Tips from oneforty: How to Market Your Twitter App
Twitter is an exciting platform to build an app on. This has led to thousands of apps being developed to add value to Twitter users. But with all these apps, how do you make yours stand out? Since we get asked this a lot, we thought we'd share what we're finding other app developers are doing that's working for them.
1) Complete your app profile on oneforty
Ok, you knew we had to mention this one. We're hard at work to help great apps like yours be found by Twitter users, but we need you to do your part too; apps with completed profiles on oneforty are more interesting for Twitter users exploring oneforty. This translates to more people trying it, writing reviews and an increase in your ranking on our site when people are searching and browsing.
If you haven't claimed your app on oneforty yet, click here to find out how. Adding a couple screenshots and press mentions can really make a difference, as does getting a few of your early adopters to write reviews. Still not sure? Maybe our FAQs can help. Or here's an example of a great completed profile.
Talk to your users! If they like your app, ask them to tweet about it, write a blog post or write a review of it on oneforty.
We make it easy to find your early adopters on oneforty; go to your app page and look at the right hand column and you'll find a list of "XX People Use This." Those people are already on oneforty, so it's easy to just @reply and ask them what they think of your tool and if they'll review it.
While you're doing this, make sure you listen to what they have to say; their feedback can help make your app better or even lead to new ideas. The guys at Untitled Startup have taken it to another level with their "Backstage" section of their site where you can influence the apps they make and the company itself.
Toolkits allow people to share how they use Twitter and what services make it productive for them. When your app is in a toolkit, it helps our community know at a glance what your app does well and when they might want to use it.
Any time one of your tools is in a toolkit it shows up in the right hand side of your app page. It also shows up on the pages of the other apps that are in the toolkit.
Does someone high profile use your app? Get star users to build a toolkit and it could be featured in our Toolkit Spotlight and potentially our homepage. Also, any popular toolkit will automatically trend to the top of trending.
Don't forget YOU can also build you own toolkits. Make one that builds context around how people can use your app and those that are complimentary; you'll be adding value to the oneforty community while increasing the reach of your app.
@DustyReagan made a toolkit based on his book "Twitter Application Development for Dummies"and what's great for him is that it's a great toolkit that just happens to have two of his apps (Friend or Follow and Twooshes) listed first.
If someone loves your app, how easy is it for them to tell others about it? Make sure you've made it easy for them to do it through tweets, posting to their facebook fan page, etc. Of course, you do have to be careful and make sure this is opt-in...you can really upset people if you post to their Twitter stream without their permission, so try to get creative.
On oneforty we do this with our reviews; anyone who writes a review has the option to check a box to tweet the review, which is conveniently right next to the "Post Review" button. The best part about that system is that generally, those that tweet their reviews are also the ones that write the best reviews. This creates a great cycle of good content and visitors for us.
The best way to get found is for your app to come up when someone does a search for what your app does. That means you need to work on your Search Engine Optimization. There are plenty of experts out there that can help, but we'll give you one tip that is a great way to keep your site interesting and current: a blog.
Now you may be worried. You don't know what to write about. You're not much of a writer. Don't worry. Just write about interesting things related to your app. Get creative. Communicate with your users. Find out how they use your app and highlight them if you find it interesting.
A great example is our friends over at Untitled Startup who write about fun ways to use their apps, like RowFeeder. Check out this post about Tweets during a recent Sonics-Lakers NBA playoff game:
While this isn't Earnest Hemingway level writing, it is both interesting and relevant; that's all you need to show people interesting things about your app and help new people discover your app.
In addition to communicating with some of your users, you should be measuring what all of them are doing. Use your metrics to understand what are the most popular parts of your app. Focus on what's popular or work to improve what isn't. If a feature isn't getting used, kill it! The more you can make your app loved by your users, the more likely those recommendations to their friends and colleagues are going to happen.
(Slide from Dave McClure's Startup Metrics are for Pirates, FOWA London, Oct 2009)
Do the capabilities of your app compliment or enhance another app? Consider whether you may be able to partner with them either by your app integrating with theirs or if you can work to promote each other's apps. If you are able to cross-pollinate your user bases, you can both grow.
A great example of this is how Tweetie 2 had integration with Favstar.fm, Follow Cost and Tweet Blocker. All of those apps benefitted from greater exposure on Tweetie 2 and likely also pushed people to Tweetie 2 since they were on it. To that end, everyone can win. As John F. Kennedy once said, "A rising tide lifts all boats."
In the end, there are no overnight successes. Understand that it's all a part of a larger process. It is unlikely that any one thing you try will be your golden ticket; rather, it is the sum of many efforts that add it up a larger user base for your app.
Do you have other advice for developers trying to market their app?
