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Reddit Marketing: How We Drove 1,200+ App Signups

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App Masters10:32Open on YouTube
Chapters show their main points

The bottom line

Reddit drives free app signups when you first earn trust by posting paid apps that went free, then promote your own offer in the right subreddits. That approach brought over 1,200 users to one client's app.

Key takeaways

  • Moderators delete posts that look like self promotion, so a new account has to earn trust first. 6:39
    • Steve's early posts on app hookup were all removed because every one was an in-app purchase offer, and most of his clients' apps are free.
    • Each subreddit has its own rules, so read them before you post.
  • Posting other people's paid apps that went free builds karma and credibility. 1:56
    • Find the apps on AppAdvice, and check the top and trending posts to see what does well on the subreddit.
    • Search first to make sure the app isn't already posted, and check it is still free. The title runs: platform, app name, normal price, free, then the link.
  • Once trusted, a free offer on eFreebies can bring in users at scale. 7:19
    • That subreddit lets you link to your own website, so users never have to visit the app store.
    • A plain text post offering 30 days free through a link brought over 1,200 users to a client's app.
    • The same offer posted a month later on the freebies subreddit, which is meant for physical goods, was allowed because the rules accept high-quality electronic freebies.
  • Without a giveaway, niche communities and self promotion threads still work. 8:28
    • Some subreddits allow self promotion if you tag it properly, such as with a dev tag.
    • For a piano app, join a piano learning subreddit, comment and do research there, then promote the app.

Every subreddit you want to make sure you read through some of the rules because they will remove it.

Steve P. Young

Chapter summaries

0:00 Starting on app hookup

A new account should begin on the app hookup subreddit, sharing free app deals instead of its own app.

  • Open an account and begin on app hookup, not with your own app. 0:35
    • The "apps gone free" campaign is one of his favorite growth hacks, worth tens of thousands of free downloads.
    • A free offer can be virtual currency or a 30 day free trial for a subscription app.
    • AppAdvice changed how the campaign works, and subscription apps can now run the 30 day trial.
    • Browsing AppAdvice, a $7.99 kids app may not fit the audience, so he keeps scouring for a better one.
  • Trending posts show which apps fit the audience. 2:11
    • Epic Store and Among Us were trending that day, and the weekly view shows more.
    • Find a similar app on AppAdvice, and look back through earlier days if needed.
    • The goal is to pick the app most likely to earn karma points.

2:48 Writing the post

The post is a link with a title in the subreddit's set format, adjusted with a short note about the app.

  • Copy the format from a past post and submit it as a link. 3:04
    • Remove the country code from the app store link.
    • His demo app is a tea app that cost $1.99 and was still free the day before recording.
    • He thinks the country code no longer matters because Apple is getting smarter, but removes it just in case.
    • His search for "T" found no earlier post of the app.
  • End the title with a short line about the app. 4:50
    • For in-app purchases, add a note such as "remove ads IAP".
    • His example adds "learn all about tea" for tea drinkers.
    • Platform can be iOS or Android, and it always comes first.

5:17 Posting on app hookup and eFreebies

Each subreddit wants a different kind of post, so copy what already works there.

  • An app hookup post needs only a few parts and a flair. 5:17
    • The platform, app name and price come first. A selling point or the free item can follow.
    • Steve adds the flair iOS universal.
    • Searching the subreddit for IAP turns up sample posts, some of them his.
    • Looking through those samples shows the right format.
  • eFreebies gives more room than app hookup. 6:03
    • App hookup has 162,000 members, a good size.
    • Steve signed up for Calm's lifetime offer on its website, not the app store.
    • A web sign-up path is what lets this work on eFreebies.
    • eFreebies still needs something free inside the app.

7:46 Reaching users without a giveaway

A bigger audience or a niche community can both work, but only if you study the place first.

  • The freebies subreddit has far more users than eFreebies. 7:46
    • It is meant for physical items, so Steve tested whether his offer would stay up.
    • Looking at the top posts shows what people want.
    • Post more of what the top posts show, and try other similar finds too.
    • Rules differ, so reading them decided whether the post was safe.
  • Without a giveaway, engage in subreddits where your users already are. 8:28
    • Searching terms like iOS programming or apple turns up other subreddits.
    • One podcast guest used Reddit to build his app and get his first 100 users and first revenue.
    • Know your target market before choosing communities.
    • A simple I made this app, check it out post fits where self promotion is allowed.
    • It costs little, so it suits a small marketing budget.

