Top 5 Mobile Messaging Apps for Online Marketing and Free Advertising

Discover these Top 5 Mobile Messaging apps and how can they be employed for marketing and advertising.

Every month we see new mobile apps, social media apps getting released by the companies. Well, this is because people are addicted to using their phones and companies are utilizing this opportunity, trying to capitalize on this. 

We cannot deny the fact that mobile apps have change the way of life. It has changed the way we interact with people. We can not only send across text messages but also pictures, videos, audio etc. 

Best mobile messaging apps and Marketing

Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and Whatsapp are some of the top social messaging apps. 

These apps are quite similar to each other accept for one or the other thing maybe unique in each that’s where you can differentiate between them.

Some of the most Popular and the leading social messaging apps are listed below along with their details.

1- WhatsApp

With a user base of one billion, this is the most popular messaging application so far. In 2014 Facebook purchased it for 19 billion. No money was spent on advertising front before the acquisition. Launched as an alternative to text messaging plan, this app requires users to register themselves with a telephone number.

The world’s most popular messaging service has launched 5 new features. These are enhanced photo sharing, Document sharing, background colors, storage space, video zoom.

Whatsapp - Marketing & Advertising:

No advertising option has been introduced for the brands as of yet and nor there are any chances of its advertising in future as the founders are not ready to change their mind. They have kept this service ad free and are very uncompromising on this front. 

Their motto is No adds, No games, No gimmicks. With BBC’s broadcast list feature new was delivered. Users are required to add the contact in their mobile address book to enjoy messaging via Whatsapp.

2- Viber

An instant messaging and voice over IP app for smartphones that allows users to exchange images, videos, audio messages. Viber has more than 100 million monthly active users from its 280+ million global registered users.

Viber was founded by four Israeli and Belarussian partners. This is another famous social media app which allows free calls to and from people using it. It has an interesting feature which is called ViberOut that allows users to make domestic and international calls.

Viber - Marketing & Advertising:

With its feature ‘Public Chat’ users can follow the chats of famous personalities, celebrities, topics of their interest etc. Another interesting feature to attract people is that users can download sticker collections from brands.

3- Kik

Available for free of charge on android, iOS and windows phone operating system, this app with 200 million registered allows anyone to chat with anyone else by finding their username although firstly the recipient has to approve the new contact before seeing the person’s message.

Moreover the younger is attracted towards this app because of the anonymity factor. Approximately 70% of users are between age group 13-25.

Kik – Marketing & Advertising:

In order to receive messages from specific brands there is a promoted chats feature that can be opted by users. Because the feature is a one-to-one communication form so canned responses can be created by the brands that cause to function by the keywords users send.

4- Line

Founded in Japan 2011, this app offers a lot of features than any other messaging app. With over 170 million active monthly users and 560 registered users, it is a proprietary application for instant communications.

Line users can exchange texts, images, video and audio and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. It even offers camera with filters, topic based chatting forums and also a timeline for sharing status updates. Users can apply different themes and customize the app.

Line – Marketing & Advertising:

Animated stickers are created by the brands which users can download. Also there are themes available which can be applied by users to update their app. Under the official accounts tab users can easily follow the brands and for targeted advertising there is an option provided by Line for the brands.

With newly introduced Line@ app, Businesses can communicate with the users of this application.

5- Snapchat

As the name says, it is a photo sharing app that also allows you to record videos, chat with friends and fun things like drawing on photos. It lets you view live stories from around the world. Basically, to put in other words, this is an image messaging and multimedia mobile application.

Snapchat – Marketing & Advertising:

Snaps can be included in the feed of users by the brands. Now by using Discover (newly introduced), daily edition of photos and videos can be published by the publishers. It includes channels from top publishers that are refreshed everyday.

Snapchat is looking to create more visual, clickable appeal by replacing each media brand’s circular logo with a magazine like image that rotates each day depending on the publisher’s content. 

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5 Skills You Must Possess To Run Online Business

What all you Should Know to Successfully Run an Online Business?

To start with, i would say that the skills needed for an online business differ according to the type & nature of the business. Yet there are some essential skills which almost any kind of online business would demand to make it big in the online space.

Having said that, in this article we are focusing on some much needed skills which you should master in if you want to get into the online business world and make a mark. So, here's listing below top five necessary skills to run a business Online. Take a look:

Skills to Run Online Business

 

1. Technical Skills

Although you have option before you to get your technical work outsourced or you can hire freelancers that can work for you. But, despite all these support system too, you need to have a basic knowledge about how things work. 

