Android Download Numbers Are Back!

You have been patiently awaiting the return of Android download numbers to your app's control panel. Wait no more!  Android downloads are back!

How to Access Your Android Download Numbers

1. Login to your InstantEncore account.
2. Go to Mobile >> Preview/Checklist.
3. Scroll below your app preview area.
4. In the Native Apps section, you will find download numbers for both Apple and Android.

Tips for Promoting Your Mobile App, Part 1: Encouraging Downloads When Patrons Are Off-Site

One of the questions our partners frequently ask is, "How should we promote our app?"  To help you answer that question, we decided to provide you with some tips.  However, there is so much information that we had to break it into two separate posts.

We'll start with tips for how to promote your app when the patrons are not at one of your events.

8 Tips for promoting downloads when the audience is not at your event or performance

1.  Encourage mobile users who visit your website to download your app.  Makes sense right?  They are already on their mobile devices, so you should take the opportunity to direct them to your app.  Here are two ways you can do this:

Silk Road Rising uses the

mobile redirect script to

send mobile users visiting

their website to the mobile

web version of their app.

• If you do not have a mobile responsive website or separate mobile site, be sure to use InstantEncore's mobile redirect script. (click here for how-to video)
• This will redirect mobile users from your standard website to the mobile web version of your app.
• It will also detect if the mobile user is on an Apple or Android device and present them with a prompt at the top of the screen to download your app on their device.
• If you do have a mobile responsive site or separate mobile site, feature a notice for your mobile app on the home screen.
• Provide a short message highlighting what additional features they will have access to by downloading the app.
• Add the icon for your app to the screen.
• Link the icon to your app's Smart App Download URL.
• Instruct the user to tap on the icon to download the app.

2.  Encourage desktop/laptop users who visit your website to download your app.  This one might not be as obvious as the first one.  With the rapid rise of smartphone and tablet users, the probability is strong that people who visit your website on their desktop and laptop computers are also mobile users.  So why not encourage them to download your app? Here are two suggestions:

• Add mobile app download buttons to your home screen.  



Austin Symphony Orchestra uses buttons on their website to
encourage visitors to download their mobile app.

• Add a button for both your Apple mobile app and your Android app.
• Buttons for:  Android  |  Apple
• Link the button to its appropriate URL.
• To find the web link for each of your apps:
• Go to www.instantencore.com
• At the top where it says "Search or Redeem," enter the name for you or your organization.



"Search or Redeem" field on the InstantEncore site.

• Find and click on your account name to go to your InstantEncore profile.
• Clicking on the image for your mobile app gives you a drop-down menu with links to your Android and Apple URLs.

Links to Seattle Shakespeare Company's Android and Apple
apps in their InstantEncore profile.

• Create a separate page on your website highlight your app's features and encourage your website visitors to download.  (Great example from Detroit Symphony Orchestra.)

3.  Create a video to spotlight your app.  While this may sound difficult, it really isn't.

• Decide which features you want to mention and which ones you want to show in use.
• Write out a script for the video.
• Consider recruiting one of your artists to be video spokesperson for the app.
• Practice going through the script while interacting with your device.  
• Get a sense of how long it takes you to go through the script.  You should be able to highlight the more exciting features in a 1 to 2 minute video.
• For example: here's an informative and funny video for the 2011 YouTube Symphony mobile app featuring flutist Nina Perlove:

• At the end of your video, include the Smart App Download URL as the closing image.
• Upload the video to YouTube - be sure to put the Smart App Download URL in the video's description.
• Post it everywhere -- embed the video on your website or blog; share it on social media; link to it in email newsletters; etc.

4.  Feature the app prominently in your email communications.  

• Spotlight your app in e-newsletters, subscriber emails, pre-show emails to ticket holders, etc.
  
  

  

  Email example from Curtis Institute of Music.

• Be sure to mention your mobile app in confirmation emails for online ticket sales and/or reservations.
• Include a brief description of your app's features as well as a link to the Smart App Download URL.

