Influencer Marketing for Apps: Tips for Creators and Brands

With millions of apps vying for attention, standing out from the crowd can be a daunting task. But there is a strategy that can help boost your app downloads: influencer marketing. In this blog post, we will explore the immense potential of influencer marketing for apps, providing insights on how brands and creators can work together to boost your app’s visibility, credibility, and overall success.

The role of influencers in app discovery

Influencers play a pivotal role in app discovery. Whether it’s a mega-influencer or micro-influencer, creators introduce products to their engaged audiences. They act as a trusted source of recommendations for their followers, and when they endorse an app, their followers are likely to consider it. This can significantly increase an app’s downloads and active users. Additionally, influencers can provide authentic and relatable content about a mobile app, demonstrating its features, benefits, and how it fits into everyday life. This can boost the app’s visibility and appeal, driving discovery and engagement.

Check out this example of tech influencer Nathan Espinosa sharing his love for the app Endel, encouraging his followers to try the app to get better sleep.

Whether through sponsorships or brand advocate programs, creators are the way to go when looking for engaging yet low-cost marketing content compared with traditional ads. 

Julia, a social media manager who posts about branding, shares the Planoly app, which helps her stay organized as a creator. Because this app feature aligns with existing content, it comes across as genuine and seamlessly fits into her niche.

Identifying the partners for an app promotion

Choosing the right influencers for an app promotion is crucial, as their audience, content, and credibility can significantly impact the app’s visibility and user engagement.

Audiences play a pivotal role in the success of an app promotion. Knowing whether the brand’s audience and creator’s audience align is critical. There should be plenty of overlap between them.

When teaming up with creators, brands should look at their audience demographics and locations, which both full-service and self-service influencer marketing solutions can provide.

Another way to determine a good fit for an app promotion campaign is by analyzing the creator’s content. 

In this example, Caroline shares ClickUp, an app that allows people to stay organized and create lists, boards, and calendars. Caroline is a Shopify influencer, so her content appeals to audiences interested in similar topics of small business, web design, e-commerce, tech and work-from-home.

In another example, travel influencer Madi shares the Timeshifter with her travel-minded audience. The app is geared toward travelers, among other users, to help them organize sleep schedules and routines while traveling. Working with influencers in the same niche allows the app to reach its desired audiences.

Influencer marketing for mobile apps: Key strategies

To effectively leverage influencer marketing for a mobile app, it’s crucial to implement key strategies.

Developing a compelling influencer campaign

Developing a compelling influencer campaign for a mobile app requires strategic planning and creative thinking. Creators should be given the leeway to share their authentic stories in their unique style, as long as the content’s message seamlessly integrates the app. This could be story time videos, app tutorials, reviews, or lifestyle content demonstrating how the app fits into everyday life. Remember, the most successful influencer campaigns are those that provide value to the audience, so ensure the campaign is not just promotional but also informative, entertaining or inspiring.

Encouraging creators to use and review apps

Encouraging creators to use and review the app can significantly enhance its credibility and visibility. When influencers share their genuine experiences and positive feedback about apps, it can pique the interest of their followers and prompt them to try the app themselves. However, it’s crucial to ensure that influencers disclose any partnerships to maintain transparency and trust with their audience, as per FTC guidelines.

Apart from influencers, brands can also leverage their existing user base to boost app ratings. App developers should encourage satisfied customers to share their experiences and leave reviews on the App Store, Google Play Store, or relevant third-party sites. This not only enhances the app’s reputation but also its ranking in app stores, making it more discoverable to potential users. Remember, people often rely on reviews and ratings to decide whether to download an app, so positive reviews can significantly drive app downloads and usage.

Asking customers for UGC in exchange for rewards 

User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful tool for promoting apps, as it taps into the power of word-of-mouth marketing. UGC, which can include reviews, testimonials, or social media posts featuring the app, offers an authentic perspective that can resonate with potential users.

One effective way to encourage UGC is by offering rewards to customers in exchange for their content. This could be in the form of discounts, free subscriptions, in-app benefits, exclusive features, or even tangible gifts. For instance, brands could run a contest where users share a post about the app on their social media with a specific hashtag, and the best posts win a reward. Remember, the key to successful UGC is to ensure it’s genuine and relatable. 

Measuring success

Understanding the effectiveness of an influencer marketing collaboration is crucial, and this can be achieved by setting clear metrics to track and evaluate the success of the campaign. Here are the metrics that can be tracked:

• App downloads: This is the most direct measure of the success of the campaign. Track the number of downloads during and after the campaign to assess its impact. Tracking links can help with this.
• User engagement: Monitor how users are interacting with the app. Metrics like session length, frequency of use, and in-app actions can provide insights into user behavior and engagement.
• App Store rankings: A successful campaign can lead to increased downloads, which can improve your app’s ranking in the app store.
• Social media mentions: Keep track of how often your app is mentioned on social media platforms. This can indicate the level of buzz generated by your campaign.
• Influencer engagement: Monitor the engagement on the influencer’s posts about your app, such as likes, comments, shares, and views.
• Conversion rate: This measures the percentage of users who take a desired action after downloading the app, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service.
• Retention rate: This shows the percentage of users who continue to use the app over a certain period of time. A high retention rate indicates that the app is engaging and valuable to users.
• Return on investment (ROI): Calculate the ROI of the campaign by comparing the results achieved (like increased sales or new users) against the cost of the campaign. 

Tips and best practices for brands and creators

To maximize the effectiveness of the influencer marketing campaign for app promotion, consider these tips and best practices to navigate the process.

Building long-term relationships

Creating lasting relationships is important because it builds a strong sense of trust between influencers and brands. Continuously sharing an app comes across as more genuine than a one-time collaboration. 

Ensuring authenticity and transparency

Authenticity and transparency are crucial elements in influencer marketing, particularly when promoting an app. When influencers genuinely enjoy and find value in an app, their endorsement will come off as authentic and relatable, resonating more effectively with their followers. 

Transparency is equally important. Influencers should clearly disclose their partnership to maintain trust with their audience. This can be done through simple statements or hashtags like #ad or #sponsored. Not only does this adhere to FTC guidelines, but it also fosters an environment of honesty and trust.

Tell people where or how to download it

Creators should highlight where and how to download the app. Specify whether it is an iOS or Android app, or both. The goal of app promotion is not only to encourage audiences as to why they should download the app but also how simple the process can be. 

Influencers:

Looking to partner with industry-leading brands? Create your free profile today.

Marketers:

The world’s biggest brands trust IZEA. Find which of our self-serve marketing tools or full-service influencer marketing solutions are right for you.