Building a social media app that goes viral requires more than simply implementing an in-app sharing feature; you need to strategically position it for growth before motivating users through its virality cycle.
Virality is about creating value for your audience – this could take the form of entertainment, solving a problem, or something as straightforward as gamification (such as TikTok). Your app must also offer compelling incentives for users to share or recommend it.
Engaging Content
It’s essential when creating an app to consider how users will engage with it – this can be accomplished by including engaging, humorous or informative content that keeps users coming back for more. Furthermore, social sharing options allow your app to reach a larger audience faster.
Content that goes viral must elicit an emotional reaction in its target audience, like telling users they have accomplished an app milestone, such as level 10. This can encourage users to share your app with their friends, driving growth through word of mouth while building trust and credibility for your app – creating an excellent way for it to go viral. You can further boost engagement using visual aids.
User-Friendly Design
An essential factor of app virality is user satisfaction with the app; that means providing them with value first before asking them for sharing.
Too many options can overwhelm and distress users, so make sure your design keeps things straightforward and user-friendly. This includes navigation, form fields and CTAs. Avoid multiple colors, fonts and sizes which could overwhelm users.
Encourage new users to invite friends by offering rewards – such as free trials, discounts or exclusive content. Dropbox uses this tactic by giving its users titles, medals, badges and achievements in its gamified interface – helping to keep users engaged while increasing retention rates of app users.
Shareable Features
App virality depends on users recommending it to their friends – not something that can be controlled or incited through marketing strategies.
App virality requires users to perceive value in an app as fun or useful – or both! Apps like DrawSomething and Instagram built their user bases through users sharing their creations on social media; YouTube became popular through allowing people to create videos and upload them for sharing purposes.
App virality should be the aim of every app developer. Not only will it draw in new users, but also increase brand recognition and performance of your app. But remember, virality is no quick fix – it takes time and dedication to build an engaging app which people want to share.
Influencers
Influencer marketing has become a highly effective digital strategy in recent years. These influencers possess massive followings that can help a brand gain credibility and recognition within its niche market, creating opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise exist.
Influencers can bring immense advantages to your app promotion efforts, helping increase engagement and draw in new users while potentially increasing its viral coefficient.
As well as working with influencers, your app users may also benefit from social sharing features. For instance, prompt them to post something when they reach certain milestones such as leveling up in a game or creating their business plan.
Targeted Marketing
One key component of app virality is targeted marketing, which involves identifying and targeting specific potential app users who will likely share your app with their friends. You can do this by embedding social media sharing buttons within the app itself to allow users to easily promote it themselves.
Incentivizations can also help drive app virality. One prime example is DropBox, which rewards its users for referring friends by giving them free storage space and other benefits. Meanwhile, RunKeeper incentivizes them to share “vanity content” (such as their workout stats) by offering rewards when reaching milestones.
Partnering with creators and influencers within your app’s niche can also help build brand recognition – for instance, Lomotif has successfully leveraged Hailey Bieber from Instagram to promote their video editing app Lomotif.
