Hey all,
I just started an ad campaign for Booze Runner on Facebook. I'm sure there are people here who are curious as to whether it works, or how it works, so I'll keep you updated.
I targeted keywords iPhone and drinking, and Facebook said the average bid per click was $0.60 - $0.70 (roughly). Ouch! At those rates, I'd need greater than a 50% conversion in order to see a ROI, so I put my maximum bid at $0.15 and my daily budget a $5, just to get my feet wet and see how it goes.
It just got approved and started running, hasn't had any impressions yet, but I'll keep everyone updated.
Wow....0.60 to 0.70 per click? That's pretty steep...
yeah, I was kinda shocked at those prices for the keyword iPhone. I'm betting it isn't iPhone apps that people are bidding those prices on. I just hope $0.15 is enough to get me some impressions. Even at $0.15 I need one in ten to buy it in order to break even. I need to do something though, after starting off fairly strong it's evened out to 5-7 downloads a day for the past week or so.
It's really hard to get a positive ROI on conversion alone with ad campaigns. Especially with keywords related to 'iPhone'.. keep in mind the majority of people bidding on these keywords are selling iPhone accessories, where a conversion probably makes them upwards of 10$ rather than 1/2$.
However, if you are able to get a significant rise in your iTunes ranking due to the increased sales your ads drove your ad campaign might have a positive ROI overall.
However, if you are able to get a significant rise in your iTunes ranking due to the increased sales your ads drove your ad campaign might have a positive ROI overall.
That's really what I'm thinking. I just added some ads for another of my apps, Drag Tree. That app seems to hover around the upper 100s in the ranking in the sports category. I'm thinking that it won't take a miracle to bump it into the top 100, and hopefully higher.
I've changed up the ads a little. I still have my .15 per click ads, but also am running a .30 for 1000 impressions ad for each app. I figure if two out of the 1000 click, then I am paying the same. The difference is that .60 is the recommended amount per click, and .30 is the recommended amount per 1000 impressions. So by bidding .30 I am actually in the zone I need to be in, instead of a 1/4 of where I need to be.
I'm gonna try to create an ad for KingDrinker, but it is a drinking game, and I'm not sure Facebook will accept the ad. That app almost consistently gets no downloads, but has a 4 star average in the reviews, so I think it just needs some exposure. Pushing an app that gets almost no sales is a good way to track the conversions from Facebook ads. I just have to wait a bit for the price change back to $1.99 to go through. I can't see spending ANY money to promote a $0.99 app.
Well, the numbers for the first day don't look all that impressive. I only got 1 impression on the cost per click ad, and it didn't get a click. The cost per impression ad showed 24,000 times and got clicked 8 times.
Booze Runner's sales for the past five days leading up to the ad were, 7, 8, 5, 5, and 6. Then today, after yesterday's ad run, the sales were 7. Hardly a noticeable increase, if you consider it an increase at all. Of course it is possible, although unlikely, that a lot of those sales came from Facebook and the app would have performed really poorly without it. It will take a few more days to see what the real effect is. I'm going to give the campaign a week regardless of what happens, because I think these things need some time in order for trends to show.
I also added another ad targeting the keywords DopeWars and Dope Wars, which Facebook tells me is about 3500 people. Who knows how many of those have iPhones or iPod Touches, or will spread the news to friends who do. I figured it was worth a shot though. We'll see how that one performs when the ad is approved by Facebook.
It is interesting to note that the free version of Booze Runner had its highest day of it's past 6. The five leading up to the ad were 57, 54, 52, 37, and 31. Today was 65. Of course it is the weekend, so it's hard to tell if that is a Facebook effect or a weekend effect. Last Saturday it had 94 downloads, although it had nearly just been released.
Perhaps even worse is that in the search for DopeWars on the app store, Booze Runner lost one place and Booze Runner Lite lost two. certainly not the trend I was going for.
Is your ad going straight to the App Store or going to a fan page for the game?
Straight to the app store. I figured I'd have better chances at impulse buys that way. I don't think a fan page would grow at any sort of rate to serve as marketing on its own. I generally tend to ignore it when my friends become fans of things, especially things I've never heard of.
Straight to the app store. I figured I'd have better chances at impulse buys that way. I don't think a fan page would grow at any sort of rate to serve as marketing on its own. I generally tend to ignore it when my friends become fans of things, especially things I've never heard of.
Personally I think I would try to point to the fan page....if people actually become a fan, it might spread to their friends
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I've just turned off a Facebook campaign that I was running. I let it go for 7 days, $10/day budget, my average CPC was $0.52. I had the ad linking directly to the app's website (Weave - as in my signature).
In the 7 days I had 362,537 impressions, 63 clicks, and never saw anything above average in terms of daily sales for the app.
I'm sure there's a secret to making advertising work for your apps, but I have no idea what that secret is.
I've just turned off a Facebook campaign that I was running. I let it go for 7 days, $10/day budget, my average CPC was $0.52. I had the ad linking directly to the app's website (Weave - as in my signature).
In the 7 days I had 362,537 impressions, 63 clicks, and never saw anything above average in terms of daily sales for the app.
I'm sure there's a secret to making advertising work for your apps, but I have no idea what that secret is.
I'm discovering that pay per click is poo. really, my numbers are very low in that category. Really, not worth it low. Facebook would be better off, IMHO, not advertising PPC services. It's that bad. But I do need to get my word out there. So for the while, I'm in.
I'm not doing any conversion tracking. So far, after two days and $10 my sales are still around the same amount as they were before I started. So, right now, I'd have to say that the campaign isn't that effective. I'm still going to give it the full week, to see how it plays out.
Well, after $30 spent, and little or no increase in daily sales, I can say that the Facebook experiment has been a failure to me. I was happy with the sales when the game was on the new releases list. If only I could find a way to get that kind of exposure, and to the right people, again. sigh
Well, after $30 spent, and little or no increase in daily sales, I can say that the Facebook experiment has been a failure to me. I was happy with the sales when the game was on the new releases list. If only I could find a way to get that kind of exposure, and to the right people, again. sigh
I'm not sure if I'm your average Facebook user but I have never even looked at the ads in facebook, my mind blinds them...
Maybe because 95% of those look like scams?
How people would keep spending money on that if no-one but the scammers have a return?
Facebook Ad Campaign
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