r/startups • u/appstractcode • 7h ago

I will not promote App developers - Which methods worked really well for gaining users and which didn't/waste of time for you ? -- I will not promote

Hi all,

I develop apps, but I realised there is not much point in developing cool apps no matter how cool and useful they are if you do not know how to get it out to people and main key is basically marketing and skill of getting it out to people which most developers lack or have no funds to delegate it to other teams/people.

For me, I'm currently stuck at 1200 users, which is still amazing to have this number (got lucky at the launch 3 years ago somehow managed to get 500 users in just few days), not so lucky with my other cool app which after huge update gained maybe 40 users :|

I tried :

  • Product hunt - Not really amazing, just 12 upvotes
  • Reddit posts -- Ok, barely getting any traction max maybe 12 upvotes on posts etc.
  • Reddit commenting under relevant posts (Like when users ask for some cool apps, and I get chance to tell them about mine i usually get about 5-10 upvotes which is always good, any number helps)
  • Instagram reels and tiktoks - waste of time for me, I spend hours on reels and barely getting 5 views
  • Apple ads, of course working if you pay (but you can get 100$ free coupon from them) that helps

I think best would be to make the 1200 users share it with friends, but I have no idea how to do this.

TDLR : What are your methods to promote your apps, what have you tried that worked and what was waste of time for you ?

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

1

u/Embarrassed-Bend3446 4h ago

Reddit and X comments for me, but sounds like you already tried that
are you doing it manually? needs to be at scale really

1

u/appstractcode 3h ago

Yes manually going around reddit and finding relevant posts, is there some more automated way or way of finding them easier ?

1

u/Embarrassed-Bend3446 2h ago

Yea there is, it's actually what brought me to your post, I am a co-founder for a platform that does exactly this but across Reddit, X and LinkedIn
Every time a conversation pops up that is relevant to your product or niche you can be notified about it, you choose what signals qualify a lead, can be anything really.

Feel free to reach out if you want the link, not sure if I can posts links here

1

u/OfficeSalamander 3h ago

Organic SEO. We aren’t otherwise advertising for a bit (doing a bit of a rebuild) and we get 25-50 users creating accounts per month