Using Social Media to Promote Your Mobile App

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Mobile apps today is what laptop computers were only a few years ago. More than half of Americans own a smartphone, and it’s widely projected that mobile traffic will succeed desktop traffic in 2014. As more users harness the power of mobile and appoint mobile apps for everyday entertainment, information, and utility, the overflow of apps is not only ubiquitous, but can be quite exhausting.

Especially when promoting your own mobile app.

Assuming to go viral (gaining large amounts of downloads and users instantly) like apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Uber are presumed, when in reality, the “If you build it, they will come” approach rarely occurs. The promotion and marketing of your app is vital for your success and needs to be approached in a way that provides value to your future user base.

So how do you rise above the noise of the marketing machine on social media platforms, and attract the attention that your new app deserves? At Jax Media Team, we highlight a few valuable tactics for marketing your app:

1) Harness the power of hashtags. While word of mouth marketing is still one of the biggest factors when it comes to growth, using the context of social media hashtags can be a great asset to the promotion of your app. Including dedicated hashtags within your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Instagram that relate to the nature of your mobile app will present a unique opportunity to your niche audience.

Beware: Depending on the platform, you can over abuse hashtags. On Instagram, the more hashtags the better. It’s imperative for locating your audience, because it’s purely image based. But for platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Google +, using too many hashtags to jump into conversations may come off as spammy or pushy.

2) Targeted Social Media Advertising. An effective social media marketing plan should be a consistent mix of paid, owned, and earned media. While creating and promoting your organic content is vital, utilizing targeted advertising that is based on interests, demographics, and brands associated with the nature of your app will present a niche market for your app.

You can also promote tweets that target various hashtags or keywords that will keep your promoted tweet visible within potential user’s Twitter feed.

When you attempt to market your app via advertising to the largest audience possible, you tend to stretch your efforts too thin. While a large demographic is enticing, odds are you are advertising your mobile app to a large group who do not have any interest of what your app provides in value. The more granular the audience, the better chance you have of them promoting to their own friends.

3) Post Content that is Related to Your App. There is a surplus of content on social media newsfeeds. Much of it pertains to brands trying to reach new customers. But there are very few brands that post relative, engaging content that encourages engagement and not pure call-to-action selling/downloading. Create and post content that entertains, informs and educates your target audience, without pitching your mobile app. Start conversing and humanizing with your audience before you mention what your mobile app even provides.

4) Participate in Google+ Communities and Hangouts. Reaching individuals and influencers are pivotal for organic growth. By utilizing Google+ Communities, you can add value and increase engagement with audiences that are fixed on what value your app provides. You can either join a community that specializes in what your app does, or create your own dedicated community. Once you begin to post frequently and are receiving feedback, utilize Hangouts to either do a live, exclusive on the launch of your new app or record a Hangout to publish to your fans at a later date.

5) Creating events to reach influencers. One of the best ways for targeted promotions is encouraging influencers within your app’s industry to invite and share with people created events. The dedicated events can get a group of highly networked bloggers and tweeters in your area to help promote exclusive meetups that will help expand the reach of your demographic.

Offering users incentives to promote your app is a wise decision when promoting the launch of your app. The chance of being rewarded to talk about the quality and value of your app will encourage them to spread the news whether it be by social media, their blog, or even word of mouth. Even a relatively small influence would work well. Whether it be some branded apparel, exclusive rights, or a feature of their review on your blog or social media branded page.

We are mobile optimization specialists and we believe that promoting your app within social media platforms is essential, but it’s only one piece of the digital realm pie. Having an effective website that allows for download links to the dedicated app stores and a blog that connects with users who are interested in your app with fresh optimized content are essential for promotional success.

Social Media provides the greatest amount of value because they are storytelling platforms; people love to snap and share photos of their experiences, check-in to interest places, and engage with their friends, family, and brands on a human level.

With social media being such a word-of-mouth catalyst for your mobile app, it would be wise to have social sign-ins for your app as well. Allowing new users to sign up via social media sign is imperative, not only for easy sign-in but for social sharing as well.

Promoting your mobile app on social media is no different than social media marketing for a business. While many tend to use “campaigns” to attract fans, followers, or subscribers, the reality is a consistent 24/7 effort in promotion valuable content that focuses on engagement and conversation that may not be a direct correlation to downloads, but definitely an influence when done correctly.

Before promoting a mobile app, ask yourself this question: “Does my app provide a utility to the users better than any other app in the market?” While this seems like a no brainer, many apps struggle to succeed because they lack quality utility. While using social media to organically assist in your marketing, Jax Media Team believes the quality of your app is the first step.

This content is made possible by a guest author, or sponsor; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of App Developer Magazine's editorial staff.