DESKTOP VS.

MOBILE

ADVERTISING ON FACEBOOK

Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Key Insights

Mobile advertising is growing at an unprecedented rate as people are abandoning the desktop

Mobile ads were launched on Facebook in 2012 and currently account for 84% of Facebook's

version of Facebook in favor of accessing the site by smartphones. Facebooks recent Q2 2016

total advertising revenue1

earnings announcement noted that mobile ads currently account for 81% of the organizations
revenue. Mobile-forward thinking is paramount. In this guide, we discuss recent changes in

Of the 1.71 billion Facebook monthly active users, 92% of them (1.57 million) are mobile users

the advertising landscape, and compare desktop and mobile advantages.

Mobile active daily users number 1.03 billion on average, an increase of 22% year-over-year
Mobile monthly active users increased 20% year-over-year

According to Facebook Reports Second Quarter 2016 Results

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Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Introduction
Cross device conversions over time

Since going public in 2012, Facebook has developed a robust mobile advertising
platform. Mobile ads have played a key role in Facebooks Q2 2016 results beating

Mobile Ad Revenue

03

Desktop Ad Revenue

6000

projections for both earnings and revenue, with mobile advertising accounting for 84%
of Facebooks advertising revenue and 81% of total revenue.

5000

of Facebooks revenue growth in each of the eleven previous quarters, while desktop

Revenue (in millions of dollars)

Mobile ads have grown explosively for Facebook, contributing to more than 90%
4000

ads and payments have stayed flat.

3000

Facebooks mobile advertising services have been widely successful especially since
the platform receives 1.03 billion daily mobile users on average. The development

2000

and speed with which mobile ads have become the largest source of revenue for
the company is astounding. This is precisely why mobile-forward thinking is critical
1000

in todays rapidly changing environment on social media. Mobile commerce is thriving

as consumers are increasingly on their smartphones.

What are the advantages and disadvantages for businesses that wish to excel with

Q4
2013

Q1
2014

Q2
2014

Q3
2014

Q4
2014

Q1
2015

social ads in the competition between desktop vs. mobile?

Source: Facebook

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Q2
2015

Q3
2015

Q4
2015

Q1
2016

Q2
2016

Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Desktop and mobile strengths

Desktop Advertising

Mobile Advertising

Ideal if you need the users undivided attention

Great for media companies that engage their audience within a quick glance

Better for longer or rich content (videos, HTML5, Flash etc.)

Ideal for links with microsites and landing pages

In B2B ideal for lead-generation that requires filling out the forms on the landing page

Helpful for a clear Call-To-Action (CTA) that can grab attention on any screen size

Driving website traffic and conversions

Driving website traffic and conversions

Use Custom Audiences and target the people that have already visited your website, e-mail subscribers,

One common mistake brands make is neglecting to optimize campaign images for mobile displays,

and your contacts through their customer journey:

leading to cut-off and unwieldy graphics. Make sure your campaign visuals are mobile-friendly.

Target leads, prospects, and clients with relevant messaging

Its also essential to have a responsive website and landing page 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 its important to test a lot of images
Use Lookalike2 audiences to target the message to similar recipients
Target your Fans - they are cheaper and have a nearly 3x better Click Through Rate (CTR)

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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Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Raising Brand Awareness

Desktop

05

Mobile

Identify the best-performing organic posts (by high reach and engagement) in real-time, and promote

Publish videos natively (they have better reach and engagement than videos leading outside

them quickly to maximize your reach

the platform e.g. posting a YouTube video to Facebook)

Promote posts that are strategically important such as those featuring your latest campaign or product

Videos render better on mobile devices than on desktops

If video content is being used, have a clear CTA at the end to direct users to the desired place

Ensure that the video does not require a lot of data

Use location-based targeting whenever relevant

Desktop vs. Mobile

Cross device conversions over time

Since mobile is very often the first source of contact with Facebook for a lot of users during the day, mobile

70%

ads can help to support a campaign designed for desktop ads.

60%

Mobile Click

66%

67%

67%

50%

Raise awareness with light messaging on mobile

32%

40%

22%

30%

Continue desktop ads for final conversion

20%

11%

10%

According to an analysis of Facebook ad performance in the United States, of the people who showed interest

0%

in Facebook mobile Ads, more than 32% converted on desktop within 28 days3.

1 day prior

7 days prior

Source: Facebook internal data, US, measured May 15, 2014 - JuLy 25, 2014, reported August 2014
3

Facebook for Business

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28 days prior

Mobile View

Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Post and promote videos natively

Native videos get more reach than any other type of post - thats why it pays off to promote them

Average Organic Reach

While videos are relatively more promoted than photos 27% of all videos are 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.

6%

4%

Because Facebook videos auto-play silently, its essential to make them visually appealing
right from the start

4%

3%
2%

Try including a dialogue right at the beginning of a video. If people want to hear whats being said, theyll
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

2%

2%

Photo

Status

1%
0%

Make your native videos as shareable as possible - the objective is to make your content worth sharing
(when someone shares your post it reflects the highest form of brand endorsement) thus helping to
increase brand awareness

5%

5%

Link

Date Range: April - JuLy 2016

Note: The sample consisted of 4.705 company pages and more than 300.000 posts

Native Advertising and Organic Reach

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Video

06

Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Driving online sales

Desktop

Mobile

Remarket the visitors of the website or visitors that did not complete a purchase

Responsive design is essential

Desktop is more suitable, as it ensures users are more likely to catch the ad in their feeds since
it occupies more space

Creating a mobile app can be beneficial; get customer feedback to see whether theyd prefer the app
Use mobile advertising IDs - Android, Apple, Facebook App

Target your fanbase, provide special deals and not only discounts

Connect it with your your offline activities by targeting the users that are nearby your shop

Pay attention to the frequency of retargeting to minimize the times a person sees the same ad

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Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Stimulate local in-store sales

Desktop

08

Mobile

Target your fans, website audience and newsletter audience, cross-testing

effectiveness across multiple ad sets

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

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 ads5.

Facebook for Business Carousel Ad Performance

Image: Facebook for Business

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Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Get new installs for your app

Desktop

Mobile

Is your app available on Facebook? Use desktop ads to drive valuable traffic
Use bright and catchy images to grab attention

Use mobile targeting and leverage Audience Network 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 theres no need for new creative.

Videos are great - learn how to succeed here

Segment your audience and test many different ads

Make the ad relevant to the interests of those being targeted e.g. a fitness app
for fitness buffs

Cross-test the video auto-play and click-to-play formats

Use the 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

Facebook for Business and the Audience Network

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010

Desktop vs. Mobile

Advertising on Facebook

Gain more Likes for your Pages

Desktop

Desktop

People have a longer attention span than on mobiles, so its important to test a lot of images

Be sure to target your Fans

Use a newsletter tab for your Page (dont worry - this can be done almost pain-free with tools
like TabFoundry)

Mobile

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

Use extremely clear images - faces work great!

Target Lookalike audiences of your Fans and your newsletter subscribers

Keep texts short and catchy

Performs well for younger age groups

Mobile
This is difficult to achieve, and so it requires the landing page to be responsive and ideally prefilled
The good news is that, that Facebook is now testing new lead gen forms that should simplify
the process for mobile.

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.

Facebook for Business

Facebook for Business Mobile Sign-up Process

Mobile Sign-up Process

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