---
title: Stop Wasting Money Promoting Your App On Twitter
description: Considering Promoted Trends? It might be time to rethink.
---
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# Stop Wasting Money Promoting Your App On Twitter
Jun 29, 2016
Jun 29, 2016
Over the past few weeks, Google has tried to promote the [redesigned Google Play Music](http://blog.apptopia.com/the-5-most-controversial-app-icon-redesigns) app on Twitter with the hashtag #GotMeLike and the question “How’s the right music got you feeling?” As with all corporate hashtags, the company hoped it would spark organic conversation among Twitter users, build brand awareness, and in this particular instance, increase usage of the music-streaming app.
Apparently, it didn’t work.
On Monday, rather than continue their grassroots[\[1\]](https://blog-staging.apptopia.com/stop-wasting-money-promoting-your-app-on-twitter#_ftn1) campaign, Google opted for the paid route. Users who logged on to Twitter June 28 saw the same #GotMeLike now topping the “Trends” list, with the added addendum that it was a promoted hashtag.
Again, no luck.
While plenty of users obliged with Google’s request to stay on topic, many more capitalized on the trending hashtag to push whatever it was they were selling. Some used the phrase to share their reactions to Sunday’s finale of “Game of Thrones.” Others used it to champion various social causes. And businesses of all sorts jumped in to promote their products; the best of which was probably KidSmartz[\[2\]](https://blog-staging.apptopia.com/stop-wasting-money-promoting-your-app-on-twitter#_ftn2), who saw #GotMeLike as an opportunity to [share their “personal safety” themed cover](https://twitter.com/KidSmartz/status/747527964007399424?lang=en) of the 80’s song “Safety Dance.”
Still, this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing so long as the hashtag campaign drove an uptick in downloads or usage of the app, but according to Apptopia data, there was no such movement. In fact, both metrics were down.
**Downloads **
**DAU**
**The cost of a trending hashtag**
Now obviously, there’s no fault in trying to start a trending hashtag organically, and if anyone has the following and cache to do it, it’s Google. But paying for a hashtag? That’s a different story.
Promoted hashtags like #GotMeLike (referred to Twitter as Promoted Trends) cost an estimated $200,000 per day. That’s doable for a company with the resources of the Mountain View, California giant, but for the average app publisher, not so much—***especially*** if there’s no evidence of a positive impact.
**A hijacked conversation**
Even more, once the promoted Tweet is out there, the purchasing company has no control over the conversation. And that doesn’t just mean that they risk the occasional independent user co-opting the hashtag in an unintended way (which *will* happen), but that they also will have to compete with businesses that actively seek to hijack trends and steer the conversation.
[This article in *Ad Espresso*](https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/twitter-advertising-shape-up-in-2016/) even goes so far as to predict that companies jumping on paid hashtags will become one of the biggest trends in social media. After all, it has already happened on the biggest stage, when, during Super Bowl 50, Always and JetBlue Airways started using the #LikeAGirl hashtag originally promoted by Procter and Gamble.
And that’s the *best-case* scenario. Sometimes a promoted tweet could be derailed so much that it results in a PR nightmare. McDonalds is one of the more famous examples. In a campiagn to promote their Premium McWrap, the fast food company launched the promoted hashtag #UnwrapWhatsFresh. Yah, you can probably guess [what not-so-safe-for-work Tweets originated](http://www.postadvertising.com/2013/04/promoted-hashtag-mcdonalds/) from that.
So, to boil it all down, for publishers and developers, running a promoted Tweet means ponying up cash for something other businesses can capitalize on and risking mockery or a PR disaster. Oh yeah, and all of this comes with no discernable evidence that a promoted campaign actually does anything.
**Takeaways**
To be clear, all of this is not to say that promoting your app on Twitter is a bad idea. Social media is a powerful tool. Hell, there’s a chance you found this blog on Twitter. But specifically *paying* for a trending hashtag doesn’t look to be a wise choice.
Of course, Google Play Music *is* just one example and doesn’t speak to the overall viability of promoted hashtags driving an increase in app usage, but the results of the campaign—especially for a company like Google—are certainly disconcerting. As it appears, there are better ways to spend $200,000 on a mobile campaign.
As always, we’ll make sure to monitor any upcoming Twitter hashtags as they relate to apps over the coming months, but until then, we recommend steering clear.
[\[1\]](https://blog-staging.apptopia.com/stop-wasting-money-promoting-your-app-on-twitter#_ftnref1) Or as grassroots as Google could possible be
[\[2\]](https://blog-staging.apptopia.com/stop-wasting-money-promoting-your-app-on-twitter#_ftnref2) The author's personal opinion
[](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2045506/aca5596f-e40a-4986-b4eb-8f6b96a3308a)
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