You never when any emergency might occur. At that moment, if you don't have required person available from your team for your help and even you lack in technical skills then your work will can suffer a major setback. 

A lot of technical work is involved in to running a website. Especially when it comes to eCommerce and SaaS businesses.

Therefore, you must possess good knowledge in Hosting & domains,

Web design & development, Online communities and other technical things related.

2. Content Creation Skills

In today's scenario if you want to make your online business a success  then you need to generate good quality content.  It is the content that attracts traffic towards your business and brings in new customers to you. 

Your content holds the power to earn the trust of your audience/customers. So make sure you have the skills and ability to create interesting & appealing content yet keeping it genuine & realistic. 

People appreciate genuineness rather than fake, misleading or vague things.

Content can be in many forms. It could be articles, blogs, videos, pictures, audios etc. Be it any, each of these needs proper time and efforts. 

So you must not compromise money, time as well as efforts when it comes to content and should learn to offer value to the customers in the form of good quality content.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If you want to stay competitive on the online space then you need to improve your presence at the very first place. Your website is the reflection, image of you. The content you produce for your website can only do good when the audience is able to reach out to you. 

To ensure that you appear in the search results and moreover amongst the top ones, you need to work upon your keywords, create optimized content for the website and keep on updating it on timely basis so as to get better placement in search engine results. 

The prospects will search for you via keywords. So all your focus must be on selecting & using the keywords with maximum chances of being searched on the internet. You must be skilled enough to know how to up your ranking game in search engine results.

4. Knowledge About The Industry & Target Segment

If you want your audience to put their trust in you then you need to show them that you are knowledgeable and experienced in your industry. 

You can't do a business effectively in the niche you don't have any idea about. Knowledge herein doesn't mean that you have to know every single detail about your industry but the overview and basic idea is still required to start the business. 

Later, as you move ahead, you can learn more with the experience and with the efforts you invest in learning about your niche, your industry, the tips & tricks of the business and more.

5. Advertising Knowledge

You must have the sensibility to understand the importance organic as well as inorganic form advertising and have the ability to make the most out of them. 

Crafting advertisements is a skill. No one can beat you if you're strong on that front. But you need experience for that. Effective ads are the result of sheer brilliance and great experience. 

Although, your content (quality content) will drive traffic towards your site but paid advertising can do wonders for you. Here again, you have to have the understanding of how to spend on advertisements so that you don't waste your money beyond what was enough. 

Trial & error method works but to certain extent. So it is important to have understanding about the advertising and related things & if you lack here then you might have to hire people who are experts in this zone and ready to join you for help.

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10 Tips For Making Money With Social Media

Turning a profit using social media, for some, is as elusive as a white rhino. But, it doesn’t have to be. Think of social networks as a big party and try to fit in — not be the life of the party.

My Infographic, courtesy of my partner, Ideas and Pixels, shows great tools for making money with social media — and other tools for making money online. Many of these tools fit together to create an integrated online marketing strategy to support your online marketing goals.

But, you need to go beyond these tools to know HOW to apply them to making money with social media.

Here are 10 tips for making money with social media (notice none of them involve hogging the microphone):

10. Be authentic

Social media isn’t like traditional advertising and it shouldn’t look and feel the same. Social media is a community designed to share comfort, support, information, expertise, and entertainment. You need to develop a voice in social media — one that talks like a real person, shares like a real person, and that people can relate to as a real person. Share your foibles, mistakes, sense of humor, and what’s going on in your life. Let people backstage.

9. Don’t interrupt

If folks are having fun sharing on social networks, join in. Don’t bring the party down by talking about yourself. Have fun with them or create your own fun.

8. Leave them with something to talk about

Share something interesting — something of value. Social media is definitely a pay-it-forward world and if you don’t get that, then hire someone who does. I give away tons of valuable stuff — like the first chapter of my new social media analytics book. Grab a copy today and let me know what you think. No strings attached. And, if you give me feedback or edit my work, I’ll send you a PDF of the book when it’s finished. What a deal!

7. Follow your target market

Don’t fish where your boat is, fish where the fish are. You’ll be more successful. If the fish aren’t biting, move your boat. For instance, I used to get a lot of traffic to my website from Twitter — now, not so much. I still use Twitter, but I now focus on social networks that bring in traffic, especially the kind that will buy from me — my target market. I find Facebook much more valuable, especially my group, which I call my social media marketing tribe. Feel free to join us and share your great content with the group.

6. Build trust

Trust is a big word… it’s important. And trust in marketing is low because for years we’ve made promises to consumers then failed to meet our obligations. Firms have a lot to do to make up for this.

