Apps are faster and more result-focused than web pages, that’s why the vast majority of users prefer them. Yet, it comes with a big price for brands: user acquisition is a nightmare. App stores are the only place to install ads, but attracting users through their lists and search queries is not a real option. That’s why app install ads have become a necessity in the booming mobile business, and a vital revenue stream for Google, Twitter, and Facebook.
Facebook made many marketers happy by announcing that they are accepting deep links in their app engagement ads, and later added this feature to their app install ads as well.
Facebook ads and deep links
The social network finally lets advertisers use deep links both in the app install and app engagement ads. In practice, this means that you will see an extra text bar during ad creation where you can enter a deep link. You will see it in the last step of the ad creation if you reveal the advanced options:
What does it mean? As the announcement said:
When a person taps on a mobile app install ad on Facebook, the developer can choose to send them to a specific place in their app after it's downloaded, such as a product page rather than the homepage. This will make mobile app ads more effective for achieving a developer's goals beyond the install, and provide people with better experiences by taking them to the content that attracted their attention in the ad.
Deep link = better user experience = higher engagement
Cool, huh? Any app can have deep links, but it needs a little coding. The problem is that Facebook’s deep linking solution only works on Facebook and can’t direct users from any other source to your app. Ideally, you would want to implement it with a deep linking platform’s SDK (see HOKO’s install guide for iOS and Android) to get it done fast, make the links work on every device and platform, and get even more features.
You can use HOKO smart links as deep links for Facebook ads which will improve the user experience and your conversions. What’s even better, you can use smart links not only on Facebook, but in emails, the web, anywhere.
What is a smart link?
A HOKO smart link contains a certain form of intelligence - thus the name - which brings users into different paths depending on the environment where the link is opened. If you open it on mobile, it will lead you to a specific section within an app - even if the app has to be installed first. If you open a smart link on the web, it will lead you to a website.
This is how it works:
Smart links are the most important deep linking real applications and the reason why it is important to build such a powerful platform as HOKO is to support them. With user data stored in each smart links, the HOKO platform is capable to track the smart links’ performance by traffic, user engagement, and referral metrics in real time.
HOKO is the holy grail of app marketing: deep linking, attribution, and measurable performance -
Smart links in social media posts
Smart links enable you to drive app installs and app engagements in the same time without sacrificing the desktop users’ experience. Facebook will read the meta tags from the fallback URL stored in the smart link, so the posts will look exactly the same as if you would share a normal URL in a post.
You can also create all-purpose ads for your business with smart links. Just create an ad with the objective of driving visitors to your website, but add a HOKO link to the ad so that it drives users to your app when clicked upon from a smartphone. Did a new user click? It’s like an app install ad. Or a returning user? Then it's for app engagement.
Pro tip: use smart links everywhere
HOKO smart links offer insane flexibility. You can transform any communication channel - the web, emails, ads, text messages, QR codes, Facebook - into effective user magnets. Use the smart links everywhere you can, because you will be able to measure their impact on a simple, powerful analytics dashboard.
Give it a try
If you want to give a try, we won’t ask for any money or credit card details. Register here for HOKO, make your app deep-link-ready in 20 minutes and enjoy the results!
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