creative expertise comes from managing $150m in monthly ad spend across Facebook, Google, TikTok, Snap, and Apple Search Ads with clients like Disney,  Zynga, Rovio, Nickelodeon, Yelp, Sun Basket, NBA, MLB, Roblox, Glu Mobile, Jam City, and many others. Email us at sales@consumeracquisition.com to discuss your user acquisition goals.

July 2022 Mobile App UA and Creative Roundup

Posted on by Lian

Unity user acquisition, Tinder vs. Peanut, and gaming ad trends on TikTok are all included in our July 2022 roundup for mobile app marketers.

Watch our most popular webinar on-demand: Influencers vs. TikTok: Get the Right Ads For Your Brand. And see how INK Games will launch their upcoming game with a treasure trove of tested ad creative.

July 2022 Mobile App UA and Creative Roundup

3D & Live Action Creative For INK Games

UA and Creative Trends in July 2022

TikTok & Mobile Games in July 2022 Infographic
[Infographic] TikTok & Mobile Games in 2022

Understand TikTok ad placement and targeting for each stage of the user journey, along with creative specs and recommendations.

creative trends for friendship apps july 2022
“Like Tinder, but for Besties!”

We compare dating apps to friendship apps to show how understanding emotional triggers makes ad creative and targeting more effective.

user acquisition on unity infographic banner july 2022
[Infographic] User Acquisition on Unity

Unity and ironSource’s merger brings exciting opportunities for advertisers looking to diversify their mobile app acquisition portfolios.

 TikTok Marketing Partner Program
Consumer Acquisition Joins the TikTok Marketing Partner Program as an Official Creative Partner

Our global network of experienced storytellers, designers, and video editors helps advertisers scale the volume and quality of their TikTok advertising.

 

For apps and mobile games looking to scale their paying user base, look no further than TikTok. Skeptical about the platform? TikTok owner ByteDance generated $1 billion of player spending across its mobile games in the last year.

 

Game Growth Journey on TikTok July 2022

tiktok mobile games infographic
Click to view the full infographic

TikTok & Mobile Games

Our TikTok & Mobile Games infographic summarizes ad placement and targeting for each stage of the user journey, along with creative guidance and inspiration. For in-depth creative strategies, also check out our white paper TikTok UGC Ads: 2022 Creative Guide.

INK Games Case Study: Launching With 130+ Tested Ads

INK Games Prize Kingdoms

In our newest case study, we share how INK Games will launch worldwide with a treasure trove of 130+ tested ad creatives to help them scale as fast as possible.

  • An early partnership with a creative studio can improve creative strategy
  • Early ad creative testing can reduce development cycles by validating game mechanics and user motivations
  • A repository of tested ad creative enables faster scaling upon launch
  • A creative studio with media buying expertise reduces the UA burden on the internal development team

INK Games Prize Kingdoms

On-Demand Webinars

webinars

Explore our On-Demand Webinars here, including our most popular topic ever, Influencers vs. TikTok: Get the Right Ads For Your Brand.

Performance marketers using influencers for direct response campaigns must focus on how over who: how well does this ad creative perform, regardless of who is in it. Based on managing $3.5 billion in creative and paid social spend for the world’s largest mobile apps—including $102 million on TikTok— we are sharing expert recommendations on advertising with talent-driven and influencer-style ad creative.

Watch this webinar to learn about:

  • How influencer-style and user-generated content work together
  • How to focus on people over product
  • When to use actors instead of creators to minimize brand risk
  • The value of scripts vs. improvisation
  • How much of your brand is too much

Check Out Our Creative Reels!

Reels May 2022

For more information on the UA trends we will be watching in 2022, please contact sales@consumeracquisition.com.

User Acquisition on Unity [Infographic]

Posted on by Lian

Our newest User Acquisition on Unity Infographic summarizes Unity’s growth along with creative specs, campaign tactics, and platform comparisons.

