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阐述提高手机应用曝光度的6项方法

发布时间:2011-07-26 14:19:44 Tags:,,,,

作者:Hillel Fuld

到目前为止,你肯定已经听说过各种平台上有数目惊人的手机应用。苹果排在首位,其App Store中有超过45万款的iPhone应用,谷歌Android Market也正以超过25万的应用数量奋力追赶。从总体上来看,这对用户来说是一个积极的发展现象。用户选择越多,应用售价越低,产品质量水准也会越高。

然而,对手机应用开发群体而言,应用数量的增加给那些贸然进入手机应用开发领域的人带来了很严重的挑战。我指的是那些对应用开发不做深入研究,梦想能取得《愤怒的小鸟》、《Instagram》和《割绳子》之类成就的人。即便有些追遁梦想开始制作应用,他们要如何在数量如此众多的应用中突出自己呢?在这个热门领域成功的秘诀是什么呢?

如果你想要一条捷径的话,可能你最好选择离开这个行业,因为这里没有捷径。但是,有些基本步骤值得参考,这会增加你成功的几率,即用户下载应用的次数。即便你遵循了下列步骤,我仍然必须强调的是,如果你的应用质量不高、无法满足用户需求或无法用来解决某种问题,你就需要重新考虑下你的做法,这一点我在下文中也会多次强调。你的竞争对手如此之多,用户根本没有耐心来应对那些设计差劲的应用,顾客就是上帝。

我必须承认的是,我从未开发过应用,也没有开发应用的念头,但是经常有开发商让我帮助他们改善应用。以下是我告诉这些开发商需要采取的做法:

mobile apps(from cultofmac.com)

mobile apps(from cultofmac.com)

保持应用简单:如果你是要参加某场制作最复杂应用的比赛,那么你可以在应用中添加大量的功能。如果你想让人们下载并使用你的应用,那么你的做法应该与上述相反。那么,开发商要如何简单化其手机应用呢?

有两种可以采取的做法:第一种方法更受人喜爱,即制作出用户第一次打开便知道要如何使用的应用;第二种选择是制作应用内置教程来以某种清楚简要的方式来解释应用及其使用方法。教程是在用户打开应用时自动呈现,还是设置成用户点击后呈现,这一点还有待讨论,但如果大部分用户都不知道如何使用你的应用,你需要做的就是告诉他们。

以下是切记要点:用户首次打开应用后,你有10至20秒种的时间来吸引用户成为应用的粉丝。如果失败,用户会把你的应用从设备中删除,甚至从他的应用列表中一并删除(游戏邦注:也就是说即便他将来改变主意也无法重新安装应用)。要在如此短的时间内吸引用户确实不那么容易。

发布个性化新闻稿:开发商普遍对此存在误解。尽管新媒体是个传播信息的有效工具,但在公共关系方面仍然赶不上传统媒体。

微博和TechCrunch博文确实可以帮上很大的忙,但《纽约时报》仍然是个非常有效的媒体渠道。因而,我认为你应该在传统的新闻稿上投入部分时间,包括其创作和散播。可以说,如果我看到新闻稿上有着清晰的模板样式而且发稿人没有花时间进行个性化处理,我会马上把这篇新闻稿删除。

如果你想要模板的话,我可以提供一个。如果你想要让博主或大型出版社编辑在线或离线阅读你的新闻稿的话,你可以用如下词句作为开头:(姓名),你好,我收到来自XXX的邮件,我希望你不介意我介绍下自己正在开发的项目。再次强调,如果按字摘抄这个模板,那就不会带来任何好处。如果你希望收到这封信件的人花时间和精力来推荐你的应用,至少要将邮件写得像样些。

使用Twitter:Twitter是个推广项目和构建粉丝基础的有效平台。但是,与普遍认识不同的是,Twitter并非魔杖。如果你不花时间来构建这个网络,这个平台不会发挥任何作用。尽管如此,一旦你吸引大量真正的粉丝听从你的言辞,当推广产品的时机来临之时,所带来的点击率足以令你感到震惊。

twitter_icon(from socialbeta.cn)

twitter_icon(from socialbeta.cn)

我之前已经说过,Twitter及其他社交媒体最重要的并不一定是其点击率,而是其营造的多米诺骨牌效应。无论是Facebook上的“赞”还是Twitter上的转发,社交平台能为优秀产品带来的曝光度是无法预测的。

如果你的优秀应用确实能够满足用户的需求,而且在培养Twitter社群上花费一定的时间,完全可以坐享推广带来的下载量。

构建关系和互动:我知道你会认为,这种“吸引你的社群”的说法已是陈词滥调。但是,如果我们要讨论让你的应用受到用户注意并下载,就必须提到这点。

看看那些最为成功的应用,细心研究公司是如何运作他们的Twitter账号或Facebook页面。可以学习的对象包括Rovio(游戏邦注:《愤怒的小鸟》的开发商)、Mike McCue和Kevin Systrom等等。这些人在Twitter上都非常活跃,他们不只将时间花在推广产品之上,产品完全是自行推广的。

