Awakin your business to the importance of smartphones - Nielsen Social Media Report 2012

Mobile usage stats are great for small businesses because if you know what your potential users are spending their time on and what kind of actions they are taking it then becomes a little easier to tailor your marketing for best results. At Awakin Apps we constantly have an eye for the most up-to-date usage stats and they help us create a better user experience.

Don’t worry we don’t expect you to trawl through the report by yourself trying to find nuggets of information, we’ve done it for you, but if you want to read the full report you can do so here. With constant growth of the smartphone sector many small businesses are starting to put money in this area but don’t worry if you don’t know how much it costs to build an app we can offer affordable business apps and even create a preview app for iPhone or Android so you can get to grip with your smartphone app - click here to get in touch.

Now back to the matter at hand - why your business needs to consider a smartphone app. The stats are taken from Nielsen’s Social Media Report 2012 and refer to the US between July 2011 and July 2012:

First of the all the kicker, mobile web and mobile app usage went up a staggering 82% and 85% respectively whereas as PC web usages went down 4%. It’s no surprise that most of this time is spent on social networks and more specifically through apps. In fact app usage accounts for more than one third of social networking time across PC’s and mobile devices!

But how and where do people connect to their favourite social media site? Despite the dramatic constant growth of the smartphone sector the computer is still the primary device for accessing social networking sites, however mobile did increase by 9% and tablet by 13%. 

How many have you used social networking while in the bathroom? Not be embarrassed if you have because 32% of people aged 18-24 have! Do you have a quick peek on Facebook or Twitter while at work (I’m doing it as I write this!)? Well your not alone more than half of people aged between 25-34 have done the same - just don’t let the boss see you.

Social networking is clearly important to your users, I mean think about it it’s probably important to you too! With an Awakin App you can plug in your businesses Facebook and/or Twitter page directly into your app, so that users can like your page, comment on your posts and even share your page with their friends.

Stay tuned for more on the Nielsen Social Media Report 2012

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At Awakin Apps we can help you grow your business with a smartphone app for less than you might think! We can also offer our advice and services on Social Media Management and E-Marketing Solutions - get in touch at apps@awakin.com to find out more or CLICK HERE to see our latest special offer for new customers!

Awakin Top Tip - Build Web Presence with Smart Blogging

As a small business ourselves we don’t have a fortune to spend on boosting the Awakin web profile - but we’ve managed to unlock a few secrets to make it a little easier and we want to share that knowledge with you!

I know blogging about blogging may seem a little redundant but at Awakin we’ve found that frequently publishing new and useful content (and maybe a selfless plug here and there) really does help boost your online profile and therefore your ranking in search engines. Blogging is a great way to built your online profile and while it may seem obvious it is time consuming and getting it right can be a bit of a dark art!

Here’s 3 important things to consider when blogging:

1) Keep it Updated - You’ve got to be regularly posting new content to appease the ‘Gods’ at Google. The more new content you generate, the more exposure you get in the search engine.

2) SEO is Key - Search Engine Optimisation is a vital part of any blog and this is were many bloggers fall short, because it’s a fine line between using SEO keywords wisely and spamming your article so full of them that it’s no fun to read.

3) Tracking - By using Google analytics (it’s free) you can track how many people are visiting and where are they coming from, which may help you tailor your blog content!

Stuck for content ideas? Then why not step up a Google Alert - email updates of the latest relevant Google results. It’s a great way of finding out what’s hot and staying current! Best of all it’s free!

Insider Secret - Hit Tail

Hit Tail is a great tool for helping you generate blog content, you simply paste their code in your blog/website and they will track all the keywords and search terms from your sites existing traffic.

You can then use these keywords and Hit Tails suggestions to generate new blog posts with SEO friendly keyword that you already know works!

The only down side is that you have to pay for the service - however one of our services is boosting online profiles and we currently have a few clients who are already seeing the benefits.

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At Awakin Apps we can help you grow your business with a smartphone app for less than you might think! We can also offer our advice and services on Social Media Management and E-Marketing Solutions - get in touch at apps@awakin.com to find out more or CLICK HERE to see our latest special offer for new customers!

Awakin Apps Features - GPS Map

With our Awakin Apps platform you can create a smartphone app with many different features and we’ll be detailing them all on our blog!

Check out our previous blogs about our Awakin Apps Features - QR Coupons and Push Notifications

Our GPS Map tab allow you highlight places on a map, give information about that place and give step-by-stpe directions to it! We have used this feature in every Awakin App to date because it’s such a convenient and versatile tab.

