It has been a busy year so far for CloudGuide – we have been working with over 1000 institutions across the world, from museums to ancient ruins, historical houses and even a zoo! 

One issue we often find is that although sites put a lot of effort into preparing top-quality content for their apps and guides, these apps then receive very low user engagement. Visitors don’t always know that these apps exist or where to find them, and institutions can miss great opportunities to promote them – so all that time and effort spent creating fantastic content doesn’t get rewarded! Because we always want visitors to get the most out of their visit, we have compiled a short list of highly effective ways to improve the visibility of your app and increase visitor engagement by up to 30%. Carry on reading to discover simple, proven methods you can use to get the most out of your app.

• PUT IT ON YOUR WEBSITE! And most importantly, place it where your visitors are likely to see it. Blogs are great for keeping your audience up to date, but several posts later, the news about your fantastic new CloudGuide app will no longer be the first thing readers see. Mentioning the app on your Visit page (and even including a link directly to the CloudGuide tour) means it will have a consistent presence and new visitors will notice it more easily. Belfast Zoo advertises their free CloudGuide audio tour on both their Getting Around and Other Facilities pages, as well as featuring it on a rotation of new stories right on their homepage – really, it would be difficult for readers to miss it! Keeping on the internet theme: your newsletter is also a great way to connect with readers – who are probably members or more regular visitors – and keep them up to date with your announcements and events. A short announcement promoting your tour is a great place to start, or you could even remind readers at the end of each letter ‘don’t forget to download the CloudGuide app for more content!’. And remember to shout about it on social media! Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all highly effective platforms to communicate with both regular and potential visitors with snappy, visual posts and promote your institution and CloudGuide tour.   
• VISUALS! Leaflets, posters, postcards, rollups and tickets ... Don’t underestimate the power of a hard copy. Handing out leaflets at the entrance of your institution means you aren’t relying on your visitors checking your website before they arrive – the information will be right there in their hands as they walk through the doors and start their explorations. Including helpful little reminders, icons or QR codes on tickets works in much the same way, while posters and roll-ups are big, bold and highly visible right at the front of your institution. Belfast Zoo did a great job of promoting their audio tour: in addition to advertising it in high-traffic areas of their website, they went the old-fashioned route and handed out flyers and handy maps to visitors entering the zoo. Covering both physical and technological media definitely seems to be working for Belfast Zoo – the introduction of their CloudGuide audio tour made the pages of two leading Northern Irish newspapers this summer.
• KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE! The Postal Museum in the UK is a great example of paying attention to visitor patterns and tailoring your promotion to their needs. The use of apps, while second nature to some, isn’t familiar to everybody. And no matter how simple an app is, for someone who doesn’t know how begin to download or use one, the idea of it alone can be a turn-off. The Postal Museum receives a high volume of older-generation visitors; taking this into account, CloudGuide worked directly with the museum to develop a handy step-by-step guide to simplify the process of downloading the app. This guide was then placed on a dedicated CloudGuide page on their website. A small move like their step-by-step guide turns what could be an unfamiliar idea into something inclusive and accessible to a wider range of visitors, from technology-obsessed millennials to first-time app users. As well as promoting the CloudGuide app to users across the generations, ideas such as this suggest that your institution cares about their audience and is considerate of their needs – feeling validated and appreciated is one of the most important aspects of visitor satisfaction.  

A CloudGuide tour of your institution helps your audience discover its secrets on a simple, interactive and engaging platform – now go ahead and use these quick tips to let them know.

If you want more help or advice on promoting your CloudGuide tour, get in touch with us to explore all the possibilities!