Get started on using Social Media effectively for your business

If you want to be successful in your business you need to build relationships with your customers and social media is a good platform to start with.  It’s truly a cost-effective way to promote your business and make it popular.  Getting connected with your customers and developing a genuine relationship with your customers will help your business down the road.  Below are some popular social media sites to use to make your business successful. Using the right tools and best apps can make all the difference in your business. It’s important to increase your brand presence by using different kinds of social media tools.  You could hire a good social media manager if you are not able to handle it yourself as it’s extremely time consuming. There are hundreds of social media networking sites out there, but you could use the following sites for a start.

Facebook

Create a business page and post special discounts and offers for all those who like your page.  You can also ask your customers to share their photos that show them using their favorite item that they bought from your website. Encourage conversations and shares and interact with your customers by asking them questions.

Facebook is the most popular and best social media network site out there.  Of all social networks, Facebook is best equipped to linearly share responses to a post asking a question or encouraging a conversation. You receive answers back from your followers and friends thus spreading the conversation.

Twitter

You can use this popular social media tool to tweet interesting or unusual facts about your business products and give a link to that product page on your website.  You can send out messages through Twitter to your customers providing them with tips on how to use your products and services. Utilizing already promoted tweets and Twitter cards is also an economical way to promote your business on Twitter.  Your visibility increases as you share pictures and videos related to your business with your followers on Twitter. Twitter is the leading social media tool of the social-sharing economy, so relevancy and brevity is the key to make an impression on your customers.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is used by company’s who search for clients and people who seek employment.  You can use this social media tool by adding real connections as much as possible. Create a page with your company description and profile with details of network of employees and contacts.  Consider joining LinkedIn groups that are popular with your customers and make frequent comments and post queries related to your goods and services. Invite your customers as well as other business associates in your network to provide a recommendation for your business in LinkedIn.

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Advantages of native mobile apps

Before we look into the advantages of native mobile apps, first let us know the definition of a native app. A native app is a Smartphone app developed exclusively for a mobile operating system/platform i.e. iOS or Android). Android applications are developed in Java and iPhone uses Objective-C or Swift.

If you wish to make a great impression on your clients, exercise your influence and use their mobile devices to their full potential then native apps is the right choice. The main alternative to native apps is web apps. Web apps are HTML driven user interfaces that from a user’s point of view are mobile apps. But in reality they are a group of web pages woven simultaneously with browser level technologies. Web apps are more economically feasible to develop and can be used in nearly every web browser no matter what platform. The question here is so why choose native mobile apps over web apps.  So let us look into some of the advantages that native mobile apps offer you that are really worth the additional costs and painstaking effort.

ü  Native mobile apps are more responsive and versatile

Native applications provide the user with the maximum responsive experience since the app is developed independently for various platforms. Native apps serve the customized Aspect Ratio of various devices. In this age of lighting speed and quicker response even a 2 second delay and distract its user, native apps functionality is much faster.

ü  Native mobile apps are more reliable and safe

Native mobile apps gain from the more practical security and performance upgrades of the platform itself. It permits companies to have an edge over others by using mobile management solutions. Native apps provide remote management controls of apps on individual devices and the convenience of remotely wiping the app free of all its data. On the other hand, Web apps depend upon different browsers and basic technologies like CSS, HTML5 and JavaScript. Web apps because of their volatile nature can give in to security lapses and there are chances of underperformance.

ü  Adding new features is easier in Native mobile apps

You can be more innovative with a native app and its entire related APIs and what more you can even make your own APIs if the existing do not serve your purpose! Web apps do not offer you this freedom and flexibility and you are confined to what can be done on the browser.  This limits your capacity to create new features/services.

ü  Native mobile apps integrate better with mobile hardware

Native mobile apps lets you operate your mobile’s hardware capabilities features such as GPS, camera, touchscreen, accelerometer easily and interact with them directly just as the platform was designed to do. Operating from a generic browser would not make it so easy and versatile.