参与到社群的交流中固然不会让他们喜欢上你的应用,但是如果你的应用确实很棒,与用户群体交流会让他们保持对应用的兴趣并且更为关注。

借助名人影响力:如果你正以恰当的方式利用社交媒体,而且如果你遵从以上步骤,你可以在一整天的时间里与许多人进行交流。虽然有些人在Twitter上尝试得到Ashton Kutcher或Alyssa Milano的回应只是为了好玩而已,但你也不可低估有影响力的人的评论的作用。

举个很极端的例子,当Scoble推广《Flipboard》(游戏邦注:他之所以这么做是因为他确实喜欢这个产品,并没有其他原因)时,《Flipboard》的服务器在数分钟之内涌进大量用户。我不是说《Flipboard》的成功完全归功于Robert的推荐,但毫无疑问他起到了很大的帮助。

如果你与某些有出众粉丝(游戏邦注:不一定要有很多的数量,质量更为重要)的人有所联系,或许你可以向他们提供应用的早期版本。如果他们喜欢这款应用,无需你要求他们就有可能在Twitter上分享。这些所谓的有影响力的人并像你想象的那样傻,他们知道你希望他们推广应用。假如你制作出的是款很棒的产品,通常来说,他们并不介意为你提供这种服务。必须再次声明的是,所有这些成果的基础都是你的应用要足够好。如果不是这样的话,那么就不要把你的时间浪费在推广上了,你应该花时间来开发一款高质量的全新应用。

市场调查:这个步骤在应用开发阶段(游戏邦注:而不是推广阶段)至关重要。如果你不在开发应用之前研究市场,90%的情况下你会颗粒无收。

数周之前,有人告诉我他有个足以震撼市场的应用想法。接下来,我浪费了许多时间帮他签署NDA。当他最后告诉我那个应用想法后,我在3到6秒钟内就指出了二十多个开发商已经做出了此类应用。

因为目前各种应用市场中有着大量应用,因而想法雷同的可能性很高。因而在你进行应用开发之前,先雇佣些人帮你调查市场,看是否有人做过此类应用。如果已经出现同样的应用,那么别尝试让你的产品超过现有应用,而应该将创造力和精力放在新的想法上。

这篇博文已经比我计划的要长,因而我省略掉某些关键点,包括使用视频来吸引用户或开发跨平台应用等。如果你能够遵从上述步骤,成功的可能性与之前相比将会有很大的提高。

游戏邦注:本文发稿于2010年11月3日。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

How To Get Your Mobile App Noticed and Downloaded

Hillel Fuld

By now, you have most probably heard the ridiculous number of mobile applications available on the various platforms. Apple is leading the way with its 300,000 iPhone apps in the App Store and Google is catching up fast with 100,000 Android apps in the Android Market. Overall, as far as the consumer is concerned, this trend is a positive one. The more selection, the lower the prices, and the higher the standards for mobile apps.

However, when it comes to the mobile developer community, these increasing numbers present a serious challenge as far as jumping on the mobile apps bandwagon in concerned. I mean who has not thought for a second about developing an app and dreaming to achieve the success that the developers of Angry Birds, Instagram, and Cut the Rope have achieved? However, even if one follows the dream of creating an app, how can they possibly compete with such an astronomical number of available apps? What are the secrets to succeeding in this hot space?

Well if you are looking for a shortcut, you might as well close this window now because there really are none. There are, however, some basic steps that when followed, will increase your chances of success, which is translated directly into the number of times people download your app. I must emphasize though, and I will probably say this a few more times by the end of this post, even if you follow the below steps, if your app is not great or does not fill a need/solve a problem of some sort, you need to rethink what you are doing. With so much competition, consumers don’t have the patience to deal with poorly developed apps, and between me and you, they are right.

For the sake of transparency, I must admit, I have never developed an app, nor do I intend on it, but I do often find myself on the other side, with developers asking me to help them promote their app. Here are some of things I tell these developers:

-Keep it simple: If you were participating in a contest or competing for an award of the most sophisticated app, then you would want to overload your app with features. If you want people to download and use your app, you want to do just the opposite. So how does one achieve this simplicity on their mobile app?

There are two possible routes. The first is the preferable one and it involves making an app so intuitive that when the user opens it for the first time, they know exactly what to do. The second option is to create an in-app tutorial that explains the app and how to use it in a clear and concise manner. Whether the tutorial shows up automatically when the user launches your app or requires the user to click on it, is up for discussion, but if the average user will not know what to do with your app, you need to tell them.

