FACEBOOK ADS STUDIES BY SOCIALBAKERS

DESKTOP VS. MOBILE ADVERTISING

ON FACEBOOK SQUARE OFF
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Key Insights
Mobile advertising is growing at an unprecedented rate as people are
abandoning the desktop version of Facebook in favor of accessing
the network on smartphones. Facebook’s recent Q2 2015 earnings
announcement noted that mobile ads currently account for 75%
of the organization’s revenue. Mobile-forward thinking is paramount.
In this guide, we discuss the tactics and details for improving
desktop vs. mobile advertising through a useful case study.

Mobile ads were launched on Facebook in 2012

and currently account for 76% of Facebook revenues1

Of the 1.49 billion monthly Facebook users,

44% of them (655 million) are mobile-only users2

Mobile active daily users number 844 million on average,

an increase of 29% year-over-year

Mobile monthly active users

increased 23% year-over-year

1
Where Facebook’s Revenue Growth Comes From
2
According to Facebook Reports Second Quarter 2015 Results

Desktop vs. Mobile Advertising on Facebook Square Off

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Introduction
Since going public three years ago, Facebook has developed
a robust mobile advertising platform. Mobile ads have played
a key role in Facebook’s Q2 2015 results beating projections
Facebook Quarterly Revenue Broken down by Segment

(million U.S. dollars)

for both earnings and revenue, with mobile advertising
4 000
accounting for 76% of Facebook’s advertising revenue
and 72% of total revenue.
3 000
Mobile ads have grown explosively for Facebook, contributing to more than
90% of Facebook’s revenue growth in each of the ten previous quarters, 2 000
while desktop ads and payments have stayed flat.
Facebook’s mobile advertising services have been widely successful 1 000
considering the fact that the platform sees 844 million mobile users
on average daily. The development and speed with which mobile
0
ads have become the largest source of revenue for the company
2012 2013 2014 2015
is astounding. This is precisely why mobile-forward thinking is critical
in today’s rapidly changing environment on social media. Desktop Advertising Mobile Advertising Payments
Mobile commerce is thriving as consumers are increasingly
on their smartphones. Image & Data Source: Business Insider; Where Facebook’s Revenue Growth Comes From

What are the advantages and disadvantages for businesses

that wish to excel with social ads in the game of desktop vs. mobile?

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Desktop and Mobile Strengths
Desktop Advertising Mobile Advertising

Ideal if you need the user’s Great for media companies that engage their audience
undivided attention within a quick glance

Better for longer or rich content Ideal for links with microsites
(videos, HTML5, Flash etc.) and landing pages

In B2B ideal for lead-generation that requires Helpful for a clear Call-To-Action (CTA)
filling out the forms on the landing page that can grab attention on any screen size

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Driving Website Traffic and Conversions
Desktop Mobile
Use Custom Audiences and target the people that have already One common mistake brands make is neglecting to optimize campaign
visited your website, e-mail subscribers, and your contacts through images for mobile displays, leading to cut-off and unwieldy graphics.
their customer journey: Make sure your campaign visuals are mobile-friendly.
It’s also essential to have a responsive website and landing page
Target leads, prospects, and clients with relevant messaging 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 Lookalike3 audiences to target the message

to similar recipients

Target your Fans - they are cheaper and have

a nearly 3x better Click Through Rate (CTR)
3
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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Raising Brand Awareness
Desktop Mobile
Identify the best-performing organic posts (by high reach Publish videos natively (they have better reach and
and engagement) in real-time, and promote them quickly engagement than videos leading outside the platform
to maximize your reach e.g. posting a YouTube video to Facebook)

Promote posts that are strategically important such as those Videos render better on mobile devices than on desktops
featuring your latest campaign or product

Ensure that the video does not require a lot of data

If video content is being used, have a clear CTA
at the end to direct users to the desired place
Use location-based targeting whenever relevant

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Desktop vs. Mobile
Since mobile is very often the first source of contact with Facebook
for a lot of users during the day, mobile ads can help to support
a campaign designed for desktop ads
Cross Device Conversions over Time

67 % 67 %
66 %
Raise awareness with light messaging on mobile

Continue desktop ads for final conversion

32 %

According to an analysis of Facebook ad performance in the United 22 %

States, of the people who showed interest in Facebook mobile Ads,
11 %
more than 32% converted on desktop within 28 days4
4
Facebook for Business

1 Day prior 7 Days prior 28 Days prior

Mobile Click Mobile View

Image & Data Source: Facebook for Business

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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 they are relatively more promoted than photos – 27% of all videos are Video 8.7 %
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 audiences.5

Because Facebook videos auto-play silently, Status 5.8 %

it’s essential to make them visually appealing right from the start

Try including dialog right at the beginning of a video. Link 5.3 %

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 Photo 3.7 %

Make your native videos as shareable as possible - the objective 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10 %

is to make your content worth sharing (when someone shares your Date Range: October 1, 2011 to February 1, 2015
post it reflects the highest form of brand endorsement) thus helping Data: The sample consisted of 4 445 Brand pages and the more than 670 000 posts

to increase brand awareness

5 http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/2367-native-facebook-videos-get-more-reach-than-any-
other-type-of-post

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Driving Online Sales
Desktop Mobile
Remarket the visitors of the website or visitors Creating a mobile app can be beneficial; get customer feedback
that did not complete a purchase to see whether they’d prefer the app

Desktop is more suitable, as it ensures users are more likely Use mobile advertising IDs
to catch the ad in their feeds since it occupies more space - Android, Apple, Facebook App

Target your fanbase, provide special deals Connect it with your your offline activities by targeting
and not only discounts the users that are nearby your shop

Pay attention to the frequency of retargeting to minimize

Responsive design is essential
the times a person is likely to see the same ad

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Stimulate Local In-Store Sales
Desktop
Target your fans, website audience and newsletter audience,
cross-testing effectiveness across multiple ad sets.

Mobile
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
Image: Facebook for Business

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 ads.

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Get New Installs for Your App
Desktop
Is your app available on Facebook?
Use desktop ads to drive valuable traffic
Make the ad relevant to the interests of those
being targeted e.g. a fitness app for fitness buffs
Use bright and catchy images to grab attention
Videos are great - learn how to succeed here
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Mobile
Use mobile targeting and leverage Audience Network7 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.
Segment your audience and test many different ads
Cross-test the video auto-play and click-to-play formats
Use 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
7 Facebook for Business
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Gain More Likes for Your Pages
Desktop Mobile

People have a longer attention span than on mobiles,

Use extremely clear images - faces work great!
so it’s important to test a lot of images

Keep texts short and catchy

Performs well for younger age groups

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Capture Newsletter Subscribers
Desktop Mobile
Use a newsletter tab for your page (don’t worry Difficult to achieve, and so requires the landing page
- this can be done almost pain-free with tools like TabFoundry) to be responsive and ideally prefilled

Good new is, that Facebook is now testing new lead gen
Target Lookalike audiences of your Fans
forms that should simplify the process for mobile8
and your newsletter subscribers
8 Facebook for Business

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

Be sure to target your Fans

Image: Facebook is testing lead ads 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;
Source: Facebook for Business

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