Mobile advertising is one of the hottest new trends in advertising world right now. The fantastic performance of mobile ads compared to desktop impressions speaks loudly. Expectations are high, but still only the bravest advertisers are testing the new opportunities provided by smartphones.

A buzz-worthy performance on mobiles isn’t guaranteed just by spending part of your budget on these small screens. A successful mobile campaign requires engaging creatives, a smart media plan and of course the right approach to measurement.

We’ve listed a few tips to ensure the success of your next (or first) mobile campaign:

1. Embrace the mobile mindset
Many advertisers stepping into the field of mobile advertising make the same mistake – they forget that mobile is not just another desktop with a smaller screen. Mobile needs a completely different mindset when creating new advertising possibilities and completely different strategies.

A mobile device has great tangible features for creating engaging experiences: you can shake it, twist it or tilt it! Mobile devices track a user’s geo-location, the device OS, the time, the event and the weather.

Don’t forget to exploit these new possibilities and remember – you have a smaller screen to work with and less time to engage, so be creative!

2. Be less intrusive but more engaging
Why do people hate ads? Because many ads are intrusive and they disturb users in the middle of something. They bring no value, no fun. If you’re looking for success, please invest time in building a creative campaign using the right Rich Media templates.

People have mobiles with them ALL the time and they share almost all of their intimate experiences with these little gadgets. So don’t try to go for as many clicks as possible.

Instead, help users to avoid clicking on your banner if they don’t want to. Instead of a click, tease the user into performing an action: a swipe, a shake or just click twice.

The users will thank you and you won’t get worthless clicks.

3. Don’t rely solely on clicks

Clicks are important, but they alone can’t define the success of a mobile Rich Media campaign. The purpose of a Rich Media campaign is to engage and create a bond between the users and the brand through engaging experiences that last.

Also, note that the reason behind a significantly high CTR might be accidental clicks – a user swiping some content accidentally clicks on a banner, even if they didn’t intend to. In the mobile advertising industry, this is called the syndrome of the fat thumb. Google had already encountered this issue and introduced new features to its mobile ads.

There is a chance you will miss the big picture, relying solely on clicks to measure the success of your mobile Rich Media campaign, and this leads us to the engagement metrics.

4. Pay attention to engagement metrics
The contrast between Rich Media and performance campaigns are the different goals. While performance campaigns rely solely on impressions and clicks, Rich Media campaigns enable brands to engage users, who can perform a range of actions even including the activation of social apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Vine, on their mobile phones. So empower your customers to share content related to your brand easily.

How do you measure love? It’s impossible to measure love by counting kisses, hugs or time spent together. It’s the same when measuring the success of mobile (or any other) Rich Media campaigns. Brands must understand the depth and the length of time a user was engaged by the creative. These experiences can be defined by metrics such as engagement rate, engagement time and video completion rate.

5. Don’t be afraid to test new technologies
It is true that sometimes new technologies are over hyped and they create huge expectations in the market. Also it is true that TV was once a new technology and online advertising too. So always, it’s better to test than wonder what if. Allocate small test budgets for new technology and check to see if there’s no other way.

Have any more tips and tricks up your sleeve for enhancing mobile Rich Media campaigns? Share them with us in the comments section!