When you need to reach out to a brand, what do you do? Most likely, calling the company is last on your list (who has time for IVRs?). You might find their website, but usually there is a contact us form that, once filled out, requires you to wait. If you’re really in a hurry, you could try tagging them on Facebook or Twitter, but do you really want the entire internet to know your business? Enter Facebook chatbots: A revolutionary new way for brands and customers to communicate meaningfully in an instant.
What is a Facebook Chatbot?
Much like sending a message to a friend on Facebook, a chatbot interacts with others on the massive social media site. Using AI, a chatbot is programed to read, understand and respond accurately to a wide range of questions and concerns. It’s a win-win for both parties.
For brands, it saves time, money and human capital as many manual tasks are automated without losing the attention or respect of your audience. For consumers, a chatbot provides clear, concise answers on demand. No phone calls to make, forms to fill out or apps to download. Brands are experiencing the following benefits from Facebook chatbots:
- Increased engagement
- Improved click-through rates
- Higher open rates
- More leads
Ultimately, brands see better conversion rates when using chatbots.
When to Use Facebook Chatbots
Facebook chatbots are perfect for real-time customer conversations, offers for content downloads and messaging sequences. They can help you target your audience directly within their messaging platform (that they’re likely logged into constantly if on mobile) and help them move further down the sales funnel. More than a billion people use Facebook Messenger every month, and your brand could be reaching more of them with the help of AI.
What You Need to Create a Chatbot
It is relatively easy to create a Facebook chatbot. You need a strategy, a business Facebook page and a chatbot builder. Popular building tools include Chatfuel, ManyChat and Dialogflow all of which have some free capabilities if you just want to try out certain features. How far you take your chatbot will depend on how high your learning curve is and the tasks you want it to do for your brand.
What Chatbots Won’t Do
While Facebook chatbots are an exciting new development in the world of social media and AI, they won’t ever successfully replace the value of making a human connection. If you decide to dive into the world of AI and employ chatbots as part of your marketing strategy, do so only once you’ve worked out what other human touchpoints you can offer your customers.
