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Are the days of pure organic growth over for apps?

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Are the days of pure organic growth over for apps

30-second summary:

  • Has it become nearly impossible to cut through the noise of six million apps in app stores?
  • For app marketing to be effective, it has to take into consideration the whole ecosystem that affects your app’s marketing performance
  • Whether it is app store optimization (ASO) or combining organic and paid user acquisition, marketers need to look at data holistically and ask the right questions when analyzing app performance
  • A successful app marketing strategy understands the correlation between ASO and paid user acquisition efforts
  • You need to understand how your paid funnel impacts organic growth and vice versa

Whether you like it or not, apps have become a day-to-day standard for businesses and consumers. There is an app for everything, whether it is shopping, banking, travel, or gaming.  In fact, a recent survey has found that 88 percent of mobile time is spent within apps.

According to Statista’s data from Q2 of 2022, there are more than six million apps across Google Playstore, Apple app store, and Amazon store.

App data Q2 2022 - Number of apps across Google, Apple, and Amazon stores.

Source: Statista

That’s why marketing your app properly has never been more important and has become an integral part of a business’s marketing strategy. But for it to be effective, app marketing has to take into consideration the whole ecosystem that affects your app’s marketing performance. Whether it is app store optimization (ASO) or combining organic and paid user acquisition (for example, via Google App Campaigns and Apple Search Ads), marketers need to look at data holistically and ask the right questions when analyzing an app’s performance.

Here I will share some of the knowledge I have gained and tricks of the trade I have learned over the past 10 years in the marketing field.

Organic growth on its own won’t take you far

While a few years ago ASO may have been the most important part of your app marketing strategy, to stay competitive in the busy app marketing landscape, you need to power up your User Acquisition (UA) strategy. This does not mean that ASO is no longer important – it sure is – but it has to be combined with your paid user acquisition strategy for an app’s sustainable growth. Both organic and paid UA has the main goal to drive quality conversions while maintaining a low cost per conversion.

To start with, you need a solid ASO foundation to maintain a stream of high-quality users across channels. It is essential as the user will ultimately land in your app store listing. You are literally wasting your money if you haven’t invested time in ASO and optimizing your store listing.

Paid user acquisition can lead to more organic app installs. Ads will bring new attention to your app store listing. The more installs your app generates, the higher your app will be ranked in the app stores. As a result, it increases visibility across search results and browse sections. Due to increased visibility, more and more users will land in your organic store listing and download your app. Hence the growth loop continues!

A successful strategy is about understanding the correlation between ASO and paid user acquisition efforts. You need to understand how your paid funnel impacts organic growth and vice versa. At GAMEE, we have used App Radar’s all-in-one platform which has helped our team work together within one system and understand, as well as maximize, the impact of organic and paid user acquisition for both Google and Apple app stores.

Analyzing app performance

After putting a lot of effort into optimizing your UA, don’t just sit back and hope to see perfect results. Throughout the campaign, you should be analyzing your app’s performance and asking the right questions. You’d probably like to know how much growth your ASO efforts brought. Or was it your paid UA traffic that led to an increase or drop? It can be challenging to answer all these questions, especially considering many factors that can play a significant role. As an example, let’s look at a couple of scenarios.

Scenario one: A drop in app installs

Seeing a drop in installs? It might be concerning at first sight. However, the good news is that there is most probably an explanation for every decrease in installs. And for every problem, there is also a solution.

One crucial impact factor you need to consider is paid user acquisition efforts. When you notice a decrease in downloads, you should first check whether you had ads running during that specific time. Ads can bring a significant amount of traffic to your app, and once you stop or reduce them, this might have a substantial effect on your results. Check the correlation between organic and paid conversions, and then analyze how your paid conversions impact your total growth and understand whether an increase in installs might be due to reduced activity via paid channels.

What should you do now?

First, try to get a better picture of the situation by looking at the last 30 or 90 days timeframe and understanding how significant the impact was. If pausing, for example, your Google App Campaigns greatly decreased your installs, you should consider re-activating the ads.

