Francesca Lloyd, a Copywriter at Moburst, offers an in-depth guide to choosing the right influencers to grow your app.

Congrats! You’ve launched your app at last, and it’s available to download on Google Play and the App Store. It’s waiting to be found, admired and downloaded. Now what?

Naturally, you start spreading the word, telling everyone about your amazing new app. But let’s be honest: unless you’re a celebrity with a huge following, you talking about your own app isn’t quite going to cut it.

So what do you do? You try your nearest and dearest: you get your family and friends to help out, turning them into your very own app advocates. But even if you manage to tap into their social circles, your pool of prospective users will be small – there probably aren’t tons of people there with both the desire and the need to use your app at this very moment in time.

So, without word of mouth from the get-go, how do you successfully get the message out about your new app? Well, for Moburst and our clients, there’s one particular method that yields impressive results: connecting with well-known, much-loved social media users who can introduce your app to thousands of potential users through social content, blog posts and more.

Enter: the influencers, and the powerful growth tool that is influencer marketing.

What is an ‘influencer’?
First things first: what, or who, are influencers? An influencer is someone with a large following on social media, a significant presence on YouTube, or some kind of authority in the niche that your app serves. For example, if your app aims to help people lose weight through healthy eating and you find a nutritionist on Instagram with nutrition-based content and 100k relevant followers as a result, that person would be considered an influencer.

Or, say, you come across a YouTuber with 2m subscribers. If these subscribers are the kind of people you’re looking for as potential users of your app – target demographic, same interests and so on – then this YouTuber is an influencer who could be a great fit for your influencer marketing strategy.

Why is influencer marketing so important?
Let’s say you’ve found the most charismatic, engaging influencer in the whole world, and they love your app. That’s all well and good, but if they don’t then promote the app authentically, their followers won’t download it.

What influencer marketing has in spades is a strong sense of authenticity, particularly when it comes to influencers with a smaller, but often more committed, following. Discerning social media users look for genuine opinions about products or services before purchasing – and who better to take advice from than the person they view as an expert, whose content they engage with every day?

Micro influencers (who typically have 10k-100k followers) or nano influencers (usually with 2k-10k followers) sometimes accept the product itself as payment for the collaboration, if they like it enough. In the case of your app, this could be a free lifetime subscription or in-app purchase. This kind of gifted collaboration will show that the influencer has a genuine interest in your app, which then translates into authentic content for their followers to consume.

Why an influencer might not want to work with you
It’s all about the end user: their audience. You need to give influencers a reason to promote your app to their followers: do they think their followers will like and use your app, and appreciate the tip? If the influencer doesn’t see what’s in it for their audience, they’ll probably pass. After all, the quantity and quality of their followers are the reason influencers are approached by brands like yours in the first place. To keep their followers engaged, influencers need to cater to their every need and desire – which means only promoting apps they will benefit from. Try to find your influencers by the followers they have. Which brings us to…

Quantity doesn’t mean quality
Finding an influencer with a large audience is great. But don’t just look at their follower numbers – some of these could be bots, which won’t benefit you. You’ll also want the influencer’s followers to be located in the geographical area that you’re trying to target, particularly if your app can only be downloaded on the App Store or Google Play in certain regions. And check out whether their age, interests and beliefs align with your target audience, too. What seems to be the perfect influencer to promote your app may have all the wrong kinds of followers for you.

Approach influencers with a plan
If you’ve found influencers who fit the bill perfectly, congratulations! You’ve successfully narrowed down the search, and it’s time to approach them. But you don’t want to jump in unprepared and send them a message out of the blue, asking them if they’ll promote your app and why they’re the right person to do so.

Instead, you want to approach them with a plan that will define exactly why you are choosing them, as well as your target market, demographics, details about the app and, finally, why they are the right fit.  This will help you plan your KPIs and strategy before approaching your influencers, and increase the probability that they will accept the offer.

Six Proven Strategies For Growing Your App Using Influencer Marketing
The best way to approach influencer marketing is to create a strategy. And, to summarize the advice above, here are six proven strategies for growing your app with influencer marketing:

1. Target your top 3-5 influencers
While more may sound better, “less is more” holds true here. It is essential to create a solid, focused influencer strategy with the top influencers instead of spreading your efforts too thinly across a large number of them.

2. Make a sales pitch
Sell the influencer on why they would be good for your brand, and vice versa. Don’t just send some general info and expect them to jump at the chance to join your campaign. Be proactive and specific.

3. Offer something in return
Everyone wants something. Whether it’s payments, samples or exposure, make sure to offer them value, which will lead to them doing a better job for your app.

4. Be patient
If you don’t get an answer or results right away, hold tight. The best things come to those who are patient. There’s also something to be said for slow-burn influencer campaigns, too – the longer the “friendship” between influencer and brand, the more authentic it comes across.

5. Track your progress
Create and manage your KPIs. This is the best and only way to judge the success of the campaign.

6. Be social
Just because you are using influencers doesn’t mean you can’t get involved with it on social media yourself. Interact and engage with the campaign to bring your brand into it, and give potential end users the chance to communicate with you directly.

Achieve Your Potential With Moburst’s Influencer Marketing
Influencers have a ton of authority: and the trust, authenticity, and connection that they bring should not be underestimated. Unfortunately, too many influencer strategies are weak, with unclear goals and average results. Using Moburst’s influencer marketing services, you can leverage your influencers effectively, creating a well-oiled performance marketing machine. Here’s what Moburst can do for your app:

1. It’s about results – and only results
Our influencer marketing experts handle everything from building briefs for the influencers, inspiring them with key messages about the brand so our client stands out, and reporting. We also use the influencer’s content, repurposing it to create multiple other assets such as ads – streamlining the creative process, making it more affordable for the client, and most importantly: driving results.

2. Data-driven influencer marketing services
We connect brands with creators and influencers, to provide an authentic voice from an objective perspective – and make brand marketing more personal. Our unique approach of selecting the right influencers is based on audience data and past performance. We have incredible insights into each influencer and their audience demographic.

3. Superior planning for superior outcomes
The starting point is a brief from the client (which we can develop together). This includes who should be targeted, and the creative strategy to achieve these results. Everything is done in-house, and we use specific tools that give us unmatched insights into an influencer’s audience and reach to see if they fit the product and client requirements. These large amounts of data ensure that every dollar is well spent.

We report on a weekly and monthly basis – including results based on the main KPIs that are set from the start of the campaign.

Ready to grow your app?
Harness the power of influencer marketing with Moburst right here.

Conclusion and key takeaways
Now that you know exactly how important influencer marketing is, you’re probably itching to get started. However, before you send out emails to every influencer you can find, make sure you’re approaching it correctly. When done well, influencer marketing can be the difference between your app being downloaded by 200 people and 20,000 people. It could be the difference between your app becoming a category leader or being completely ignored.

And you don’t want to approach influencers asking them to promote your app for free. Remember, they are human beings with bills to pay – just like everybody else. Approach them with a compelling offer and provide something in return, and you’ll greatly increase your chances of success. Good luck!

Grow your app downloads with Moburst’s influencer marketing offering right here.