2016’s Hottest

  Free Android Apps

With millions of Android apps on the Google Play Store, it’s pretty easy to get lost in the sea. Don’t worry, we’ve done the fishing, sorting and sampling for you; and have served some of the hottest apps of 2016 here on a platter for you.

Here are awesome apps of 2016 you wouldn’t want to miss:

Periscope

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.periscope.android&hl=en

Live video streaming app that allows you to share your experiences as they are happening. You can also check out other streams, follow streamers, watch people live shopping, celebrating, exploring a new city, trying a new dish and so do much more from across the world.

Prisma

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neuralprisma

Prima is by far one of the most interesting photography apps that we’ve come across. Prisma is not just another photography app, it uses AI and converts pictures into modern art. The results are amazing. Although, on the flip side, it might be a little complicated to use, but in the end the artwork is so worth it.

Vine

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.vine.android&hl=en
 
As 140 characters of Twitter weren’t short enough, Vine comes up with this idea of 6-second videos. To begin with you’d wonder as to what is 6-seconds like, but Vine actually surprises you with its 6-second wonders. Watch, you might just get hooked to it.

Pocket

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideashower.readitlater.pro&hl=en

Are you travelling? Or have limited access to WiFi for some reason? You might want to read an article or watch a video later but then you might not have internet connection. Pocket is the answer to your need. Just pocket the article you’d want to read or the video you’d want to watch, and easily get access to your article or video later, even if there’s no internet connection.

Zedge

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.zedge.android

Zedge is treasure house of wallpapers, ringtones, alarm tones and other notification tones. The huge variety is huge and very well organized. It’s easy to use and given the vast inventory, you can end up spending hours on the app.

Mobile Security and Antivirus by Avast

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.avast.android.mobilesecurity&hl=en

Avast has given one of the best antivirus software for PC in the past. Coming from that strong background, Avast’s Android Security and Antivirus app provides comprehensive protection for your Android devices. For those who are looking for added coverage, there are pretty awesome features available through in-app purchases.

Spotify

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotify.music&hl=en

Music app with everything you need in your music app from albums, artists, playlists, create-your-own playlist, download music and so on. For a premium version get rid of the annoying ads.

Zombies Run

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sixtostart.zombiesrunclient&hl=en

Exercising does not have to be boring and this app ensures it’s not. Let virtual zombies chase you with their grunting, rattling, groaning, all of it getting closer to you as you run for your life. The app adjusts to your speed even if you are walking or running on the treadmill. There’s so much more to the app, just get into the adventure audio game as you do your daily run.

Charity Miles

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.charitymilescm.android&hl=en_GB

For every mile you run, you are not only doing good to your own body, but also to some needy soul out there. You choose a charity, and for every mile you run, a certain predetermined amount will be paid to the charity of your choice. Here’s an incentive good enough to wake you up and get running every morning.

Travel Apps

That Make Your Life Easier

Your smart phone can be your life savior when you are travelling. It can guide you to the hotel best suited for your budget, local eateries that do not figure in your itinerary, the right places to exchange money, get help in a foreign land and do so much more. You can accentuate your travel pleasure by using the wealth of information on your fingertips, thanks to your smart phone. All you need is the right app.

Here’s a list of some of the best travel apps that actually make your life easier while you are travelling.

Airbnb

Airbnb will help you locate the best places for local stay with the world’s largest home stay network. It includes everything, from swanky apartments to chalets to guest houses, all kinds of beautiful accommodations from around the world.

Yelp

Your local travel partner, Yelp helps you locate the nearest of anything and everything you would need during your travel, ATM, eatery, bakery, market, coffee shop, mall, movie theatre and so much more.

TripIt

TripIt helps you create a detailed itinerary of your trip. You can key in the information yourself or just email all booking confirmations, tickets etc. to them, and TripIt will create a detailed itinerary for you.

Postagram

Remember the good old days when you sent postcards of the places you visited to friends and family? Postagram brings the old world charm back with a modern upgrade. You can send your personalized pictures and messages from your phone that your loved ones will receive as actual postcards for just $0.99 a piece.

Google Translate

We all know what Google Translate does. But while travelling this humble app can actually be a life savior. When everything sounds foreign, just take GT’s help to translate it. And in no time you’ll be able to comprehend the local flavor of life.

XE Currency

Convert currency instantly even if you not have WIFI or data access. XE saves the last updated conversion rates and converts currency even offline. There are other great features such as rates for precious metals if you are interested in buying jewelry.

Splittr

If you are travelling with friends, Splittr helps you split costs. Enter expenses as you go with details of who’s paying, even mix currencies without the hassle of converting, and Splittr will take of splitting the costs evenly.

