Tapping your 'apps'

Johannesburg - An iPhone application may be the hottest new thing, but Hearst Magazine executive director, Sophia Stuart, doesn't believe it's much use as a marketing channel.

"Apps are best for generating buzz, but to make the kind of money we do, you have to be more mainstream," she told last week's annual Media24 Conference.

Apps or "applications" on smart phones number in their thousands and range from testing sexual performance to iMapMyRide - a satellite navigational device for cyclists. They can be virtually anything that catches a marketer's fancy.

Commenting on establishing a mobile strategy, Stuart said mobile publications should act and deliver differently to their print brethren.

In the case of Seventeen magazine, a youth publication published by Hearst Magazines, a question-and-answer service is provided for issues faced by users.

But the service was not superficial; rather, it fulfils the role of a companion, a "go-to" point for advice and guidance.

Stuart said the expectation of what a magazine offers should be transferred through to mobile rather than the actual product. She conceded, however, that there is not much crossover between magazine and mobile users.

Not only does mobile extend the magazine brand, but it drives commerce. This is because the mobi sites provide product information such as where to find retail items and at what price.

But she cautioned against leaving implementation of a mobile product to the technical team alone, since they are not the ones intimately involved in the product.

Content should be bite-sized, ready to use and interactive.

- Fin24.com.