A Guide to Increasing Your Mobile App Downloads

You developed a stunning-looking, mobile app with lots of wonderful features. And guess what? It gets approved by Google and Apple app stores without much hassle. However, you still miss the bus when it comes to the number of app downloads. Why? Most probably, you failed on one or all of these aspects:

• Creating the right buzz about the app even before it was launched.
• Highlighting why your app is different in the ocean of maybe hundreds of similar apps.
• Not letting the app lose steam with the launch of new apps (scores of them emerge every single day).
• Most importantly, attracting and engaging the targeted audiences.

Suddenly, you realize how conveniently you forgot to involve the friendly social media platforms in your app’s promotion and marketing. Without wasting time any further, here’s how social media can make a huge difference in your app’s download statistics.

Start with:

• Knowing your audience
• Selecting the right time (days and hours) for social advertising
• Learning social media marketing or hiring the experts

Hire the Blue Birdie on Twitter

Twitter, as one of the most frequently accessed social platforms on mobile, may increase you app’s visibility and downloads dramatically. Here are some strategies you need to follow:

• Create and customize your Twitter account page in sync with your app design.
• The content you create for Twitter should be engaging as well as relevant to your app’s theme.
• Update tweets that are highly probable of getting re-tweeted or viral to maintain your connection with followers.
• Don’t overload images and hashtags (use them sparingly to avoid annoying readers).
• Request or ask, but don’t be shy about using your networks, influencers, followers and others to re-tweet.
• Run engaging competitions and offer rewards in the form of incentives.
• Find ways to connect your app to an upcoming event, festival or occasion.
• Optimize your website with Twitter buttons and feeds.
• Create infallible paid advertising campaigns for Twitter with ads that can’t be ignored. Use keywords, titles, names and embed app download URLs, and make separate ads for popular platforms like Android and iOS.
• Track every activity and measure the Twitter app marketing campaigns.

Book Space on Facebook

Facebook hosts amazing channels to connect with information-hungry users (in millions) and you get to choose and target the specific ones based on parameters like gender, age bracket, geographical location, interests, and histories. Here’s what you need to do:

• Create and customize the Facebook page keeping it in mood with your app.
• Update a lot of interesting, bankable and creditworthy content to build interest in your profile.
• Use direct marketing via emails by exporting your email list on Facebook and recognizing the active Facebook users.
• Watch Facebook users who have liked pages similar to yours and promote your page among them.
• Retarget and re-engage Facebook users who have recently visited your website (FB allows you to recognize them).
• Create good ads and use their variations (use different images, FB really loves it). Don’t miss the encouraging calls-to-action.
• Use Facebook’s segmented behavior and interest targeting feature to select the most relevant audiences.
• Use App Install and Engagement advertisements that are specifically aimed at app marketing.
• Of course, analyze the ROI the monitor the campaigns.

Gain Insta-Exposure on Instagram

Instagram ads have ever-increasing click value (almost twice than that of Facebook ads). It’s the hottest photo and video sharing social platform online and a hit among advertisers of all sorts. Here’s how app marketing on Instagram should work:

• Choose the best-visual and convertible photo ads (use an exciting app screenshot) that instantly grab attention. Make sure you keep in mind the right size, resolution and other aspects. Brand logos and images should be incorporated, too.
• Select the right campaign goals. Instagram offers options like Page Post Engagement (to make your account highly popular among users), Clicks to Website (to drive traffic to your app website), Video Views (to offer video demos of your app) and Mass Awareness (to be at the top of Instagram feeds).
• Set some good advertising campaigns by posting videos that would auto-play. Make those 30-second videos exclusively interesting.
• Choose the most relevant Call-to-Action options among ‘Book Now,’ ‘Install Now,’ ‘Download,’ ‘Learn More,’ ‘Play Game,’ ‘Shop Now,’ and ‘Watch Video.’
• Use relevant hashtags in the right amount and create great captions.
• And last, don’t forget to measure the results.