Yapta

This awesome app watches the airfares for you and sends you an alert as the prices drop. It also helps you figure out the rebates you are eligible for resulting in real-time savings on your travel expenses.

Rome2Rio

Trying to figure out the best way to reach from point A to point B? The intelligent app not only helps you figure out different options of reaching to a place (local buses, trains, flights, taxis, anything and everything), but also gives you the estimated time of the journey with the estimated cost.

Apps That Are Transforming Health Care

Apps That Are Transforming Health Care

Mobile apps are changing the way buyers buy and sellers sell. Every industry, be it retail, banking, education or b2b, everything is changing and healthcare is no exception. In fact, thanks to mobile apps, new dimensions are being added to the healthcare industry. From live doctor interaction to fitness apps, there’s so much of buzz in the industry that it has attracted attention of some major players outside the industry including Google, Microsoft and even Apple (if rumors are to be believed).
Telemedicine and remote health care
There are many apps that provide video access to a doctor/specialist who can understand your symptoms, diagnose your problem and even prescribe medicines. If your child has a bad cough and going to your doctor would mean waiting for the appointment, or you have an infection that’s getting worse, the tele consultation comes in as a savior. However, there are some conditions that need clinical examination, so one must be really careful while consulting a physician online. There are government restrictions on telemedicine, and before consulting one should go through the state’s regulations regarding telemedicine.

Popular apps in telemedicine:

• Doctor on Demand
• Heath Tap
• Live Health Online

Medical & Insurance Paper Vault

There are apps that help sort the medical paperwork. Most of these apps sort your medical insurance paperwork by helping you upload your documents online and access them in terms of need.

Popular digital vaults:

• Metlife’s Infinity App
• Microsoft Health Vault

Medical advice, prescription intel

Most of these sites are the app version of WebMD that help you get intel on prescriptions, doses, side-effects etc. but with the virtue of being mobile apps, most of these apps are focused and evidence based recommendations rather than convincing you of a random disease just because the symptoms suggest so.

Popular medical advice apps:

• John Hopkins ABX Guide

Apps that help you find specialists or book appointments

These apps help you find a specialist or get you in touch with a doctor for your condition. You can find the right doctor, book appointment and even get advice as to your insurance coverage.

Popular apps for finding doctors:

• Zopdoc
• Hello MD
• RevUp by MD Revolution

Other than these there are apps, there are apps that help doctors connect, that help people get their prescriptions organized, fitness tracking apps and so much more. Like any other industry, medical and health care industry is also transforming. This is a great time to define your niche and launch into the mobile-digitalization of healthcare services.

We would be glad to be of assistance if you need advice or help on building and app and marketing it. contact us now on support@xymob.com.

The 3-Step Marketing for Holidays 2016

The 3-Step Marketing for Holidays 2016

Our lifestyles are getting increasingly mobile. Whether its checking emails or surfing for information or keeping in touch with friends on social media, or shopping, mobile has become the preferred device.

As shoppers get hooked to their devices, retailers have a newfangled territory to tread on. The domain has changed but rules remain the same.

Visual Merchandising

In mobile shopping parlance, it would actually be audio-visual merchandising. Videos are a great way to attract customers and one of the best forms of customer engagement.
Here’s how retailers can execute videos:

• Gift buying guides
• Life hacks
• “How to” videos
• Witty or humorous advertisements

Upload these videos on You Tube, your website and social media of course. The more domains you upload it on, the more exposure your campaign gets.

Linking back

Once these videos get customer attention, it’s time to bring them back to our products. It is highly recommended that you have a clutter-free home page and the navigation is simple and fuss-free. Your catalog pages should display a range of products in a neat arrangement and the customer should be able to buy the desired product in just 4-5 taps. You would have to create broader categories and provide relevant filter options.

Selling

When users have finally selected their products, a smooth checkout experience would be the key to finally making the sale. The checkout should be simple and ideally done in 3-4 taps. Demanding for a lot of information, asking users to sign up first, making the payment process lengthy, these are some of the pitfalls that make customers abandon their carts at checkout. Fast and hassle free checkout are one of the most important factors of online sales or mobile sales.

Once you’ve followed these steps and made a sale, you need to ensure there is hassle free delivery. And if all goes well, you’ve earned yourself a loyal customer. 

Social Media Marketing for Beginners

Social Media Marketing for Beginners

Social media is not just another medium for friends to hangout. Social media has become a powerful platform that allows customers to interact with brands, share their experiences with the whole world and recommend or reject brands. Social media is where opinions matter, and can make or destroy a brand. As a business, big or small, you cannot overlook social media. There are millions of people using social media, and if you do not engage your customers, your competitor will.
Here are some tips to help you get started on your social media marketing journey.

