Do we care about Mobile app downloads?

In Decemeber I posted a blog - Is your company missing the mobile trick? In it I challenged every Job Board owner and Job Board marketing manager to make a New Years resolution -

"I must engage with iPhone users and not get left behind in the fast moving space of mobile web"

I am pleased to see that I can now go to AppStore and search for Job Board brands and find results. Well done to those who have done something. (We supplied apps for 13 board in the UK)

Was it worth while? Well I can share with you that many of our clients have seen a huge growth in mobile user interaction after launching their app. Interestingly, not just in downloads from AppStore but also in users visiting the website from an iPhone. In a couple of cases 2 or 3 times growth - happy clients!

But even more importantly happy job seekers. What so many job board executives are still failing to switch on to, is iPhone is not about some cool gadget that people show off in the bar. It is about a massive eco-system, a powerful marketing channel and users that really engage with the Internet.

iPhone is the web beyond the browser and this very special exciting place is so powerful. Beyond the browser has helped catapulted Twitter to its position, less than 30% of users tweet from the site itself, but instead from a 3rd party application connected to the web!

Yet again, I hear in the back of my head the marketing executive standing tall, head high proudly stating - "no problem, we have this covered - we have an M Site."

Wonderful. Great well done, Mr Marketing Executive, not only do you know what an M Site is you have gone and got one! I am very pleased! I would really like to hear this a lot more. But the problem is, who else knows you have this mobile site? How do users find it? Are you pleased with the results?

This is why AppStore is so powerful, the iPhone user thinks "I want a new sale job", at that point the millions and millions of dollars Apple spend on advertising pay off -

"Ooh", thinks the user, "I bet there's and App for That".

And off he or she goes on their merry way to find the app.

Where do they go? Google, Bing, Twitter?

NO, they go to AppStore and type in "Sales Jobs".

Now if you manage a generalist job board or a niche sales job board - you want to be in those results. Just like you want to be in the results in Google.

First off, just having your app their is free branding. Even if the user does not download the app they see your brand and it is associated with being up to date, trendy and useful - because you are associated with Apple iPhone. To some this may not be positive, but to one of the 50+ million iPhone / iTouch users it is very, very positive.

Second, they may download the app, so now you are on the phone equivalent of the desktop. This is a gold dust spot to have.

You can give your user, the experience they expect, where the interface reacts as other iPhone apps and is feature rich. Done well the app will help the user, it will help them find those jobs they want to apply for. It will help them carry out the most time consuming part of job seeking - the search and filter process. They can now do this on a train, sitting in the canteen at lunch or the coffee shop. You are now part of their extended internet engagement - Mobile Web. You are now beyond the browser. Now is the time to pat yourself on the back.

These users will go back to your website and will apply when they have found a job. The candidate experience is enhanced.

So why when I search (UK AppStore) for sales jobs is there only on niche job board - SalesTarget.com? (a client of ours) Come on Job Boards, you can do better.

Get moving - get Mobile.

Shameless plug: Now you know that I am slightly biased, my company Allthetopbananas.com is among other things the leading UK Job Board iPhone app supplier. But the reason we are in that position is we believe what we are saying and Mobile is here to grow! (btw we are now launching our iPhone apps Internationally!)