One of the important things about optimizing your app marketing is knowing your 80/20, which means cutting out time wasters and focusing on what’s working or testing new methods until you do.
I think social media can be beneficial, however I also see people wasting their time on it. Some apps are naturally made for social media (like photo apps), while others not so much. Which means just because everyone touts social media as a great marketing strategy, doesn’t mean it’s right for all your apps. Ask yourself: what is your data saying?
It’s one thing to get the word out or a couple likes on your page, but does it actually convert into more downloads? You need to analyze your efforts to make sure your time spent is working strategically for you.
Here are the top social media platforms and how to analyze them for your app’s marketing:
Cons: Maintenance & content creation, customer support, time-consuming
How to use FB: Post interesting content about not only your apps, but funny/interesting articles or videos. Use a content aggregate, like HootSuite, so that you can put it on autopilot with some great content.
Cons: time-consuming, only good for downloads if influential people tweeting your app,
How to use Twitter: Networking and industry advice.
YouTube
Cons: time-consuming to make videos, getting enough traffic to videos
Why you would use it: App “trailers” that demo an app’s capabilities have become increasingly popular over the last year, and with Apple’s recent promotions of app trailers (check out: Clumsy Ninja) on the App Store, you’ll be seeing these becoming more important.
How to use YouTube: Again – it’s about time vs reward. I think trailers are a great way to demo your app, however after a couple of trailers you should be measuring your results. Are you getting traffic to your videos? Higher downloads vs apps without trailers? A well-done trailer takes time so make sure you’re doing the most with it.
Pros: targeted demographics, lots of users, makes viral spreading simple for users
Cons: time-consuming to create pins, getting enough people to share your pins
Why you would use it: If your app has a specific niche, this could be a great funnel for outside traffic. It’s important your pins and app design “fits” with the overall themes of Pinterest.
How to use Pinterest: Previously this was a huge time waster, but I’ve been seeing more and more apps hitting the Pinterest boards. Keep in mind that game apps won’t exactly do well here – think fitness, photo, beauty, and lifestyle apps.
Pros: great visual marketing, a ton of users ready to share, virality
Cons: must make sense – not all apps should use
Why you would use it: Great for photo apps and social apps.
How to use Instagram: Showcase your app’s cool photo features or viral appeal. Flipagram actually has a link right on their main screen that says – “Want some inspiration? Check out what others are creating!” – which then links to their app’s Instagram page. It essentially replaced instructions by demo-ing straight from their best marketing tool: Instragram.
AE members, Sophie & Stefanie, used Instagram as a method to track what their users were doing with their app – and discovered a new app idea in the process.
Implementing Your Social Media Strategy
Start slow and make sure you’re perfecting one platform before moving on to another. It won’t do you any good to join all platforms, spread yourself thin, and not put the most into each one. That will only leave you with a lot of work and minimal results. Most importantly though, it’s about constantly checking in with your efforts so that you can put 100% into your most
effective strategies.