10 Tips for Managing Geofences - Connecting When and Where It Counts

Geofences allow you to create location-based triggers around your venue. Think of it as putting a ring around your theater, concert hall, museum or other venue. When your patrons cross the geofence ring, they receive a customized message on their phone prompting them to open your mobile app.

Here are 10 tips for maximizing the effectiveness of your geofences:

Getting Started

Create one single Geofence.

1. Keep it Simple.
There will always be some give and take with determining a user’s location. Especially when considering all of the technologies and factors that go into it. As an example, avoid placing one Geofence around your venue, another around the parking lot next door, and a third one for the coffee shop across the street with which you have a partnership.

Even if a user parks in the lot and grabs a cup of coffee across the street before heading into the event, they might end up receiving the event notification first, then one for the coffee shop, and lastly for the parking lot at which point they’re already in your lobby.

TIP: Use one Geofence to surround everything and then supply parking and coffee shop information as part of the At-The-Venue (ATV) Experience content.

2. Encompass the Entire Venue. And a Little Bit More.
The size of your Geofence is important. The minimum diameter is 200 meters (or about 650 feet) which will cover most small to medium sized venues. Increase the size as needed to cover larger venues. But don’t make it too big as users who have the App might receive a message even though they are not attending the event.

TIP: First, adjust your Geofence so that the entire venue is inside of it. Then expand it to add some buffer room. An extra 50 to 100 meters wouldn’t be unreasonable.

3. Managing Multiple Venues.
A single venue is easy. Create your Geofence, set an Any Time or ATV message, and you’re done! But for our partners who present at different venues, Custom Messages are key.

TIP: You can use these to create time-specific messages at each Geofence for each event. This will help you avoid sending messages to people if they happen to arrive at a location when you don’t have an event going on there. You can also mix-and-match. Setup a main Geofence with an Any Time message and Geofences for special venues with only Custom Messages.

Best Practices for Encouraging Donations from Your App Subscribers

If your arts organization is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, then you know the importance that donations play in funding. Your mobile app can be an incredibly powerful tool to help collect donations, but there are also some restrictions you need to work around.

Apple and Google both have policies against collecting donations within your app. To accommodate this, we actually need to take some special steps when linking to a Donations page. Simply linking to a URL isn't enough, because by default this opens in what we call the "In-App Browser." This browser lets the user view any webpage they are linked to, but it is still technically running in the app. Correspondingly, Apple and Google won't allow the app to collect donations in this manner.

So, lets take a look at a few best practices for linking out to your donation processing system:

Adjusting Your Mobile App to Facebook's Recent Changes

For those of you who have your mobile app configured to pull content from your Facebook Page into the Buzz area of your app, you may have noticed that your Facebook posts have not been appearing in your app.

What happened

Earlier this summer, Facebook made a major change to how they feed content to other web services by switching from RSS / XML code to JSON.  Correspondingly, the RSS / XML feed link you entered into the Buzz area of the mobile suite is no longer active.

What you can do

The infrastructure for the Buzz area currently relies on RSS / XML code to import content from social media and other sites, so incorporating your Facebook content into the Buzz section of your app is not possible at this time.

While we explore our options for reintegrating the Buzz tab with Facebook, we suggest creating a custom tab in your mobile app linked directly to your Facebook page.

1. From the InstantEncore dashboard, go to Mobile >> Tabs.
2. Scroll down past the list of current tabs to the section labeled "Add a Custom Tab."
3. Enter a text label for the new tab.  You might use "Facebook," "Updates," or "Like us on Facebook."
4. Select the icon to associate with the new tab.  We have included a commonly recognized Facebook icon in our library for you to use, if you like.
5. In the "Content" area, select "Display an existing web page."
6. In the URL box, enter http://m.facebook.com/YourFacebookPageName.
7. Click on the "Create" button.

Your Facebook Page will now appear as a tab within your mobile app. It's that easy!

Enhanced Push Notification Resource Roundup

Enhanced Push Notifications have been available in our Apps for about a month now and, as we prepare for the 2015-16 season, this is the perfect time to make sure your settings are updated and that you're ready with all the tools you need to make Enhanced Push Notifications a part of your successful marketing strategy.