In the growth library

Steve P. Young, Founder of AppMasters.com. Reddit can drive free app signups if you build credibility first, follow each subreddit's post format, and match the offer to the community. A 30 day free trial offer posted in a freebie subreddit brought over 1200 users to a client's app.

More from App Masters · The whole library, and ask it anything

Transcript231 lines
0:00

Coming up. I'm going to show you how you can use. I use Reddit to drive users to your app and how we used it to drive over 1200 new users to the app. Stay tuned. What is up app nation? It is Steve P. Young founder of AppMasters.com. The place you go when you want action packed content related to helping you grow your downloads and your revenue. And in this video, I want to show you how you can utilize ready to drive free traffic to your website.

0:29

And more importantly for this particular channel, your app. So let's get to it. First thing you want to do is make sure you have an account. So definitely do that. And here's what I like to do. So rather than just joining Reddit and being like, Hey, let me start posting about my app. Here's what I suggest you do. Go to this subreddit called app hookup. If you've watched my other videos, you heard me talk about one of my favorite campaigns, where my favorite growth hacks to drive tens of thousands of downloads for absolutely free.

1:03

It is called apps gone free, or an app advice campaign. It's where you can make something that is normally paid within your app and you make it for free. Typically, if we look at this, it's usually paid apps like this one going it. But well we've been able to accomplish is you can use it for virtual currency. Like this app is doing, or you can do a 30 day free trial. They've changed some of the way it works on app advice.

1:30

So if you have a subscription-based app, you can do a 30 day free trial of your app. Like this app is doing. What I'd like to do is go on app advice, right? Find an app that's typically paid like this 1, 7 99. It's a kid's app might not make sense for it, but maybe. Modern magic ball. Interesting. I'll click around or I might scour app advice for some other things. Atlanta two ratings, probably not a good one, but what you want to do is go back to app hookup, right.

1:56

And then post about other people's app. Because especially when you just joined, you want to post about a paid app, the normal way of doing this going free. Okay. And then self promotion people don't like it. Right. Well, you can also do, is look at the top. You can look at what's trending the most today looks like epic store among us is trending. This one is trending. You can look at this week so you can get a sense of what types of apps do well on Reddit.

2:26

Right? And then try to find something similar on app advice right here, and you can scour back. So, you know, you can go back in later days to find an app that you think is going to make the most sense, right? Again, Get those karma points up right here. So within this particular subreddit, there's a format that you have to follow when you're creating your post. So I'm going to give you a sample, one of something like this that I've posted as well.

2:53

So let me find one that I've posted here. This one I found on app advice and I posted this. This is me. And if you click on here you go all the way down. Right. All right. So let me show you real quick, how to do it. So I just copied and paste that and you can copy paste anything. So what you want to do is post it as a link. Okay. And then let's just grab, I'm going to paste that real quick. I'm going to paste this here.

3:18

Do you want to pace the app? So if you're on app advice, maybe you find this. Let's try to find them one app, the T app. Oh, cool. Awesome. We'll just post it. Why not? You want to make sure this app hasn't been submitted. So I will do a little quick search just to make sure the app hasn't been posted T yeah. Yeah. So it doesn't look like it has been posted yet. Yeah. What's it called? Steam. Okay. So let's do this tea out.

3:52

Okay. So I'm going to submit this. Get this where you want to do is remove the country code. I don't think it matters these days because Apple's getting smarter about it, but I'll just remove it just in case it doesn't have that many great reviews, but, okay. Okay. I'm going to paste that real quick. So app advice, learn all about tea. It's 1 99. I want to make sure it is actually free and people aren't messing around with it.

4:21

So it is currently still free. This was yesterday as of this recording. All right. I think it's good enough, but here's what it is. So iOS, you have to start off with that, the platform you support, so you can do Android as well. I'm going to change this to the T app because it's the app's name. Okay. Next is usually the app's name. And then next is what's how much it normally is. So this was 1 99 and then free. Okay.

