What is the best channel to market your app through? This question of course depends on a number of variables, but the first step is actually knowing the options that are out there. The traditional channels are well-known, and well-worn. There are, however, some new growth channels that can be used to really turbocharge your app.
Best known for its beautiful curated boards, filled with images that can be “pinned”, Pinterest is set to double its ad revenue to almost $1 billion, buoyed by improved mobile search capabilities. Its 250 million (according to Pinterest) monthly active users are highly engaged and can be targeted based on numerous metrics. This presents a massive opportunity for mobile marketers. Gone are the days of the Pinterest “stereotype” audience – today over 50% of new signups are men, over 50% are international, and 80% of users make use of their mobile app. This presents marketers with an unprecedented opportunity. Pinterest offers Promoted App Pins, that enable users to download both Android and iOS apps directly. One tap and the app can be downloaded directly onto a user’s device. The platform also offers impressive stats and analytics, and integrates with a number of performance measurement platforms. Getting started is easy. You create a static or video pin that links to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. There’s also the option of creating ads with Ads Manager which is especially useful for bulk edits. The next step is to choose your optimization strategy: you can optimize for installs, or for traffic. Optimizing for installs entails setting a target CPI, which automatically adjusts CPC bids. You pay when a user clicks through to your app store page. Optimizing for traffic is run like a regular CPC campaign, and you can manually adjust bids. Check out this handy guide for Pinterest App Install Creative ideas.
Content Marketing
Content marketing has been the go-to strategy when it comes to SEO. This channel has great potential over and above SEO, to be used to drive app downloads. Content platforms such as Outbrain and Taboola can seriously increase your traffic and return great ROI, if used correctly. On the most basic level, you can boost interesting content on these platforms, which gets users to a landing page and “warmed up”, after which you can direct them to your app store page. Taboola provides some excellent “Best Practices”, especially when it comes to app download creatives. These include preparing users for the “direct to app store” experience, using keywords to filter the right users, descriptive headlines, campaign set up and a whole lot more. Outbrain gives a case study where an app developer grew their user base by 80% using the platform. These platforms can be a great way to turbocharge your app’s growth.
A New Way of Appealing To Your Market
One of the biggest dangers when it comes to new channels, is not “speaking the language” of that channel. For example, using the same creatives from your Instagram in Snapchat campaigns will get you nowhere with Snap users. There, the creatives have to be edgy, millennial-facing, and fit in with the leading influencers of the platform. Similarly with new channels like Pinterest, Outbrain or Taboola; your message has to be carefully crafted and specific to the platform, as well as consistent across everything from creatives, to hashtags, to wording used.
New Channels – New Approach
New channels present incredible opportunities to grow your business. By partnering with growth experts like the team at Moburst, you can leverage all channels to boost performance and hit all your KPIs.
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