Here is the bottom line: you have somewhere between ten and twenty seconds from the time your app is first launched until the user is a fan of your app or if he decides to delete your app off the device and possibly even off of his app collection all together (so he cannot even reinstall if he changes his mind in the future). Hey, no one said it was going to be easy…

-Send out PERSONALIZED Press Releases: Here is a common misconception for you. While new media can be a very effective tool for spreading your word (I believe Gary Vaynerchuk called it “word of mouth on steroids”), it does not replace traditional media when it comes to PR.

Yes, a tweet can go a long way and so can a TechCrunch post but the hard copy New York Times edition is still a pretty effective media outlet. Therefore, I think the old school press release is something you should invest time in, both in regards to its creation as well as dissemination. Having said that, I cannot tell you how fast I delete press releases I get that are clearly templates and the sender does not spend the time personalizing.

You want a shortcut? Here is one. If you want the reader who might be a blogger or a writer for a large publication on or offline to read your press release, start off with “Hi <Insert name>, I got your email from <Insert name or location>, and I hope you don’t mind me reaching out to tell you about something I am working on”. Again, if you follow that template word for word, then you are defeating the purpose. If you want the recipient to spend the time and energy giving your app some exposure, the least you can do is write the email like a Mensch.

-Use Twitter: OK, I am probably not telling you something you don’t already know, but Twitter is a very effective platform to help you spread the word and build a fan base. Now, contrary to popular belief, Twitter is not a magic wand. It will not deliver unless you spend the time building up a network. However, once you have created a following of real people who listen to what you have to say, when the time comes to promote your own product, in this case your app, the click through rate will astound you.
Having said that, the amazing thing about Twitter in particular and social media in general is not necessarily that click through rate, but more the domino effect it creates. Whether it is Likes on Facebook or retweets on Twitter, the power of a good product combined with the exposure that social platforms can achieve is unparalleled and unprecedented.

If you have yourself a great app that truly fills a need, and you have spent the time investing in your Twitter community, put it out there then sit back and enjoy the downloads your tweet will bring.

-Build Relationships and Interact: Yes yes, I know what you’re thinking, this whole “engage your community” thing is so cliche already. I don’t disagree (that means I agree for those of you who have not gotten the two negatives equal a positive thing) but if we are talking about getting your app noticed and downloaded, this is a point that must be mentioned.

Look at some of the most successful apps out there and see how the company runs their Twitter account or Facebook page. Rovio (developers of Angry birds), Mike McCue (Flipboard), Kevin Systrom (Instagram), and the list goes on. All these people are responsive on Twitter and do not only spend time promoting and pushing their products, the apps do that for themselves.

If you engage your community, it will not make them like your app, but if your app is already great, communicating with your user base will keep them interested and coming back for more.

-Influencers Can Help: If you are using social media the way it was intended, and if you followed the above step, you are going to be communicating with quite a few people throughout the day. While the people who spend their time on Twitter trying to get a reply out of Ashton Kutcher or Alyssa Milano are total douche bags, one should not belittle the power of a tweet from a key influencer.

To name one extreme example, when Scoble pushed Flipboard (which he did because he truly loves the product, no other reason), the Flipboard servers crashed within minutes. I am not saying the success of Flipboard can be completely attributed to Robert’s tweets but there is no doubt that it helped its popularity.

If you have connected with someone who has a nice following (not necessarily in quantity, more in quality), you might want to get them an early copy of your app. If they like it, they will share it, no need to ask. These so-called influencers are not as dumb as you think, they know you want them to push it and if you have created a superior product, generally speaking, they are willing to play along. Again, all this stands on the premise that your app is great, if it’s not, don’t waste your time pushing it, spend the time developing a new app that is great.

-Research Your Market: This is a crucial step in the process of creating the app and less in promoting it but if you do not have someone researching your market before you develop your app, you can be sure that nine out of ten times, it will get close to zero traction.

A few weeks ago, someone pitched me an idea for an app that he thought was earth shattering. He then proceeded to waste my time by making me sign an NDA and when he finally told me the idea, it took me somewhere between three and six seconds to show him twenty developers that did it before him.

Due to the ridiculous number of apps in the various app stores, there is a good chance someone else had your idea before you, so instead of wasting your time and money developing an app that flings angry birds at pigs to try and kill them, hire someone to look into the market and see if it’s been done before. If it has, don’t try to tweak your idea and one up the existing app, instead use your creativity and come up with the next idea.

OK this post is way longer than I planned it to be so I am going to skip a few key points like using video to attract users or developing a cross platform app, and say that if you follow the above steps carefully and consistently, the chances of your success are significantly higher than what they were before. (Source: Tech N’ Marketing)


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