How To Increase iOS Downloads & Android App Installs With TikTok

Phil Nickinsin, the Editor of Android Central said, “Your mobile device has quickly become the easiest portal into your digital self.” There couldn’t be a better way to describe the global phenomenon that is TikTok — a video sharing app with over 1 billion users worldwide. TikTok has become the digital extension of its users, who use the platform to create a virtual expression of their identity. It’s the reason why brands are scrambling to increase iOS downloads and Android app installs.

What makes TikTok unique among other video sharing platforms, is its extremely youthful audience and its high rates of user engagement. The fast-paced and trend-driven nature of the platform appeals to the creative spirit of Gen Z users. It’s often described as a mix between Snapchat and YouTube. Users can create and share short videos with others on the app, with some users acquiring large numbers of followers.

Why Use TikTok To Promote Your App?

There are a few reasons why TikTok makes such an ideal environment for app marketing. Although user numbers are high, the platform has not yet been saturated with marketing and advertisement in the same way as older video sharing platforms such as YouTube. On top of this, TikTok has masterfully integrated advertising into their app in a way that does not feel intrusive or disruptive to users.

“Data suggests that people aged 13-24 use apps at a much higher frequency than any other demographics. This makes TikTok’s core user base the perfect audience for an app marketing strategy.”

For app marketers, this presents a unique opportunity to reach out to potential users in an environment where people are highly engaged and receptive to new content. Data suggests that individuals aged between 13-24 use apps at a much higher frequency than any other demographics. This makes TikTok’s core user base the perfect audience for an app marketing strategy.

By 2023, mobile apps are predicted to generate over $935 billion. The app market is booming, which means it’s more important than ever to get your app in front of as many people as possible if you want to beat the competition.

What Are The Key App Marketing Metrics To Track?

If you’re launching an app marketing campaign, metrics will be one of your first considerations. What metric will you be focusing on? Which one will be the most useful? There are two main metrics that app campaigns usually target — CPA (cost per acquisition) and CPI (cost per install). Whether you want to increase iOS app downloads or increase Android app installs, you need to determine which metric you will use. They both have pros and cons.

CPI is the amount it costs to get a new user to install your app. One of the benefits of this metric is that it’s easy to verify. This means there is less confusion, and it’s less likely that you’ll be over or under-counting your app installs. However, app installs don’t always translate into active users or ROI, so that’s one thing to keep in mind.

CPA is the amount it costs to acquire a new user or to cause a user to take a specific action. This metric usually refers to users signing up for a subscription or taking an action that involves spending money for example micro- transactions in mobile games. However, be careful with this metric in your TikTok ads dashboard as CPA (cost per acquisiton) references whatever your objective is, in the campaign. For example, if you have an app install campaign, it considers ‘install’ as an acquisition, whereas a traffic campaign could consider a ‘click’ as an acquistion. So if you work out your CPA for all of the campaigns in your ads manager dashboard combined, the data will be skewed. As a result, if you’re trying to work out your actual CPA for installs, you need to ensure you aren’t including campaigns that aren’t counting other metrics (outside of installs) as conversions.

CPA and CPA (SKAN) are sometimes preferred as a metric because it means that you are only spending your advertising budget when you make a “sale” or receive a payment from a customer. (Note: SKAN refers to iOS installs, whereas CPA often refers to Android installs).

The issue with CPA

One downside of this metric is that it’s not always easy to verify when a user is taking an action. This means that it can sometimes be difficult to get real-time data. As with any marketing metric, it’s important to set a realistic CPA. It should also be in line with the amount of money that a user is worth to you. It can take anywhere from 24-72 hours for this data to be reflected in your TikTok ads dashboard.

iOS vs Android Apps — Do They Require A Different Marketing Approach?

When it comes to marketing your app, it’s important to tailor your strategy to the platform you’re targeting. iOS and Android platforms each have unique quirks and users.

Globally, Android has a lower CPI than iOS. If you want to increase Android app installs, this may be an important detail to keep in mind. Android phones are more common in lower-income countries, which means advertising will generally be cheaper. The average global rate of CPI for Android apps is $0.53. For iOS, the average CPI is much higher at $1.24.

However, if you are marketing your app to a US audience, CPI will be greater amongst Android users at an average of $1.91. In comparison, the average CPI for iOS apps in the US is $1.64, on average. The Google Play store boasts the biggest collection of available apps in the world at 3.48 million.  Meanwhile, the Apple App Store has 2.22 million apps, which is significantly lower. This means that for your app to stand out in the Google Play store in the US, you are competing with a far higher number of apps. This results in a higher CPI or CPA. Depending on whether you are trying to market an iOS app or increase Android app installs, you may want to allocate more of your budget spend based on performance to keep your CPA lower.

How To Setup A TikTok Ads Campaign

Before you do anything, you need to create a TikTok for Business account. This can be done in a matter of minutes. Thereafter, you’ll have access to their full suite of ad creation tools and reporting dashboards.

TikTok offers a few different types of ad campaigns, depending on what you’re looking to achieve. So, before you create your campaign, you need to determine your goals. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Increase iOS app downloads? Drive engagement with your app amongst existing users?

Once you know what you’re aiming for, you can select the right type of campaign. TikTok Ads Manager allows you to design a campaign around a variety of objectives. This includes reach, traffic, app installs video views, lead generation, community interaction and conversions.