Add More Pluses with Google +

Surprised? You must have not have thought of finding the ‘ghost town’ social platform in the list. However, you forgot the power of Google’s search engine optimization that can be of great advantage for your app downloads. Here’s how to use Google + for app advertising:

• Publish content as regularly as you would do on Facebook or Twitter. Don’t miss talking about your app’s great highlights in some of the posts.
• Optimize your post (especially the first 45 characters) with relevant keywords (don’t over-stuff) and make it really attention-grabbing.
• Use popular hashtags that social media users use to browse.
• Make great use of the ‘Links’ section and add URLs of your most popular websites.
• Enjoy increased visibility with images and videos in your posts.
• A custom URL with Google + (that can be claimed by passing parameters like at least 10 followers and accounts more than 30-days old) helps you get better indexed.

Accept the Reddit Challenge

What’s the challenge? Reddit is undoubtedly the most difficult social media platform for marketing. You must be familiar with the rules and do’s and don’ts to avoid getting completely banned. However, if used carefully, it can add impressive app downloads to your kitty. Here are some tips:

• Review the audiences’ behavior on Reddit and analyze who among them would be interested in knowing about a new app. Check out the categories relevant to your app’s theme (entertainment, education, technology or others).
• Choose the top subreddits like r/startups that are highly relevant for your app promotion and would allow you to talk about the app without enraging the readers.
• Be ready to contribute to the Reddit community. Reddit users have the prime aims of getting informed, taught or helped. Rather than bluntly advertising the app, entertain these needs to first impress them. Remember that the first target would be to get maximum upvotes so that your posts easily climb to the top.
• Avoid using link shorteners as these are conveniently ignored.
• Use infographics, drawings, graphs and other similar tools.
• It’s better to create specific content only for Reddit. Avoid recycling the content.
• Don’t forget to ask for tips and feedback rather than being a preacher all the time.
• Finally, be honest in the approach. Rather than advertising, use an announcing tone to introduce the app.

Generate Interest on Pinterest

Pinterest’s partnership with Apple to allow direct installation of iOS mobile apps using ‘app pins’ is indeed an exciting news for app marketers. The celebrated photo-sharing website is another social media destination to boost app downloads. Here’s how:

• Create outstanding and irresistible images that pinners would love to click and repin. It would help your app pin attain high visibility. Pinterest allows creating different app visuals, adding to the chances of your app pins indexed in more searches.
• Link the pinned images to your website and app pins to the app store URLs.
• Invest in the advertising campaigns using ‘promoted pins’ that are popular for relevant keywords and search terms.
• Create a board where the website users can watch app demos and talk about your app through reviews, testimonials and feedbacks.
• Add relevant images and not just your app’s visuals to your board.
• Hire an influencer to create a Pinterest board and add some great pins to attract more pinners.
• Most importantly, be a resource full of great information and updates.

Squeeze the Downloads from the ‘Tube’

You got it right! YouTube, the live video streaming websites which requires no introduction at all, is one of your most treasured resorts for app marketing. And you don’t need to spend a fortune by creating videos, as there are many other ways to encourage app downloads through it. Here are the best ones:

• Create video ads and cleverly include the call-to-action in the first few seconds. If the viewers are impressed by the content (that should be nothing but brilliant), they would click and arrive on the app landing pages. As TruView charges for ads that are watched for more than 30 seconds, you may save considerably with this trick.
• Create your channel and optimize its name and other meta data using relevant keywords associated with your app. Use keywords in the playlist titles as well.
• Add relevant videos to your channel.
• Trust the good old influencers with channels (the popular ones with huge numbers of subscribers) similar to yours and request them to help in your app marketing.
• Invest in different YouTube ads like display ads, sponsored ads, overlay ads and skippable and non-skippable video ads.
• Of course, create videos, trailers and compilations depending on your budget.

After you finish reading the aforementioned tips, you should feel fully equipped to launch your social media app marketing campaigns. Just remember to make it a continuous process and refresh your efforts if you are serious about drawing great business profits from your app.

Author: Mehul Rajput is a CEO of Mindinventory, a leading mobile app development company which provides best iPhone app development and Android app development Services. Follow him on Twitter at @mehul_sap2004.