Building a successful local mobile app
Luka AbrusFive Minutes CEOShoutEm Member of the Board
Introduction
• Five Minutes○ Croatian company, 35 employees, started in 2007○ Mobile applications, social media
• ShoutEm○ Your mobile social network, started in 2008
• Branded iPhone & Android apps• News, Community, Events, Places, Check-ins…
○ Still work in progress, first paying customers…○ VC investment 1.2m$ in 2010
What did we learn?
• Huge buzz, rewards, mentions…○ 25.000+ networks created○ The idea seems great at a glance
BUT…• 90% of all networks live less than 2 weeks• Only the most persistent Community Managers
succeeded in creating vibrant communities
Key factors (for a successful local community)
1. Content○ News, real-time local updates○ Information sharing, access from everywhere
2. Service information○ Event & place guide, discounts, special offers○ Local info & reviews on local businesses
3. Community background○ Strong common interest○ Community existing in an offline world
Community background
• Checking-in is still an emergent behavior (07/2010)
○ 84% US users unaware of the concept○ 4% US adults use these apps
• 80% male, and 70% ages 19-35○ Application / community per se doesn’t work
• Would the community benefit from a mobile app?○ Competing with local media web-sites, Facebook
groups, Twitter, Google Search, Google Maps…
Location as a platform
• Maps○ Bing Maps, Google Maps, third-party maps
• Places○ Google API, FourSquare API…○ W3C Geolocation API in HTML 5
• Events○ Reuse your web-site’s content○ Integrate with an „event-provider”
• Local portal, local contact person – your advantage!
Augmented reality
• Additional value easy to achieve○ ARKit, ARToolkit, NyARToolkit,
Android AR Kit, Qualcomm AR SDK
• Finding information in space○ Friends
• Where are they? (check-in)○ Locations
• Where is that store promotion?• Where is the nearest store?• ..
Location-based mobile apps application
• Applicable in multiple verticals○ Retail, real estate, travel, consumer, food,
transportation…○ You guide the user where you want him to go
• Where do you spend your money?○ Online or offline?
How can you use local mobile apps
• Additional service, communication channel• Offer special deals to your customers• Lead them to your store• Make them think about you again and again• Raise brand awareness?
Who are you up against?
• Competition is heating up○ Facebook started with Places, Yelp with checkins…○ Groupon is all over the place, local copies ○ FourSquare and Gowalla are ahead in marketing
• In the past - language barrier○ Now – „the local” barrier
• Use existing assets & learn from others!
What can you offer to the customers?
• ONE CLICK PAYMENT!
• Offer specials to get people through the door• Add incentives to keep them coming back• Tie it to your loyalty program• Reward your mayor• Take visitors on a tour
High-level principles
• Integrate with others○ Share on Facebook, Twitter
• Reuse existing locations○ E.g. import them from FourSquare○ Or set up your own system
• Connect to your website○ Use existing data, events, content○ Push content back from mobile to web
• Use the user’s location to add value
Simple example
• Add your specific content• Connect your userbase• Be prepared for feedback• Create and manage your
community• Location-based content as
secondary, but crucial
Thank you!
• Luka AbrusFive Minutes CEOShoutEm Member of the Board
gsm +385 99 8153811mail [email protected] luka.abrustwitter twitter.com/lukrecije
http://www.fiveminutes.euhttp://www.shoutem.com
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