There are over 1.75 billion consumers using smart phones right now. That is 1.75 billion opportunities to create an app that will compete using social media methods versus paid in social media advertising. Internet enabled mobile devices, both smartphones and tablets, are concrete entities in our multi – media world. They play central role in the lives of business owners and consumers.
So, after the app is developed for a company, is a paid search versus social media sharing the best method to going forward? Well, let’s find out! Either way, we know app development on smart phones and tablets saw significant increases in revenue – doubling year – over – year to nearly 19%. For a company making as little as $10,000 a year this is huge growth. For a company making over $100,000 a year-this number is even better!
Mobile Applications need to have B2C or B2B components. Studies have shown nothing drives the consumer away from a company than reaching a website that is not mobile optimized for the lack of a downloadable app experience. In fact, consumers would rather utilize a semi – functional application that has no application associated with the company.
Either way, social media advertising versus paid advertising serves the same purpose and implementing these components through an app is critical. There are currently over 100 million apps available in the Apple App Store alone. So, how do marketers cut through the noise and gain visibility?
Facebook reported in 2013 that its mobile app ads did drive more than 145 million installs in direct relation to downloadable apps for businesses. However, Facebook did not know if these installs were a result of Facebook advertising or social media sharing. Since the company promotes both – this fact does not help marketers in any way.
The best way for you, as an individual company, to decipher if paid advertising is going to work over social media sharing for gaining consumer interest is first, getting people to download your actual app and second, leading to growth and increased sales – is to run in A/B split test specific to your industry. Emails, attribution, the data, social, content integration, and digital marketing all play a role in your apps development. Understanding the metrics of your demographic is the best answer to this question. There is no one-size-fits-all method when it comes to paid advertising versus social media sharing and your app.
