9 out of 10 app success stories in 2026 are winning because they figured out Instagram or TikTok distribution. They did this with organic content or paying creators. Go and watch the last 20 videos from Starter Story on YouTube (my favorite app channel) and you’ll see a clear pattern this year. I have watched the industry move from ASO to social, but I did nothing. For months I kept swimming with the current of momentum of ASO. It worked until 2025. In fact at the end of 2025 we had our best month, $175k profit in 3 weeks from one dating app. It was made in 6 hours from idea to Apple submission. No ads, no marketing, just the Trending Keyword Method, a term I coined for my ASO. I thought I just need to do more of what worked before…false. I had to pivot our strategy completely. It was time to do the uncomfortable, to do something I didn’t have experience with and be a completely rookie again. I can do ads, easy…but I have never really done much organic social content. This is Maria’s zone of genius. I became a student again and rolled up my sleeves. Long story short, we got more than 10M social media views for our app Absorbed in the first full month of operations. Point of the story: it’s nice and cozy to just keep going with what worked in the past, but the world is changing by the minute now, especially with AI. You have to discard everything that worked in the past. Easier said the done. The hard part of course is knowing when something stopped working and you need to change strategy or if it’s just a temporary speed up. Only you can make that decision, now go and meditate on that my friend.