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November 2, 2022

How To Generate a Facebook Deep Link That Opens in the App

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Marketers all know that social media marketing done right is an effective way to promote your business or brand. It gives you the platform to connect with customers directly and build a loyal following over time.

So whether you’re a business owner, influencer, or even an up-and-coming musician with a Facebook business page, it’s crucial that you’re doing everything in your power to get more followers, likes, and comments. After all, the more exposure your page gets, the quicker your brand will grow— ultimately translating into success and more $$$ in your pocket.

Marketers, therefore, have become pretty creative in linking to their brand’s Facebook profile from different marketing channels, including email, websites, social advertising, and even QR codes. Another strategy that is hot right now and becoming increasingly important, is placing a link to your Facebook business page in the bio of your other social media profiles— such as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or YouTube. This cross-promotion tactic can help synchronize your social media presence, especially when your other profiles have more followers compared to Facebook. If you’re not using the right link, however, your efforts might be fruitless.

Person using Facebook app on phone.

If you’re seeing slow follower growth, don’t give up on trying this strategy to weave a convenient web (no pun intended) for your brand across all your social channels! It’s definitely a great strategy on paper, but you actually need a special link. Don’t forget that the new person who follows you on Instagram could also be a big fan of Facebook and could become one of your most loyal customers!

So let’s dig into what could be suppressing your follower growth when linking from one social app to another. After all, it’s just a social profile link, right?

But wait— why are your Facebook links, when used on other social platforms not opening the Facebook app? Why are these links taking your prospective followers to the Facebook login page instead? Yikes. Talk about a major inconvenience, right? And don’t underestimate the vast numbers of lost likes, followers, engagement, and $$$— all because of this annoying hiccup.

There’s actually nothing wrong with the link; it just doesn’t have a certain capability needed to open the app. Don’t worry, we have a solution to your Facebook marketing problem: app deep links. We’re going to show you a step-by-step tutorial on how to generate these custom Facebook deep links to use in other social apps, but before we do so, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of what’s going on with your regular links and what it means for your social media campaign.

Why Are My Facebook Links Not Opening in the App?

So, what’s the issue? Why are these Facebook links just not working as they (presumably) should?

Here’s the thing— this isn’t Facebook’s fault. In fact, this is a common occurrence across nearly every app, and it’s something we know as the ‘walled garden.’ The walled garden offers the opposite of picturesque tranquility à la roses and other shrubberies— in actuality, it makes most of us want to tear our hair out.

The walled garden refers to the event in which clicking on an (in this case Facebook) link within an app— such as Instagram— does not take you to the Facebook app, and instead sends you to the Facebook login page, and still within the Instagram app. You’re stuck within the “walls” of the host app, which is trying its best to keep you in for as long as it can.

When clicked from Instagram or other social networks, a regular Facebook link sends your visitor to the Facebook we login within that social app's embedded browser and doesn't open the Facebook app.


Okay, so what does this ultimately mean for you? It means that anyone interested in visiting your Facebook page and possibly clicking the “like” or “follow” button is most likely to abandon their journey. Think about it— most of us stay logged in to our various social media apps for years before needing to change our passwords or log back in.

A few moments of inconvenience in the go-go-go nature of one’s average day are enough to make a person close out of the app altogether. And as we mentioned before, this ultimately means lost engagement, followers, likes, and revenue over time.

Alright— now we’re going to dive into solving your faulty Facebook link problem with URLgenius’ trusted and patented deep links!

How to Increase Engagement on Your Facebook Page with Mobile App Deep Linking

The key to connecting all of your followers to your brand on all channels is via app deep links, and in this particular case, Facebook app deep links. These are special links that have the ability to do app-to-app linking.

When you replace your regular Facebook page link with URLgenius’ mobile app deep linking across all of your social platforms, you’ll link to the profile in the Facebook app and securely jump right over that web login.

A URLgenius link for Facebook opens to the right screen in the Facebook app securely jumping over the Facebook web login.


You are essentially maximizing all potential referral traffic to your Facebook page. This means that more people will be following you, liking and commenting on your posts, actively staying up-to-date on your brand, and solidifying your business.

URLgenius deep links work to get rid of the friction between apps, making it easier for you to connect all of your social media marketing efforts smoothly.

And guess what? It gets better. No SDK or any technical resources needed— our geniuses have simplified the process down to 1-2-3. Here’s how to quickly create a Facebook app deep link for your social campaigns.

Step-by-Step: How To Use the URLgenius Facebook Mobile App Deep Link Generator

1. Enter the Web URL for your brand’s Facebook profile

To create a Facebook app deep link, you start with the link to your profile. Paste the link into the URLgenius homepage to update the link. You can use your brand’s domain for your app deep link, which we recommend.

URLgenius home page deep link and QR code generator for marketers

Notice that you are given the option to customize the end of the URL to align it with your campaign. This will also help you find the link in your list of links in the URLgenius dashboard. For example, here we’ve pasted the link to Zara’s Facebook profile. We then went ahead and changed the end of the URL after the backslash to make it align with the campaign.

URLgenius Facebook deep link for Zara retail company


After that, simply select “Compose” and you’ll be taken to the settings page for your app deep link and Instagram QR code.

2. Test the behavior of your Facebook app deep link

From the app deep link settings page, you can copy the link to place it in your campaign. First, however, it’s a best practice to test the link which you can do by scanning the QR code or clicking the button to email it to yourself.

URLgenius deep link address and QR code for Zara Facebook page

3. Click “QR Settings” to download a custom Facebook QR code

Need a QR code that opens the Facebook app to your profile? You’re in luck! Every URLgenius app deep link also comes with a QR code. Just click “QR Settings” to download and customize an Instagram QR code, and you will be taken to the page that allows you to download the code. You can also change the color and logo and density (scanning distance).

URLgenius QR code settings for Zara Facebook page

4. Facebook app deep link analytics

URLgenius will track app clicks, app-opens, and other information— such as referring URLs and referring apps.

Zara Facebook app page analytics

The following chart shows the volume of Instagram app-opens by platform and device. The app-open rate tells you what percentage of people who scanned had the Facebook app installed for iOS and Android.

Zara Facebook app page analytics by device

This chart shows scans by city and separately by language preference. These anonymous insights help you figure out where and how to focus your campaign, both in terms of geography and language.

Zara Facebook app page analytics by country and language


Create Your Custom Facebook App Link With URLgenius Today

More followers, more engagement, more $$$— need we say more? It’s time to maximize your Facebook advertising efforts with app deep links today.

At URLgenius, we’re here to help! Contact us with questions at info@urlgeni.us about Spotify marketing deep links and QR codes.


See these “how-to” articles for more deep linking and QR code best practices:

Comments

  1. Interesting! This is a great app! Is this free?

    • Scott Allan

      Hi Emmerey Rose – Yes it’s free for up to 1,000 clicks!

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