ü  Native mobile apps work offline

Native mobile apps can work without internet that gives you the convenience of accessing it even while you are travelling or in a zone where internet is not accessible.  Web apps only function when you are connected to the internet because content lives on web servers. 

ü  App code of Native apps runs faster

Native mobile apps are compiled and stored on the device itself this gives them the benefit of using the device’s processing speed to the maximum. Web apps function as a sequence of calls to and from remote web pages thus limiting its speed by several internet connections. Native apps are more efficient on the platform as they are developed utilizing core programming language and APIs.

ü  Native mobile apps are displayed in the app store

Where does every customer who wants to download the app go? Surely to the mobile app store! The only apps that show up in the mobile app store are native mobile apps.  If the customer needs an app and finds that it fulfills his or her needs it will be the first one they download.  So you can optimize your app store presence and make you app more discoverable.

Calculate cost to build an App in simple steps here

How Much Would A Mobile App Cost?

The importance of mobile apps for businesses these days are indisputable. With people being dependent on technology at levels witnessed today, anything outside of these levels are considered obsolete. However, how much would a mobile app cost is a common question and concern of many.

Asking for a fixed or set price for developing a mobile app is like asking for the price of building a house! The cost depends on the various factors that go with the development of the app. It would be very difficult to outline a cost without going into the details of the requirement.

One of the main factors that influence the cost of mobile app includes the type of app to be developed, its scope and the field it deals with. This also involves the complexity of the app, and what it intends to address. Gaming and other apps, and those which involve personal data of the customers require a certain level of security features, which can add to its cost.

The design of the interface and the number of the displays supported influence the amount of work and thereby the cost. Using standard templates can help reduce the cost, but then certain apps require unique and attractive designs to grab user attention. So, compromising on this to reduce cost might not work well for the future of the app.

The platform for which the app is developed is a main factor that determines its cost. With Android, iOS and Windows ruling the markets, cost of apps for these platforms may vary depending upon on the resources needed for development. The nature of the app, which involves native, web and cross platform or hybrid apps, also bring fluctuations in the pricing factor.

The functionality of the app, the amount and quality of graphics used in it and the various additional features incorporated in it also factors in the app pricing. Some apps require a strong back end server support. These can add to the price of the app. The complexity of development and extend of coding and other aspects like using in the offline mode, social media integration, creation of user profiles are all known to feature in the pricing aspect of the app.

The agencies involved in development are another factor which determines the app cost. Some countries offer app development at more profitable rates than others; hence app development location matters as well. The subsequent updates and services including launch, marketing and hosting also features in the app pricing.

Calculate Cost for an App now

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNITY APPS

The power of community in app or otherwise is immense. From revenue to working for a cause, the importance of community app in the market is rising. A community app is an application that brings together users through profiles, forums, instant messaging and other such features of the networking sites. Some of the popular community apps are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Kiva.org, SpeedDate and so on.

The importance of community app is mainly based on the user participation. Who wouldn’t love to spent time with like-minded people discussing, sharing or doing things for matters that they are all passionate about. For many it would be a platform to voice their opinions and plan a course of action. Anyway, this increases the number of users accessing the site and thus the user presence goes up.

The strength of community was reflected in the purchase of Instagram, WhatsApp and Snap Chat. At a time when their revenue was nowhere near a hundredth of the amount they were purchased by Facebook, we were all confused what Facebook saw in it for such a large amount. But then it’s perfectly clear now, their value has gone up by at least 10 times the amount they were bought for. Wondering how Facebook foresaw it? Their user community base!

One of the main importance of community apps is user retention and engagement. Popular causes can help increase the engagement of more users. Many of the communities are contributing to the wellbeing of a lot of needy people through their campaigns. Campaigns through social networking apps regarding help for treatments and other needs usually receive a positive response. Recent campaigns for refugees has helped in taking their cause forward.