5. Engage

Get your target audience involved with you. Ask questions on Facebook. End your blog posts by asking for feedback. Participate in Quora conversations. And, make it easy for your target audience to engage. For instance, I use a plugin allowing visitors to comment using their Facebook profile. The plugin also brings comments from Facebook back to my blog. This increases engagement.

4. Build your community

Don’t just pretend to care about your visitors — truly care about them. That means responding quickly when they post a question or concern. Remember, social media is always on, so plan for responses during the evening and on weekends. When visitors share your content or comment on a post, thank them and consider ways you can repay the compliment.

Building community means being a good member of that community and helping everybody out.

3. Give value

Don’t think about yourself — think about your community. Why are they engaged with you? What are their pains? How can you help?

I recently met with a client interested in using social media to connect with younger prospects. Yet, they were uncomfortable when I suggested we find out what types of posts might help these prospects, they only wanted to talk about themselves in their social media marketing. FAIL!

2. Plan, plan, plan

You can never plan too much. And, planning isn’t done — you need to constantly update your plan as things change. I commonly suggest to clients that we meet on a monthly basis to review results and plan for the next month’s campaign. Putting your social media marketing on autopilot isn’t going to optimize your opportunity to make money with social media.

Contingency planning should also be part of your social media marketing plan. Social media marketing is, by its nature, less predictable. You never know when someone is going to say something off the wall or where they’re going to choose to say it. You need a contingency plan so when something bad happens, you’re ready with a response.

Recently, Jesse from Jess3 behaved badly at a conference. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know the details. The important thing is he quickly responded and apologized for his poor behavior before others started complaining about it.

1. Measure, analyze, respond

Social media is great because there’s so much information available, but don’t get sidetracked with vanity metrics like # of Fans or Followers. These don’t translate well to conversion, so keep you eye on the ball. Assess things related to making money with social media — things like reach, SEO, and conversion. Be sure to assesses these metrics in a way that helps you focus your efforts on creating more content that performs well.

Don’t bury your head in the sand. Listen. It’s important, as mentioned above, the listen and respond to both positive and negative comments and answer questions quickly.

Using these tools

Notice that many of these tools integrate together and reinforce each other. Cool. Integration is really the name of the game.

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360 Video for Marketers: What You Need to Know

Have you tried producing 360 video?

Want to discover how to create immersive, sharable 360 video?

To explore how marketers can use 360 video, I interview Ryan Anderson Bell.

More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Ryan Anderson Bell of VRScout, a firm that connects Hollywood to the world of virtual reality. Bell is also the director of the Help Erase Project, a 360 video documentary designed to raise awareness of child trafficking.

You’ll discover what you need to know to get started with 360 video.

Ryan explores tools for creating 360 video.

Listen as Ryan Anderson Bell shares what marketers need to know about 360 video and how to get started.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.

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Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

360 Video for Marketers

Ryan’s Story

Ryan recalls that his interest in 360 video is a product of his experience with Google’s Tilt Brush, which he tried for the first time after a speech on the changing landscape of technology at the Consumer Electronics Show.

He had approached Malia Probst at VRScout and said he wanted to be more involved in this technology. From there, Ryan went from playing with the big ball of GoPros to more finished, all-inclusive products, like the Samsung Gear 360’s two 4K cameras.

He’s now a 360 filmmaker, trying to define how to tell a story and convey a message through the medium (whether that’s from a personal or brand perspective).

Listen to the show to hear our memories of virtual reality in the 1990s.

Why Marketers Should Consider 360 Video

Ryan explains that being an early adopter of 360 video means you’re going to understand the language before the public does. Marketers can use that language to connect with intimacy and empathy.

Your brand can have an impact on the masses in a way that’s not been done before, because in a 360 video, the experience you provide in your message is more real to the viewer. You can share scale and scope with a canvas that’s so big, it takes over everything.

Listen to the show to learn my perspective on the benefits of 360 video for marketers.

What You Can Do With 360 Video

When asked for real-world examples of uses for 360 video, Ryan points to HBO’s showcase of Westworld at TechCrunch Disrupt this year, and TOMS Shoes’ Virtual Giving Trip last year. Both used 360 video to immerse the viewer in an experience.

Ryan agrees that restaurants can show what the kitchen atmosphere is like during prime time, and events or conferences can share all kinds of experiences in 360. He goes on to share that real estate agents can even use a 360 real estate app from Zillow to showcase properties for sale or rent.

Causes such as ERASE Child Trafficking documentary can also take advantage of 360 video to share different narratives from the perspectives of characters in the film.

Listen to the show to hear more about Ryan’s documentary.