5.  Spotlight your app on the back of printed tickets and/or ticket envelopes.

• Include the app logo and a brief description of the app's value.
• Highlight the Smart App Download URL.
• Add a QR Code linked to the Smart App Download URL. (click here for how-to video)

6.  Highlight your app on printed promotional pieces for your events and season.

• Feature your mobile app and its features in your season brochure.
• Mention your mobile app and its value in your event postcards, posters, and flyers.
• Include the app logo, the Smart App Download URL, and/or QR Code.

7.  Alert your social media followers to your app.

• On a regular basis, post screenshots from your app to highlight new content available in your app.
• Include a link to the Smart App Download URL. 

8.  Use your App Store Description to highlight its features.  It's not enough to simply send patrons to your app's URL on iTunes or Google Play.  Once they are there, you need to communicate why they should download the app.

• How will downloading your app benefit them? What will they be able to do with it?
• Click here to learn How to Rock Your App's Description in the App Store.

In Part 2 of this blog series, we will focus on tips for encouraging app downloads when your patrons are attending your event or performance.

Questions?  Contact us at support@instantencore.com. 

Smart App Download URL: How to Connect Your Mobile Users Directly to the Correct App for Their Devices

Now that you've started using the new At-The-Event feature in your mobile apps, you will want to make sure that your audience has the Apple or Android app downloaded to their mobile device.

Including the Redirect Script on your standard website takes mobile users to the mobile website, which will display a banner link to the proper app store. Word of mouth also helps build app awareness, but nothing beats providing your patrons with direct links to the Apple App Store and Google Play pages for their specific devices.

To help you with this, we've created a Smart App Download URL (SmartURL) that will automatically detect the type of mobile device accessing it and redirect the user to the link on the appropriate app store for their device.  If the link is visited from a desktop or laptop computer, it will display a page with links to both app stores.

How the Smart App Download URL appears on a desktop computer.

Since At The Event is specifically available to your Apple and Android app subscribers, the Smart App Download URL guides users directly to those apps and bypasses the mobile website, which is not compatible with At The Event.

Building the URL

The first step is to build the SmartURL. This is comprised of three parts starting with the base URL. To begin, copy and paste this text:



http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/

Next, you will need to include your Partner ID - a unique 7 digit number linked to your account which lets the URL know to connect to your specific apps.

• Find this by logging in to your Control Panel
• Click your Partner Name in the upper right corner to visit your Partner Page on InstantEncore
• Copy the number at the end of the URL:

 

Lastly, you will need to provide a Qualifier. This can be anything, but for basic uses we suggest using the "Menu App Name" from the Mobile >> Basic Settings page in your Control Panel:

These elements are then combined into a single URL that looks like:
http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/PartnerID/Qualifier

For example:
http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/5109242/bcsd2go

Be sure to visit the URL in your web browser and make sure it is valid before publishing it anywhere!

Advanced Techniques

As we mentioned, this link can be used in a variety of different mediums.  If you want to keep track of how much the link is used in different ways, you can use anything you like as a qualifier such as:

http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/5109242/qrcode
http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/5109242/twitter
http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/5109242/facebook
http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/5109242/email



Short URL

Now these URLs are very useful, but they are not practical for social media.  To make them more manageable, we recommend Google's URL shortening service: Goo.gl

In addition to an easy-to-use shortened URL, this service provides some "Details"; basic analytics to help you keep track of exposure including the number of "clicks" and what Platform (iPhone, Linux - which includes Android, etc) visited the link. These analytics are important to have as they will not be recorded by your regular mobile app's Google Analytics.

QR Codes

Also available in the "Details" area of the Goo.gl short URL is a QR Code image.

You can save this image to your computer and then use it in your printed materials such as signage, flyers, and programs.  You could even go so far as to create different SmartURLs for different printed methods to get a fine-grained view of what methods work best:

http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/5109242/qrBanner
http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/5109242/qrPostcard
http://services.instantencore.com/Util/Share/DownloadApp/5109242/qrProgram

QR Codes are the ideal use for SmartURLs as you are guaranteed that your audience member is already using their mobile device and will be able to bring up the correct app with immediate access to your At-The-Event content.

