Affinitive’s Social Media Playground

Having a personal assistant would be nice. Instead of managing my own calendar, I’d have someone that keeps my contacts up to date, remembers all of my important events, alerts me when things come up, and even knows my interests so well that they could point out a special sale that I’d be interested in. That personal assistant could cost thousands of dollars a year, or I could visit UPlanMe and open an account for free. While still in its infancy, currently in beta, UPlanMe provides all of the tools anyone would need and want in a calendar, plus more. It also offers businesses a new way to connect with current and future customers. After UPlanMe develops a larger user-base, and a mobile application, this smart calendar has all of the tools necessary to become a central part of your life.

When it comes to productivity and calendar tools, there’s no shortage of options to choose from (there really is almost always an app for that). UPlanMe is unique. While some calendar apps require you to manually log events and other to-do items, UPlanMe does all of the work for you. All you have to do is complete your profile and sync your Facebook account. UPlanMe then goes to work, creating a calendar full of suggested events based on all of the interests you noted, events you’ve been invited to on Facebook, and occasions for any brands you like. When you see something you want to attend, you add it to “My Calendar” and you’re left with less clutter and only the events that really fit into your plans.

While it can be a hub for every sports, music, food, nightlife, shopping, and television related event, I’m more excited about the potential this platform has for brands. It’s a new opportunity for businesses to market themselves and become a mainstay on people’s everyday schedules. Here are just a few ways businesses stand to benefit from UPlanMe:

• UPlanMe Brand Pages
  If you don’t have a Facebook brand page, or you find that a lot of your customers begin using UPlanMe, you can create your own page on the site. This soon becomes a hub for all of your events and specials.  It also allows users on UPlanMe that don’t know about you to find your business by doing a simple search in the category that describes you best. If you can stand out with exciting events and a well-managed page, you’ll earn new business.
• Calendar For Your Website
  UPlanMe makes it easy to bring all of the features of their smart calendar to your own site. When businesses publish a calendar, it usually serves one purpose and that’s to keep their visitors up to date on upcoming events. UPlanMe takes it one step further. Once a user “follows” your calendar, opting in to receive regular updates on new events, you’ll also have access to their demographic info. This includes age range, male/female ratio, occupation, and salary. You can now better cater your events to your followers.
• Facebook Integration
  If you manage a brand page and currently use the “Events” application, it’s an easy way to expand the reach of your events. If the event details didn’t show up in someone’s news feed, or they don’t regularly visit your page to see your posts, there’s a good chance they never saw the invite. UPlanMe brings that event into a user’s “Suggested Events”, along with all of the event details that would be found on Facebook.