Scenario two: An increase in app installs

This is the result we are all aiming for. Ideally, you’d want this to continue throughout and beyond your marketing campaign. But for that, you need to know what was impacting the increase. Transferring and attributing success from one place to another can be tricky if you do not know where the success is coming from.

Your best bet would be to look at the conversion breakdown to help you find the answer. Is it Google Ads, Apple Search Ads, another paid channel, or ASO? If you run a campaign via a paid channel at the same time as the installs increased then it is most likely that that was what influenced your overall app growth. It is worth also evaluating which ad platform is the most efficient. Do you get a better cost per conversion with a paid channel? To get an idea of whether your app is performing better or worse, you may want to compare the figures with previous campaigns – How did your impressions, conversions, and costs perform compared to the previous period? Taking all of this into account will help you determine whether you should change your focus or make tweaks to your campaign.

Three takeaways from GAMEE’s experience

At GAMEE we have learned that there are three elements every app marketer should never stop working on:

ASO

It is the end-point to all of your app activities. Every dollar and hour invested elsewhere can be multiplied by a good ASO strategy and approach. This is where our use of App Radar’s platform was extremely valuable in maximizing our campaigns.

Testing

Use custom app store listings (where possible), various combinations of paid ad networks, and app store A/B tests to get the best results.

Prioritizing

Pick the audience, markets, regions, and/or demographics you need to win and focus your ASO and paid channels on them.

While analyzing the impact of paid and organic user acquisition is no easy task, the one thing you don’t want to do is put all your eggs in one basket. You can’t rely on just organic UA or just paid UA. For a successful app marketing strategy, both areas have to work in tandem. Your campaign should also allow room for testing. This enables you to tweak and pivot strategy as you go, and tailor it for your target audience. Trust me, if properly managed your app will soon be reaping your strategy’s benefits.


Jan Gemrich is Chief Marketing Officer at GAMEE, a high-engagement play-to-earn gaming platform, that attracts over 30 million users. GAMEE is part of Animoca brands which is a leading blockchain gaming company.  Jan previously worked for 9+ years at Google, based out of Prague, London, and Toronto, where he was responsible for user growth (Google Pay, Android, Search) and the launch of new products (Pixel, Stadia, etc).

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Should You Invest In Twitter Blue Or Meta Verified?

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Should You Invest In Twitter Blue Or Meta Verified?

Twitter plans to end its legacy verified program at the end of this month. To continue having a verified blue checkmark, you must subscribe to Twitter Blue, now available globally.

You can check any blue checkmark on Twitter to see if it is a Twitter Blue or legacy verified checkmark by clicking or tapping it.

Screenshot from Twitter, March 2023

Twitter Blue Benefits And Eligibility

Eligibility requirements for a verified blue checkmark include having a confirmed phone number, an account older than 90 days, and no changes to your name, username, or profile picture within 30 days. Accounts with a verified blue checkmark cannot engage in misleading or deceptive practices, such as impersonating someone else or using fake identities.

The premium subscription plan offers Twitter users several exclusive features, including the following.

  • A verified blue checkmark.
  • The ability to post longer Tweets and longer videos.
  • The chance to undo a Tweet before it’s sent.
  • The chance to edit some Tweets within the first 30 minutes.
  • A feed of Top Articles shared by those you follow and the people they follow.
  • Account security with two-factor authentication via SMS or authentication apps.
  • Increased visibility when you reply to other users’ Tweets.

Pricing varies based on your country and device. In the United States, it is $8 – $11 monthly.

Twitter also offers distinct profile labels for organizations (a gold checkmark), government officials (a gray checkmark), and other account types.

Meta Verified Benefits And Eligibility

Meta is also rolling out a paid subscription bundle, Meta Verified, that includes verification of Facebook and Instagram profiles.

Eligibility requirements on Facebook and Instagram include having an active profile with your real name and profile photo matching your government-issued ID.

Two-factor authentication must be used to secure your account, and your account must always adhere to the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines for each network.

The paid subscription offers Facebook and Instagram users several exclusive features, including the following.