Tip:  When adding a QR code to a postcard, program or other printed item, it is best to include a bit of text telling the mobile user exactly where that QR code will take them.  For example, "Scan this code with your smartphone to download our mobile app and access exclusive content for tonight's show."

How to Rock Your App's Description in the App Store

In response to requests from our mobile partners, InstantEncore has added a new field to the Basic Settings for your mobile app:  the App Store Description.

What is it?

As the name indicates, the App Store Description is an open text field in which you may enter the description of your mobile app as you would like for it to appear in the iTunes and Google Play app stores.

When a mobile user searches for your app in iTunes or Google Play, they land on an information page for your app containing your App Store Description as well as screenshots from your app.  The description is your opportunity to introduce mobile users to your app, let them know what they can do with it, and entice them to download it.

Tips for Rocking the Description

Briefly describe what your app does in 

the first 175 characters. Apple hides 

the rest of it behind a "More" link.

1. Capture their attention with the first two lines of text. The app information page in the iTunes app store displays 175 characters of the description with a "More" link to open the remaining text.  So it's important that the opening of your description grabs the reader's attention and prompts them to tap the "More" link.
   
   Summarize what your app does and why it's awesome in the first two lines.  Use active verb phrases to help keep the text engaging.  Craft this intro text to end mid-phrase so that it prompts the user to tap "More" to finish the sentence they are reading.
   
   
2. Highlight key features.  Mobile users read app descriptions to learn what the app will enable them to do before deciding whether or not to download it. Make a list of your app's most important and enticing features.  Again, using active verb phrases will prompt the user to envision themselves using your app in the described manner.  Be sure to highlight the unique nature of the content within your app.
   
   This is also a great place to tell your potential app subscribers how you plan to use the Push Notification feature.  What type of messaging will they receive if they opt-in to you receive these? How will these messages be useful for them?  People tend to opt-in for push notes if they know in advance what types of messages they will receive.
   
   
3. Keep it concise.  While the app stores allow your description to be up to 4,000 characters in length, no one really wants to read that long of an app description.  You should be able to inform the user about your app and compel them to download it with no more than 700 characters.
   
   
4. Make it easy-to-read.  Mobile users expect to be able to scan your description quickly and easily to ascertain what your app does. Avoid writing in paragraph format.  Use bullets and line breaks to foster scanning the text.
   
   
5. Include single-line excerpts from reviews.  Once your app has received positive feedback from users, experts or media sources, add excerpts from these comments to your app description to bring in a bit of external validation.
   
   
6. Update your app description on a regular basis.  As the features, functionality and content in your app change, update the description to reflect the evolution of your app.

How to Create or Change the App Description

Regardless of whether your app is already established or if it is yet to be published, we encourage you to create your own app description:

• If you have not yet launched your mobile app, you will need to add the app description before your app may be published.  
• If your app is already established, InstantEncore created an app description for you based on our template as well as the specific features you utilized within the mobile suite at the time of the app's launch.  We ask that you review your app's current description in the app store and modify it to your satisfaction.

The App Store Description field is located in the Permanent Settings section of the Basic Settings page in the Mobile area of the administrative control panel.  

• Log into your account and go to Mobile >> Basic Settings. 
• Scroll down to find the field marked App Store Description.

• Simply add the description in the text box.  It's that easy.
• If you are not sure what to write, click on the "see template" link in the paragraph under the text field, and a box containing text generated by our template will appear.
• You may copy text from this box and paste it into the App Store Description field, where you can then edit it as you like.
• If you are changing your App Store Description, please notify us at support@instantencore.com as we will need to submit the change to Apple and Google Play for approval.
• Bear in mind that it can take up to 10 business days for the app store approval to be completed.