How do you MARKET a Viral App this Article is about the most important principles and methods for marketing a viral app my name is Blake Anderson in just over one year. I built three mobile applications that have each generated millions in downloads and millions in profit those apps are Riz GPT umax and Cal AI.

I will be using these apps as examples during this five-part series which is brought to you by Apex our mission at Apex is to produce High-quality tools and content designed to improve your health success and purpose in life let’s first Define viral marketing and explain.
Table of Contents
MARKET a Viral App
Why it is important viral marketing seeks to minimize the amount of friction from your launch to millions of users we will be focusing on single-player utility apps that solve a problem and do require some complex backend marketing where most apps fall flat you can build an amazing product.
But if you don’t know how to attract the attention of your target user users nobody will get to use it. The first half of this Article will be about principles that should be shaped. How you think about marketing the second half will be about methods.
Optimize Your App Store Presence (ASO)
Just as websites need SEO to rank, apps require App Store Optimization (ASO) to stand out. Follow these steps for maximum visibility:
- Choose the Right Keywords: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Sensor Tower to identify trending keywords. Incorporate them naturally into your app title, description, and metadata.
- Compelling App Title: Make it short, descriptive, and keyword-rich.
- Engaging Screenshots and Videos: Showcase your app’s unique features with high-quality visuals.
- App Icon: Design an eye-catching icon that conveys the app’s purpose.
How to Market Your App Our Three core principles are stop studying start understanding human psychology and Rapid iteration our three core methods are internal ugcinfluencer Partnerships and platform ads principle number stop studying start doing. This principle applies to far more.
Principle 1: Stop Studying, Start Doing
Then just marketing if you spend more time Reading articles about marketing like this than actually doing it. You won’t get anywhere. I see too many Founders stuck in analysis paralysisendless research and studying and devising. The perfect launch strategy that they don’t spend enough time doing the thing no amount of research can replace Real World Experience create content talk to influencers set up meta and TikTok ad campaigns for the best marketers.
I know didn’t learn from courses. I have never purchased a course on marketing in my entire life fail success analysis. What has worked and what didn’t work in this cycle of action and reflection is. How you improve in any domain not just marketing 80% of your time should be spent doing whereas 20% of your time should be spent studying and reflecting and when you do study focus on studying actual case studies rather.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a major driver of virality. Incentivize your users to share your app with others:
- Offer Rewards: Provide discounts, free features, or in-app currency for every successful referral.
- Gamify the Process: Turn sharing into a fun and rewarding experience.
Then just theory some common excuses. I hear are I need to learn more first you learn by doing I don’t want to waste money. You can create free content yourself I don’t know any creators starting them the truth is your first attempts will almost certainly fail know that mine did that’s okay. That doesn’t mean that you need to study more means that you need to keep failing and keep getting those shots up. You eventually figure out how to make it work principle number two understands human psychology in its most primitive form marketing is understanding.
Principle 2: Understand Human Psychology
How people think and what motivates them and figure out. How to leverage that to capture their attention the most successful apps often tap into core human desires sexual attraction social status self-improvement and entertainment R gbt went viral because it tapped into people’s desire to be charismatic with members of the opposite UMX went viral.
Because it validates how attractive people think they are Cal AI went viral because it helps people achieve their fitness goals your marketing should focus on the emotional benefit and problem. That it solves for the user not just its features. Do tell me what your app does tell me how it will make my life better principle number three rapid iteration.
Principle 3: Rapid Iteration
The realkey for success is rapidly iterating andoptimizing for learning until. You figureout your skill scalable strategies let’suse umax content hooks as an example in the early days. I came up with a list of hooks one was POV you use the umax app to glow up here a Creator would show aside by side of their face ratings before and after glowing up.
So it wouldgo from a 55 rating to a 95 ratinganother was here are the best haircutsfor your face shape creators would scantheir face and show their recommended haircut in the umax app. We tested fiveto 10 different hookes across our ownaccounts as well as influencers that we worked with we figured out which one sperform best double down on those andthis enabled us to scale to over $600,000 in monthly Revenue within 3 months.
I’m pretty good at marketing andcontent now but even I can’t come upwith a hope that works every time don’tget emotionally attached to any singlemarketing angle allow the data to guide you. There’s a famous story about twopottery classes that perfectlyillustrates.
This example a professor wascurious what makes a great Potter hedevised a test the first class took theentire semester to make the single best pot. They could the second class was toldthey would be graded purely on then umber of pots that they producedinterestingly enough.
