Inventory: AppStore promotion channels and effects (dry stuff)

This... where should I start~~ oh! I can't help but sigh, it's so difficult to promote nowadays!

AppStore promotion ideas

When promoting a product on the AppStore, everyone wants downloads, but there must be a ranking to get downloads. To get downloads, there must be a ranking. It’s like the chicken and the egg! The rankings and download volume interact with each other, and generally the quality of users coming from the rankings will be better. Therefore, when promoting a product on the AppStore, we simply pull in a lot of downloads from outside to push the ranking higher, thereby bringing in more downloads from high-quality users. It's too complicated. I almost got dizzy.

Therefore, there are the following promotion methods or channels:

1. Ranking manipulation

Two years ago, the trend of manipulating the charts was very crazy. Most products that were well promoted had been tossed in the charts in the early days. Those who pretended not to have done any manipulation of the rankings in the early days might not know that the cost of a real user brought in by manipulation of the rankings was only a few cents. Don't discuss with me about promoting products through manipulation of charts or taking drugs or something like that~~ vulgar! Now it’s real to have users!

Is it still possible to manipulate the rankings? Can! But those cool days are gone. In the past, the rankings could be manipulated and maintained, and monthly subscriptions were available. The ranking curve would remain stable for a long time, and ordinary people could not tell that the rankings were manipulated. And I remember that there was a Top 10 that made 9K a day. Isn’t that cool? Now, I can’t even dream of being in the top 10. Currently, you can only brush the rankings one by one, that is, the rankings can be brushed up, but not maintained. You can find channels to replenish the volume to maintain it. If you don’t maintain it, the general product ranking will slowly decline. How fast it declines depends on the product’s ability to attract traffic after it is on the list! The price of brushing the charts is not expensive now, but what is the final cost? This still depends on the product's ability to attract sales. If you can’t afford the points wall, you can still try to brush the rankings. Is it safe? I haven’t seen anything being taken off the shelves in more than half a year! There are not many companies that can manipulate the rankings now. I would like to recommend a reliable one.

2. Points Wall

When chart manipulation is constantly cracked down by Apple and keeps coming back to life, its cost eventually increases and it becomes non-mainstream. Suddenly, points walls became mainstream overnight, and various advertising alliances transformed into points walls. Currently, the competition for points walls is very fierce.

Let’s talk about the effect. It’s very costly to rush to the top of the points wall. To be in the TOP50, you’ll have to spend the money for a BMW every day. According to a friend in the industry, the ratio of downloads through the points wall is 8:2. The points wall is 8, and the number of new real users after being listed is 2. Assuming the CPA of the points wall is 2 yuan, then the final cost of adding new real users is 8*2/2=8 yuan. Of course, different products have different abilities to attract traffic after being listed, and the final cost difference will also be very large.

3. Fanstong, Guangdiantong, Baidu mobile search SEM

In addition to ranking and point walls, a number of standardized platforms are currently emerging. If done well, the cost is very low, the scale is also large, and it is suitable not only for iOS but also Android. I personally prefer this type of platform for the following reasons:

1) It is relatively popular and suitable for CPs of all levels;

2) It can be precisely targeted, which is absolutely true. It can target attributes such as region, gender, mobile phone system, user preferences, etc.

3) It has technological content. The difference between it and other advertisements is that it has stronger autonomy. Different materials and delivery strategies lead to a large difference in the final cost. It mainly depends on one's own promotion optimization technology and the depth of research.

4) High user quality is mainly determined by the way advertisements are displayed. The advertisement display methods should be acceptable to users, or users cannot tell that they are advertisements. For example, advertisements can be displayed in the form of Weibo or in the form of search results on Baidu.

Fans Tong, in the early days, there were very few apps promoted through Fans Tong, and it was still hyped up. It is said that the activation cost of promoting an App is several to dozens of yuan. At that time, several familiar friends around me studied Fans Tong, various materials, bids, time period strategies, account weights and other factors, and studied them in detail. In the end, it was actually possible to achieve an activation cost of only a few cents. At that time, we also organized an offline event to teach everyone how to operate it. Many friends learned it. Now it is very popular and most of them have opened fan channels. However, not everyone can achieve such a low cost. It requires thorough research and the account needs to be maintained. It is said that it takes a week to stabilize.

Guangdiantong, Tencent's large-scale advertising system, is becoming more and more perfect. It displays advertisements on Tencent QQ, Space, WeChat and other platforms. There are also many CPs using this channel, but the final cost difference is also very large. The activation cost of a good one is only a few cents, and it is hard to say for a bad one, some can cost dozens of yuan. The principle is similar to Fanstong. The quantity is also very large, and tens of thousands of quantities per day are no problem.

Baidu Mobile Search SEM, I have previously held an offline salon in Hangzhou and written an article specifically about it, sharing several advertising display methods for Baidu SEM App promotion, as well as cost analysis. You can check out the previous articles. Currently, there are several CP friends working on this, with a daily volume of tens of thousands and a CPA cost of more than 1 yuan. Baidu SEM also requires a lot of skills. Not many people have done this yet, and many people have not discovered it.

The mainstream channels have already said almost everything, I can’t think of anything good from other channels, if you know anything please share it with me! I originally wanted to write about the evolution of AppStore promotion channels, but forget it, let the past be the past, let’s focus on the present and do well in the present! Friends, please quickly follow up on the channels that you haven’t done yet. The cost will be very low if you do it early, but as the competition becomes more intense later, the cost will gradually increase. In the end, I won’t feel sad anymore, just keep working hard!