Imagine that you can make your app more visible and increase your app downloads with less money. Is it really possible? Absolutely! Here are 7 free marketing tools for app promotion that you can use to boost app awareness and increase your app downloads.
Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube are the most popular websites for app developers looking to promote their apps. With tons of apps available to help you automate your social media efforts, it’s easy for you to start getting some exposure for your app without having to create a dedicated social media budget at first. In addition, since many customers already turn to social media for support, consider using social media as a customer service tool which will help to draw new users in as they see you respond to queries from existing users.
Make sure to post regularly to increase your social visibility and engagement with users. Consider offering rewards for using your app and telling the story of how your app came to be rather than trying to sell your product directly. A recent study done by IPG Media Lab proves that 84% of users prefer rewards over traditional ads and that rewards generate 31% more user excitement than ads.
App Store Optimization, or ASO, is the process of using specific techniques to improve the discoverability of your app in an app store. You need to thoroughly understand your customer and their demographics and behaviors. Then use this information to select keywords to target and write your app description so that it appeals directly to your target audience.
As a part of your ASO efforts, consider the following strategies to help you stand out from the competition:
Are there a lot of people who you come across in real life that would benefit from using your app? Pitching your app to your colleagues and friends is an easy and free way to start bringing those first users to your app. Word of mouth marketing doesn’t only apply to in person content, you can also boost awareness of your app through the use of user generated content.
Convince people to share success stories from using your app in the form of comments, photos or videos and you’ll start to see a boost in downloads in no time. You can also offer incentives to users for sharing your app with their friends, such as the $15 free ride promotion widely used by Uber in order to gain traction with users.
Tech review sites are some of most active websites on the web. Articles from these sites are often featured in top news results on major media outlets. As a result, getting a feature on one of these sites is guaranteed to bring thousands of unique visitors to your website and app download pages.
If you want to see an instant boost in the number of downloads for your app, pitching your app to review websites is one of the best ways to get traffic as people tend to look for reviews right before they decide to buy. Given that there are thousands of app review sites, it is in your best interest to go after as many as possible. Here are 3 to start with:
App awards are designed to highlight the best apps in the marketplace. Therefore, if your app is nominated for or wins an award, it’s a pretty big deal. Participation in app awards can give your app some much needed free exposure as your app is likely to be mentioned in the app award site’s press releases and other news. Although the chances of winning will vary depending on your app idea, if you manage to beat out the competition, you’ll get to enjoy increased downloads and reviews of your app.
Here is a brief list of organizations that host app awards to help you get started:
You should also know that both Apple (Apple Design Awards) and Google (Google Play Awards) offer app awards. However, you can’t submit your app for nomination to these awards. You should strive to exceed the criteria that both the Apple Store and Google Play look for in determining app quality to boost your chances of being nominated for these awards.
Social sharing options allow your users to directly promote your app. As your users explore your app, they’ll be more than happy to share their discoveries with their friends and colleagues. By including social sharing options within your app, such as the ability to share their screens or share in-app content, you’ll make it easier for users to provide reviews of your app and bring in new users at the same time.
Another added benefit of in-app social sharing is that it will reveal which features your users find most beneficial, as well as, uncovering potential problems with your app’s design. Instead of having to spend money conducting in-app surveys, all you’ll need to do is simply review the content that is posted to social media about your app.
You can even take this approach one step further by suggesting hashtags for users to use when sharing content from your app. The hashtags will provide you with a way to obtain instant alerts about new content posted to social media regarding your app.
Reaching out to social media influencers can be extremely effective for promoting your app. Work on developing relationships with influencers as you will like need to reach out to them again and again as you release updates and new products.
To increase the odds that an editor will accept your pitch, put together a PR kit that will provide all of the information that a writer would need to create an article about your app. Your PR kit should include an app summary guide, a press release about the benefits of your app, screenshots, design collateral, videos, and company and founder bios and photos.
To learn more about app promotion strategies, contact us today. We can provide you with detailed advice and insights as you begin the early stages of planning your app to help you gain traction faster.
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