Luka Abrus (Shoutem) - Building a successful local mobile app

1. Building a successful local mobile app Luka AbrusFive Minutes CEOShoutEm Member of the Board

2. 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

3. 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

4. Key factors (for a successful local community) Content News, real-time local updates Information sharing, access from everywhere Service information Event & place guide, discounts, special offers Local info & reviews on local businesses Community background Strong common interest Community existing in an offline world

5. 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…

6. 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!

7. 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? ..

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. 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!

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Thank you! Luka AbrusFive Minutes CEOShoutEm Member of the Boardgsm +385 99 8153811mail luka.abrus@fiveminutes.euskype luka.abrustwitter twitter.com/lukrecijehttp://www.fiveminutes.euhttp://www.shoutem.com