The One Mobile Marketing Channel You’re Not Using, But Should Be

News feeds aren’t just for social apps, although Facebook and Twitter have done a great job teaching app users how to scroll. Looking around at other metro riders, I notice everyone is scrolling through content, looking for something relevant to catch their eye. If you aren’t already making the most of News Feed Cards, you can use this channel to reach your users in a new way.

While push notifications are great for getting someone to open, once in the app, a news feed is a great place to encourage engagement and connect with users within your app. Since the feed can constantly showcase updated content, there’s always a reason to come back to the app and engage.

For companies with a content marketing approach, News Feed Cards present a particularly great way for users to see more of your content, link to additional articles, and increase their perception of your company as an expert in your vertical.

Tips for Creating an Effective News Feed Card Strategy

Deciding to develop your news feed takes commitment and planning. It’s important to have ongoing messages to promote so that the feed doesn’t become stagnant. Talk with your team about how to integrate this channel into your cross-channel campaign planning. Is content already being developed that you could re-purpose or promote in a new way?

Once you’re ready to build out some cards, here are some tips to keep your messages relevant:

Make It Timely: Part of relevance is highlighting the right offer at the right time, and news feed cards are a great place to promote time-sensitive or time-limited offers. Depending on your app and what you know about users, you may be able to informative sequences like onboarding flows to give them bits of information over a key period of time.

Make It Personal: Personalizing the News Feed Card experience with users’ names, preferences, and interests can be great for helping them feel connected. People will be more interested in your content if they feel it was hand-picked for them. Not to mention, using personalization has been shown to increased conversions by more than 27%.

Make It Dynamic: News Feed Cards can go even deeper with personalization with dynamic content, connecting users with events in their local area or responding to local conditions, like weather. Dynamic content uses APIs to connect with databases that can enhance the user experience.

What Can You Feature through News Feed Cards?

Here are some great ways to use news feed cards:

• User Milestones: Want to celebrate consistent usage or high scores? News Feed Cards are a great way to let users know you noticed their engagement! This gamification approach allows users to see when their name is on the leaderboard, helping them feel more connected to your brand.

• Time-sensitive promotions: While promotional campaigns often benefit from a cross-channel approach, your News Feed Cards can serve as home base. Every time users check the app during a sale, they should see current deals pinned to the top to ensure they aren’t missed. Urban Outfitters is always featuring current sales in the news feed, a great way for them to keep users in the loop (and looking sharp!).

• Blogs or Articles: If you create your own content on helpful tips or stories, a news feed is a great place to feature new or cyclical content. Ovia is a pregnancy-tracking app schedules content about things like symptoms or moments to celebrate according to how far along users are in their pregnancy. Ovia is able to give users a reason to check back in each day, as they’ll have a new video to watch or article to read that’s relevant to their current situation.

• Onboarding, Tutorials and Reminders: It’s great to have multiple messages around onboarding and News Feed Cards are a great place to keep those lessons going. As functionality changes, or as you notice users missing out on key features, you can highlight these through cards. Google does not have an ongoing feed, so when they use a card at the top of their docs application, it really stands out!

• Encourage Social Sharing: Looking for new ways to create community through your app? Why not encourage users to share your app with friends or like your Facebook page? There are many ways users can connect to other networks through your app. Shape’s news feed encourages social sharing opportunities alongside their articles to give users other opportunities to engage.

The Possibilities Are Nearly Endless

As technology continues to advance, there will be more and more ways to engage users through news feed cards. Building a strong strategy now that integrates card content with your multi-channel campaign planning will ensure that you’re ready to embrace those innovative opportunities when the time comes.