  • A verified checkmark that lets your audience know you are who you say you are.
  • Exclusive stickers to use on Facebook and Instagram.
  • 100 stars per month to support your favorite Facebook creators.
  • Help from a real person when you experience issues with your account.

Pricing varies based on the device you sign up on and is limited to select users over 18 years old in the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia. It is $11.99 – $14.99 monthly.

The Downsides To Paid Verification

While it offers people who never had the chance to be verified in the past the option to pay for the blue checkmark, paid verification is controversial for several reasons.

For starters, many Twitter Blue users complain that they haven’t noticed an increase in engagement since paying for the subscription and feel they are now paying to be ignored.

Another major concern is the lack of distinction between notable public figures and people who have paid for the checkmark. Previously, accounts had to belong to prominently recognized individuals or brands based on news coverage, industry references, and audience size. Now, notable accounts will have to pay for verification with everyone else.

This new false “notability” could allow bad actors to spread misinformation and scam people based on the account’s status as a verified profile. Some agencies have released consumer alerts in response to growing reports of scams committed by Twitter blue verified accounts.

While these actions violate social platforms’ terms of service and community guidelines, these verified accounts could continue spreading misinformation and scamming others until someone reports an issue. A lot of damage could be done in the time it takes for someone from the social network to investigate reported users.

Some Twitter users strongly oppose paid verification. Some accounts have launched campaigns encouraging others to block Twitter Blue users to decrease the reach of accounts with the paid blue checkmark.

Should You Invest In Paid Verification From Twitter Blue Or Meta Verified?Screenshot from Twitter, March 2023

Others will dismiss opinions shared by users simply because the account has a Twitter Blue verification.

Should You Invest In Paid Verification From Twitter Blue Or Meta Verified?Screenshot from Twitter, March 2023

Is Paid Verification Right For You?

It’s important to weigh the benefits of being verified through Twitter Blue or Meta Verified and the potential implications of paying for notability on social media.

As a social network user, it’s also important to remember some basic safety rules.

  • Regardless of verification status, never give out personal information or account details to other social media users.
  • If you are asked to send money for a specific cause or reason, research it outside social media to ensure it is a legitimate request, not a scam.
  • Fact-check information before you share it with others to prevent spreading misinformation to larger, susceptible audiences. This especially applies to images and video thanks to AI content generation.
  • Utilize two-factor authentication to secure your accounts and save your backup/recovery code for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, just in case.

Featured Image: Fantastic Studio/Shutterstock



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WordPress WooCommerce Payments Plugin Vulnerability

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WordPress WooCommerce Payments Plugin Vulnerability

Automattic, publishers of the WooCommerce plugin, announced the discovery and patch of a critical vulnerability in the WooCommerce Payments plugin.

The vulnerability allows an attacker to gain Administrator level credentials and perform a full site-takeover.

Administrator is the highest permission user role in WordPress, granting full access to a WordPress site with the ability to create more admin-level accounts as well as the ability to delete the entire website.

What makes this particular vulnerability of great concern is that it’s available to unauthenticated attackers, which means that they don’t first have to acquire another permission in order to manipulate the site and obtain admin-level user role.

WordPress security plugin maker Wordfence described this vulnerability:

“After reviewing the update we determined that it removed vulnerable code that could allow an unauthenticated attacker to impersonate an administrator and completely take over a website without any user interaction or social engineering required.”

The Sucuri Website security platform published a warning about the vulnerability that goes into further details.

Sucuri explains that the vulnerability appears to be in the following file:

/wp-content/plugins/woocommerce-payments/includes/platform-checkout/class-platform-checkout-session.php

They also explained that the “fix” implemented by Automattic is to remove the file.

Sucuri observes:

“According to the plugin change history it appears that the file and its functionality was simply removed altogether…”

The WooCommerce website published an advisory that explains why they chose to completely remove the affected file:

“Because this vulnerability also had the potential to impact WooPay, a new payment checkout service in beta testing, we have temporarily disabled the beta program.”

The WooCommerce Payment Plugin vulnerability was discovered on March 22, 2023 by a third party security researcher who notified Automattic.

