Have you been looking for ways to use your iPhone or iPad to help with your online marketing efforts? Want to be able to market your business like a pro right from your iOS device? If you’re like most busy marketers or business owners, then you’ve probably answered ‘yes’.
In this article, we are going to give you our perfect toolbox of iOS apps for online marketing as well as some useful tips on how to make your marketing efforts easier and more effective while you’re on the go.
Is it Really Possible to Market Effectively from a Mobile Device?
If you would have asked us in 2006 if a mobile device could be used for online marketing we would have had to say no. It wasn’t that long ago that mobile phones were actually just that – mobile phones – used only for making and taking calls and text messages. However, ever since the first iPhone was released in 2007 with the opportunity for developers to create useful apps, just about everything has become possible – especially marketing effectively with a mobile device.
As a matter of fact, we have found online marketing to become almost unmanageable without a mobile device – in our case, an iPhone / iPad. With the importance of timeliness and relevance of content, it’s almost impossible not to be connected at all times to stay ahead of the curve and keep up with the most important news.
Being able to find and produce content in real-time shows a human side to a business, which makes it easier for people to connect.
So, back to our question, “Is it really possibly to market effectively from a mobile device?”
In our case, and for many of our clients, the answer is absolutely ‘yes’. By using the iOS apps we have listed below we are able to accomplish the following:
- Stay updated on the latest industry news
- Get ideas for new pieces of content
- Provide important updates to prospects and customers
- Create and maintain relationships through real-time communication
- Publish timely articles, videos, photos, tips, news and advice
- Track existing campaigns to spot trends and opportunities
All of these things help to make online marketing more manageable, and in many cases, more effective. So if you’re not accomplishing these things on your mobile device, then we encourage you to check out our recommended apps and start trying the tips that we have provided for each of them.
Best iOS (iPhone & iPad) Apps for Online Marketing
Whether you’ve never even thought about using your iPhone / iPad to market your business online or you’ve tried some apps only to find your efforts coming up short, our list of the most useful iOS apps for online marketing should get you on the right path.
iOS Apps for News & Content Ideas
Use these apps to follow news that is relevant to your business and to get ideas for content that you can create and publish on your own blog.
Reeder
This is our favorite RSS reader app for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Subscribe to and manage all of your favorite blog feeds from this beautiful app to stay on top of the latest news and articles surrounding your business.
This is our news reader app of choice for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Add content streams from your favorite publications and websites and flip through all of the content easily with a swipe of your finger.
How to Use These Apps for Online Marketing:
- Subscribe to blogs of top industry influencers to stay up to date on news and to find opportunities for relationship building and link building
- Discover content to share with your social networks to develop yourself as a resource for relevant news and content
- Get ideas for content marketing alternatives (e.g. infographics, images, videos, etc)
iOS Apps for Creating Unique Content
Use these apps to create different types of unique content, like photos and videos, to keep your audience engaged and to encourage more social sharing.
Snapseed
This is the best image editing app for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Crop, tune and add filters (don’t overdo it though) to your images to give them the polish they need for more social sharing.
iMovie
This is the most user-friendly, robust video editing app for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Create compelling, professional-looking videos or image slideshows right from your iOS device and share them directly to YouTube.
How to Use These Apps for Online Marketing:
- Encourage people to share your photos more by making them look more refined and professional with subtle image tuning
- Create professional looking videos and slideshows to build up your media content
- Create image memes or viral videos to attract exponential traffic increases
iOS Apps for Publishing Content
Use these apps to create and publish content quickly and easily to your own web properties.
WordPress
If you have a WordPress site, then you shouldn’t be without this iOS app, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Manage your WordPress website right from your device to add posts, pages, moderate your comments and even track your site’s stats.
Tumblr
Publishing short form content doesn’t get much easier than with this iOS app, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Quickly and easily publish quotes, images, videos, text and even chats right from this incredibly user-friendly app.
How to Use These Apps for Online Marketing:
- Quickly and easily post short-form content (e.g. quotes, images, text, etc) to break news or communicate info in real-time
- Update previous, outdated posts and pages when you can’t get to a computer
- Manage all of your websites / blogs in one place to make content publishing less overwhelming
- Use the “Quote” tool to post testimonials from happy customers who have used your products or services
iOS Apps for Social Promotion & Networking
Use these apps to extend the reach of your content and communicate with your audience where they spend time online and on their mobile devices.
