DO YOU KNOW HOW

TO PROMOTE AN

APP?

App stores of both Android and iOS are nearly flooding. Together they

have more than 2 million apps for smartphones and tablet devices, but

not all of them are performing well. Many of them have been striving

even for a respectful number of downloads since their launch. Even if

developers have spent weeks or months in mobile application

development, don’t know what goes wrong so that the app does never

get desired market exposure.

First and foremost, an app is a digital product, and if you are aware of

this fact then you should also be aware of all the steps that marketers

take to market or promote their products. Although strategy will

change but a campaign is still there. Let this piece of information help

mobile developers promote their applications.

Make a website and micro-site.

If you have more than one app, you must have a website where all

your apps can be displayed. Many users want to check the website of

the developers before downloading an app. A website will also be the

destination point of all your app-promotion campaign. You can also

make separate micro-site for separate application. A one or two-page

website will work.

Pre-launch Campaign

No one is going to have a dream that a fantastic app is out there in

app stores if you have not done anything for the app’s pre-launch

campaign. A pre-launch campaign helps audience build interest

several days before the actual release of an application. The website

intended for pre-launch campaign is supposed to showcase all the

major features that the app will have. If you don’t have real video

because the app is still in the progress, animated videos will let

audience imagine what the app will look like. You can ask audience

for their suggestions by encouraging them for filling a form and

allowing them to suggest features. A suggestion section can help in

two ways. First, it will help you collect audience’s email IDs which you

can later use to send information about the release data of the

application and second, it will let you know what audience wants in

that app.

A blog or forum, or both

Add a blog to the main website of the app and begin posting

interesting content to draw the attention of

future-users. You can begin it either before or

after the launch of the app. Both ways will work.

In the blog you can also share that you have

implemented a new feature. This will keep your

audience engaged. A forum will also help

audience clear their doubts about app support. For example, not all

Android phones support all the apps and thus a forum by developers

will help them easily finding their answers. Also, you can contact to

those blogger who write and share content in similar app-niche. Try

pitching your app to their blogs.

Use social media sites.

Social media sites are rocking. They are fit for almost all types of

product promotion, whether it’s software or a machine. Google+,

Facebook and Twitter are three major social media

sites. LinkedIn can also be a choice, but it’s not a good

place when it comes to promote a game; instead;

promoting an enterprise application on LinkedIn sounds

good. Create pages on these social media sites where you need to

post content several times in a week.

Announce a release data

Once you succeed to create hype around your app through social

media sites, it is time you announce its release date. The release date

will quickly increase the number of downloads. Send emails to people

that you are launching app on a particular date. This will make your

efforts more trustworthy for audience and of course, release the app

on said date. No excuse please.

Respond to reviews of users

If your app is really useful, you can ask users to review and rate it in

app stores. Apart from good reviews, you will get mix or bad reviews

two but don’t be disappointed for bad reviews. Bad reviews offer you

an opportunity to improve your existing app.

Put your app in reviews websites

Websites like AppAdvice, AppStoreApps, 148apps and several others

provide insights of an app. These companies can create enough buzz

if they list your app on their websites. These lists may come in the

search of users who, after reading reviews provided by the review-

website, will decide on downloading or not downloading the app.

Create a how-to and FAQ.

There are a number of how-to websites where how-to articles for the

app can be posted. These articles help users clear their doubts about

particular app features or settings. Similarly, you can also create FAQ

on the website of the app. The FAQ is supposed to provide answers to

all the possible issues that users can experienced while using the app.

App-page optimization

App page optimization is nothing but the SEO of an application. For

every app submission, app stores generate a dedicated page where

developers can put description, videos and images of the app. Try

making the page as informative as possible. Provide all features that

the app has. Present them in bullets so that users can easily go

through them. Also, a perfect combination of keywords and key-

phrases is necessary. But do not let keywords or key-phrases affect

the actual sense of information. Put the best of the screenshots and

videos in the page of the app and also keep responding to both

positive and negative reviews written by users.

Go in the field, get press and speak about the app.

Not all the parts of a promotion campaign can be executed online. For

some of them, developers need to go in field too. Get press and for

this purpose, developers need to manually reach out journalists.

Similar to this, you can also research the events that match your app

theme and get chance to speak about your app. This will really set you

in market as an authority.

Apply for awards

There are a number of forums that provide awards

based on the performance and uses of a product.

Winning even a single award is going to establish your

app as a brand in market. And most interesting part of these awards is

that you can apply for them online.

Create Facebook Fan page of likewise users and also, contact

admins of related Facebook pages.

Mobile developers can also create Facebook Fan page of likewise

users and share content among them on regular basis. This will keep

audience engaged. Also, they can contact the administrators of similar

Facebook pages which have 100+ likes and ask them to share about

your app; however you need to give them solid reason to do so.

Social media integration in the app

You can also put social buttons in an app and encourage users to

share about the progress in the app. In case of game, you can

encourage users to share the update after completing each level

successfully. This will let the connections of particular user’s social

profile know that he/she is using the app and making good score too.

Share content on Pinterest and Stumbleupon

Pinterest, as a visual discovery tool, provides good exposure to

whatever is posted on this. Here you can post images of your app,

blog, infographics and various types of

visual content. But make sure that images

you have put on Pinterest, are striking

enough to hold audience. You can also go

with Stumbleupon’s paid discovery which

will get you hundreds of visitors per day in limited budget.

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