Draw attention to hot spots next to your events or sponsors around the country.Users can easily access contact information, addresses and GPS directions for each location.
How to Build the Around Us Feature
Great for these industries:
- Community/Directory
- Education
- Travel
Monetization ideas:
- Sell feature space to local businesses that you highlight in the app.
- Set up referral agreements with businesses and ask users to mention that your app referred them.
How-To:
Navigate to the Build section of your dashboard to begin the setup process, then follow the steps below.
- Click Add Feature.
- Choose the Around Us feature from the menu, then click Select.
- Name your feature, then click Add. Your new feature will now appear in the left-side menu.
- Click on the feature to open its options.
Content
Here you can rename the feature, set categories, and add points of interest (POIs).
1. Under Screen Info, change your Screen/Feature Name or leave as-is. This is the name that will appear in the app’s feature menu (e.g. “Local Spots” as opposed to “Around Us”).
2. Under Categories, fill in the category names for your POIs (e.g. “Restaurants”) and select the category colors. The POIs will be color-coded based on their category.
3. Under Point(s) of Interest, click Add Point Of Interest. Complete the the fields below, then click Add. Repeat this process for each POI.
- Name: Give your POI a name.
- Category (Color): Select the category for this POI.
- Description: Use the WYSIWYG editor to customize the POI’s description. See here for more info.
- Website: Enter the URL for the POI’s website. This must start with the http://” prefix. If the client or business doesn’t have an official website, a Yelp or Facebook page will work just as well.
- Email: Input a valid email address for this POI. When users click the one-touch Email button, this email address will auto-populate in the To field.
- Telephone: Input a valid phone number for this POI. When users click the one-touch Call button, this is the phone number it will dial.
- Thumbnail Image: Upload a thumbnail image (140x140px in PNG format) for this POI.
- Address: Search for the address in the “Enter a query” field or enter the coordinates in the Latitude/Longitude fields below. When you use the coordinates option, Google Maps will pull the nearest address.
- Distance Type: Specify whether distance should appear in Kilometers or Miles.
4. Click Save at the top right when you’re done.
Custom Design
If you’d like create a custom design for this feature instead of using the Global Design, you’ll do so here. Skip over this section if not. See here for more info.