The 1.50 update brings some great changes to your Mobile App, both on
the surface and under the hood. One less than obvious update has been
the inclusion of what are known as "Deep Links". These are links that
let you direct people to specific tabs in your app from external sources.
Now, Facebook has added a "Call-to-Action" button which allows you to easily add an important task as a button on your Page's banner image. Lets look at how we can use Deep Links with this button to let your Fans effortlessly access your Mobile App from your Facebook page.
First, go to your Page and find the "Create Call to Action" button. It is important to note that this is for
Pages, and not your personal
Timeline.
When you click on this, you will see a pop-up box which has a "Choose a Button" menu.
Open this and select "Use App".
Once you have selected the type of Call-to-Action, there will be a place to enter in two URLs. One for your website and one for your mobile website.
Because we want to focus people's behavior on using your Mobile App, create a SmartURL (remember those?) for this purpose and add it to both fields.
The next screen will let you setup your iOS Deep Link.
Use the format instantencoreCID://deeplink/#home where CID is the same value used in the SmartURL. The Backup Destination will be automatically filled in from the website field.
The Android Deep Link setup is similar, but you will also need your Android Package Name.
To find this, just go to your main control
panel, copy the link for the Android App, and use the end of the URL
that starts with "com.instantencore".
So,
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instantencore.bcsd2go_5109242 becomes just
com.instantencore.bcsd2go_5109242. Again, the Backup Destination will be automatically added.
Click the final Create button and you will be all set. Your Facebook fans will now have easy access to your Mobile Apps!
- If they already have your app installed, it will immediately open it.
- If they don't yet have your app, the SmartURL will intelligently direct
them to the proper platform.
- If the button is clicked on a desktop or laptop
computer, it will give them links to both.
Finally, if you have a campaign going on for a specific event or initiative, you can go back to edit the "Use App" button and update the App Links to go to a specific content item or tab in the App. Just replace the
#home at the end of the Deep Link with a different "In-app Link" using InstantEncore's App URL Builder, available at the bottom of your list of Tabs in the Control Panel.
BONUS: Facebook offers some insights on how many times the button has been clicked. Just look for the "This Week" box to the right and click on where it says "Use App"
