Once you’ve published your Alexa skill, it’s time to spread the word about it. Promoting your skill is a great way to share it and expand its reach to potential new users.
One easy way to amplify your skill immediately is through the Alexa app. Now you can share your skills directly from the Alexa app to social networks, messaging apps, or even just copy a link to your clipboard. Here are some tips for sharing your skills through the Alexa app to attract more customers.
Using the Alexa App
Here I’ve chosen the new Dev Tips skill to share via the Alexa app. This skill can answer your questions about Alexa development, give you the latest Alexa developer news, demonstrate each of the display templates, and more. It's a perfect skill to share with my Alexa developer friends. Here's a screenshot of the skill open in my Alexa app:
In the top right corner, there is a new "Share" icon available. When you click this icon, you are presented with several options for sharing this skill. Note that this list might vary slightly depending on which device you are using:
- Text Message
- Copy Link URL (for the skill)
Choosing one of these options will open your selected app with a pre-populated (but completely editable) message for you to send, including a link to your skill. In addition to using text, you can also try to take a short video of your skill in action to create a more enticing message. Make your video short and engaging, highlighting the most compelling ways customers can use your skill and how to invoke it.
Below we include some additional tips for composing messages for each channel or platform when you’re sharing your skill, using Dev Tips as an example.
Text Message
For text messages, which have a limited character count, we include only the title and a link to the skill. As with all of these options, you can always modify these to suit your specific purposes.
With email, we have more space to include content, so this is where we use the most of your skill's metadata. We include a subject line about sharing this skill, a friendly opening sentence, the skill name, a link to the skill, and the short skill description. You’ll also notice legal content at the bottom, in case people need to understand the origin of this email message.
On Facebook, we only supply the link to your skill, and Facebook collects the icon and skill description for you. You should make sure to include a personal message within your post so the people who read your timeline understand why this is important and why you’re sharing it. We also include the #AlexaSkills hashtag on social media, and you should include other hashtags that make sense for your skill.
Twitter is another social media channel with limited character counts, like text messaging. Because of this, we provide a simple link to your skill, the #AlexaSkills hashtag, and we include a mention of @AmazonEcho as a reference for your users that might not know what an Alexa skill is. With the new 280-character limit on Twitter, you have room to include additional text for your followers.
Pinterest is another excellent site for sharing great content, and we've included it here for that specific reason. Pinterest is tailor-made for users that want to find, share, and catalog all of their favorite things. We can only provide a link to your skill here, but Pinterest grabs your skill icon and short skill description before asking you to add it to one of your boards. I recommend creating an "Alexa Skills" board, and adding your newly shared skills to that.
Get More Dev Tips
We hope these tips will make it easier to promote the skills you've created to larger audiences. For more developer tips and best practices, enable the Dev Tips skill for Alexa. This skill is designed to connect you with the news, tips, and resources you need to build your best skill—all via voice. You can ask questions about specific developer topics, like "Alexa, ask Dev Tips about persistence," or even relevant Alexa programs like Developer Rewards. Learn more.
Build Engaging Skills, Earn Money with Alexa Developer Rewards
Every month, developers can earn money for eligible skills that drive some of the highest customer engagement. Developers can increase their level of skill engagement and potentially earn more by improving their skill, building more skills, and making their skills available in in the US, UK and Germany. Learn more about our rewards program and start building today.