Ricci started using social media five years ago for creating various accounts – parody accounts, anonymous accounts – and posting content. One day, he wanted to post a video on Twitter using then-recently released Vine. He used Vine to post a video on Twitter of himself removing a yolk from an egg using a water bottle: Since then, Ricci has made the right connections with account owners on Twitter, Instagram and more. Having a personal relationship with them helped him get posts on all of those accounts, something that might not be accessible to people outside. That led to hundreds and hundreds of campaigns, and “throughout that process we’ve been able to identify what works really well and what could be better. We basically run a campaign in style A and another campaign in style B. Then we take the best parts of A and the best parts of B, and run a new campaign, style C. So there is always room for us to improve, tweak our style, and make adjustments. That’s something we’ve been able to do over the past couple years: Some people launching an app might not have the luxury of running multiple campaigns until they find a good fit, a lot of apps are on a limited budget,” explained Ricci. Trend Pie was started on April 10, 2015, and three days later they had their very first client. According to Ricci: The Trend Pie team has the experience and the right social media connections, and our goal is to have a long-term relationship with each client we have. As Ricci said during the interview, their goal is to create advantageous relationships where it’s a win–win on both sides. Trend Pie’s services could fit well for first-app developers, because it allows them to eliminate at least one issue from their list: marketing in a cost-effective way. But it also fits for big companies: Trend Pie has worked and continues to work with AOL, Yahoo!, Unilever, Sworkit, WeddingWire, Drunk Mode and more. Does one million downloads sound attractive to you? I think it does. So you’d better start gathering all your Facebook friends and their friends to start downloading your app, or ask for advice from a social media pro. “We do ASO different than anyone else: We don’t do app reviews and don’t add a bunch of words to your app name. We do it by making your app relevant for those keywords and bringing traffic to your app.”