HootSuite
This is the most robust, cross-platform supporting social iOS app, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Manage all of your primary social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and Foursquare) from one simple to use app.
Buffer
It’s hard to let your social feeds go empty with this app for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Add articles and updates to a pre-scheduled queue to keep your social feeds flowing with content and interesting updates.
How to Use These Apps for Online Marketing:
- Schedule updates for the upcoming week or month ahead of time so you don’t have to stress about what to post each day
- Keep your business pages updated with useful information, tips and promos relevant to your business
- Search “Nearby” social updates to engage and converse with prospective customers
- Use the search tool to find trending topics relevant to your business and post relevant updates to start conversations with other users
- Track the reach and response of your social updates with the useful stats included
- Add team members to your accounts to help you manage your social presence
iOS Apps for Local & Loyalty Marketing
Use these apps to get new customers into your brick & mortar store / office and to keep them coming back for more every month.
Foursquare
Grab your customers at the most opportune time, when they’re in your store, with this app for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
See when your customers check in and leave feedback on your store and its products.
Yelp
Manage your business’ reputation with this app for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Monitor the positive (and negative) reviews that your customers are posting about your business.
How to Use These Apps for Online Marketing:
- Post quality photos of your products to encourage people to come into your store
- Create offers and promotions to attract first-time customers and reward loyal patrons
- Monitor valuable feedback about your business to make improvements that will bring valuable, positive reviews
- Chat with local users via the “Talk” feature to answer questions and help users find the best products, services or business
- Check-in to spots that you frequent and leave good reviews (if applicable) as this creates a domino affect and often times leads to people leaving them for your business which helps your local search value
iOS Apps for Tracking & Reporting
Use these apps to monitor your online marketing efforts to spot trends and recognize opportunities to maximize your efforts.
Analytics Tiles
This is (currently) our favorite, and most reliable, website analytics app for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
The beautiful, clean user interface made up of editable tiles makes checking just about any data set you need to monitor your traffic.
Harvest
This is the best time / expense tracking app for iOS, available for both iPhone and iPad.
Track your time and expenses on your online marketing projects to stay on top of your productivity and optimize your time.
How to Use These Apps for Online Marketing:
- Spot traffic dips and spikes throughout the day to know when to post new content or promotions
- Monitor where your traffic is coming from to recognize your best opportunities for links and additional traffic
- Track your time on large projects to get a true picture of your marketing campaign’s ROI
Did We Miss an iOS App?
We’ve tried a lot of apps, and continue to test new ones, but there may be apps that we missed that deserve to be in our “Perfect Toolbox”. If you think we missed an app, then we would love to hear about it.
Please let us know which app you think should be on the list by dropping the name of the app in the COMMENTS BELOW along with why you think it should be included. We will try out the app and update our list if we find it to be a valuable addition to our toolbox.
The Key to Success with iOS Apps
As good as the apps are that we have mentioned, they can only be as effective as you make them. A great start, of course, is to integrate them into your daily workflow while balancing quality and frequency of time spent using them. However, the real key to success with these apps is in one of the most overlooked and underrated tactics – creating (and sticking to) a schedule.
Without a schedule you will find yourself only using these apps when it crosses your mind. What we recommend is the following:
- Create a mobile content marketing plan (Request Access to Our Content Marketing Plan Template for a jumpstart)
- Develop a monthly schedule for finding, creating, promoting and tracking this content
- Use a task reminder app (the native iOS “Reminders” app is perfectly fine) to send yourself recurring notifications to help you stay on track
You will know when you’ve hit your stride with these apps when using them becomes almost habitual. You will probably even start looking at things differently as photos will become Instagram opportunities, videos will become YouTube opportunities and experiences and conversations will become quote-worthy Facebook and Twitter updates.
And if you find yourself having a hard time getting there, or even grasping how you’re going to add yet another thing to your busy day, then we would love to help. We’d like to think that all of the time we spend using these apps is worth more than just drained batteries.
Need help integrating iOS apps into your workflow?
Don’t forget to leave a comment below if we missed any essential iOS apps for online marketing.
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