Here is a list of tips, suggestions, and how-to videos that cover every detail of the upgraded push notification system:

Introduction and Overview:

• Blog: Why Should You Use Push Notifications
• Webinar: New & Improved Push Notifications

Enhanced Push Note Setup:

• Blog: A Better Way to Encourage Opt-Ins for App Notifications
• Blog: Push Notification Interest and Category Suggestions
• Blog: 7 Tips for Customizing Your App's Welcome Screen
• Video: Setting Up and Editing Interests
• Video: Adding Categories and Their Options
• Video: Customizing Your Push Notification Welcome Message

Sending an Enhanced Push Note:

• Video: Composing the Push Note Message
• Video: Connecting Push Notes to Content with Tap Actions
• Video: Adding an Interactive Button to Your Push Note
• Video: Targeting the Right Audience for Your Push Note
• Video: Limiting a Push Note to Particular Devices
• Video: Scheduling Your Push Note's Delivery

Setting up a Facebook Call-to-Action Button

The 1.50 update brings some great changes to your Mobile App, both on the surface and under the hood.  One less than obvious update has been the inclusion of what are known as "Deep Links".  These are links that let you direct people to specific tabs in your app from external sources.

Now, Facebook has added a "Call-to-Action" button which allows you to easily add an important task as a button on your Page's banner image.  Lets look at how we can use Deep Links with this button to let your Fans effortlessly access your Mobile App from your Facebook page.

First, go to your Page and find the "Create Call to Action" button.  It is important to note that this is for Pages, and not your personal Timeline.

When you click on this, you will see a pop-up box which has a "Choose a Button" menu.  Open this and select "Use App".

Once you have selected the type of Call-to-Action, there will be a place to enter in two URLs.  One for your website and one for your mobile website.  Because we want to focus people's behavior on using your Mobile App, create a SmartURL (remember those?) for this purpose and add it to both fields.

The next screen will let you setup your iOS Deep Link.  Use the format instantencoreCID://deeplink/#home where CID is the same value used in the SmartURL.  The Backup Destination will be automatically filled in from the website field.

The Android Deep Link setup is similar, but you will also need your Android Package Name. To find this, just go to your main control panel, copy the link for the Android App, and use the end of the URL that starts with "com.instantencore".

So, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instantencore.bcsd2go_5109242 becomes just com.instantencore.bcsd2go_5109242.  Again, the Backup Destination will be automatically added.

Click the final Create button and you will be all set.  Your Facebook fans will now have easy access to your Mobile Apps!

• If they already have your app installed, it will immediately open it.  
• If they don't yet have your app, the SmartURL will intelligently direct them to the proper platform.  
• If the button is clicked on a desktop or laptop computer, it will give them links to both.

Finally,  if you have a campaign going on for a specific event or initiative, you can go back to edit the "Use App" button and update the App Links to go to a specific content item or tab in the App.  Just replace the #home at the end of the Deep Link with a different "In-app Link" using InstantEncore's App URL Builder, available at the bottom of your list of Tabs in the Control Panel.

BONUS: Facebook offers some insights on how many times the button has been clicked.  Just look for the "This Week" box to the right and click on where it says "Use App"

Push Notification Interest and Category Suggestions

Setting up your Interests and Categories is a crucial step in activating the power and flexibility of Enhanced Push Notifications. It is also important to have them setup before your App is published, so that when your users open it for the first time they are greeted with the personalized notification settings they are expecting.

Which do you think looks better?

Quick Tips

• Interests are topics that an audience member should be able to opt in to as many as they wish.
• Categories should only have one possible answer that an audience member can give such as their age range or location.
• We recommend having 10 or fewer Interests and Categories total to avoid overwhelming users.
• Use short Category labels so that the entire label can be seen.
• Don't get TOO personal with your Category options, as many people value their privacy online.

If you haven't yet set them, here are some suggestions that might make filling these out a little easier.  Keep in mind that the goal is to not copy over ALL of these, but to pick and choose ones that would be relevant to your performances and to your audience.

