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In this sixth weekly app promotion tip together with our friends at App Promo, we’re tuning into the marketing power that is social media. If you’re not already using communications channels such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, you’re really missing out on powerful, yet inexpensive marketing tools. In this article, learn how to maximise the opportunities with each of these social media channels and properly brand your app with success. Find out how after the jump.

Social media has become the holy grail for marketers and it’s no wonder that if it’s done properly, a brand can see tremendous success for significantly less money than traditional marketing and advertising. But where social media saves you in money, it makes up in its need of significant time and effort. If you choose to use these as part of your marketing strategy for your app, make sure you are invested to keep your networks active. Social networks need constant and consistent attention if they are to grow and be a successful part of your marketing strategy.

Create a Facebook page

The first thing that comes to anyone’s mind when you mention social media is Facebook. The effectiveness of Facebook comes from its social reach. Interactions with your product Facebook page by one person has a ripple effect with their entire network, meaning you only need to convert one to instantly communicate to many. Facebook has made it pretty easy for brands to market their products through Pages. Your first step is to create a Facebook page for your app. If you already have a page for your brand, update it to market your app.

Some key marketing opportunities to take advantage on your Facebook page:

• Use your Info About & Description fields to highlight what your app is and the benefits they will provide to your user.
• Update your Info Website section to include download links to your application.
• Create an album featuring screenshots of your app as well as the QR codes.
•  Take advantage of defining a username (or vanity URL) for your Facebook page after reaching 25+ fans.

Your Facebook page will only be effective if you have traffic and fans, so you will need to include plans to grow this page as part of your marketing. Running Facebook ads is one way to do this. But also be sure to include mention of your Facebook page in all of your marketing collateral, including your website.

As you gain fans to your page, you are going to want to interact with them. Some effective ways to keep them engaged are:

• Create a poll surveying the most utilised scenario for your app.
• Start a discussion topic related to your app’s subject matter or asking for feedback.
• Ask questions to your fans via your wall.
• Post your announcements and product releases.
• Leverage your Tweets and YouTube videos.

Facebook’s “insight” reporting is extremely useful and, beyond the social reach factor, is the other reason marketers and brands gravitate towards using it. Be sure to review your Facebook reports often to get a good understanding of your demographic and use this information to better your marketing and your product.

Be present on Twitter

The key to Twitter is to see it more as a broadcast tool than a community builder. You still have an opportunity to grow a following and interact with your audience using this social network, but it is less personal compared to Facebook. Be sure to update your profile on Twitter with your app logo. Use the 160 characters they give you to state what your app is about and include the download URL. Once you are up and running, start following to get followed. Follow people and brands that align well with your offering. The secret to growing your Twitter community is to follow others. When someone follows you, follow them back. You can increase the discovery of your Twitter page through the use of Twitter directories but avoid opportunities to pay for followers, as Twitter heavily frowns on this and could suspend your account.

Like Facebook, you are going to want to keep your Twitter feed active. And also like Facebook, you aren’t going to do well by hard selling your audience. Make sure you treat your tweets like micro-blog posts – something meaningful to you, your brand, and what your app is all about. It’s best to construct your tweets even shorter than the 140 characters Twitter gives you to set them up for re-tweeting. Re-tweeting is basically re-posting somebody’s tweet in your Twitter feed as is as commonly done as creating new Tweets. Your feed should be a good mixture of tweets you write and re-tweets from your followers.

You will also want to make sure that you are using hashtags in your tweets. Hashtags are used by Twitter to organise tweets. This makes it easy for users to search and find tweets related to a certain topic or subject matter. Become familiar with the hashtags your followers use and incorporate them into your own posts. The use of hashtags will help introduce your tweets to an audience outside of your following providing an opportunity for you to gain more followers.

Get active on YouTube

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million. YouTube is undeniably the powerhouse of online video that is why it is a fantastic marketing opportunity for your app. Create a YouTube channel for your app making sure that your app brand or icon, description and download links are in your profile.

Next, shoot and upload your videos. You are definitely going to want to create a demo video for your app. These are becoming exceedingly common and can be leveraged in some app store product pages, as well as your other social networks and your website. For any video you upload, take some time to write a description that will convince users to view, but one that is also packed with keywords to help your video show up in the search results. YouTube also equips you with the ability to embed links in your video through the use of annotations. This is especially effective in your app videos to help drive users to download the app right from the video.

We also got in touch with Marius Mailat, an experienced developer and founder of the biggest Android community in Romania, Androider.ro. Marius agrees on the importance of utilising social media, and further adds his own marketing tips on how he uses them.

- For an Android developer or a small ISV (Independent Software Vendor), nowadays, it is much easier to go with a Facebook page for an application, instead of creating a microsite. Using a Facebook page as an app allows your audience to easily get information about new features, to report problems, and get fast replies to messages. Facebook isn’t the only solution available, quite a lot of apps are now also offering support using getsatistfaction.com or even Twitter. I also make sure that the sites I use include a comment module, which allows my users to get support and information using their Facebook, Twitter or Google+ accounts.

Marius Mailat, Android developer

Okay, developers, so are you promoting your apps on social media today? What kinds of activities do you see the most success with? Share your comments (and questions) with us in the Comments section below.

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App Promo is a leading app marketing and strategy firm whose goal is to assist developers and app owners in succeeding in the business of applications. App Promo provides services geared towards increasing discovery, optimising revenue and ensuring better positioning of applications to set them up for success. 

More information

• Read our previous App Promo developer tip on search engine marketing and optimisation.
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Źródło: App Promo Tip #6: Reach out through social media

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