Chatbots are such a strong marketing tool for brands and businesses. Read this guide for how to use chatbots for social media marketing.
Not to be confused with robots, chatbots give a great way for brands to engage with users 24/7 – even when your team’s technically off the clock.
By including chatbot systems in your social media channels, you can streamline communication and save time!
Whether you’re trying to resolve a customer issue, give information, or just want to understand your audience, a chatbot can both drive sales and improve brand awareness.
Let’s jump into how to use chatbots for marketing on social media!
What is a Chatbot?
A chatbot is software that imitates human conversation. It helps companies to optimize their marketing efforts, and engage in conversations with potential customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You’ve probably had a conversation with a bot at some point but you might not know it.
It’s because chatbots come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from messaging mediums like SMS text, social media platforms, to website pop-ups.
They can even function as conversational interfaces and virtual assistants – you surely know Siri or Alexa?
They provide a novel way to interact with brands and businesses on social media, whether you want to make a clothing return or catch a flight.
Moreover, research has shown that people who have interacted with chatbots are a whopping 67% more likely to buy items from a brand – which means if you’re finding new methods to drive sales, a chatbot might just be your ticket!
How to Set up Chatbots for Social Media Marketing
If you’re looking to include a chatbot in your brand’s marketing toolkit, it’s essential to know that a chatbot is not a feature within an app.
You’ll have to set up a chatbot on your own – where the capabilities of what you can build-depend on what’s available on the public-facing API(Application Programming Interface).
PS: An API is an interface that provides you with two applications to talk to one another.
You can follow one of these two ways to set up a chatbot: Either in-house (so long as you have skilled developers on your side) or you can partner with a third-party agency that specializes in chatbots.
Remember that not all chatbots are created equal. Most chatbots are made by conversational AI or ruled-based technology:
Conversational AI Chatbots:
- Use machine learning to know the context and intent of a question
- More sophisticated, task-oriented, and customized responses
- Predictive and then learns from patterns of past behavior
- Give more complicated questions
Rule-based Chatbots:
- Uses a series of defined rules to map out conversations in anticipation of what a user might ask
- Often resemble interactive FAQs
- Offer basic capabilities through pre-programmed answers
- Cheaper and better suited to hand-off to a human agent
The right chatbot type for your brand or business will base on your unique requirements, targets, and budget.
6 Reasons Why Chatbots Are Valuable for Social Media Marketing
With a projected global market size of over $1.3 billion by 2024 – chatbots are a hot topic to discuss in the social media marketing world.
At their core, chatbots facilitate a ton of automated customer service objectives but they can also help reach your brand’s marketing targets!
1. Relay Important Company Information
While bots have traditionally been used to support customer service teams, you can even use them for tasks like sales and marketing automation. Want to spread the word about new brick-and-mortar shops opening up? A chatbot site pop-up can be crafted to deliver that news!
2. Promote a Product
Yep, it’s true, bots can help promote products. If you have a new product launch or need to push something specific, you can create an automated chatbot message. Then when users visit your website, it will appear.
3. Generate Leads and Drive Sales
You know when you visit a site and you’re immediately welcomed with a promotional code? That’s the power of a bot generating a lead through incentive!
4. Learn About Your Audience
Through interactive prompts, companies can ask questions, start a conversation, and get to know their audience more intimately.
5. Provide Round the Clock Customer Service
Because bots are always “on,” customers don’t need to wait to get the answers they’re looking for. Chatbots can be made to answer frequently asked questions and adapt to fit specific situations.
6. Free up a Ton of Time
Chatbots offer 24/7 customer service without having to pay for expensive human labor or having workers on-call during all hours of the day – talk about winning back tons of time!
Chatbots on Facebook
One way brands can use chatbots is by providing promotions via a Facebook Messenger bot.
Take a look at this example from JW PEI, as soon as you visit their Facebook page, a bot greets users with a welcome message and a discount code – directing customers to revisit their cart.
Not only does this communication aid in driving sales (who doesn’t love a discount code?) but this type of engagement also builds brand loyalty through a positive (and memorable) customer experience.
Chatbots on Twitter
Beyond a space to receive news and discuss the newest in entertainment, Twitter is a great source for brands to provide valuable information to users.
Look at how a user can message Audible directly without having to search through website pages and navigate menus.
Answering a series of questions, Audible is easily able to reroute users to the right place.
Chatbots on WhatsApp
Given the fact that WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps – with over 2B global users – the platform is an excellent way to address customer service queries.
With some simple steps, you can create a marketing goldmine – a chatbot.
By allowing brands and businesses to automate customer support, facilitate a user’s transaction, and build community – they’re a win-win-win!
So what are you waiting for? Include a chatbot in your marketing strategy, kick back and let the pop-ups practically do the work for you!