Guide to attracting users to a mini app

If a mini app is a living organism, its audience is its energy. Users provide feedback, help understand the value of the product and become its foundation. They also generate revenue if everything is set up correctly.

💡 In this guide, we have collected ways to attract an audience, from built-in VK Mini Apps tools to external promotion and the power of community.

🧭 Core VK Mini Apps tools

📂 Catalog

Publishing your app in the catalog is the first step toward reaching a wider audience. To pass moderation and stand out among other apps, make sure you have the following:

• Appealing cover image

• Clear name

• Concise description

You can find more tips in the guide.

🌟 Featuring

After publication, an app may be included in collections. Some of them are generated automatically, while others are created manually:

• «New» for recently launched apps

• «Editor’s choice» for apps that are well designed and valuable to users. An app can be included in this collection three months after publication

🔁 Cross-promotion between your apps

If you have multiple mini apps, link them together. For example, you can use the following:

• Button to view your other mini apps

• Shared menu

• Internal mentions in the header, footer or user profile within the mini app

👫 Users as ambassadors

👥 Community

Create a community. It will act as a feedback channel and support window for your product and a hub for your audience. Bring people together around shared interests and win their loyalty. Active members help the community appear in recommendations and attract new users to your mini app

Which formats and communication methods should you choose? Focus on your goals, mechanics and target audience. For example, maintain engagement through the following:

• Feature announcements and seasonal updates

• Polls and feedback

• Challenges and giveaways

• Stories and video content

• Experience sharing and discussions

• User-generated content

Posts should resonate with your audience and inspire them to share with friends. Include links to your mini app naturally and at the right moments 🙂

💡 For tips on attracting followers to your community, see the VK with authors community

📤 Sharing in stories

Stories are a powerful tool to promote any mini app. Let users share:

• Achievements

• Progress

• Facts

🧑‍💻 How to implement

Use the VKWebAppShowStoryBox method

💡 We recommend designing stories in the style of your product

🔗 Sharing links

Sending a link in private messages is another versatile tool to attract users. 

How to use it? For example, so that users can do the following:

• Share results from tests, games and challenges

• Challenge a friend to a duel

• Start a joint activity in the app

🧑‍💻 How to implement 

Use the VKWebAppShare method

💡Tip: give a bonus when a friend launches the app after being invited

❤️ Recommending to friends

User recommendations boost word-of-mouth around your product. Let users suggest the app to others. This can be done with the following:

• Popup modal window with a suggestion

• Button in the interface

🧑‍💻 How to implement

Use the VKWebAppRecommend method

⚡Note: offering a bonus for recommendations is prohibited, see the rules for details

🔗 QR codes

Attract users from offline sources using QR codes. 

Where to use QR codes?

• On banners and presentations

• At grant demos and educational events

• On partner items, for example on coffee cups

🧑‍💻 To generate a code, use the VK QR library

🧑‍💻 To scan the code from the service, use the VKWebAppOpenCodeReader event

📣 External promotion

🌐 Community seeding

VK is a huge content platform with many authors and interest-based communities. Reach out to admins of communities whose audience matches yours. For example, do the following:

• Propose a collaboration

• Launch a challenge

• Do cross-promotion

Target small communities with a similar theme. They may be interested in your offer, especially if the collaboration can boost engagement.

💡Tip: offer partners a bonus. For example, temporarily feature a link to their community in your mini app or give that community’s subscribers a discount on your products.

🧵 Personal posts and stories

Who is the best ambassador of a project? Its creator! Let your followers hear about the product firsthand.

Show them the following:

• How you launched the project

• How users respond

• What you plan to implement

Personal stories resonate with the audience. Share them on your personal page or your team or development studio community. Ask for feedback and ideas and listen to your audience. This way you can attract new users, potential partners and investors, which will help you grow.

🤝 Collaborations with other developers

Make the most of the VK Mini Apps community by proposing collaborations to other mini app creators.

This can include the following:

• Exchanging links

• Mutual mentions

• Joint features or easter eggs

Consider the interests of both audiences to make the collaboration successful.

📰 Outside VK

Check where else your audience spends time:

• Which blogs and channels they follow

• Which events they attend

These are your potential platforms. Start with a few posts and monitor the response. Test and experiment!

📣 Advertising campaigns

If you’re ready to invest in growth, run ads. Start with tests on small budgets:

• Prepare creatives

• Set up audience segments

• Use audience returning tools

📹 Learn more about promoting games and mini apps in VK Ads in the video

✅ Summary

You now have ready-to-use promotion options. Don’t just wait for the perfect moment:

• Come up with a cool idea and mechanics

• Design communication in the style of your product

• Give users a reason to share

• Tell about yourself

💡 Enable analytics as it will show what works best 

✨ Even without a budget, you can attract thousands of users. The key is to be visible and speak the same language as your audience.

Wishing you maximum reach! Share your promotion ideas in the comments under the post. Together we can make this guide even more useful.