In the past decade, technology has completely changed the world of communication. However, it is not just communication with family and friends that has evolved over the years through innovative advances such as FaceTime, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. The way businesses communicate with their customers and employees has also transformed drastically. It is essential to stay organized and effectively communicate with your clientele consistently, which is not always so simple while running a business. Here are 5 must-have apps that will better help you communicate and maintain structure in 2015.
- Yelp: Word of mouth referrals are not as common as they used to be. People now look to online review sites to find anything from a great restaurant to a renowned doctor. It has become so much easier to read online reviews than to ask a friend for a recommendation, and with Yelp having millions of users all over the world, why not take advantage of claiming your business page on Yelp? Get a negative review? Be proactive and reply with a comment, it lets current and future customers know that you are constantly improving and value customer service.
- Instagram: Instagram is a great way to build your brand. With over 300 million users, it is a great way to capture the attention of future customers and is useful for customer retention as well. Posting a sale, advertisement, or contest has never been so easy. Using #hashtags and following similar users is a great way to start to gain a good Instagram following. Instagram has proven that a picture really is worth a thousand words.
- Square Register: Square Register can keep track of sales and inventory all from your IOS device. This app can even split a payment across multiple types of tender. Not only is the app user friendly, but it only takes a 2.75% cut for all major credit cards without any hidden fees, leaving you and your customer with the easiest transaction experience possible.
- Hipchat: Hipchat is a group chat and video chat that makes it easy for your business to be in constant communication. Available for your desktop, phone, or tablet, it makes staying connected easier than ever. The time searching the office for a colleague, only to find that they are otherwise occupied is now able to be spent productively. Hipchat users also have file sharing easily accessible through the app.
- Evernote: Evernote is the simplest way to stay organized across all of your devices. Evernote helps you be your most productive self by allowing you to write notes, collect web articles and photos with the ability to access them anywhere and keep your work synced across all of your devices. And the powerful search engine makes retrieving your work, notes, bills, and invoices easier than ever.
With the constant improvements to smart phones and the increasing work load that goes into managing a business, we hope that these apps will aid you in the pursuit of your most productive professional year yet.