With over 197 billion app downloads in 2017 it comes as no surprise that more and more businesses are taking a mobile app strategy serious, and even more importantly they are integrating it with their social media. Although the mobile app space is becoming increasingly crowded it has never been so important to make your app stand out from the crowd.
While developers have the option of paid advertising to increase demand for downloads, this can become a significant financial burden and act as a deterrent to businesses plunging into the app world! In this scenario, social media helps level the playing field to some degree, as social media offers a more cost effective approach to increasing demand. However this task is not for the faint hearted and you need a solid social media strategy in place to ramp up demand, and ultimately increase downloads.
Where do you start?
Personality! Something that I talk about all the time when managing clients social media accounts, this is absolutely vital. At the end of the day you wouldn’t talk to a sales poster so don’t talk like one! Social media is an interactive platform that should engage your target audience, believe me the more engaged audience you have the quicker you will reach success!
App marketing is more about following your instincts and really becoming a brand, your app needs to have a voice and social media can help shout about it! Interact with followers and always respond to their feedback, remember that the connection is key. People follow you on Facebook and Twitter because they are interested in what your app offers and represents. Abandon the sell, sell, sell all the time. Instead, focus on content that helps your target audience, offer solutions to their problems, and educate them.
Time for action!
Now you know social media is great, you need to understand how to utilise it. Remember, mobile app marketing is not about working harder it’s about working smarter! This way you can maximise app downloads and increase your brand awareness.
Facebook is almost a go-to in the social media world and is essential for an app developer looking to promote their new creation. But before you jump straight in, it’s important to map out your objectives. What are you actually looking to achieve? Brand exposure, page likes or audience engagement? It is important that you choose your primary objective.
CTA – This goes without saying but you need to ‘strategically’ include call to actions within your content to improve your performance. Remember that people have got an interest in what you offer to like your page, so guide them into what you need from them.
Targeting – Think that targeting is just for Ads? Think again! Facebook has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to our interests and behaviours, so it comes as no surprise that pages can utilise this information to reach a specific audience like never before. These features include location, age, gender, work, relationship status, education, and hundreds more!
Engaging Content – Facebook’s news feed algorithm ranks content with loads of likes, comments and shares near the top. Although for the most part it’s chronological, it’s always important to publish content that will add value to your audience, not just generic fluff.
With over 200 billion Tweets per year, Twitter can become your saviour when is comes to marketing your app. The large proportion of active Twitter users are on mobile so this is a great place to start for reaching your target audience.
Retweets – One of the biggest forms of engagement across the platform is retweets so you need to craft content which makes it effortless to share. Twitter users engage with high quality visuals and strong CTA’s as they are used to reading less because of the previous character limit.
Timing – Twitter is probably the most time sensitive social media network of them all, as most active users are watching TV whilst scrolling their newsfeed, so if there’s a popular TV show on make sure your Tweeting with relevant hashtags to take full advantage!
Use #’s Sparingly – One of the biggest mistakes I see on social media accounts almost daily is the overuse of hashtags, It is best to use 1-3 hashtags per message, this will give you a boost in reach and not irritate your audience. Always remember relevance is key!
Conclusion
While mobile apps are on the rise and there are many social media networks and tools available, a strategy is paramount. You’ve just invested a lot of time and money into developing your app, so make sure you take your time, research your target market and build an effective social media strategy, and you’ll be well on your way to increasing downloads.
