As you may be able to guess, the world will keep going digital, more and more apps will keep coming up. Put in a name or keyword and there are so many apps popping up. Many of them work well, do great things, and are ultimately awesome apps. Making your app stand out is not about having a great app anymore. A great app is only the beginning. To make an app worth downloading or to even give your app a chance at all to get downloaded, you have to make the noise about your app, go out and get people’s attention. There is an how to get users for your app and we have curated some of these ways for you.
1. Build With App Store Optimization
This almost works like SEO but requires more than writing. It is a great way to get your work to be noticed. The goal of App Store Optimization is to let users find your app through the app store so that they can consider an install. It focuses on keyword and conversion rate optimization.
To optimize your app for the app store, there are simple rules to it.
- Use a good title. You cannot be careless or uncreative with your titles. If for some reason, you cannot come up with a title that reminds us of what you do, you may add a brief description e.g ‘a cooking guide.’ The goal is to make your first impression understandable.
- Have a striking icon.
- Put your strongest points in the beginning of the description of your app to encourage readers to ‘read more.’
- Use keywords. The easiest way to understand keywords is by imagining what a user would fill out in the search tab when they are trying to get your app or a related app in the store.
- Try to have positive ratings. The value of your reviews affects how your app is rated on the store. The better the ratings you have, the better it is for your visibility.
- Choose the right section. This can determine whether or not your app remains in the background. Do not put your business app in the entertainment section or vice versa. Try to pick the right section your app belongs.
- Adding foreign languages gives you a competitive advantage. Note that this would depend on the app.
2. Promote The App On Your Website
Your goal is to get more publicity for your app and to get mobile user acquisition. This is easily done on your website. If you have a corporate website, make a separate page for your app and a discreet banner that leads to the page in the footer or side areas. Also add a download link on your mobile website, since visitors are the target audience for your app. It is also important to not make the site complicated or unnecessarily long.
3. Allow Social Media Do The Job
Social media is a real place with real people and putting yourself there may help your app development more than you think. You can leverage social media for your app in several ways.
- Blog about it. Tell people something new every day, or at least every week. Give them reasons to come back. To get people reading your blog, comment on blogs on a similar topic. If your comments are interesting enough, people will look up your profile, and read your blog.
- Facebook. Everyone is on Facebook and many of them are your prospective app users. Build your app a Facebook page – mind you, make that a business page, not a personal profile, or you could get into trouble. Write interesting stuff on the page wall, and invite all of your friends. Ask them to invite all of their friends, too!
- Twitter. Twitter is a great way to get in touch with people you don’t know. Since you can jump into any conversation, you can search for people who want a utility like yours and tell them about it.
- Google+. G+ is still a little new, and the userbase isn’t as high as Facebook or Twitter, but the engagement is amazing. Say something interesting, or even a little controversial there, and you will get the conversation going.
Consider hanging your QR also. If you own a local business and the app pertains to your business, hang up your QR code prominently so that customers can get your app instantly just by scanning the code!
Also, employ email marketing. If the app is a start-up and you have no subscriber base yet, ensure you create a lot of buzz about your app on social networks and offline. Once you do, you can collect emails and then continue engaging users with email campaigns. If you already have a base of subscribers who know and trust your company, email marketing could help influence existing subscribers to download your app.
4. Leverage In-App Advertising
It sometimes feels like the whole world is on Facebook and Twitter and it may be true but it is certain that the whole world is not active on those platforms. However, you can purchase active Twitter followers from the trusted service which is safe and legit. Users who are not actively using social media can be reached by online and in-app ads. A lot of app users discover apps while using applications and many of them consider those apps. To save resources, you can consider reciprocity with other app owners where you conduct cross-advertising to promote each other’s apps for free.
5. Think Outside The Internet
If your app is somewhat localized, then publish information about it in local newspapers or bulletins. Also, find forums where people are discussing apps like your app or needing your functionality. Don’t go in with a heavy plug. Try something gentler like “I’ve actually been working on something like that. Are you interested in hearing about it?” rather than “Get my app, it’ll fix your life.”
Ensure you develop an effective public relations system for your app. Think of your target audience and what media they are most likely attracted to reading and put this in messages to them.
You may use various materials to promote your app such as Banners, Stickers, Printed magazines or newspapers, Leaflets, Posters. You’d have to be creative with what you put in these materials as content to attract them to your app. Thanks to QR codes, you can easily redirect a user from printed material to a website or directly to the app store.
6. Use Google Search Engine Advertisements
If you are wondering how to get people to download your app through search engines, here is how. Create search engine advertisements by launching Google AdWords. Only ensure you select keywords well. Select the appropriate keywords to pop up in the appropriate target audience’s search, and then use filters to select visitors who use mobile devices.
7. Update Your App Regularly
Updating your app regularly is a smart way to get traffic to your app and enhance mobile user acquisition. This puts the app in the “What’s New” section again and gives more people the opportunity to interact with your app for the first time or again.
Summary
Using all of the tips listed are good for your app but it is even more important that you analyze your audience and stick to the plan that works best for them. Remember the goal is not to have a load of work before you but to get more app users for your app so it is important that you work smartly.