January 12, 2018
Calling it now: automation will be the top buzzword of 2018.
In all fairness, automation has been and will continue to be a major conversation in nearly every industry. Digital marketing seems to be at the very forefront of this trend. Account managers are increasingly adopting machine learning based strategies for bidding, targeting, and creative delivery. While adoption rate increases, some platforms are starting to remove the manual option altogether. A recent example of robots taking over for their fleshy friends came when AdWords retired App Search and Display App Campaigns in favor of Universal App Campaigns (UAC).
Now that UAC adoption is mandatory for promoting an app on AdWords, it’s important to compare Universal App Campaigns vs Mobile App Install Campaigns. In order to achieve this, we’ll discuss the fundamental differences, walk through a brief launch guide, and conclude with a performance review.
What is a Universal App Campaign?
A Universal App Campaign, or UAC, is a campaign type that integrates machine learning into every phase of app promotion. Ads are eligible to run across the Search Network, the Display Network, and Youtube. In the past, Search App Install Campaigns relied on keyword targeting and offered an array of bidding options. Likewise, Display App Campaigns provided layered targeting techniques. UAC, on the other hand, execute nearly all of the heavy lifting with the advertiser responsible solely for setup, budget maintenance, and target CPA changes.
Setting Up a Universal Install Campaign
Setup for UAC is impressively simple. To begin, navigate to the add campaign button within the interface and click “Universal app campaign”
Once in the guided setup, you’ll need to name your campaign and select the proper mobile app. After this, move forward with ad creation. Here you can provide up to four text ideas, an ad video (for Youtube), and up to 20 images. Ultimately machine learning will dictate what combination of these pieces are shown in response to your audience’s behavior. During this process, make sure to provide as many image sizes as possible to maximize your number of eligible placements. If you opt not to include a Youtube asset you will still remain eligible for some auctions. However, we’ve seen negligible Youtube volume in accounts that made this strategic decision.
Once images and text ideas are added, all that remains are high-level decisions. Pick the proper location and language for your ad. Ensure you have the right optimization objective from the two options:
- Get new users to your app
- Get new users who are likely to complete in-app actions that you select
Currently, the only bid strategy offered is target CPA. Once you set your target goal and a daily budget you’ve officially navigated through the entire launch process.
Best Practices For Universal Install Campaigns
Best practices for Universal App Campaigns are fairly limited. To be honest, there just aren’t that…
