Molly Pittman facilitated a panel discussion with Mikael Yang (Manychat), Andrew Yaroshevsky (Chatfuel), and Linda Lee (Facebook Messenger). In my mind, this is a continuation of the conversation that started at SMMW17. Basically, bots are tools that can help to automate routines thus allowing you to do other things such as increase engagement.
Lee pointed out that 1.3 billion people are using Facebook Messenger. During this session, I learned that Facebook Messenger could be added to other sites such as WordPress, which I promptly added.
Messenger marketing will become more prominent in the days ahead. Messenger and bots are already resulting in higher open rates. They can also be used for e-commerce and participants do not have to leave messenger to make a purchase.
Bots are good for answering the same questions over and over again. They can also ask questions to solicit information.
You can build bots around frequently asked questions. At any time, a person can take over in messenger.
All the panelists recommended starting simple. Identify the need you are trying to meet and start from there. To help learn how to create a chatbot, Manychat is offering a course.
Facebook is moving back to being all about relationships and connections. Chatbots can be used to provide a quick reply. More and more consumers are familiar with using Messenger to chat with businesses. Messenger and bots are a huge opportunity for businesses.
Additional Reading
- #SMMW17: Twitter Marketing with Bots, Automation and Beyond?
- #SMMW18: State of Social Media
- How to Add the Facebook Messenger Plugin to Your Website
- #SMMW17: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and the Future of Social Media Marketing
Image: Sentry Bot by Daniel Go with a CC-BY-NC license.
