Ruling the App Store – How Can Your Social App Engage Customers and Make Money?

Is there a real recipe behind the success of some of the top grossing apps on Facebook and smartphone platforms? That is what Raf Keustermans, Julien Codorniou, Erik Lammerding and Robin Wauters talked about on the first day of London LeWeb.

When it comes to driving installation, engagement and monetization of mobile apps, Raf Keustermans, co-Founder and CEO at Plumbee, said that developers need to be aware that App Store is just like a traditional marketplace – there are “shelves” and it is hard to stand out.

When we speak of Apple, for example, there is a risk that you are not cool enough, and if you are not a part of their “cool team”, you will have a hard time. Apple is skeptical about casinos, so it is hard to get through.

Erik Lammerding, co-Founder at N3TWORK, pointed out that innovation and quality are quite important.

Remember that there are three different charts in the App Store and many apps find the way to get on them. Not always the good ones, but they manage.

Developers’ “dirty little tricks”

Robin Wauters, European Editor of The Next Web, panel’s moderator, asked about app discovering – how can users find apps that are relevant for them and how do developers deal with that? Well, Raf discovered some of the dirty secrets.

There were many “dirty tricks” that developers use to make their app appear on the top charts and there are companies specialized for that. They try to buy the position in, for example, top ten apps. The problem is that everyone started doing that, so there is no more benefit anyone. Also, those apps didn’t have a right to be there, so users can notice it.

Julien Codorniou, Head of European Platform Partnerships, Facebook, said that Facebook News Feed is a great place to find new apps, so it is important to focus on sharing stories on that place. He mentioned Deezer, as a good example, which got a lot of distribution on Facebook. Also, he stated that social is a very important part of applications and Facebook makes sure that the social integration is in the maximum level.

Quality through different platforms

Erik talked more about different platforms – he stated that consumer experience is quite important and developers need to take advantages from every platform. The worst solution is to “peanut-butter spread” the app through all of the platforms and create a low quality solution in that way. His solution for success is simple – just build a great app.