Community apps have not just helped in social causes. The importance of community apps in professional sphere can be seen by the success of applications like LinkedIn. It helps connect people from different professional spheres coordinating business and opening job opportunities. Apps by non-profit organisations like Kiva.org helps people to get loans and facilitate their repayment as well.

Ease of advertising is another importance of community apps. The community apps with a large user base provides a fruitful platform for advertising as its reach is quite wide. Targeted advertising and use of content is facilitated through these increasing user retention and management. Overall, community provides an ideal platform to share and grow, socially, economically and intellectually. 

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UNDERSTANDING THE NUANCES OF MOBILE APPS

In this age of huge technological revolution, we are all familiar with apps. We depend on them for chats, calls, accessing books and news, for directions and a lot more! We usually find them from the Store, download and use them as we please. Have you ever wondered what goes behind the working of these apps? How some of them are offered for free? The privacy and security concerns that relates to them?

Understanding mobile apps is necessary in this era, or you can be mocked. A mobile app is basically a software application that can be easily downloaded onto your device and accessed. All the mobile OS giants like Android, Microsoft, BlackBerry and iOShave app stores that provide interesting apps for entertainment, academic and other uses. Some are offered for free while others need payment to be installed.

The concept behind free apps is to maximise their coverage among people. The basic human behaviour of an increased affinity to all things free of cost, is being utilized here. These apps are used as a major source of advertisement, as it ensures maximum viewership. In some cases, apps are provided for free initially and the later updates are billed. There are apps that are offered free with some features accessible only on payment, as well. The idea behind this is that once you grow used to it, you won’t probably mind a few bills to ensure it stays!!

A security concern regarding apps, apart from being virus infected, is the extent of their ability to access our privacy. When downloaded from stores like Play Store, our permission to access some of our data is asked. Usually, our call logs, email and phone contacts, device location, calendar and internet data are accessed by these apps.

Haven’t you ever wondered why the ads in some of the apps are mostly of your favourite items or those in your preference list? It is because the ad networks can gather the information accessed by the apps and combine them with your internet browsing history to serve your preference. If this concerns you, there might be a way or two in the privacy settings of app policy to opt out of it.

User reviews and screen shots available in the stores regarding apps can help you determine their quality to a great extent. Go through them before download, put your instincts to work and choose the right one!
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What is a Social app?

We are familiar with social apps, what with many of them being a constant presence in our lives, for the last few years. Nothing more needs to be said about their role in helping us keep in touch with our loved ones and improving communication these days. So what is a social app exactly?

A social app is a software or application that is built with interactive and communication tools, based on the nuances of the internet. Nowadays, the communication tools have grown to include a wide range of multimedia including audio, video, GIFs and what more. They have invaded our hearts, becoming a part of our daily life.

Now all these technical definitions to describe what is a social app, is actually unnecessary these days. Think Messenger, WhatsApp or Hangout and you have social apps decoded. However, these applications still have a lot of unexploited potential, which we are yet to tap. With the way we have grown accustomed to a life that is highly dependent on our Smart phones; these apps are expected to survive every unforeseen market storms.

Be it an iPhone, Android or Blackberry, it is impossible to imagine it without a social media app. Can you ever imagine going back to previous years, when we managed to convey every emotion through a restricted 160 character text? We have come a long way from there but there is more to go.

If you are nurturing an app idea in your mind, social apps would be a great field, given our increased affinity towards anything instant. Instant messaging with a dose of innovation in transferring multimedia files and liberal on access or usage could fetch you a lot of clients. But be sure to include irresistible features that would make it impossible to turn their back on. 

It would also do your innovative self a lot of good to evaluate the top social apps in market today. Take a leaf out of their strategy but never imitate, people appreciate fresh content, always. Time and technology has gone through many loops since some of the best social apps were released, and the opportunities to develop something new are pretty ripe. 

The Smartphone technology is on a constant growth and so is the scope for our social app ideas. Let’s face it, however busy our schedule is, we do spare a few minutes to go through at least one of our social apps every day. With the right amount of innovation, dedication and skill, it could be yours in a little while!