How to Make Marketing Your App a Habit

TL;DR

  • Establish routines so your users know when to expect new content regularly

  • Post to Instagram every single day

  • Format your posts consistently — include a clear CTA, talk about the value of your app, engage your community, talk about the value of your app, and provide motivation!

One of the most successful indicators of a subscription business is frequency in routine. Content matters, and so does the frequency in which you post it. Once you launch your app, it’s essential to create routines and habits so your users know when to expect new content on a regular basis.

Think of it this way:

You’re building your own mini Netflix with your subscription business. While Netflix has a great range of content, it also has a routine, with fresh content added on a regular basis. So, as a consumer, you know to expect fresh, new content on a routine basis.

Think of yourself as a thought leader. You created this app because you have fitness or wellness expertise, so share that knowledge with your followers regularly!

You want to apply this routine framework to both your social media — particularly Instagram — and your app experience.

Develop a Routine That Becomes a Habit

First, consider your current social media habits. How frequently are you posting? What kind of value are you providing? Do your followers expect a particular tone and consistency with your posts?

We know that top performers with any digital product have a routine they repeat on a weekly basis.

This is the base habit loop you want to adopt:

  1. Film a new workout

  2. Post the workout to your app

  3. Post about the workout on social media

  4. Engage with your community

  5. Rinse and repeat!

Here’s what we recommend:

  • Develop a theme: Choose what you’ll post about on a routine basis — i.e. fitness, family, and wellness — and stick to those themes.

  • Create consistency: For example, every Monday, share a #MotivationMonday post, or publish new weekly workouts to your Instagram Story every Sunday evening.

  • Post every day: The more you post about your app, the more subscribers you’ll get!

  • Include a call-to-action (CTA) to download your app: Always remind people to download your app and include a clickable link.

Note: This routine should be applied to both your Instagram feed and Story posts.

Post Theme(s)

We know that the people who build big social media followings have particular themes for what they post about.

For example, many fitness influencers post about five things in particular:

  1. Fitness

  2. Family

  3. Wellness

  4. Lifestyle

  5. Pets

They then create a schedule and post about those five things on a regular basis. Remember, it takes eight to 10 touchpoints to convert to a sale!

Here are a few great examples from Playbook creator Julian Smith’s Instagram. As you’ll see in the examples, his post formatting is consistent (centered around fitness, wellness, and family), and he’s posting to the platform daily.

His post captions also include a CTA to download his app:

How frequently you post about your app matters (psst get the best times to post here), and how you format your posts is also key.

Post Formatting

Your Instagram post captions should be consistent and include the following:

  • A clear CTA: This should be toward the beginning of the post, rather than buried in the copy or at the end. Bonus points if you include multiple CTAs throughout your post!

  • Formatting should be seamless to read: Use spacing and emojis to break up long lines of copy.

  • Talk about community: Encourage users to push through their workouts, give them tips and tricks for success, and ask for their feedback. Learn more about community engagement best practices here.

  • Tell people about the value of your app: Remind your followers why they should download your app! For example, tell them how new workouts are added every week, your exclusive app-only content, etc.

  • Tell people the results they can expect from using your app: Highlight any physical or mental changes users can expect from doing your workouts

  • Provide motivation!

Here’s a great example from Playbook creator Aubrie Edgington. Her Instagram profile is an excellent overall example of routine posting. Check out the standard formatting on the following Instagram posts:

App Launch

Challenge Launches

New Workouts in App

Instagram Stories — New Workouts of the Week and CTA to Download App