Many individuals and companies who are now venturing into developing mobile applications are facing the issue of: “how am I going to advertise and market the mobile application when there are millions of mobile applications available in various mobile application marketplaces?” and “how am I going to gain a competitive advantage and be able to differentiate my mobile applications from other mobile apps which user can download?”. Fortunately for these individuals and companies, there is in fact a way to market and advertise their mobile application for android or any other platform at a very low rate to themselves.
One trend which has been happening in the past few years is that mobile application developers and mobile app development companies are into process to develop mobile app, which integrate with Social Media Platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, MySpace, etc) which allow the mobile application to market itself via these social media outlets without having to do much. Many mobile applications (specifically mobile gaming applications) will have a feature within the mobile app itself where users can choose to post their high scores on their Facebook/Twitter/Linkedin/MySpace account so others can view how good/bad that user is doing in a specific game.
Another tactic which mobile application developers and mobile application development firms are using to market and advertise their mobile application is having a simple feature which says when a user has started using a specific mobile application and posts it on Facebook/Twitter/Linkedin/Myspace (or other social media platforms); a simple message like “x person has started using ‘y’ mobile application” will allow other individuals (who have not yet heard or used that specific mobile application) to become informed about that mobile application and may think to themselves “mmm my good friend is using this mobile application and we have a lot in common so maybe I should also check this mobile application out and see if it can be beneficial to me”; or another example could be “oh wow, my friend got a new high score in this mobile gaming application, I am certain I can beat this score; let me go ahead and download this mobile gaming application, play it, try betting the high score so I can post it on Facebook to show everyone that I am better at the game”
So mobile application developers and mobile application development firms also believe their will be a time where the games or applications which are being used on Smartphone devices will also be able to be transferred to social media platforms so that an individual can play (or continue playing) a game on their mobile device and then continue playing it on their social media account (via the laptop or PC). One mobile application developer recently stated “The more that mobile applications get publicized via social media outlets such as Facebook or Twitter, the higher the chance that the mobile application will be successful. In this day and age, social influence seems to be the strongest motivator for individuals to adopt into new mobile applications and that is why social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter play such a vital role in the success or failure of a mobile application”
The future is bright for the mobile application industry and social media engines such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Myspace are assisting in adding more fuel to the fire and carrying the momentum of the mobile application space to new heights. Yes, it is true that the mobile application industry would still be successful if they did not integrate social media platforms into their mobile applications but at the same time, social media platforms has allowed the mobile application industry to rise to more popularity than it would have if it were with social media platforms. The future is impossible to predict but one thing for certain is that mobile application developers, mobile application development firms and the mobile application industry has a bright path ahead of themselves.