Mobile Tech Roundup

1.  5 Strategies to Drive Mobile Engagement

How can you manage your app in such a way that it makes users want to return to it over and over again? Keeping your users in mind when creating push notifications, updating content in your app, and thinking through the overall value your app brings, are just a few considerations.

With these helpful strategies, increasing engagement in your app might be easier than you think.

2. Will mobile devices eventually replace desktop?

It’s the question on everyone’s mind as the world of mobile continues to dominate the way we interact with technology. User-friendly devices like smartphones, tablets, and wearable technology leads us to consider: what is the future of desktop?

3. Two out of every three digital minutes are spent on mobile

The numbers speak for themselves. How are you making your communication strategy more mobile-friendly?

4. Complete overview of the mobile app development process (Infographic)

Despite the complex process, mobile app development is well worth it! This helpful infographic shows what all is involved.

5. Harnessing the Power of Mobile for Healthcare

With new opportunities in mobile technology, our well being and overall health is being tied to our digital habits.

Could apps eventually lead to effective positive behavior intervention? The recent developments in mobile technology seem to prove that leading a healthier lifestyle with the help of mobile is possible.

What are you some of your thoughts about the ways mobile technology is continually dominating the digital space?

Best Practices Part 6: Media

Media concludes our best practices for reaching and engaging your audience. Whether they’re on a morning run or commute, you can easily connect your audience with your media anytime, anywhere. We really did save the best for last!

Media

So why media? As both mobile app use and media consumption continues to rise, delivering media through your app enables you to meet your audience directly where they’re at:

• Mobile apps account for 52% of digital media consumption

• Mobile video will represent 69% of all mobile traffic by 2018

• App use makes up 88% of total time spent on mobile in the U.S. 

With weekly recurring media content, utilizing the media tab provides an effective medium for expanding the reach of your content beyond the Sunday service. Not only can users instantly access your sermon collection, but they can download for offline listening wherever they are. Many churches have seen a strong increase in sermon downloads through their media tab alone!

The media tab is the most robust way to present your media on a mobile device. Built and designed for multiple devices and operating systems, the Subsplash Platform enables you to deliver a beautiful and intuitive cross-platform media experience. Easily customize the artwork and display of your media with multiple layout options, making the user experience more delightful and catered to your brand.

As our series comes to a close, these are a just a few ways we’ve seen churches use their apps to increase engagement and enhance their communication efforts. Your app should not only be a tool for presenting content, but also an effective way to directly remind, notify, and encourage users to engage. If you’d like to add any of these features, or would like to get started with your own Church App, we’d love to help!

Best Practices Part 5: Events

By providing a visible and effective way to promote your events, the events tab enables your audience to easily discover and sign up for events directly from their devices. 

Events 

LifeGate Church has done a great job of integrating all the benefits the events tab has to offer. In addition to promoting your upcoming events, this feature also gives your audience the ability to save them directly to their iCalendar. By including a description, map location, contact information/sign ups, and more, having this tab in place enables your users to easily sign up and share events in your community.

Like sending out a push notification, the events tab gives you another effective way to increase awareness for your ministry's events.  Download LifeGate's app here to see it in action, and stay tuned for Part 6!

Best Practices Part 4: Social Sharing

Social Sharing has a well-earned spot in our best practices for outreach and engagement by enabling your community to share content quickly and effectively.

Social Sharing

We’ve heard incredible stories of users sharing sermons with friends and resulting in new relationships with Christ. With the ability to share sermons, blogs, and content directly through your app, users can easily share the right resources with the right people. I know when I’m listening to a sermon or reading a blog, sometimes I’ll think “wow, this person would really enjoy this.” Rather than opening a browser, copying links, and then sharing on Facebook (or forgetting altogether), I can share directly through the app to any of my social channels, email, and text.

These sharing capabilities enable your church network to reach their individual networks with the tap of a screen. A few ways you can encourage your users to share include adding a reminder in the Sunday service announcements, at the end of your sermon audio and video, or sending a push notification reminder. Happy sharing and stay tuned for part 5! 

Best Practices Part 3: Push Notifications

Push Notifications have earned the third slot in our series of Best Practices for outreach and engagement. Why are they so lucky? Well, they can guarantee your audience will see your message directly on their devices.

Push Notifications

Sometimes all we need is that final "push" to take the next step. From a newly uploaded sermon series, a new blog post, or a reminder of the community BBQ, push notifications provide an effective way of updating your community immediately anytime, anywhere. By updating users on resources, events, services, and more, push notifications allow users to take advantage of opportunities to help them grow in both their faith and community.

One way we've seen churches and ministries use push notifications is for the purpose of sending reminders for upcoming events. Both The Gospel Coalition and Harvest Ministries have sent out reminders of their upcoming conferences, while others have sent out reminders of gathering times and places. Whatever the event, resource, or opportunity, push notifications enable you to get more people involved with a direct and visible message on their device.

Happy notifying, and stay tuned for part 4!