Started tweeting/building in public and it's helping!
My flashcard app Fresh Cards was getting less eyeballs in the App Store and I realized I needed to start doing, y'know, actual marketing.
People are always talking about Building In Public around here and I also noticed some other folks on Twitter posting screenshots and updates on their products, so I decided to do the same thing.
About a week ago I started tweeting out screenshots of the next version of my app and tagging it with relevant hashtags.
It seems to be working! This is a very small step, but I noticed a bit more traffic in the App Store, and there's definitely people checking out the tweets. I also got some extra sales yesterday, which I can't confirm is from the tweeting, but I'm going to keep doing it and see if there's a trend!
This is inspiring! I am also hoping to start tweeting soon. Have you tried out Twitter Spaces? I've heard finding the right communities and forums are really helpful in increasing profile engagement.
I have not tried Twitter Spaces. Have you? I'll have to look into it.
I have noticed that using the right hashtags for the communities you're targeting really helps. Bots often pick up on those tweets and retweet them to a bunch of their followers.
I'm also considering doing a promoted tweet after I release the next update to my app.
I have not either! But I know someone who works on the Spaces team and have heard great success stories.
Encouraging, I try to do the same when I start working on an update. Often it goes so quick to do an update though because my app is so small so it doesn't generate that much content 😅
Ps.
I really like your screenshots in the app store, nice typography choices
Thanks!
Hey, even if the update is small, it's still worth shouting about. :)
It took a few iterations before I had decent Mac App Store images. I didn't prioritize it too much in the early days. I need to update the iOS screenshots next as they are feeling kind of "dead".
Nice! Please report back if there is in fact a trend. I should probably get more active on Twitter too.
So it's another morning... and I noticed a few more purchases of my app!
It's still a small data set, but it's trending in the right direction. The two weeks previous were the least amount of sales I've had since first publishing in the App Store 1.5 years ago.
Nice! Every little bit counts. Are your sales mostly iOS or macOS? I would imagine the former just based on market size. BTW, dm me on Twitter if you would like to connect, I'd be happy to give you feedback on your app. I used to work for an iOS/Android app shop (I did marketing and web dev for them). Also, my wife is from Seattle - awesome city, especially in the summer.
It's about 55% for iOS and the rest for macOS.
If you break it up into macOS, iPhone, and iPad, macOS has the largest purchases, slightly more than iPhone alone.
There are a million flashcard apps on iOS, so my app doesn't come up in searches on iOS unless you scroll several pages down, or refine your search. My app shows up in Mac App Store searches sooner, so it has more visibility. However, iOS has a larger App Store userbase, so it evens out in the end.
Cool, not surprised about your search rankings. Unless you want to sink a ton of time and money into it, I think ASO in the iOS app store is probably an unwinnable battle in your category. So I think it's smart for you to use Twitter and other external channels to drive traffic. Good luck!
That's great Allen! The build in public community on Twitter is SO encouraging.
It's my favorite "room" to be in online.
Now that it's been a week since you posted this how is your traffic from Twitter?
Have you been consistently tweeting?
Congrats ⚡️⚡️⚡️
Thanks. It was helpful