Automattic swiftly issued a patch.

Details of the vulnerability will be released on April 6, 2023.

That means any site that has not updated this plugin will become vulnerable.

What Version of WooCommerce Payments Plugin is Vulnerable

WooCommerce updated the plugin to version 5.6.2. This is considered the most up to date and non-vulnerable version of the website.

Automattic has pushed a forced update however it’s possible that some sites may not have received it.

It is recommended that all users of the affected plugin check that their installations are updated to version WooCommerce Payments Plugin 5.6.2

Once the vulnerability is patched, WooCommerce recommends taking the following actions:

“Once you’re running a secure version, we recommend checking for any unexpected admin users or posts on your site. If you find any evidence of unexpected activity, we suggest:

Updating the passwords for any Admin users on your site, especially if they reuse the same passwords on multiple websites.

Rotating any Payment Gateway and WooCommerce API keys used on your site. Here’s how to update your WooCommerce API keys. For resetting other keys, please consult the documentation for those specific plugins or services.”

Read the WooCommerce vulnerability explainer:

Critical Vulnerability Patched in WooCommerce Payments – What You Need to Know



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How Do You Clean Up Content Without Effecting Rankings?

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How Do You Clean Up Content Without Effecting Rankings?

Today’s Ask An SEO question comes from Neethu, who asks:

My website is almost 20 years old. There are lots of content. Many of them are not performing well. How do you effectively clean up those content without effecting rankings?

Contrary to what some SEO pros tell you, more content is not always better.

Deciding what content to keep, which content to modify, and which content to throw away is an important consideration, as content is the backbone of any website and is essential for driving traffic, engagement, and conversions.

However, not all content is created equal, and outdated, irrelevant, or underperforming content can hinder a website’s success.

Run A Content Audit

To effectively clean up your website’s content, the first step is to conduct a content audit.

This involves analyzing your site’s content and assessing its performance, relevance, and quality.

You can use various metrics such as traffic, bounce rate, and engagement to identify which pages are performing well and which ones are not.

Once you have identified the pages that are not performing well, it’s important to prioritize them based on their importance to your website.

Pages that are not driving traffic or conversions may need to be prioritized over pages that are not performing well but are still important for your site’s overall goals.

Distinguish Evergreen Vs. Time-Sensitive Content

Additionally, it’s important to consider whether a page is evergreen or time-sensitive.

You can update or repurpose evergreen content over time, while you may need to remove time-sensitive content.

After prioritizing your content, you can decide what action to take with each page.

For pages that are still relevant but not performing well, you may be able to update them with fresh information to improve their performance.

For pages that are outdated or no longer relevant, it may be best to remove them altogether.

When removing content, implement 301 redirects to relevant pages to ensure that any backlinks pointing to the old page are not lost.

Monitor Your Stuff

It’s important to monitor your search engine rankings after cleaning up your content to ensure your changes do not negatively impact your SEO.

But don’t just look at rankings.

Content optimization projects can affect traffic, conversions, navigation, and other items that impact your overall search engine optimization efforts.

Watch Google Analytics closely. If there are traffic declines, you may need to re-evaluate a few changes.

It’s important not to have a knee-jerk reaction, however.

Before you throw out your optimization efforts, be sure that the changes you made are actually what is causing a drop – and make sure those changes are stable within the search engines index.

Remember that it may take some time for your rankings to stabilize after a content cleanup, so it’s important to be patient and monitor your website’s performance over time.

To further optimize your content cleanup, consider using Google Search Console to identify pages with high impressions but low click-through rates.

These pages may benefit from content updates or optimization to improve their performance.

Additionally, consolidating pages that cover similar topics into one comprehensive page can improve user experience and help avoid keyword cannibalization.

In Summary

Cleaning up your website’s content is crucial for maintaining a high-quality site.

By conducting a content audit, prioritizing your content, and deciding whether to keep, update, or remove the content, you can effectively clean up your site without negatively impacting your rankings.

Remember to monitor your rankings and be patient as your site adjust.

More Resources: 


Featured Image: Song_about_summer/Shutterstock



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