US-based start-up AppAddictive has secured $1.2 million in funding for its Facebook creation tools and platform, designed to make it easier for businesses to build their Facebook pages.
A graduate of start-up incubator DreamIt Ventures, based in Pennsylvania, AppAddictive will offer dozens of easy-to-install applications for Facebook pages.
This includes things like custom landing pages, photo and video galleries, static HTML, quizzes, etc. The funding comes from Great Oaks Venture Capital, Siemer Ventures and Tholons.
According to founder Mike Onghai, the goal is to expand the selection of drag-and-drop apps into a veritable “app store” for Facebook pages, with sections dedicated to industry verticals.
For example, the finance vertical might have specialised apps like “currency quotes”, while mortgage companies could have apps that show current mortgage rates.
The idea is that businesses can use the apps to turn visitors into followers, followers into leads, and leads into customers.
In addition, the company is developing a Facebook advertising campaign manager, which will work hand-in-hand with the Facebook page builder.
The advertising platform will include features such as bulk upload, testing, targeting and optimisation tools, and analytics for tracking clicks, conversions and actions.
The company plans to have the platform up and running in the near future, and will later expand its toolset to other social platforms including Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
Meanwhile, Appstores.com has launched a new initiative dubbed “AdSense for apps”, which is an advertising unit that publishers can embed in their mobile websites.
The unit will automatically display advertisements for native applications that are relevant to whatever text appears on the stage.
So if a publisher writes about basketball, users viewing the content from their phones might see an advertisement for a basketball game or ESPN app in the App Store or Android Market.
Appstores.com is launching a secondary product – publisher app stores. This makes it easy for publishers to craft their own niche app stores where they can showcase whatever apps they like.
This relies on the willingness of app developers to pay for the promotion of their apps.
Aside from promising broad distribution, chief executive Ryan Merket says Appstores.com is launching a directory that includes all iOS and Android apps.
Developers will be able to “claim” their profiles to access an analytics dashboard tracking how their applications are faring in the directory.
They will also be able to see if their app is being included in any of the publisher-created app stores.
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