Interests

Notifications:
General Information
News and Reviews
Concert Announcements
Music and Video Recordings
Deals and Offers
Behind-the-Scenes
Exclusive Content
Weather Alerts
Live Broadcast
Miscellaneous

Genres:
Classical
Opera
Early Music
New Music
Jazz
Blues
Rock
Pop
Country
Gospel
World
Musical Theatre
Broadway
Ballet
Dance
Theatre
Plays
Drama
Comedy
Family
Film

Formats:
Full Ensemble
A Cappella
Vocal
Instrumental
Chamber Music
Recitals
Fully Staged
Semi Staged
Dress Rehearsal

Series:
Main Season
Weekend Concerts
Matinee
Lunch Time Concerts
Summer Festival
Holiday
Special Events

Participate:
Educational
Online Classes
Workshops
Masterclasses
Lectures
Q&A
Auditions
Volunteer

Categories

Age (option 1)
  65 and over
  55 to 64
  45 to 54
  35 to 44
  25 to 34
  15 to 24
  14 and under

Age (option 2)
  60 and over
  50 to 59
  40 to 49
  30 to 39
  20 to 29
  19 and under

Birth Month
  January
  February
  March
  April
  May
  June
  July
  August
  September
  October
  November
  December

Location (local ensemble/performer)
  Home City
  State/Province (outside City)
  Country (outside State/Province)
  World (outside Country)

Location (touring ensemble/performer)
  North America
  South America
  Europe
  Asia
  Africa
  Australia

Patronage
  Season Ticket Holder
  General
  Senior
  Student
  New Patron

Favorite
  Bach
  Beethoven
  Mozart
  Schubert
  Debussy
  Stravinsky
  Brahms
  Verdi
  Wagner
  Bartok
  Other

A Better Way to Encourage Opt-Ins for App Notifications

In the previous post, we talked about the benefits of using push notifications to communicate with your patrons.

The challenge with push notifications is persuading people to opt-in for them. Many people opt-out of receiving an app's notifications because they think they'll be bombarded with an endless series of sales pitches. But, what if you could alleviate their fears and empower them to choose the types of messages they want to receive?

InstantEncore's new enhancements to our mobile service allow you to do just that. Let's take a look at what's changing and how you can leverage those changes to strengthen your connection with mobile patrons.

What's Changing?

For most apps available on the market today:

• Android users are automatically subscribed to notifications.
• Apple users are presented with a notification opt-in screen immediately upon opening the app for the first time. 

For Android users, receiving the first notification can be disruptive. Why am I getting this message? When did I give them permission to send me this?  This disruption can trigger an Android user's fear of spam and prompt them to manually turn off notifications.

For Apple users, receiving the required opt-in screen immediately upon opening the app for the first time is like asking someone for a second date before you've gone on the first one.  Since Apple uses the same default opt-in screen, it comes off as generic and can predispose a user to tap "Don't Allow" out of habit.

So, how can we change this process to be less disruptive, less presumptuous, and more unique to the app experience?

With this month's update, your app's notifications opt-in process will feature three new elements designed to alleviate users' fear of spam, help you get the right message to the right patrons, and increase the likelihood that a user will elect to receive your notifications.

Welcome Screen

When someone opens your app for the first time, they will see your Loading screen followed by a Welcome screen.

The purpose of the Welcome screen is to prompt the user to stay connected with you, communicate the value of your notifications, and reassure them that you will not spam them with irrelevant messages.

We have prepopulated your Welcome screen with default text, but we encourage you to edit the text so that it is more specific to your app and the types of messages you will send to patrons.

Information Categories

When a patron taps on "Next" at the bottom of the Welcome screen, they are taken to an area where they can enter personal information and indicate their messaging interests.

You create the information categories and their possible answers. App users are intuitively prompted to select the answer which best applies to them.

When you create your categories, focus on information that will help you target the most relevant patrons and provide them with content they value.

We recommend limiting yourself to two or three categories, so that you don't overwhelm the user.

In the example above, we created the category Patronage. How might we use this category to send targeted messages?  Here are a few possibilities:

• Send special messages with behind-the-scenes content as a season subscription benefit.
• Create a subscription campaign focused on app users who frequently attend events but are not subscribers.
• Invite occasional attendees to return with targeted ticket specials.