• Have a plan

Like any strategic business function, social media marketing needs a plan too. Randomly creating Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts and posting content arbitrarily would not yield desired results. On the contrary, your users may be put off if your content is not engaging or inconsistent.


• Chalk out social media sites and where you need your brand’s presence. You can choose to be present in all the places but then it would mean tailoring content for each platform specifically.
• Outline the following for each of the platforms you wish to be present on:
• Target group (their persona, age group, likes etc.)
• SMM objective (what do you want from your Social Media Marketing initiative; sales, customer engagement, customer loyalty etc.?)
• What would the content be like? (Informative blogpost, deals and discount links, product catalog, infographic, video, podcast or something else?)
• Postings schedule (like a planned calendar, new postings at planned intervals, special postings on Holidays and special days etc.)



• A picture is worth a thousand words (and a thousand likes too!)

Whatever you content type be, try and make visually appealing. Users on the internet are impatient. You need to focus on getting immediate attention which is more likely possible with an attractive pic than a long text post.


• Mine Social Media groups to get more followers/friends

Social media groups such as Twitter groups, Facebook groups etc. bring together people sharing a common interest or a common platform of sorts. You need to check out the groups that fit in your customers’ profile and lure them to be your brand’s fans.


• Bring in content variety

Do not stick to a single media type. Include different content formats such blog posts, pictures, quotes, infographics, videos etc. 

• Acknowledge every customer

Make it a point to reply to every comment, feedback or criticism your customers put up on the Internet for you. This is where brands can actually be personalities bringing in the human touch.

You may also like to read http://www.xymob.com/blog-detail.html?postid=8951800940485695210.

How Small Businesses Can Make the Most of

This Holiday Season

No business, irrespective of the scale of business, can afford to ignore a mobile marketing strategy for the upcoming Holiday season. While big players who have dedicated teams working on these plans would have their strategy and POA in place, small businesses often get caught in everyday functioning of the business. So if you have missed out on a strategic plan for the Holiday season, here’s a quick list of things you can start implementing immediately to make the most of the upcoming shopping season.

• Is your website mobile compatible? If not, get the transition done on an urgent basis. You will need a mobile-friendly website to be visible to the mobile users.


• Make sure your website has all important information easily available to the users such as contact numbers, store location, store timings etc.


• Create different offers for every week till Christmas. Concentrate on Thanksgiving products and offers till November 3rd week. Later, shift focus to Christmas gifts. Tailor your offers around products mostly needed at that particular time and the urgency of need. For instance, in the Christmas week, you could look at same day delivery offers or instant exchange offers.


• Get listed on mobile directories like Yelp, Nearby, Google+ Local etc. 


•  Advertise on local-based apps like InstaTeam.


• Create social media profile or if you have one already, heavily promote your offers there. Make sure you thank users for sharing your profile, reply to all comments and acknowledge all compliments. 


• If you have the budget, engage an app marketing or online marketing company to help you out with optimizing your mobile marketing. 

You may also like to read http://www.xymob.com/blog-detail.html?postid=7239803028852645233.

From Personalization to Individualization

From Personalization to Individualization

There was a time marketers were really upbeat about personalization. Although, personalization is a very broad team and makes us believe in a whole gamut of wonderful things that marketers would be doing for their customers to make the experience up-close and personal, the intimacy in reality, is a hoax. Apart from a select few companies, marketers have been doing joke of a job when it comes to one-to-one marketing or personalization. The only personalization in a mass mailing list was the name, rest all being the same. Discounting and believing, that these marketers were willing but unable, one can consider that there wasn’t much customer information available also. Mostly customer information was based on mass surveys and generalized assumptions for a particular target group.
But things are different now. Now marketers can actually know their customers and know them beyond just their name. Customers are leaving data trails all over interaction points. There is enough data and there are apt tools to correlate that data. What companies need now is the strategy for data-driven marketing. Companies, keen on providing meaningful marketing experiences to their customers, need to define the following:

• The process of gathering customer information from different customer touch-points and storing it in a central repository.


• The tools that will help turn customer data and customer information into customer knowledge.


• The strategy that will optimize this customer knowledge into a meaningful, truly engaging and enriching interaction. 

In the digital era, customer information is spread all across – in-store, online, app, customer helpline and every window that the company has. Thanks to mobile commerce, companies can also have access to detailed profiles of customers including information of their buying behavior, social group etc. Then there are technologies like geofencing that help companies understand the geography dynamics of the customer. Finding information is not a big deal, the real challenge is weaving a strategy around that information. The key to success in this hi-tech era will be adding human touch to this hi tech information and creating optimized interactions which are individualized and not just personalized.
You might also be interested in reading http://www.xymob.com/blog-detail.html?postid=4164849917444943696.