Businessmen who want to build online media apps for iOS and Android often ask the same common questions. In this article, you’ll find valuable information that you are likely to be interested in.
If you run an online media project, you might want to create a mobile app for it. Some entrepreneurs think that it would be enough to have a website. But if you build an app, it should help you to establish a much deeper connection with your audience and find new channels of monetization. From this article, you’ll find answers to three vital questions that you might want to ask when building an online media app for iOS and Android.
Why Do You Need an Online Media App?
Before you start the mobile app development, you should understand the reasons for doing it. Most likely, thanks to the app, you’ll be able to achieve the following goals.
- Raise your brand awareness.
- Systematize all your content in one location.
- Separate free content from premium.
- Connect with the people who are most engaged with your content. As any mobile development company will confirm, a dedicated app is one of the best tools for increasing your customers’ loyalty.
- Integrate your RSS feed to bring in all of your latest posts.
- Integrate with YouTube or Vimeo to automatically bring in all your videos.
- Bring in all your podcasts and other types of audio content.
- Offer to your audience a powerful search system that enables them to quickly find exactly what they are looking for.
- Tease upcoming content and announce the dates when it will be released.
One of the most valuable assets of your app is the ability to send push notifications. You should be able to send highly targeted notifications to users at just the right time to maximize their engagement.
How to Choose an Ideal Development Company?
You should try to find a team of developers who specialize in this type of app. It would be great if they could show you an extensive portfolio of successful projects. Their rates should be affordable and their clients should leave positive reviews about them. Apart from that, they should offer the following opportunities to customers who want to build an online media app.
- One-click publishing. The process of publishing the app to the App Store and Google Play might be rather complicated. Ask the developer whether they could help you handle it.
- Real-time preview. Whenever the developer introduces a change to your app, you should be able to check it in real time.
- Ability to add endless features. For financial reasons, you might want to start with a minimum set of features. Later on, you should be able to promptly add more features, modify and customize them.
Make sure that the developer not only builds the app but also provides ongoing support for it. The support team should be ready to process clients’ queries every day. Their response time should be quick and they should be available through multiple communication channels (phone calls, messengers, email and live chat).
What Strategies Can You Use to Monetize an Online Media App?
Typically, online media apps use the following eight strategies to make money.
- To be able to use your app, the user needs to buy a subscription. Some parts of the app should be available to anyone without a subscription. That part should enable users to get a notion of your product and convince them of its value.
- Premium accounts. In this case, all the content of your app might be available to everyone — except for the most exclusive or in-depth pieces. Plus, the owners of premium accounts won’t see any advertising — while the others would need to watch ads. You might think of any other features that might be available to premium users: advanced customization opportunities, access to limited sales, gifts from partners and so on.
- Direct advertising. This strategy was already mentioned in the previous passage. You allow third-party advertisers to promote their goods or services through your app — and they pay you a fee for that. The trickiest aspect of this strategy is to choose only those ads whose message complies with your own philosophy and style. Besides, you should never overload your audience with ads. And of course, you should accept only ads of the highest quality.
- You might feature someone else’s content for a fee. Otherwise, you might take a fee for talking about a specific third-party product.
- Affiliate links. You place such a link in your content and you generate revenue as a percentage of the number of sales you influence. The more people click the link, the more money you earn.
- In-app purchases. You might want to sell your brand’s merchandise if your fan base is large enough. This strategy will work if your merchandise is genuinely unique and creative. It would hardly be reasonable to offer the audience generic mugs, shopping bags or t-shirts. Alternatively, you might want to sell third-party’s products through your app.
- Consulting or special services. If you’re an expert in your chosen field, you can consult other people for an hourly fee. Also, you can conduct one-on-one coaching sessions and pre-record informative messages for clients. This niche can be highly profitable.
- Exclusive rights. This strategy is not so common among online media apps — but it might bring you a decent income. You might be able to score an exclusive rights deal if your content channel gets big enough. A certain content platform might pay you to use it exclusively. You’ll need to completely stop using the services of your partner’s competitors.
Besides, you can straightforwardly ask for donations. Oldschool entrepreneurs might feel awkward when doing so for the first time. But you might be surprised to see how many users will be eager to support you. They might want to do so because they would like to contribute to a project that they value highly.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this article came in handy and you got comprehensive answers to all three questions. A high-quality online media app can bring you a considerable income. It can become an essential part of your business strategy or a profitable stand-alone business.