Remember, app users are prompted to select the answer which best applies to them. So generate your list of possible answers with that in mind.

Interests

In addition to providing personal information, app users can also select the interest areas for which they want to receive notifications.

When generating your list of interest areas, focus on the types of messages you will send. Here are some possibilities:

• Behind-the-scenes
• Artistic genres or disciplines
• Specific performance series
• Educational offerings
• Ticket specials
• Volunteering

By default, app users are selected to receive notifications from all interest categories. They can deselect any categories which do not interest them.

Again, consider limiting yourself to a handful of interest areas so as not to overwhelm users.

Then, what?

Once the app user has provided some personal information and indicated their messaging interests, they tap on "Get Started" at the bottom of the screen.

Android users will immediately begin using the app.  By providing them with the opportunity to opt-in and adjust their message preferences, your Android subscribers will no longer find notifications to be disruptive and unsolicited.

Apple users will now be presented with the required opt-in screen. By waiting until this point in the process to present the required screen, Apple users are more invested in staying connected and more likely to opt-in for notifications.

4 Ways to Connect Your Mobile App with a Responsive Website

Connecting Your Mobile App with Your Responsive Website from InstantEncore

Tips for Promoting Your Mobile App, Part 2: Encouraging Downloads When Patrons Attend Events

In part 1 of this blog series, we shared some tips for encouraging your patrons to download your mobile app when they are not at a performance.  So what can you do to encourage your audience to download your app when they are attending one of your performances?

Curtis Institute of Music displays
this six-foot retractable banner
in the lobby at performances. 

6 Tips for promoting downloads when the audience is at your event or performance

1. Spotlight your app on the back of tickets or ticket envelopes to be picked up on-site.

• 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.
  [How-to video]

2. Display signs and/or banners strategically throughout the venue.

• Include screenshots from the app, the 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.
• Consider placing signs in areas where patrons are more likely to congregate: seating areas in the lobby, concessions, coat check, merchandise table, etc.
• If you will need to move the signage regularly, retractable banners are a portable, self-contained option.   

3. Pass out promotional cards to attendees in the lobby.  

• Choose a strong screenshot for the front of the card.  
• If you are promoting the overall value of the app, then highlighting the home screen may work well.
• If you are promoting the special content available in the app for performances, then you may want to print small batches of cards.  With each new batch, the front of the card can be changed to the landing screen for that performance's At The Event content.
• On the back of the card, emphasize the value of the app for patrons attending your event and provide instructions for downloading.
• Include the Smart App Download URL.
• Add a QR Code linked to the Smart App Download URL.
• Encourage the card holder to opt-in for your push notifications by emphasizing how they will benefit from receiving those messages.
• Partners who communicate the type of content they send via push notifications prior to the app download see a higher opt-in rate than those who do not.

Kennesaw State University's School of Music hands out
promotional cardsfor their mobile app.

4. Present slides on digital screens in the lobby or projected in the performance hall.

• Include a screenshot or the app logo, as well as a description of how they will benefit from downloading the app.
• Highlight instructions for downloading the app and/or provide the Smart App Download URL.
• Since these are usually timed slides, there is no need to include a QR code.

The Ford Center for the Performing Arts projects slides on the overhead
screen in the performance hall to prompt app downloads.

5. Highlight your mobile app with an ad or an insert in your printed program.

• If you are using a full-page ad or insert, include a compelling screenshot from the app.  If you are going with a smaller ad or insert, use the app logo.
• Include a brief description of the app's value.
• Feature the Smart App Download URL.
• Add a QR code linked to the Smart App Download URL.

Austin Symphony Orchestra advertises their mobile app and its performance-specific
content with a full-page ad in their printed programs.

6. Mention your mobile app in stage announcements.

• You can do this while simultaneously asking the audience to turn off their mobile devices.
• For example:  "We hope that you used our mobile app to access the special content available for tonight's show.  If you have not, see page 5 in the program for information on how to download the app during intermission.  At this time, however, we ask that you turn off all mobile devices or set them to silent mode."
• Don't be afraid to guide the audience's behavior toward acceptable mobile etiquette in your venue.