The recent announcement of the Unity and ironSource merger brings exciting opportunities for advertisers looking to diversify their acquisition portfolios beyond Facebook and Google.  Unity CEO John Riccitiello highlighted how the merger means more tools “to create and grow successful apps in gaming and other consumer-facing verticals like e-commerce.” With identity systems tied into behavioral dynamics and layered with contextual advertising, Unity and ironSource provide valuable first-party data amidst declining ad visibility.

User Acquisition on Unity Infographic

user acquisition on unity infographic

Sources

 

 

How We Can Help

Our industry expertise comes from managing over $3.5 billion in creative and paid social spend for the world’s largest mobile apps and performance advertisers, including Glu, Roblox, Wooga, Zynga, and Skillz. Our proprietary full-stack marketing platform AdRules provides real-time business intelligence and creative research across social channels.

As the mobile advertising ecosystem has evolved, we have focused on being a reliable source of mobile app industry insights and trends. Our strategic analyses of IDFA loss and media buying automation, along with tactical guidance for user acquisition and creative teams, has helped advertisers remain profitable during an unprecedented era of change. Our industry expertise has earned coverage from CNBC, Forbes, SeekingAlpha, Business Insider, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Mobile Marketing Magazine, and many more.

Working with a knowledgeable marketing partner that can provide extensive quantitative creative testing ensures you get the best performance from your Unity ads. Email us at sales@consumeracquisition.com to discuss your user acquisition goals.

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Creative Trends for Friendship Apps

Posted on by Lian


Adventure. Belonging. Companionship. Understanding emotional triggers make your ad creative more effective. Our latest post, Creative Trends for Friendship Apps, shows how ads for matchmaking apps leverage different user motivations for audience targeting.

  • Compare dating app vs. friendship app user motivations
  • See how Facebook creative is modified for TikTok
  • Compare how ad creative appeals to specific needs and desires

“Like Tinder, But For Besties”
Creative Trends for Friendship Apps

As part of a $39.7 billion social network industry, friendship apps strive to connect users with an explicit interest in socializing. Instead of focusing on intimate relationships as dating apps do, friendship apps create fruitful communities based on common interests and non-romantic passions. Adoption of platonic relationship finders is on the rise, driven by reduced interpersonal connection and socialization during the pandemic. Friendship improves the quality of life and after pandemic isolation, people need more of it.

 

The Friend Trend

While apps sustained many remote relationships over the past two years, location-based friendship finders that help people meet are once again bringing people together in the real world. Meetup (which advertises “lasting friendships” and “growing your friend circle”) receives nearly 20 million monthly visits and has long set the standard for in-person community building. Bumble promises to help users find a new bestie through their BFF feature. Hey! VINA claims to be a “Tinder for (Girl) Friends.” And Peanut connects “like-minded mamas” based on children’s ages and pregnancy due dates.

Understanding user motivation is critical for a successful user acquisition campaign. Friendship app ad creative illustrates how persona-based creative concepts appeal to the unique motivations of different users. Some folks want more of what they already enjoy, while others want new experiences outside of their comfort zone. And some people just want like-minded folks to hang out with.

To see what’s bringing new friends together this summer, we’ve analyzed creative trends and user motivations for friendship apps based on data from Facebook Ad Library and TikTok For Business.

 

User Motivations for Friendship Apps

While there are some similarities to dating apps, friendship apps trigger different motivations and appeal to users in different ways. Friendship apps may focus on belonging over validation or shared affinities over unlimited connections.

creative trends for friendship apps

dating app user motivations

Creative Trends for Friendship Apps

Though user motivations have nuanced differences, creative trends are similar between friendship and dating apps. Based on high-performing ad creative from Facebook Ad Library and TikTok For Business, these are some of the top trends we’re seeing.

