How To Get Your New App On The Viral Highway?

Today we’ll discuss how to crack the toughest nut of all: How to get your new mobile App, website or video, on the viral highway?

As mobile Apps became the hottest trend of 2012, reaching almost 1 Million iPhone-iPad Apps, and quarter of a million of Android Apps – it was only natural for the competition to become as fierce as hell.

On the dawn of 2013, there are tens of thousands of App developers worldwide who work 9 hours a day to create the next Angry Birds and gain a massive profit off their App.

They don’t mind the competition nor the fact that less than 5 percent of all developers have gotten rich after developing a mobile application.

They are going for the gold, and the gold can only be found once your App has gone viral. The math is simple; more users, more word-of-mouth publications, more co-operations and financial opportunities.

Also, if your model is a freebie App with in-App ads, you will not see a dime if you can’t reach thousands of users.

Here are some serious secrets and takeaways to pay attention to when coming up with your next viral App. By following them, you will not rely only on Luck.

Value
Before people will voluntarily share your App, they will have to find the value of it, which means giving them a reason not to delete the App after the first roll.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to invent the next WhatsApp or Waze, you can just as much come up with a game App in which you toss people at aliens.

Don’t forget that the most ‘Plotless’ games have great Value in them: they pass one’s time and get us hooked on our devices for hours.

Visualization
After the user has graced you with 30 seconds to realize the Value of the App, he starts paying attention to the visual end of the App.

The game’s visualization includes creating a lovable icon to escort the game in the different indexes, and top-tier in-game graphics.

The App Store is full of top free Apps with lame graphics that are only made to earn money from in-App advertisements. They are unbearable, and most users won’t spend more than half a second playing them.

Don’t go wild, because game Apps are the most expensive type of Apps to develop, and HD graphics can make the development costs cross the 200K USD limit.

Just make it nice, sweet and fuzzy, so your user will feel at home when playing it.

Shareable
Include the popular social networks APIs in the game’s engine, so your users can share their highest score or achievements.

That’s by the far the most obvious yet neglected feature to be added, pronto!

Gamification
People are in-love with themselves, and you can’t fight them – so join them.

Create Gamification features that will escort your user as he advances. If he achieves a new highest score, raise his in-game grade from “Beginner” to “Pro”.

If he tweets or shares his highest score, make him a “VIP-for-a-day!”

Remember not to force it in and make it look sleazy or fake; instead, blend it in the App’s plotline or user-interface in a smooth and warm way.

Make the user feel it’s the most natural thing that could happen.

Optimize for Google and Apple
You can’t forget the basics of SEO – at the App Store as well at Google’s search results.

Determine your desired keywords and implement them wisely in your App Store Title and description.

Include them in your social profiles vanity URL and ‘about’ sections, as well as throughout your App website.

Focus more on Copywriting and on the user-end, rather than the “engine-end”. Make your titles catchy and inviting.
And don’t forget inviting screenshots in your iTunes download page!

Off-App marketing
The online arena offers you an endless variety of resources to market your App in, at low costs, so use them wisely. Here are my most recommended outlets:

1) App reviews sites; they get 50 App reviews requests a day, so be patient.
2) Tech blogs; you can offer to guest post in your expertise in exchange for mentioning your App’s iTunes page at the bottom.
3) Submit your App blog’s posts to social bookmarks and social networks.
4) Consider hiring a PR agency to place your App updates in major news sites such as TechCrunch, Mashable etc.

Social Activity
Your App MUST exist in the social networks, so if you don’t have the time to operate it – hire someone.

You have to be there for your fans when they search for your twitter or FB account, and furthermore, put your money and time in creating compelling YouTube videos and SlideShares that relate to your App’s niche.

The social activity can pretty much determine the 60% of your chances to go Viral, so act wise.

Follow App reviewers on Twitter and mention them in your tweets. Throw in a few dimes for a well-planned Facebook PPC campaign to fill your App’s fan page with a few fans to begin with.

Share your App blog posts on Google+ and LinkedIn.

Summary
To sum it up, the first thing you need to have in mind is the user-end. Will he enjoy the App? Will he have something to go back to?

Will you give him a good enough reason to tell his friends about it?

Then, you need to put lots of efforts into getting him engaged further by gamification tactics and social activity.
Act clean and natural, and both Apple and Google will make it worth your while.

What About You?
So, how do you plan to make your next App go viral? Did you use one of these methods? Let us know in the comments.

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About the Author
Yoav Vilner is Co-Founder of Ranky – a team helping startups grow.  Also available at twitter.com/YoavVilner