Promoting Your Mobile Apps - Partner Spotlight: Dallas Summer Musicals

Today we have the pleasure of highlighting one of our newest partners, Dallas Summer Musicals.  This is a well establish theatre organization with 75 years of experience which produces performances throughout the year.

They are also one of our newer partners, with their Apps being published just one month ago.  In this short time, they have seen an App adoption rate for both iOS and Android that is a factor of 10 higher than some other similar sized arts organizations, and even higher than some larger organizations. What is their secret?

Example: Android downloads over a one month period

The key is simple: Communication.

I reached out to them to find out what specific steps they have taken in promoting their app to their audience:

• Promoted the App on Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms.
• Included links on the footer of their website and marketing emails.
• Advertised along side of their Season Tickets.
• Updated their previous App to promote the new App with download links.
• Sent special email announcement to one of their audience lists with over 50,000 contacts.

They were also gracious enough to let us in on some of their plans for the future:

• Remind patrons to download the app, emphasizing the At-The-Event content, when sending out performance reminder emails.
• Planning to produce a one minute (or less) introduction video about the App that will play in the lobby and in the theater before performances
• Offer business cards in the venue to further promote the app

Dallas Summer Musicals App Promotion Card

What we see is a comprehensive campaign to make sure that their audience is not just told, but informed about the App at every opportunity both at home and at their events.

When thinking about how to promote your own App, keep in mind that simply advertising that you have an App isn't necessarily sufficient.  Letting your audience know what the App can do for them will give them a reason to check it out.  A Mobile App can be an extremely valuable tool, but if you don't let your audience know all about it, they won't use it!

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."

Take Your App to the Next Level with "At The Event"

InstantEncore is excited to introduce the next stage in performing arts mobile engagement with "At The Event" - a new feature set for our mobile suite designed to deepen audience engagement and foster community among your patrons before, during, and after the show.

How does it work?

When “At The Event” is activated for an event, a full-image landing page becomes the home screen for your Apple and Android apps on the day of the show.  You control the start and end times during the day for this landing page to appear within the app. When your patrons tap on the landing page, they are taken to special content related to the event.

INFO

The Info screen enables you to engage your patrons more deeply with content specific to the event and the artists involved. Standard features include: location-based check-in, things to know, program notes, featured artist bios, and sponsor information. You also have the ability to create custom content just for that performance, connect to multimedia content already in your app, and link out to external URLs.

SOCIAL

The Social screen highlights the social media hashtag for your event, aggregates posts with that hashtag from Twitter and Instagram, and allows your patrons to respond with their own posts. If a mobile user does not have an account on Twitter or Instagram, they can use the in-app posting form to engage in the conversation.

(Why not Facebook?  Because most Facebook users have their privacy settings limited to friends and family.  In order for an app to pull in hashtag content, it must be publicly posted.  We did not want Facebook users to become frustrated by submitting a post that did not appear in the social feed due to privacy settings.)

OFFERS

The Offers screen helps you to capitalize on your audience’s attendance by promoting upcoming events, season subscriptions, concession specials, merchandise, offers from external partners, and more.

At The Event Resources

Over the upcoming weeks, we will be releasing a series of posts on this blog to highlight tips and best practices for making the most of this exciting new tool for audience engagement.  In the meantime, here are some resources to help you dive deeper into exploring what you could do with At The Event in your mobile app.

• At The Event Detailed Walkthrough (slidedeck) - This resource provides detailed specs on the various content areas within the At The Event feature set.
• Becoming Familiar with At The Event (video) - This video provides a visual overview of At The Event within the control panel for the InstantEncore mobile suite.
• Adding At The Event Content to a Performance (video) - This video demonstrates how to create At The Event content for an event.
• Editing At The Event Content for a Performance (video) - This video shows you how to edit pre-existing At The Event content for an event.
• Smart App Download URL (blog) - This blog explains how to connect your mobile users directly to the correct app for their devices.
• Engaging At the Event: Audience Expectations for Live Performance in the Mobile Age (PDF) - This paper charts the rise of the mobile audience and their shifting expectations for live performances. It also reveals the results for our At The Event pilot program featuring eight performing arts organizations. The paper concludes with five steps for arts organizations to meet audience expectations head on.