  • Testimonial UGC: focused on a regular/typical person’s direct experience of the app
  • Influencer-style UGC: content created for followers
  • Media coverage: independent reviews detailing features and benefits
  • Editorial photography: stylized and visually compelling
  • Key Feature: Highlighting specific benefits like a unique matchmaking mechanic

Discovery & Trust

Meetup and Eventbrite focus on community-based events to build a link between individual and group bonding. While some events focus on a “something for everyone” breadth of experience, others are hyper-focused on niche interests and IYKYK experiences. In contrast to time-based events, Nextdoor focuses on location–a neighborhood–to connect individuals to a larger community. While less intimate than testimonial TikToks we see for other friendship apps, Nextdoor ad creative features the app interface to encourage brand trust through meaningful information sharing.

Nextdoor
Source: Facebook Ad Library 

Companionship, Shared Experiences & Belonging

Peanut is a friendship app that matches women based on their pregnancy due date and the ages of their children. Their Facebook ad creative combines influencer-style “reposts,” typical testimonials, and editorial photography. The app helps “make pregnancy less scary” and promises weekend walk dates with “like-minded mamas.”

Peanut friendship apps
Source: Facebook Ad Library
Peanut friendship app
Source: Facebook Ad Library

Peanut App

In contrast to Facebook creative, Peanut’s TikTok ads combine high-contrast typography or screenshots with relatively neutral video backgrounds. They use media coverage, “reposts” from other channels, and UGC-style posts that look entirely native. Advertisers looking to reach TikTok audiences often recycle ad creative straight from other channels, but TikTok requires a unique creative approach.

Peanut's TikTok App
Source: TikTok for Business

How We Can Help

Testing different creative trends paired with different user motivations is the cornerstone of our creative process, the Ad Concept Model. From cinematic trailers to influencer-style UGC, our Creative Studio provides clients with creative-driven Hollywood storytelling and quantitative analysis. Our creative expertise comes from managing $150m in monthly ad spend across Facebook, Google, TikTok, Snap, and Apple Search Ads with clients like Disney,  Zynga, Rovio, Nickelodeon, Yelp, Sun Basket, NBA, MLB, Roblox, Glu Mobile, Jam City, and many others. Our creative team is masters of influencer-style UGC creative, live-action, post-production, 3D animation, motion graphics, and illustration.

Creating and testing 100K videos and images each year for clients provides us unparalleled insights into the evolving mobile advertising ecosystem. From our strategic analyses of IDFA loss and media buying automation to tactical guidance for A/B testing, we ensure our clients can adapt and thrive. Contact us at sales@consumeracquisition.com to work with our elite creative team.

TikTok & Mobile Games in 2022 [Infographic]

Posted on by Lian

Our newest TikTok & Mobile Games infographic summarizes ad placement and targeting for each stage of the user journey, along with creative guidance and inspiration. For in-depth creative strategies, check out our white paper TikTok UGC Ads: 2022 Creative Guide.

For apps and mobile games looking to scale their paying user base, look no further than TikTok. Skeptical about the platform? TikTok owner ByteDance generated $1 billion of player spending across its mobile games in the last year.

 

TikTok & Mobile Games in 2022 Infographic

TikTok & Mobile Games in 2022 Infographic

Sources

 

Want better results from TikTok?

Our industry expertise comes from managing over $3.5 billion in creative and paid social spend for the world’s largest mobile apps and performance advertisers. Some of them include Glu, Roblox, Wooga, Zynga, and Skillz. Our proprietary full-stack marketing platform AdRules provides real-time business intelligence and creative research from 3.5 million video ads across social channels.

The mobile advertising ecosystem has evolved. So we have focused on being a reliable source of mobile app industry insights and trends. Our strategic analyses of IDFA loss and media buying automation, along with tactical guidance for user acquisition and creative teams, has helped advertisers remain profitable during an unprecedented era of change. Our industry expertise has earned coverage from CNBC, Forbes, SeekingAlpha, Business Insider, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Mobile Marketing Magazine, and many more.

TikTok Marketing Partner Program

Working with a knowledgeable marketing partner that can provide extensive quantitative creative testing ensures you get the best performance from your UGC ads. Email us at sales@consumeracquisition.com to discuss your user acquisition goals.

DOWNLOAD TIKTOK & MOBILE GAMES INFOGRAPHIC NOW
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