Ask HN: Is organic growth even possible anymore for social apps?

[sameernoorani]

Starting to wonder if social networks and apps now always need a significant marketing budget to get off the ground. Finding it impossible to raise basic awareness for Roomvine (http://get.roomvine.com) with our limited budget.

We have tried social media marketing but that doesn't really get eyeballs unless you pay per impression. We have tried using student volunteers on campuses but even that rarely converts into downloads.

Seems that people who can get their new app in the hands of users either need to have the money or have a reasonable personal network in the segment they're targeting (in our case, university students).

Open to ideas, feedback and suggestions (or even help?) if you have any.

#HopingForSilverBullet

[moyta]

Get some stickers & t-shirts, give them to highscool & college aged kids. Not sure how you are going to compete in areas where FireChat and other very similar platforms already have mindshare, but being on your sticker game is how I've seen Yelp, Zumiez and others build their brands, and it'd definitely be way more effective for you than either of those giants, since if you see a Roomvine sticker your gonna know there is another user of it there.

What is your revenue model? How do you plan to trounce all the other messaging apps, from Whatsapp, Signal, Facebook (direct competitor), etc?

[jmnicolas]

My analogy would be you're trying to make a better Clash Of Clans.

Even if your app is much better than the competition you need to convince people to switch in droves or you're going nowhere.

I guess my answer is yes : you need a significant marketing budget. But even with that there's no guarantee of success.