Adept App Decisions — Engage Members and Go Green

Schools that are using an informational app combined with reducing their printing, are saving on average $8,000/year.  Schools who are reducing their printing by 80%-100% are saving closer to $15,000/year. Source: FusionGo Analytics, Dec 2016

Going Green is a priority on most college campuses, almost as important as saving green. Many schools are finding that printed calendars, brochures and flyers are the least impactful marketing mediums and therefore low hanging fruit for greening efforts. Combing the reduction in paper waste with the reallocation of resources towards digital marketing media can net a double financial and environmental win. Training students to create and manage the digital content prepares them for in demand jobs during and after college.

This year, there will be 184.1 million adult smartphone users in the US, representing 73.6% of the adult population. That figure will grow to nearly 80% of the population by 2018. Source: eMarketer, Sep 2016

As the number of people carrying their internet access in their pocket climbs toward 100 percent, businesses must ensure that their web tools are not just present, they must be convenient. The volume of content from competitors within your sector and in the bigger picture- competitors for customer attention, easily drowns basic efforts toward content mobilization. A mobile responsive website is now the baseline for internet tools, customers will rarely waste time on their smartphone trying to navigate a non-mobile site. That means they are delaying their interaction with your content until their next time in front of a computer, time that is proportionally shrinking with the increases in mobile utilization.

Facebook, SnapChat and the other massive socials apps dominate individuals’ screen time percentages. Source: Flurry Analytics, June 2015

This statistic could lead to second guessing the opportunities for your department’s app in the bigger app picture. Instead, consider these two ideas. One, your marketing team can leverage the success of the big sites through an integration campaign to get your content and messaging into the larger channels. This may be via your department’s presence in the channels or probably more impactfully through the sharing and posting of your department’s content by your participants.

Two, your app cannot fail to compete with Facebook if it does not try. Position your app as a tool to complement participation with your activities. An app that reminds of an upcoming massage appointment, notifies of a pool closure, or makes sign-up and payment submission easier is an app that the growing tech generation will appreciate. That appreciation translates into shares and positive feedback about your department and activities via the big social sites.

Pam Hightower is the new Director of Fusion University & Consultation Services at InnoSoft Canada Inc. She has 14 years of prior experience as a Campus Recreation Professional. She can be contacted at 888.510.3827 ext. 727 or email pam.hightower@innosoft.ca