Lightricks Releases BoostApps Suite to Empower Small Businesses to Achieve Superior Results from Social Media Marketing

Lightricks, a developer of subscription-based content creation tools, announced the release of BoostApps, a suite of mobile tools for small businesses – such as independent hotels and restaurants – to effectively engage consumers in ways that boost their bottom lines. Unlike content creation apps that focus solely on graphic design, BoostApps are built to drive social media engagement and results. The three apps in the new suite: StoryBoost, PosterBoost and VideoBoost, enable users to easily create and execute their own social media marketing materials and deliver impactful campaigns -- without the need for editing, design experience, or time spent chasing the latest social media trends and innovations.

To dig deeper into the need for more streamlined tools for SMBs, Lightricks surveyed nearly 600 "solopreneurs" and small businesses regarding their experiences and challenges with social media marketing. Seventy-two percent stated they spend half their work time on online marketing efforts but don't feel that they're meeting their overall marketing goals. In addition, 81 percent felt that the existing marketing tools available don't address their pain points: developing consistent idea generation for content that engages the right audience, learning and implementing social media best practices, and understanding analytics well enough to iterate and optimize for desired results.

This data indicated to Lighricks that small businesses are keenly aware of the opportunities that online marketing offers. But as social media platforms proliferate and get more complex, these same growing businesses are finding themselves unequipped to take full advantage of the potential before them.

The BoostApps are uniquely built to address these challenges. Users no longer need to spend time struggling to find new ideas, researching what's trendy, or writing catchy copy. With StoryBoost, users can create stories for Instagram with on-trend story page templates and unique animations between story slides, with PosterBoost users create dynamic 'posters' with moving elements, and with VideoBoost, users create sleek videos optimized for engagement using their own clips, professional stock footage -- or both. All three BoostApps offer trendy content categories, well-designed templates, unique filters, professional color schemes and compelling copy users can select or tweak, plus access to an extensive library of stock images and videos. Additionally, StoryBoost and VideoBoost will offer hundreds of free music tracks.

Elise Darma, an Instagram marketing expert with 75,000 followers, had the chance to test the BoostApps pre-launch:

"I've been working with small businesses and influencers for years, and I see so many people struggling with social media marketing," Darma said. "One of the biggest obstacles is the volume of information they need to learn and the number of tools they have to use to create content that actually helps them grow their businesses. What I love about BoostApps is that the suite really simplifies the process, and the templates are integrated with what works and what's trendy."

The BoostApps suite will continue evolving with new products offering scheduling and optimization capabilities, making it a complete toolkit for businesses to solve their marketing challenges.

The launch of the BoostApps suite follows Lightricks' recent $135 million funding round and billion-dollar valuation, as it continues its natural evolution in expanding its offerings to SMBs. The company's other seven apps for content creators and avid social media users boast nearly 200 million downloads worldwide. Overall, Lightricks' apps currently have nearly three million paying subscribers.