The second classdidn’t just make more pots they madebetter pots too they learned throughtrial and error rapidly iterating ontheir approach to pot making the firstclass moved extremely slow focused on not messing up. The one pot that they hadwhen you’re marketing a new product youhave un limited pots make more learnfaster method number one internal ugc internal ugc or user generated contentis the most profitable way to Markety our app though it is also.
Method 1: Internal UGC
The leastscalable without a doubt though it’s. The best place to start with little to no Capital internal ugc is content created and posted to company-owned accounts for Riz GPT. We had tens of accounts namedgetor RZ GPT or Riz gp or app and so on this all started with our main account.
Now named plug AI which my co-foundersAlex and Evan ran. We started offcreating video demos of the app very quickly shifted to Riz slides show content within the first month of this transition. We generated nearly 50 million views on this account alone aswe figured out winning strategies wehired teams of ugc creators to runaccounts for us as it often goes with ugc four of these five accounts flopped.
But one ended up producing a 20xt turnto very clearly outline the processhere’s. How you get started with ugc first study viral Hooks and content in your apps Niche second begin creating content yourself and figuring out what works third use what you have learned tohire ugc creators to make their own accounts and scale.
The process for youyou can then retain the creators that dowell and replace the ones that method number two influencer Partnerships influencer Partnerships are the nextmost profitable way to scale your appsmarketing and it is very scalable butit’s very difficult to do right.
Method 2: Influencer Partnerships
If you want to get good at influencer Partnerships you should probably study psychology and statistics. I can speak on influencer Partnerships for hours and I will in future article but here is the core information for this article to help you.
Get started first you need to find the right influence influencers if you’ve listened to my other article at this point you should have a very strongunderstanding of the content andinfluencers in your apps Niche. Well Idm’ 10 influencers and nobody responded you need to DM hundreds. Once you work with them ask them to refer you to other creators that they know second you should pay influencers based on average view count.
So if their posts get 100,000 views on average you might pay thembetween $100 to $11,000 depending on the niche. That you are operating in it’susually a lot cheaper to get them on acontract. Where they post four times permonth for example rather than just doingone off videos you need to analyze their comment section if.
Their audience isengaged and largely American it’s a goodsign that their videos will convert well for. You if it’s full of random botaccounts commenting the fire Emoji it’snot going to convert finally you need todevelop an intuitive understanding of the niche and different creators and.
How well they convert direct attribution iscurrently next to impossible for organic social media advertising to solve thisyou must closely monitor your app’sconversion dashboard as well as theinfluencers post in real time and asses show. Well the views are converting to downloads and purchases method number three platform ads platform ads are the most scalable method of app marketing.
Social media is a powerful tool for marketing your app without leaving home. Here’s how to do it:
- Create a Story: Highlight how your app improves lives. Use storytelling to connect with your audience emotionally.
- Video Content: Share app tutorials, user testimonials, or sneak peeks through engaging videos. Platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts are ideal for short-form content.
- Influencer Collaborations: Partner with micro-influencers in your niche who can promote your app to their audience.
- Social Proof: Encourage users to share their experiences and tag your brand. Repost their content to build credibility.
Method 3: Platform Ads
Marketing they are also least profitableas a percentage of Revenue and requirethe most upfront Capital to get started for that reason. I would not recommend prioritizing this strategy. If you are a new app developer platform ads are most commonly done through meta Tock Google and apple search first compile a mass number of creatives.
This should includea mix of videos and images as well as different content styles to reflectevery different angle. That you can Market your app second you install the necessary sdks for attribution and thirdyou run campaigns.
First starting with small budgets to figure out what thewinning creatives and AD strategies are and then you scale it up from there platform ads generally work best with apps. That have a high LTV or customer lifetime value apps that make a lot ofmoney per user conversely apps with alow LTV generally work better through organic marketing.
Run Paid Campaigns (On a Budget)
Even with limited resources, paid ads can amplify your marketing efforts.
- Google Ads: Target users searching for apps similar to yours.
- Facebook and Instagram Ads: Use highly targeted campaigns based on user demographics and interests.
- App Install Campaigns: Platforms like Twitter and Snapchat offer ad formats specifically designed to drive app downloads.
This is why Irecommend ugc and influ or Partnershipsfor people getting started hopefully thecontent in this article will help you market and scale your app to millions inprofit. If you have any questions leave comments below and make sure to Follow to stay up to date for the final part of this series building aviral app in 2025 thanks for Reading.
Conclusion
Marketing a viral app from home requires a combination of creativity, persistence, and strategic planning. By leveraging the techniques outlined above, you can effectively promote your app, build a loyal user base, and achieve viral success. Remember, consistency and quality are the pillars of any successful marketing campaign.