How Holden Caulfield Would Make Your App Go Viral
With the number of available apps well into seven digits, it gets harder each day to make a new offering stand out from the crowd. As a top mobile application development company, we would like to help anyone and everyone that is developing an app by sharing how Holden Caulfield would make your app go viral.
“Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.” – Holden Caulfield
Obviously a wise man like Caulfield, certainly a pre-cursor for the Most Interesting Man in the World, understands the delicate nature of a viral hit.
Holden Caulfield’s Tips to make your App go Viral
Create Something Special – “People never think anything is anything really. I’m getting goddam sick of it.” While Holden wasn’t talking about apps at the time, it sure sounds like it. Honestly most apps are pretty amazing pieces of software that the world would be overjoyed with ten years ago, but today you need something special that really knocks their socks off. You need an app that provides true value to a user by solving a problem or filling a need or even solving a problem much better than something else does.
Have a Great Name – Holden Caulfield. That is a great name in its own way. While it might not be what you would name your kids, it certainly stands out; which is exactly what your app needs. The app needs to set the tone that matches your vision and hopefully also give potential users a clue as to what it will do. Snapchat is an excellent example of good naming.
Know your Target Audience – You have to know who you are selling to. Many people assume, incorrectly, that their target audience will be huge but it’s not. You are solving a problem or filling a need, but not everyone has that problem or need. So who does? That audience needs to be clearly defined so that you can then market your genius, well-named app to them!
Make On-boarding Simple – Overly complex on-boarding processes will drive away new users faster than a bad smell in a small room. This technical oversight will completely offset hours and hours of marketing as a high abandonment rate can be a direct result of complex or time consuming on-boarding.
Plan Ahead for App Store Optimization – This step needs to be started before the app is done. Keyword research, great screenshots, FAQ and should all be done to ensure your app will rank high within its category in the app store.
Sharing Must Be Easy – It must be easy for people to share info about your app to at least two social platforms. If you want a viral hit one of the fastest ways for that to happen is to get noticed on social media via shares. Which social platforms you use will be determined based on knowing what your target audience frequents most often.
Create a Web Presence – Before you launch you should be online with a website and social media accounts (on the platforms your users use). Along with providing information about your product and adding credibility to it you are also positioning yourself for a proper pre-launch buzz campaign.
Test, Test and then Beta Test – Testing should be exhaustive on all types of devices, under all types of conditions and with multiple audiences to ensure your app is as ready as possible for the launch. Then you should offer a limited Beta Test which will help find bugs you missed and offer more marketing. You can help turn your Beta Testers into early brand ambassadors with a little bit of work to help make the real launch that much stronger.
Market Aggressively – “People never notice anything.” To avoid that problem you need to be marketing aggressively before the app is even done. A pre-launch campaign should be put in motion to help build hype and excitement about the product. Next a press kit needs to be made along with making contact with who you want to deliver it to which provides additional coverage for your app. Then you want to build up to a big launch party to get your app out of the gate with the biggest push possible. Finally you want to continue to promote like crazy, even rewarding users for helping market the app with friend invitations and secret rewards for people who share on social media or get a few referral signups.
Monitor Behavior – After the launch the work isn’t over as you need to review data and user behavior to find out what you should include in future updates as well as discovering new ways to market to people. The goal should be to learn about problems, issues, methods to improve the user experience and even get ideas for new features.
Provide Regular Updates – Your app must evolve if you expect it to grow and this can only happen with regular updates and improvements. This also lets an audience know you care about the product and their needs. This is a great way to build customer satisfaction and loyalty to your product and brand.
The thing about going viral is that it takes a lot of work. When the app market was small a viral hit was much more likely because you had millions of starved users looking for anything good to eat. Now with a regular buffet available your need to make your entrée look better than everyone else and a great start is by listening to how Holden Caulfield would make your app go viral and applying that knowledge properly.
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