You can have up to 3 categories, so for example if you are building an app for the tourism industry you could have a category for hotels, sight-seeing and entertainment! Within these 3 categories you can have an unlimited amount of places of interest (POI), infact one of our app have almost 100 POI’s.

Of course this can open up a great opportunity for your business because you could sell this space to other business who wanted to advertise their product or service - sticking with the tourism industry example, you could charge hotels a fee to be featured on your map.

Another great feature that comes as standard with the awakin apps platform!

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At Awakin Apps we can help you grow your business with a smartphone app for less than you might think! We can also offer our advice and services on Social Media Management and E-Marketing Solutions - get in touch at apps@awakin.com to find out more or CLICK HERE to see our latest special offer for new customers!

Awakin your business to Digital Marketing

Are you thinking of investing in a mobile app? If not you should be! But Awakin, why should we be spending money on designing and building a mobile app?

Well for starters it gives your company a unique selling point and you’ll be able to communicate directly to your customers via push notifications not to mention increasing brand loyalty and repeat business by using QR coupons and loyalty stamps!

So your next question is probably how many people have phones? Here at Awakin we’ve done the had graft for you and found out the latest sales stats for the UK and Europe:

Recent sales stats (UK and mainland Europe):

• IDC say 27.4 million smartphones sold in Western Europe in Q2 2012. Samsung’s share is 43.6%, followed by Apple at 19%.
• A May 2012 YouGov survey found 47% of UK mobile phone users now have a smartphone. They expect that number to hit over 55% by the same time next year.
• comScore reckon there were just over 28 million UK smartphone users by May 2012 (3-month average), a year-on-year increase of 38%.
• The same company put combined smartphone ownership for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK at 44% of mobile users as of December 2011 (104 million users).
• Figures quoted in the FT put UK smartphone ownership at 46% as of August 2011.

The only question left is why an Awakin App? Well we can offer your business its very own smartphone app with any of the following features:

• Create interactive treasure trails/walks
• QR scannable codes for rewards
• Send specials and coupons directly to users with push notifications
• Display your full event list
• A Loyalty feature for repeat customers (stamper card)
• Turn-by-turn GPS directions to your business 
• Music player (able to purchase songs)
• We can integrate your Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Photos, etc 
• Update your app on your own using our easy edit tools
• Plus much more…

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At Awakin Apps we can help you grow your business with a smartphone app for less than you might think! We can also offer our advice and services on Social Media Management and E-Marketing Solutions - get in touch at apps@awakin.com to find out more or CLICK HERE to see our latest special offer for new customers!

RE: Awakin E-Marketing Campaign!

Why choose our E-Marketing solution? Through our research and experience with past clients we have defined several key benefits to using an email marketing campaign to boost your profile and sales, it’s with these key benefits in mind that we will build your list. Head over to Awakin.com to see our past work!

1. Instant Communication

Unlike more traditional ways of getting your message across, such as print, e-marketing allows you to communicate directly with potential customers that have been gathered in your mailing list. Not only do you know that they will see your message but because they are on your list they already identify with your product/service.

2. Create Engaging, Interesting Content

Our e-marketing campaign gives you the chance to send interesting and interactive content - e-mail has always been about more than just words. You’ll be able to send hyperlinks to external pages such as an online shop or a booking site and even images and video links. At Awakin we believe great content supported by a strong call to action will drive the customer to where you want them to go!

3. Hyper Targeted

As mentioned before the customers that you will be targeting already have an affinity with your product/service because they have signed up to your mailing list, this gives you a great advantage in the market and also helps identify what content they would like.

4. Cost

Compared to the tradition forms of marketing/advertising (or whatever term you want to use to mean getting people to care about your product) e-marketing is far more cost effective. Why? I hear you ask! Well simply because are targeting potential customers who have already expressed an interested in your brand by signing on to your mailing list! In addition to buying to ‘air’ space you’ll have need to hire a design so it looks cool enough to catch peoples eyes and it won’t be cheap!

5. Reach People Like Never Before

We are basing this on having a mailing list to market so how do you get them? We’ll it’s quite simple (but potentially time consuming) - first you need to define your market and find out where they spend their time online. Once you’ve found the most popular forums and blogs you can post on them with links back to your sign-up page or even contact the blogger directly, generating content for them works well here.

