Brief Summary
This video explains how to grow a mobile app to 100,000 downloads without spending any money. It covers essential knowledge for growing a mobile app in 2025, emphasizing an e-commerce approach, and shares a detailed journey of growing the "Rise" app to 100,000 installs for free. The video also provides a step-by-step guide to the Instagram strategy used for growth.
- Mobile apps should be viewed as commodities, similar to e-commerce products.
- Organic short-form videos are a key channel for app growth.
- Content formats should be continuously tested and evolved.
Intro
The creator introduces the video's purpose: to explain how to achieve 100,000 app downloads in six months without a budget. The video is structured into two main parts: essential knowledge for growing a mobile app in 2025 and a walkthrough of the creator's journey in growing their app, "Rise," to 100,000 downloads for free.
Essential knowledge about mobile app business in 2025
In 2025, mobile apps should be viewed as commodities, similar to e-commerce products like Scrub Daddy sponges. Instead of aiming for a unicorn startup, focus on selling the app like a product in a supermarket. The process involves creating content to attract users, who then install the app from the app store, try it, and pay for continued use if they find it valuable. Learning from e-commerce and dropshippers is crucial for success. There are two main types of apps: utility apps and social apps. Utility apps solve specific problems and should connect to innate human desires such as health or beauty. Social apps grow through sharing, which is integral to their use. The K-factor, which measures how many new users each user brings in, is important for social app growth. In 2025, apps are commodities that need to earn a margin on each sale. Understanding Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV) is essential. CAC is the cost to acquire a new user, while LTV is the revenue earned from a paying user over their lifetime. Channels, which are ways to acquire users, include short-form videos, ads, and ASO (App Store Optimization). Organic short-form videos and ASO typically have the lowest CAC.
How I grew Rise to 100k installs
The creator shares how they utilized organic short-form video channels to grow the "Rise" app. Organic shorts are defined as free, homemade, in-house content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Short-form videos are effective for mobile apps because they align with short attention spans and allow for seamless integration of the product. The journey from exposure to product acquisition is smoother than in e-commerce. The rise in appen's stock price reflects the efficiency of short-form videos as a channel for mobile app growth.
Step-by-step walking through my Instagram strategy
The creator outlines a five-step strategy for using organic short videos to grow an app. First, start an official Instagram page for the app. Second, identify three to five content formats by observing what resonates with the target audience. Third, begin posting content daily. Fourth, focus on successful content and eliminate what doesn't work. Finally, continue to evolve content formats and strategies as marginal returns diminish. For "Rise," the target audience was individuals seeking self-improvement. The creator identified content formats such as POV videos, anime-style clips, motivational edits, and creative cinematics. Initially, the content wasn't directly related to the app, but the strategy evolved to incorporate the app more directly. The creator emphasizes the importance of testing content, even stealing viral videos to gauge page performance. A turning point was the use of memes, which significantly boosted views. The strategy involved looping successful formats like POV videos and memes, and continuously testing new formats to avoid bottlenecks. The creator also shares specific examples of content that worked and didn't work, highlighting the need for constant evolution and adaptation.
