Social Media Apps You Should Be Using in 2016 (But Probably Aren’t)

 Social Media Apps You Should Be Using in 2016 (But Probably Aren’t)

The Roll

You already know the importance of visuals for your social media and content marketing, and The Roll app will help you make sure your images are the best they can be. Gizmodo explains, “With the help of an AI called EyeEm Vision, The Roll analyzes your photos, rates them on a zero to 100 scale, and adds keywords for easy search (much like Google Photos). EyeEm says it’s currently using thousands of different tags, and of course the best thing about AI is that the app is always learning, so more will likely be added as more people use the app.”

The Roll has more features than I have time to write about it here. Just do yourself a favor and check it out. Your visual content will thank you.

Download The Roll for iPhone

Tuurnt

Tuurnt is a social media app and platform following in the ephemeral footsteps of Snapchat. Giving users 24 hours to respond to photos and videos, Tuurnt turns regular visual posts into social events where participation and contribution from both known contacts and public users is encouraged. As the creators share, “Gone are the days of one-way viewing only of other people’s video. With Tuurnt, everyone can join in and create a memorable conversation using videos and images.“

Download Tuurnt for iPhone

Storehouse

Both storytelling and visual media are key components of any content marketing plan, and the Storehouse app allows you to marry these two in the most aesthetically pleasing way possible. The app allows you to take photos and videos from your phone’s camera roll (or from Instagram, Flickr, and Dropbox) to create a shareable “story.” TechCrunch named Storehouse “The Best Mobile Application” in 2015, and declared “It features one of the best visual editing interfaces I’ve ever used and a crisp, standout presentation style.”

Download Storehouse for iPhone

Download Storehouse for Android

Yubl

Yubl is a start-up based out of the United Kingdom which promises to be the “next-generation social networking and messaging platform.” Just 10 weeks after launch, Yubl became the fourth most downloaded free app in the U.K., surpassing Skype, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Periscope.

Yubl’s success can be attributed to not only the highly detailed interface, but the three main areas of the user experience. “Private” is for one-on-one or invite-only group, ‘Public’ is an open forum across the entire social network (including brands and celebrities), and ‘Explore’ is for searching and finding other users such as brands and celebrities.

Download Yubl for iPhone

Download Yubl for Android

Rex

With at least 84 percent of consumers taking advice from the recommendations of family, friends, and online users, the power of word-of-mouth marketing is obvious. Rex is an app that takes this idea in order to “be the easiest way to connect with friends to share your favorite movies, music, books, TV shows, videos, restaurants, bars, travel destinations, and anything else you like.” You can read and share recommendations with your network, save recommendations, look at what’s trending in your network, look at recommendations on a map view, and much more.  

Download Rex for iPhone

Firef.ly

One of the most popular genres of content shared on social media is that of travel and exploration. While not primarily a social media app, Firef.ly rests on the belief that travel “experiences should be recommended, captured, and shared.”  The app helps you plan your trips, acts as a guide, encourages you to capture moments along the way, and then ‘relive’ your experiences. If you’re travel-mad, an aspirational planner, or a business in the travel and tourism industry, Firef.ly is definitely an app you’ll want to check out.

Download Firef.ly for iPhone

Venmo

Is there anything more social than four people sitting around a restaurant table trying to frantically calculate how much money each person owes for the bill? To make this social interaction much more bearable, the Venmo app allows users to send and receive money free of charge, transfer to your bank, and checkout on other apps with just one touch. Forbes has called Venmo “the crown jewel of all finance apps,” so if this isn’t one of the apps you’re currently using it might be time to get rid of that cheque book and see the Venmo light.

Download Venmo for iPhone

Download Venmo for Android

Interact

If you’re overwhelmed by the number of contacts you have on your phone, or just need an easier way to manage them, the app Interact can help you out. According to their site, Interact lets you:

• Create, delete, and manage contact groups for easy, quick communication with teams, friends, and family.
• Edit, delete, and manage contacts much faster than with built-in iOS tools.
• Arrange the default ordering of email, phone, and other details to fit your needs.
• Use your contacts with a growing list of third-party apps for messaging, mapping, and other tasks previously not possible on iOS.
• Interact supports contacts local on your device or synced with iCloud, Google, and other services.

Download Interact for iPhone

Quik

2016 is the year of video, and GoPro has developed two apps to make integrating video into your content strategy as easy as possible. While GoPro’s Splice app has highly detailed controls and video editing processes, Quik allows users to create stylized videos with just a few taps on their mobile devices. You can select from multiple videos on your camera roll in your phone, pick music, and then the app will automatically edit the video to the beat of the music. It also intuitively uses algorithms to find the best moments in each video and then adds effects over that.

Once your video is done, you can post directly to your social media accounts through Quik. The Verge highlights another innovative feature of the app, saying, “If that stillsounds like too much work, Quik also scans your phone’s videos and presents you with an automatically edited highlight video every week.”

Download Quik for iPhone

Download Quik for Android

Pushbullet

A big part of staying ahead of your social media and general social interactions is being able to access them from anywhere. While mobile is obviously great for this, there are moments where you can’t be on your phone (cough, meetings, cough). This is where Pushbullet comes in.

The app bridges the gap between your phone and computer, and, as Gizmodo explains, “automatically sends all your phone notifications over to your computer in the form of little windows. Not only that, you can take actions on them with a click. Snooze alarms, archive emails, dismiss Facebook alerts, or just mute certain types of notifications so you never see them on your computer again.”

While not a brand new app, Pushbullet has consistently been introducing new features that have established it as a must-have for most smartphone users.

Download Pushbullet for iPhone

Download Pushbullet for Android

While just a handful of the helpful apps available to make your life easier, the above tools are ones that you definitely won’t regret adding to your roster