There’s a lot of content out there, and like families flocking to the beach at the height of the afternoon, more just keeps getting added. If you’re a regular person on the internet, you know the drill already: there’s no way to keep up with everything that’s posted online, so your attention span will naturally gravitate towards the stuff that you’re at-all-costs interested in looking at. 

If you’re a content creator, however, you don’t have that luxury, and you definitely don’t have the opportunity to create content that can be skipped over. Content creators’ entire careers thrive on getting their audience to like, subscribe, and keep following, and the difference can be difficult to overcome for content creators if they simply cannot keep their audience entertained. 

Fortunately, there’s plenty of ways to capitalize on engagement if you have your own app. 

Here’s five of our favorites. 

• Clarify the purpose of the app

Listen: the biggest brands today are the way they are because they’re recognizable, and a lot of that comes from having a clearly defined purpose that their audience resonates with. When you ask someone, why do you like this brand?, they’ll probably point out something that has very little to do with the brand itself, but a lot to do with its internal values, or its approach to social responsibility. 

As a content creator, your app has to put forward what your purpose is too. Is it to entertain? To educate? Are you just looking for a way to connect all your fans together? Beautiful design is one thing, but if your beautiful design is the only thing going for you, it’s not going to keep people interested in what you have to say. 

• Personalization

Think about the last app you used and remembered, and we’ll bet a big reason for why it stayed so clear in your mind is to do with personalization. A lot of apps are built standard, nowadays, with no sign-up required and a single user journey, but giving your audience the opportunity to personalize how the app works is an opportunity you shouldn’t miss out on. 

Give your audience the opportunity to list their preferences. Maybe they want personalized notifications for your app at more frequent intervals. Offer the chance for customization for the app’s core elements: the text, the option of switching between dark mode and light mode, what aspects of the app they can see and what aspects they can hide. Allowing your audience to personalize the brand experience as they see fit creates a unique opportunity for your brand to build a place in their life without any extra effort expended. 

• Shorter sign up process

You know how signing up for something used to be quick: provide your email address and a password, and there you go? The other side of personalization is this - if you ask your audience too many questions, they’re going to get burned out before they even open up the app, and that doesn’t mean good things for your content. 

There’s a better way. 

Make the sign up process short and sweet. Chances are, if they’re looking at your app, they’re already aware of who you are and what your content’s like, so your option as a content creator is pretty simple: you just need to introduce yourself enough that newcomers will know who you are and what you stand for pretty much immediately. The rest can come later. 

• Push notifications for important content.

We get it: push notifications are a two-edged sword. On the one hand, push notifications keep your content relevant and top of mind, especially the ones that crop up on a phone’s lock screen and stay there until removed. 

This doesn’t mean that you should use push notifications for everything! Push notifications are only as effective as their rarity, and as a content creator, you’ll have a better idea of what will make your audience click through. Retaining those occasions to what would make your audience read further into the opportunity is key since it encourages users to really pay attention to what you’re promoting. 

• App-exclusive content

Whether or not your audience downloads and uses your app boils down to this: what are you offering them that they can’t find in other apps? If the answer to that is nothing, then you have a bigger issue than getting your audience on your app. 

Take a look at your content. Take a look at where you offer that content, and what access you provide. 

If you have an app, and you want to get people to use it, then the best way to do that is to give people content on the app that they can’t find anywhere else, whatever that might take. Discounts, exclusive uploads, personalized offers: there’s no end to what you can provide for users who are already familiar with your content and who want more of it. 

Apps are a good bridge between you as a content creator and the audience you’re trying to reach, and they’re full of features that can make it a lot easier to build and connect to your audience without running the risk of using a third party platform. If you’re in the market for an app exclusively for your content, talk to us and let’s see how we can make it work for you - we’re always on the lookout for interesting projects to work on!