4:50

Now, if you're doing in-app purchases, you can add this stuff like, Hey, you know, the whatever remove, add IAP, right. It's free or what you can do also. And this is what I've done is put something about the app, you know, like here, learn all about tea, right? Tea drinkers of all time, learn all about tea. So I might put, like, learn all about tea. Right. So you can put like a unique selling point about the app, or you can say what is free and that last one, but the first few, these first few, three things you want to put iOS the platform, the name of the app, and then how much it is and at what is going for free and then linked to that.

5:33

Okay. Do you want to add a flare too? So I'm going to put iOS universal and then I'm gonna move on with that and then I'm gonna post it. Cool. It doesn't matter. So I'm gonna put it up there. Okay. Now, when it's time to promote your app, this is what you're going to post in here, an apple hookup. Okay. So look through this. If you want to search for IAP, do that, you'll find some sample ones that I might've posted or other people I might've posted.

5:59

So just look through these and then figure out what the right format should be. Right. So I'm going to give you another, a couple of more subreddits that you can use. And this is the one that we use. So you can see 162,000 members. This app hookup has let's scroll back all the way on 47. So pretty good size Eve freebies. Again, you have to make something free within the app. I'm gonna show you a couple of more platforms where you don't have to be free, and you can just show off what you have, but this is a great one.

6:27

Okay. So every subreddit you want to make sure you read through. Some of the rules because they will remove it. Now, before, when I was doing app hookup, I was all my posts were getting removed because everything I put was in our purchase. Cause most of our clients are free apps. Right. So that's why I suggest finding some paid apps that are going free through these different sites and posting about them because then the module be like, okay, this guy's legit.

6:53

He's not just trying to promote his stock. Right. So within each freebie, You have way more flexibility. And the cool thing is you don't have to take the user to the app store. So if you have a mechanism, like for example, I signed up for calm through their website, not through the app store for their lifetime offer. So if you have a mechanism to convert your users on the web, well, within E freebies, unlike app app hookup, you can take people to your website and that's exactly what we did for our client gear.

7:27

We posted. And it was again, just the text link, but we said, Hey, you know, you get 30 days of this for free. Just use this link. And we got over 1200 users for free, absolutely. Through this particular platform. Now another subreddit is called freebies. I actually posted the same offer a month later on this one. They don't want electronic freebies. They actually want real physical freebies, but they have a lot more.

7:57

Users on this. So I want to see if I can get away with it. And I read through the rules and you can put high quality electronical freebies in here. Okay. So you can do that. And what I'd always recommend is look at the top ones, make sure you understand what people really like on this subreddit and what people are looking for. And then start posting about that. And maybe if you find other ones, try to post about that too.

8:24

If you don't have anything that you want to give away for free, what I would recommend you do is look at other subreddits where you can promote your apps. So for example, maybe you have an Android app and there's iOS programming. So you can just so iOS programming or apple, right? So you can just see what other subreddits are there. And then next thing you do is. Hey, read through the rules and look at this. What we found self promoting, self promoting nap.

8:58

Your self promotion must be tagged with death. It's like, Hey, you can't self promote. So it's a great way to be like, Hey guys, I made this app, check it out. And then you can sort of try to get more downloads that way. Another thing is figuring out who your target market is. You don't have another video that I'll link. And we talked to somebody on our podcast where he used Reddit to engage with that community, build his app, promote his app, get his first 100 users and get his first revenues through Reddit.

9:31

So we actually really engage with that community to really build up the idea and then drive his early users through Reddit. So it's a great way to interact so you can look for different communities. So if you have a piano app, right? So I'll look for piano. Cool piano learning. Great. Let me look into this subreddit. See if I can communicate comment, kinda like really do some research there and then promote my app. So it's another great platform for you to utilize.

9:59

If you don't have a lot of money for marketing. All right guys, that's it hoping joy that video, if you did make sure you hit that like button really helps out. And then if you haven't hit subscribe to make sure you do. So we come out with weekly content to help you grow your traffic downloads. Your revenue. Don't forget. We go live every Friday at 9:00 AM. Pacific, California. Time to take a look at your apps and answer any questions that you might have about anything in the app space.

10:28

Right? So next time I'll see you on the next video. Bye.