Two university students have highlighted the importance of cross-promotion on social media, after creating an app that allows students to gain access to nightclubs and bars at a cheaper rate.
The app, Meggle, was designed by Stephen Esketzis and Dixon Duong, both of whom are 19. Esketzis studies at Deakin University while Duong studies at Monash University.
It allows students to find nearby nightclubs and bars, gain access to guest lists, and enter the venues at a cheaper rate and as VIPs.
Esketzis says the app has only been live for a couple of months but has already attracted more than 1,000 users.
“Me and my partner realised there was a demand for it, especially in our age group. We needed something like that to help us save money when we go out,” he told StartupSmart.
“To go into a club, they’ve got guest lists… If you know someone promoting that club, you can get entry [by quoting the promoter’s name at the door].”
Club-goers use the Meggle app to gain access to promoters’ names. Promoters, meanwhile, use the app to promote the guest lists for the various nightclubs they work for.
“As a promoter, for anyone they bring into the club, they get paid… If you say their name at the front, you get in a cheaper rate while the promoter also makes money,” Esketzis says.
Esketzis says the self-funded app took approximately three to four months to build. With little money to promote the app, Esketzis and Duong have relied heavily on social media.
“Through Facebook, we made a fan page and also [work with] a lot of other fan pages,” Esketzis says.
“To nightclub pages, we’ve sent messages and come in contact with them, and they’ve agreed to share our page, which has helped to get more users for our app.
“That’s been one of our main forms of marketing.
“As well as Facebook, we’ve done some work [directly] with clubs. The more promoters we get on board, the more we’re able to help them out.
“We’ve also done business cards – handing out business cards through contacts we know. It’s uni students who we’re targeting, so a lot of it’s just people talking to other people.”
The long-term goal, Esketzis says, is to roll out the app nationally and perhaps even internationally. This could mean raising funds.
“Maybe we’ll be able to become lucrative overseas where nightclubs and guest lists are being used as well… We can’t see anyone else providing the same [service] to the patrons.
“For people in Australia – in Sydney or Adelaide or Perth – you could use this app to save yourself some money when you come to Melbourne.”
With regard to the name, Esketzis says he and Duong were inspired by Google, which has extended to terms such as “Googling” and “Googler”.
“We wanted something simple and easy to remember. We just thought up ideas and landed on Meggle. We wanted it to be like, ‘Have you Meggled it?’” he says.