Where to Publish 360 Video

While there are some small places like Zeality or Oculus where you can publish 360 video, Ryan says the best platforms for marketers are likely YouTube and Facebook. It all boils down to where you’ll get the most views.

He shares that Facebook even has a new Heatmap tool to help 360 video storytellers move viewers through their stories.

Listen to the show to discover what this concept reminds me of at Disneyland and why.

Equipment Choices and Setup Tips

When it comes to equipment, Ryan likes the Samsung Gear 360 video camera because it’s basically two 4K cameras with fisheye lenses for $350. This one piece of machinery automatically stitches everything together, so you don’t need to do any post-production. Simply take your pictures or video and the camera shares your media easily.

Ryan recommends the Samsung Gear 360.

Nikon recently announced that the $499 KeyMission 360 camera would be available October 2016.

The Vuze camera, also coming soon, has four sides, each with two cameras, for a total of eight cameras. The camera offers great depth because it looks at the world like it has two eyes.

The Vuze 360 camera is stereoscopic and gives a view of the world through two eyes.

When setting up your gear, Ryan explains you’ll need to use a monopod, which is basically a stick with a tiny tripod at the bottom, so nothing is visible underneath you. He likes Smatree, which costs about $20 and has a telescoping length of 20 to 50 inches.

Mount your camera on a monopod so nothing is visible underneath.

With regard to sound, you can use an iPhone to record voices for your video and pair them together in post-production. Alternatively, Ryan has seen the CEO of the ALLie Camera use Rode mics. There’s also Two Big Ears, a platform for mixing immersive audio for 360.

Listen to the show to discover what Ryan looks for when he watches others’ 360 videos.

Best Practices for 360 Video

Ryan discusses the difficulties that surround location and obtaining permissions from people who will end up in your film. Regardless of where and when you film, you need to make some sort of public notification, just in case.

Lighting can be problematic because some cameras are better than others at low light levels. One option to optimize your lighting is to use Lume Cubes, but Ryan stresses it’s better to plan for proper camera positioning and make sure you’re filming at the right time of day or night. He also notes that because you basically have two cameras, you need to remember not to place one directly facing the sun.

About Post-Production

With cameras less than $500, there’s not much post-production to worry about. A bonus with these cameras is that you’ll be able to see what’s going on live before you hit record.

With most 360 cameras, you can see what you’re recording through your phone.

If you want more professional videos, there are people who edit footage from high-end cameras at a cost of about $500/day.

Alternatively, companies such as Radiant Images rent out cameras and include the cost of stitching in the price. For example, you rent a $60,000 camera for $3,000 for a full day of shooting and the company will stitch all the video together to make one good product.

Listen to the show to hear more about why Ryan loves 360 so much and how you should proceed if you have an interest in it.

Discovery of the Week

Similar to Focus@Will, FocusMusic.fm is a cool music tool that helps you get more work done and focus when you’re busy.

In line with the principle that playing regular lyrical music distracts rather than helps focus the mind, FocusMusic.fm has electronic dance music, downtempo, classical, and a channel called Rain.

FocusMusic is a simple site that gives you music for focusing.

The beats of the music keep you in sync and move you forward through your work at a tempo.

It’s a free, sparse website that does one thing and it does it well. When you open up the URL on any browser (desktop or mobile), you’ll see Play, Forward, and Back buttons, and that’s it. No other distractions to occupy your attention.

Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how FocusMusic.fm works for you.

Listen to the show!
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Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:

• Learn more about Ryan on his website and check out VRScout.
• Follow @Ryan_A_Bell and @VRScout on Twitter.
• Connect with Ryan on Facebook.
• Learn more about Ryan’s ERASE Child Trafficking documentary.
• Explore Google’s Tilt Brush.
• Take a look at the GoPro and 4K cameras.
• Read about HBO’s Westworld showcase at TechCrunch Disrupt and TOMS Shoes’ Virtual Giving Trip.
• Explore Zillow’s 360 real estate app.
• Check out Zeality and Oculus for publishing 360 video.
• Learn about Facebook’s Heatmap tool.
• Take a look at the Samsung Gear 360, Nikon’s KeyMission 360 camera, and the Vuze camera.
• Check out ALLie Camera, Rode microphones, Two Big Ears, and the Smatree monopod.
• Explore Lume Cubes.
• Check out FocusMusic.fm and Focus@Will.
• Watch our weekly Social Media Marketing Talk Show on Fridays at 8 AM Pacific on Huzza.io, or tune in on Facebook Live.
• Learn more about Social Media Marketing World 2017.
• Read the 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

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