Outstanding Apps in the Digital Publicity World

Without us even realizing it, some applications on our smart phones have now become indispensible tools, either for socializing or simply making our lives easier.

According to the IMS Mobile in LatAm study, 3 out of every 4 smartphone and tablet users in Latin America can be reached through publicity products offered by brands and agencies.

Similarly, 99% of users have apps downloaded on their device. 35% of smartphone users and 39% of tablet users have more than 20 apps installed on their devices.

Those of us who are involved in the digital world know how important apps are. This is why I would like to give a brief summary of the apps I consider to be the most outstanding, particularly in the digital publicity area, without going into too much detail about Facebook and Twitter as we already know these well:

Instagram. In addition to storing our personal photographs, this app has developed huge potential for brands that have used it in diverse and innovative strategies to achieve engagement with their clients. Tools include hashtags to help convert them into an internet trend and “Instagram Takeovers” through which companies allow an artist or an influencer to manage their accounts for a day, thus gaining thousands of followers.

When talking about its potential in digital publicity, eMarketer says that in just two years its global mobile publicity revenues from Instagram (which does not yet have advertisements on its internet version) will reach $2.81 billion dollars, 10% of publicity revenues achieved by Facebook during this period. This also highlights that one of the characteristics that makes it such a powerful ally for marketing is the fact that it can be linked to each user’s Twitter account, thus expanding the advertiser’s scope and presence.

Spotify. This Swedish music streaming platform is one of the most used in the region. According to information published by Reuters, Spotify is focusing on emerging markets after having earned US$ 100 million in 2012 by supporting this growth. The company stated it had 15 million paid subscribers and 60 million active users around the world by the end of 2014. Spotify earned 400 million dollars in April, which raised the value of the firm to around US$8.4 billion.

This has turned it into one of the most influential platforms in the world. The key to Spotify’s success as a branding ally is that those 60 million active users who do not pay for their streaming services will listen to advertisements at certain intervals. This helps to position a range of brands in consumers’ minds. It also has the advantage of targeting campaigns on specific market niches. An example of this was the BMW campaign to launch its 320i model in the United States.

Deezer. This is a French music streaming platform with 16 million active subscribers at the global level which directly competes with Spotify. Its business model offers very similar advantages: it has a premium plan and a free platform in which publicity spots are broadcasted at specific intervals. Perhaps Deezer’s biggest differentiator is its IFTTT (If This Then That) platform which allows users to link their account with a large range of channels such as: Twitter, Facebook, Google Drive, Sound Cloud, You Tube and WordPress among others, so that they can share their profile updates, favorite music and albums in real time and in a very personalized, user friendly way.

LinkedIn. While this platform is known for being a networking site, recent studies published by eMarketer have shown that when it comes to B2B transactions, this is the most effective network for pre and post sale consumer engagement, outperforming networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with 64% (pre sale) and 51% (post sale) in statistics.

YouTube. In YouTube’s case, more than a network as such, it is the use of assets found within the network as consumer engagement allies. I refer to the use of bloggers and Youtubers as brand ambassadors.

These are just some examples that illustrate the huge growth of apps and social channels as digital publicity tools.