As mobile app or mobile game developers, there is one thing we all know – the market is absolutely saturated. There is also one thing we all wish to know – how can I propel my app to success?
With the Apple App Store and Google Play hosting up to 2.2M and 2.6M apps respectively, app users are bombarded with a huge variety to choose from. Having your app available on app stores no longer promises downloads.
Say you have a great app, one that solves real issues, is user-friendly and has excellent user experience. You list it on the app store. Then now what? No app will sell itself. Tons of great apps still fail because people do not know about it or do not know how to use it. This explains the high failure rate for mobile apps.
So why does it fail? The lack of marketing!
Many times, developers view their apps as apps. That’s dangerous. To regard your apps as just an app, you are missing the whole business aspect of it – financing, customer support, marketing and so on. Developers have to think of their apps as a business, one which they need to put in extra effort besides developing it. Considering how mobile app users are venturing out of the app store in search for reviews, there presents a need for app developers to market their apps through other platforms.
Be the winner in this game of mobile app marketing
The one way to achieve a large amount of high-quality installs would be through influencer marketing. What better way to spread information about your app than engaging these influential people to try it and showcase it to their community? Influencer marketing has been proven to bring mobile apps a level higher.
Some approaches include getting influencers to post a video of their reaction and experience while using the app, include a call-to-action and clickable link on their social media profile to install the app, or even dedicating a segment of the app to the influencer – be it a game character representing them or a place to view their video. This would get them involved and passionate about your app.
#1 Influencers allow you to perform targeting
The influencer you engage should match the personality of your app. For example, you could select influencers with a follower base that’s interested in animated gaming for an angry bird game app and those interested in knowledge-based games for a sudoku app. The selection of your influencer is highly dependent on your app’s target audience.
#2 Influencers get you quality downloads
In the world of mobile app, quality download is crucial. Leads generated from influencer marketing generally have this characteristic. This is especially so when influencers upload videos of themselves using the app on their social media platforms such as YouTube or Instagram. This enables potential users to be educated about the app, hence those who download would know exactly what to expect. Downloading the app then signifies a genuine interest and will result in a higher retention rate.
#3 Influencers introduce your app to people
Influencers are able to generate the initial buzz and create conversation surrounding your app. The more enthusiastically a mobile app or game is played or promoted by an influencer, the chances of people downloading it would increase and this will translate to even more people using it. These new installs and reviews would then hopefully get you a ranking in the app store and from there, people will naturally discover your app.
Have a clear strategic plan
An important tip is to plan your influencer marketing strategy before launching your app, and ensure that there are plans to scale up your marketing efforts as your app advances. For example, engage 5 influencers in the first phrase, moving on to 7 in the second, 10 in the third and so on. This needs to be done in advance so content and posts can be appropriately curated and aligned.
Also, remember that engaging a few micro influencers who can reach out to their own set of niche followers would be more effective than one upscale influencer.
Measure your success
Lastly, besides all these planning, be sure to measure the success of your influencer marketing campaign. The purpose of running a campaign is diminished if you do not know what results it produces. It is important to analyse the KPIs, such as number of views on the video, number of likes, number of installs, engagement rate, etc. This weekly or monthly tracking will allow continuous revision of strategy to garner better results.
All these may seem tedious but one may choose to learn more about such planning and analytical techniques through the various online courses available or consider an influencer management platform to execute the marketing campaign for you instead.
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