To start this out, I’m just going to take facebook, twitter, linkedin and youtube out of the equation. I’m pretty sure that they are on everybody’s most used app list. That’s like saying safari, mail or message are my most used. Let’s all agree that those apps are everybody’s most used. With those apps aside, and that out-of-the-way, let’s dive right into it.
Here is what the home screen on my iPhone looks like. I wanted you to see first hand, what the icons and logos look like on my phone. I’m REALLY big on easy access and organization.
#5 Flipboard Flipboard is a top 10 all time downloaded app, so you may already use, or at least have it on your phone. I believe most android devices come with it already installed. Flipboard allows you to select different websites, blogs and news channels and view them all in one place. Flipboard also connects with twitter, facebook and a few other social networks. You have the ability to “flip” through the feeds individually or you can flip through everything at once.
This app is perfect for getting another perspective on your social media outside of the usual timeline. As you flip through the news and your social media, you can easily share what you like, as well as retweet right there from Flipboard.
I use this app the most when I am waiting in line somewhere or looking to kill time. It sucks me in and has me always wanting to look at the next page. If you are not already using it, I highly recommend it. By the way, this is a great way to recycle other connection’s content as well.
#4 Google Currents I use google currents a lot more on my iPad than I do my iPhone. That does not take away from the fact that I use it a lot. My favorite thing about it is the youtube news feed. It has all of the latest and most viewed youtube videos organized right there for you. There’s gold in that alone, I promise. Currents lets you select from 100s of popular magazines and websites to save on your dashboard. You can view them individually or you can ask Currents to mix it up for you.
The only bad thing about Currents, is that once you get in and start surfing, it is EXTREMELY addicting. You may find yourself on there for an hour or so before you realize you’ve stepped out of reality. The coolest thing about it for your business, is all of the business apps it offers. There are tons or resources suck as entrepreneur, fortune, forbes and the list goes on and on. There are also a ton of tech apps for Currents as well. You can learn a lot in a short period of time surfing around in there.
If you are like me, this app will become your Sunday Morning Paper. You will enjoy it and all the coolness it has to offer on late nights as well. Download google currents and you will be able to cancel all of your magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Thanks to this app the world is becoming paperless.
#3 Pandora I never said this was top 5 business apps I use. I said top 5 mobile apps I use ;-) Pandora is really my favorite. I actually paid the $40 for a yearly subscription. “Bye Bye Political commercials” Pandora allowed me to cancel my satellite radio. So it saves me $100 a year and brings me kick ass music. I use the bluetooth function on my iPhone through the radio in my car, and BOOM music on demand. I even bought some wireless bluetooth, motorola headphones for the gym, so I can jam Pandora while I’m getting my fitness on.
My favorite channels on Pandora are: 5 Digital Summer [Hard Rock] 4 Justin Bieber YMCMB [Rap Lil Waynes crew] 3 Scarface [90’s OG rap I grew up with] 2 Sublime [Nothing puts me in a peaceful mood like reggae] 1 Luke Bryan [new school outlaw country]
As if you didn’t already know, I have ADD. My music tastes are no exception to the rest of me. Truth is, I love ALL music. If I get a sense of where the artist is coming from, I can really get into it. My wife says I’m an unwanted encyclopedia of music.
#2 PhotoGrid A few months ago I started seeing a lot of posts on facebook of what I called at the time, photo montages. They would have anywhere from 2-8 pictures all mixed up and perfectly arranged inside the frame. So I set out on the old “google quest” and found PhotoGrid.
So far the pictures I have posted in this blog post have all been done using PhotoGrid. It’s super easy and I’m pretty sure it is free. You can take multiple pictures and have multiple ways of arranging them within the frame. A lot of times, I will take the PhotoGrid pic and upload it to instagram so I can add effects. This is the perfect app to utilize before and after pictures. It also works well for showcases, such as interior designs or different room pics of a house.
PhotoGrid is easy to use and fun. I mostly use it to make picture grids of my son and family. Occasionally, I will use it when I do an event and take pictures with a lot of different people. It’s a great app that I use all the time. Download it and tag me in some of your grids when you upload it to facebook.
#1 Buffer/Hoosuite Yep that’s right, it’s a tie for first place. Now if you are familiar with these two apps then you might say “Why in the world would you use them both, they both do the same thing?” On one hand you are correct. They both schedule posts and share them to your social networks. On the other hand, I use them differently than most people and for two completely different reasons.
Let’s start with Hootsuite. If you are not familiar with it, you can easily see what it does from one of my past blog posts. Click here to see it. You probably use it for scheduling your posts onto your facebook, linkedin and twitter accounts. I use it to schedule posts in the facebook groups I belong to. This allows me to keep a steady drip of engagement on my groups and it also gives me analytics on the engagement I receive, such as the amount of clicks on my links, likes and so on.
The thing I really use Hootsuite for, is its awesome search function. You can set up streams of keywords like “social media” or “internet marketing” or whatever you are into. Once you set up a keyword search, it brings everything from that social network, in your sphere, with those keywords in it. If you use it for twitter search, it will pull in every tweet with the keywords in it. This is an amazing way to connect with like minded people and potential customers.
Let’s talk about Buffer now. Buffer is a web based platform that now offers an app. Buffer allows you to pre-select frequency and times of posts to all of your social media networks. Buffer is like a filter that keeps you from over posting on your social networks. If you’re like me and you have tons of stuff to share in social media world, start typing it into Buffer and let it spread your thoughts and posts out over time. This will keep your connections from seeing two or three posts back to back and then nothing again for a few days.
Buffer is free for up to 3 accounts and is $10 a month for up to 12 accounts and unlimited pending, “buffered” posts. It even comes with analytics that tell you how many comments and likes you got on each of your buffered posts. I highly recommend you start using buffer to stagger your social media posts.
So there you have it. The top apps that I personally used the most during 2012. I know the year is not over yet, but I used them so much so far, that no app could pass them in the next 2 months. In the event an app comes along that I do love more, I’ll simply write another post about it.
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