There are five different types of ad formats currently available on TikTok, including

• In-Feed Ads
• Brand Takeover
• TopView
• Branded Hashtag Challenge
• Branded Effects

It’s important to note when you can only create one app install campaign per app store.

After you create your TikTok campaign, you will have access to real-time reporting via the TikTok Ads Manager dashboard. From here you can monitor a variety of KPIs, including CPC, CPA, impressions, CTR, clicks, CVR, conversions and CPM.

How To Tap Into TikTok Trends

The key to successful TikTok marketing is understanding the platform, and what content performs well on it.

TikTok is all about trends. There are always new trends emerging, and users always want to ride the next big wave. As a marketer, it’s important to be constantly on the lookout for new trends and to create content that resonates.

Trends can be anything from news stories, songs, dance moves, editing techniques to fashion or challenges. As part of your campaign, you can either jump on to an existing trend or take a leap of faith and create a new one. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to creating trends, but a touch of creativity will always be essential. If you need inspiration, you may want to take a look at your competitors or consult with a top TikTok ads agency.

Branded hashtags are one of the easiest ways to create your own TikTok trend. They have great viral potential and as a bonus, users can see all content related to your brand if they happen to search for your hashtag. This is a great way to increase brand awareness and get your app in front of a wider audience. Once you have identified a trend that you want to tap into, it’s important to create content that is original and engaging. Users are quick to lose interest, so you need to keep things fresh and exciting. This means using creative and innovative content ideas that will stand out from the crowd.

Leverage Specialist Agency Expertise

“At House of Marketers, we helped eSim company Airalo to boost their app installs using a micro-influencer strategy, which drove an extremely low CPI of just $0.23.”

At House of Marketers, we helped eSim company Airalo to boost their app installs using a micro-influencer strategy, which drove an extremely low CPI of just $0.23. By tapping into TikTok’s huge travel niche, we created trend-driven content that resonated with the right audience. Using just 10 micro-influencers, our campaign featured creators discussing their most useful travel tips, which promoted Airalo’s eSim service. With this strategy, we achieved over 2.1 million video views and a 12.3% engagement rate.

We also helped another app platform named Freetrade drive thousands of sign-ups in a TikTok campaign. We targeted the 18–35-year-old demographic with educational content. Freetrade is a stock trading app that offers commission-free trades. They wanted to tap into TikTok’s younger investment-focused audience.

“Fintok” is a huge trend on TikTok This niche is home to an array of popular finance influencers who create short videos that communicate key financial concepts in an entertaining and engaging way. Our team partnered FreeTrade with a number of smaller influencers to create content around the theme of ‘investing for beginners”. Using these micro-influencers, our campaign’s incredible 6.7% conversion rate resulted in thousands of immediate sign-ups.

Big Names Driving App Installs On TikTok

Big-name app creators are also taking advantage of the power of TikTok to drive installs for their apps.

Bumble Campaign

One such company is Bumble — the dating app that allows women to make the first move.

TikTok, like many video-viewing platforms, saw an increase in users during the pandemic lockdowns. Bumble decided to take advantage of this and partnered with TikTok to create a campaign that would allow them to “lean into the authenticity that the TikTok community loves.”

Their campaign paired influencer content with direct-response ads triggering user-generated content. Their theme — how to get more quality matches on their dating platform — was relevant and timely, with entertaining and engaging content. They encouraged users to showcase their true personalities, using the hashtag #datewithbetteranswers.

Since this campaign and several others, Bumble has grown from strength to strength. In 2020 alone, the app was downloaded 19 million times. Thanks to TikTok, they managed to increase their installs by 5x and reduce their cost per registration by 64%.

@bumble Ever get a mind blank on a first date? Bumble and @tiktok have your back. #DateWithBetterAnswers ♬ original sound – Bumble

Netflix Campaign

Netflix is an enormously popular platform that allows users to stream content worldwide for a subscription fee. They used TikTok to create awareness of their latest original series “Tribes of Europa” in Germany. Netflix launched a branded hashtag called #tribeschallenge encouraging users to create their own content showing their allegiance to one of the series’ four tribes using their very own Branded Effect.

The company also partnered with 10 popular German TikTok influencers, who got the campaign off to a headstart, by showing users how to participate in the challenge and create their own content. Netflix also ran a selection of TopView and One Day Max In-Feed Ads to boost their reach.

The results of the campaign were impressive. Netflix surpassed their initial goals and achieved over 1.5 billion video views. This campaign demonstrated just one of the many creative ways marketers can tap into TikTok creative, and viral trends to increase iOS downloads and Android app installs while driving engagement.

@nickaufmann My take on the @netflixde #TribesChallenge 😁😁 #TribesOfEuropa ♬ Tribes of Europa – Clinton Shorter

Increase iOS Downloads & Android App Installs With TikTok

To learn more about how to increase iOS downloads and Android app installs using TikTok, check out our articles The 9 Best App Install TikTok Campaigns of 2022 So Far and TikTok – The Best Way to Market an App [App Promotion Strategy]. Or you can get in touch with the TikTok marketing experts at House Of Marketers for guidance maximising your ROI on the platform. Contact us here to scale your app download campaigns to millions of users.