Plenty of businesses use Facebook advertising to promote their page apps, but the majority do not.

If you’ve built an app that is unique & interesting to your fanbase — and has built-in sharing features as well as an awesome incentive (a prize, access to exclusive content, etc.), then you’re halfway there.

And the truth is, you don’t need to spend money to get the word out about your cool new app.

In this post I’m going to cover how your business can promote your business’s app to existing fans & people outside of your Facebook network, all without spending a dime.

Tips to promote your app to current fans

1. Post multiple status updates about your new app

I’m going back to the basics with this first tip. If you want fans to know about something, you have to tell them — and keep reminding them.

For example, if you just launched a contest app, make multiple Facebook announcements during different times of the day & throughout the week (or during the period of time the app is running).

Also, don’t forget to use an eye-grabbing image for your posts. The more attention your status updates receive, the better it is for the promotion of your app.

2. Update your cover photo

Recently Facebook kicked in the door for how businesses can use their largest piece of Timeline real estate — the cover photo. According to their new promotion guidelines, calls-to-actions are now allowed in the copy & design of cover photo images.

This is a total game-changer!

Draw attention to apps by using arrows or other illustrations, like the cover photo below, that point to your Timeline’s apps.



Tips to promote your app to non-Facebook networks

1. Send a message to your email list

Whether your list includes 50 or 50,000 subscribers, send an email to your list asking them to check out your new Facebook app.

For example, if you’ve created an app for a giveaway, make sure to let everyone on your email list know to check it out for a chance to win!

2. Use Twitter for personal outreach

I have a Twitter rockstar on my team who uses this tip. Rather than tweeting out generic updates like, “Check out our new app for a chance to win!” it’s more effective to tweet at individuals who you think would most likely share news about your app with their communities.

You can also test using a specific hashtag in the tweets you’re promoting your app — this will help your company keep track of what users are saying.

3. If you have a blog, write a blog post

If you have a company blog, use it as a platform to talk about your newly launched custom app.

For example, at ShortStack our blog is Socially Stacked. Every time we launch a new app for our Facebook Page, we write a blog post about it (like this one) & link our readers back to the app.

Because we get a decent amount of traffic to Socially Stacked, this approach works really well for us.

Tips to promote your app to people outside of your network

1. Issue a press release

In business, writing a press release has long been a best practice for making company announcements. When your business launches an awesome new app, it’s news! So go ahead & write a press release about it.

Most apps, especially contest & promotion apps, anchor a company’s overarching campaign. Use the press release to talk about the campaign, then provide a call to action & a link to your app.

If your company isn’t already signed up with a press release distribution company, this option will cost you (about $99 to distribute one press release, to be exact). Although, in a lot of cases, it’s worth it.

PR Web, for example — the service I use at ShortStack — makes it super easy to get your release out to search engines & major news...