Twitter introduced its mobile app promotion service on a global basis, following an extensive beta test of the technology.

Developers can now drive installs and engagement via the microblogging platform via promoted tweets and ‘app cards’, which include a name, description and icon, and highlight attributes such as the rating and the price.

Kelton Lynn, revenue product manager at Twitter, wrote in a post on the company’s advertising blog that the beta produced “strong results”.

“People turn to Twitter to connect with their interests, and discover new ones. During the mobile app promotion beta, our clients have been able to reach Twitter’s highly engaged audience to drive a large volume of cost-effective downloads,” he commented.

The technology makes use of Twitter’s targeting capabilities, including interest, keyword and tailored audience. Publishers can then add gender, geography, language and mobile platform criteria.

Promoted tweets can be customised to include an app’s icon and app store description, deep links to open apps directly from Twitter, and provide additional information to encourage users to download.

App cards on iOS include notifications in Twitter once a download has been completed, “to drive activation of your app when user intent is highest”.

In addition, Twitter provides conversion tracking data so publishers can keep track of how campaigns are performing, including initial installs and in-app conversion.

And publishers will only be charged when users click to go to the App Store or Google Play from an ad, or when an app is opened directly from Twitter.

Game developer Dots promoted its TwoDots game during the beta and managed to drive more than one million app installs. Christian Calderon, head of user acquisition at Dots, said Twitter has become “an essential user acquisition channel for us”.

Ride-sharing service Lyft meanwhile used Twitter’s service to achieve its growth goals for a cost that was 30 per cent lower than originally targeted.

Also this week, Twitter announced its acquisition of TapCommerce, a company specialising in “mobile retargeting and re-engagement advertising”.

The acquisition is touted as providing mobile app marketers with “more robust capabilities for app re-engagement, tools and managed service solutions for real-time programmatic buying, and better measurement capabilities”.

Rival social network Facebook has become one of the most effective channels to promote mobile apps, providing higher conversion rates and better return on investment than other approaches, according to app engagement company Fiksu.