How to Optimize Your OTT and Mobile Apps to Drive Organic Discovery

By Chris Smith on July 21, 2018

Once you’ve launched your video app to market, your next challenge is marketing it effectively so that people that are interested in your content can easily discover your app, download it and start streaming,

While video distribution platforms like Zype have made it simple and affordable to build and launch your own OTT or mobile app to market, getting people to discover your channel organically is what proves to be most challenging in today’s competitive app marketplaces.

How will people discover your app?

There are millions of mobile apps available and Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV each have marketplaces with thousands of channels, an overwhelming number for consumers to choose from. How will you make your channel stand out and attract new potential viewers?

How to Optimize Your OTT and Mobile Apps

According to research by Google, the majority of people discover new apps from friends and family or by searching the app store. In order to develop your audience and grow your brand effectively, it’s critical that your app is discoverable everywhere.

Here are a few marketing strategies that will enable you to effectively promote your app or channel so that people organically discover your brand and content.

Tell people about it

When you launch your app to market, don’t make the mistake of assuming your existing audience will just find it, you have to tell them about it and encourage them to use it. Start driving excitement pre-launch and run promotions to encourage downloads post-launch with a drip email campaign. Make sure that you’re promoting your apps clearly on the homepage of your website using elements such as the navigation bar and banner ads to drive app downloads.

Optimize your app

You know that SEO is essential to having a successful website. Well, app store optimization is SEO for your app. App store optimization a ka ASO is a process that helps your app rank higher in marketplace search results and allow people to organically discover (and download!) your app.

There are several important components that will help your app rank higher in app store search results:

Choose your category and keywords wisely

As the app publisher, you get to choose the category for your app. Apps are ranked by both category and overall. Before choosing your category, research how your competitors are ranked and what keywords they are using before categorizing your mobile app and publishing your description.

Make a good first impression

A well-designed icon is a great way to catch a potential user’s eye in the app store and differentiate your brand from competitors. You have a short amount of time to convince someone that stumbles upon your app or channel to download it - make sure that your creative assets from your thumbnails, screenshots, videos and description tell a concise and compelling story about your brand.

Continually ask for reviews and encourage feedback

Reviews are a key factor that potential users consider when downloading new apps. Be sure you are asking your users to rate and review your in the marketplace and keep close tabs on what people are saying. Send genuine responses and use the feedback to make your app better and more user-friendly.

Make your app discoverable everywhere

The reality is that people often discover apps outside of searching the app store. Search ads and native Facebook or Instagram app install ads are great promotional tools that not only increase your brand visibility but are also proven to effectively drive app downloads.

These are just a few simple, yet powerful marketing strategies that will help you successfully get people to discover your app or channel and start streaming content!

Connect your video with viewers, everywhere.