So you want to build a social web app for your business, blog, product, or service, but you shelved it for lack of technical knowledge and programming skills. The huge investment of both time and money are another deterrent. Except you've got to engage customers and potential new ones.
Any brand that has a social media presence will arrive at this crossroad-whether it's a small business or an international brand such as Pepsi or GAP.
The good news is that these reasons, especially important for small brands, are no longer valid. StickyTacs, an app editing platform, gives any brand or digital advertising agency the freedom to create their own web-based app and launch it as a microsite, using Facebook canvas, as an app within a Facebook page, or embedded within a website.
"StickyTacs relieves brand managers from the need to think up new and creative ideas for their digital campaigns, and gives them the tools to create the campaigns quickly without having to pay high prices and without compromising on quality," said Zohar Levin, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer & Chief Operations Officer for the Tel Aviv-based social startup. "Until now, a brand manager would need to come up with an idea on his/her own, understand the process of creating this idea, and somehow implement it. StickyTacs is the most effective one-stop shop for all of these needs."
The social startup launched in 2012 as a service company that developed apps for advertising agencies and brands. But as it matured, Levin and his fellow co-founders and childhood friends, Noam Vaza (CEO) and Guy Sopher (developer), wanted to find an easier, more efficient way to run the business.
"We initially created the platform just for our own use in order to make it faster and easier to build apps," Levin said. "Later, we built different platforms for various campaign types, and we let our customers use them. The problem we faced was every time a client wanted to create a different type of campaign, they needed to learn a new platform of ours, and they were also limited in customizing the app to their needs."
That's when the co-founder trio brainstormed for a solution, researching platforms from different fields such as Photoshop, PowerPoint, and Israeli platform WIX.
"What these single platforms have in common is that they all succeed in providing a wide variety of outcomes," said Levin. "After studying them, we created a platform that was relevant to our field, social applications."
AO.com (formerly Appliances Online, a leading UK appliance brand), a regular StickyTacs client, begin its relationship with the app editing platform with 40,000 fans on its Facebook page. Today they have more than 1.5 million fans.
While there are a plethora of social web app competitors, StickyTacs' sets itself apart by continually adding new campaign ideas that reflect trends. Its drag and drop interface lets brand managers edit and change campaigns according to their needs. The platform is also connected to various social networks and contains several social plug-in elements. Marketers and advertisers can optimize a campaign while it is up and running, as well as provide statistics according to the brand's social targets.
"Brands always need to think about the utility of their fans. What will their fans get out of a campaign? It is always best to have something practical (material/physical) to give them instead of a digital result," said Levin. "Giving a coupon that a user can bring to a store to receive a discount will provide better results than just exposing the user to a product online. In addition to this, the more you can engage the user to provide you with more information about himself, the more you can pinpoint a goal with the user at the end. For example, a question such as, "Which prize do you prefer from the array of prizes presented?" will allow you to understand which product the user would prefer to purchase in the future. The results of the campaign are then exponentially increased since you now exposed them to your product and also learned what it is that interests them the most."
In the works now, StickyTacs' third version will improve the mobile experience for users. They are also working on incorporating elements of geographical location into the campaigns based on the location of the end user.