6. You Can Benefit From Forwarding

People love to share stuff! Whether its links, info, movies of pictures they love it! SO if you email’s are interesting, chances are they will get forwarded on (think how many FWD’s you get in your inbox!). It’s not just forwarding to their friends emails but they can share them on facebook and twitter - imagine how many eyes will see your brand then!

7. Track It!

Mail Chimp and AWeber (the 2 most popular platforms) have built-in analytics so you can see open rates, click rates, what they click on, how many time they opened it and much more! You can’t do that with a newspaper ad!

8. It’s Not Easy Being Green

Because its all digitally managed there will be no tress harmed during the making of this campaign! Not to mention the saving from not having hardcopy print outs!

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Thought about an e-marketing campaign but are not sure how to start? At Awakin we can help! Email us at info@awakin.com and we can provide an no obligation quote for our services!

UK Communications Market Report 2012

Here at Awakin we are always on the hunt for the latest stats on smartphone usage and the communications industry as a whole (as I’m sure you’ve noticed)

Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries has recently released their report on the communication industry. So rather than you sifting through all the information and jargon, sit back and let Awakin tell you the most relevant tidbits that could help your business!

In terms if internet usage, 8 out of 10 people had access to the internet in the first quarter 2012 and in 2011 the average time spent online was 23.5 per month - thats almost a whole day!

Social media is king! According to the report two thirds of internet users have accessed facebook - that’s not overly surprising considering most of you probably have it open right now, I know I do - www.facebook.com/yourawakin. In fact Facebook generates almost a quarter of all referred traffic to YouTube (23.7%) and it’s nearly caught up to Google (32.3%)

Lastly, there is more spent on internet advertsiing than any other medium. In 2011 spend on internet advertising was £4.8bn, £4.2bn for TV and £3.9bn for press!

I know what your thinking, ‘hey Awakin, tell us something we don’t know!’ and you’d be right everyone knows that the internet is the most popular medium out there but by having these stats we can get a better understanding of why and what people are doing online, which helps you target your audience that much better!

But how can you do that? Well with two fifth’s of UK adults now owning a smartphone and that same number saying that their phone is the most inportant device for accessing the internet then it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?

Create a smartphone app for your business! And here at Awakin we can help, and it doesn’t cost as much as you might think!

The only question left is why an Awakin App? Well we can offer your business its very own smartphone app with any of the following features:

• Create interactive treasure trails/walks
• QR scannable codes for rewards
• Send specials and coupons directly to users with push notifications
• Display your full event list
• A Loyalty feature for repeat customers (stamper card)
• Turn-by-turn GPS directions to your business 
• Music player (able to purchase songs)
• We can integrate your Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Photos, etc 
• Update your app on your own using our easy edit tools
• Plus much more…

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At Awakin Apps we can help you grow your business with a smartphone app for less than you might think! We can also offer our advice and services on Social Media Management and E-Marketing Solutions - get in touch at apps@awakin.com to find out more or CLICK HERE to see our latest special offer for new customers!

Have you considered an Awakin iBook?

Here at Awakin we not only make smartphone apps, but as a digital publishing company we also create and publish iBooks. 

For those unfamiliar with iBooks, it’s basically an eBook but that only available on apple. Having already had great success with our Titanic Island Interactive iBook we have started production on our latest venture - The Irish In Stories. Both of these books have great interactive elements and use audio and visuals aids to lift the story - and that’s the power of an iBook.

We know an iBook isn’t right for every small business but it could be used by bloggers, travel writers and tourism businesses, we’ve even consulted on a Ryder Cup golf guide ibook. But why should you invest in an iBook, what’s so special about them? Well here’s Awakin’s run down on the best features of an iBook:

1. Awakin iBooks can be interactive - certainly most important to us and our past work, iBooks give you the ability to add audio, video and animations as well as cool widgets such as 3D objects.
2. Awakin iBooks can have hyperlinks - Link out to external content, drive traffic to your online shop the possibilities are endless!
3. No shipping or packaging required - because Awakin iBooks are delivered through the internet digitally there’s none of the usual publishing costs.
4. They’re digital - Users can read them anywhere and store them on their device making the device a portable library. Also because they’re digital no trees are required to produce one!
5. They’re instant - a user can buy/download a book anytime day or night and have access to it immediately, click here for an example of how easy it is!

So you get the idea? iBooks are becoming more and more popular with the UK percentage of tablet ownership jumping from 2% to 11% in just 12 months and 19% of Americans owning a tablet.

Is an iBook right for your business? If it’s something you have considered then get in touch and we can help! Contact us here to find out if an Awakin iBook is right for you!

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