Why You Should Separate Mobile Ads from Desktop Ads on Facebook

The goal of all advertising is to reach the target market and convey your message in the most effective way possible. We know that the medium is the message, and messages are conveyed differently depending on where they’re seen. So, then why are we not separating our mobile and desktop ads? The world of mobile Facebook is entirely different than desktop Facebook and an idea that comes across on one may not come across on the other. Here are some advantages and disadvantages for mobile and desktop advertising.

Desktop

With desktop, you can customize your ads more so than you can with mobile. You have more screen space to utilize so you can have longer ad text to deliver more of your message. Being concise is always best but you don’t have to worry about truncation so much on desktop Facebook.

Mobile

On mobile advertising, it is easier to target someone directly because of the accessibility and geo-targeting features. The ads are also more interactive and have a higher click through rate as opposed to desktop ads. However, you will not reach as wide of an audience. Now that you know the pros and cons of both forms of Facebook, you might be wondering why you shouldn’t just create an ad that works for both. That is an option, although it’s more effective to separate the ads because of the way the ad lives differently on both mobile and desktop.

Screen Size

The screen size can play a huge role in how an ad is viewed and interpreted. You can include more details and ad elements for a desktop ad, which is something you should keep in mind. If you’re creating an ad to work for both mobile and desktop you will often lose the ability to add more design elements because you’ll have to make the ad livable for both platforms. The ad above is universal across both platforms but is giving up precious characters that can be used to improve the ad message on desktop.

Different Features

Mobile and desktop Facebook ads have different customizable features. For example, you can create a more effective call to action with mobile ads and even enable a direct phone call. The call to action on mobile ads is more visible and likely to drive more engagement. On desktop ads, you have the ability to create more complex ads that might appear overwhelming or take a long time to load on the mobile platform. You can take advantage of these features by creating different ads for both mobile and desktop.

Different Environments

Some brands and products work better on either desktop or mobile because they create a different environment for the user. Desktop tends to be a bit more serious, and ads trying to generate online shopping can create a better response there. On mobile, ads for food work well because someone is more likely to be out and about when they see the ad which can generate a visit to the location. Think about if your audience is more likely to engage with your brand when they are at home or work on their desktop, or on the go while on mobile. Remember that mobile tends to be more fast paced than desktop in terms of scrolling time, so this needs to be taken into consideration as well. If possible, you really should be using both mobile and desktop ads. Although, your marketing will be more effective if you create a separate ad for mobile and desktop. How to split mobile from desktop The simplest way to achieve this is by duplicating your current ad set and editing the placements on both the original and newly created copy of your ad set. If if you are utilizing an ad set budget, you’ll have to decide how much budget to use for mobile and how much for desktop. Our process normally involves reviewing reach and conversions across placements and devices. If we see most conversions from mobile, we give mobile a higher budget, if you’re unsure what budget to use, go with a 50/50 split between the desktop and mobile ad sets until you notice one out performing the other.