Photo of author

by Karl

Messenger Bots are Going to Be Huge in Content Marketing

Home / Social Media Marketing / Messenger Bots are Going to Be Huge in Content Marketing
messenger bots content marketing

Messenger Bots are Going to Be Huge in Content Marketing

Home / Social Media Marketing / Messenger Bots are Going to Be Huge in Content Marketing
messenger bots content marketing
Dreamgrow is reader-supported. When buying products through links on the site, we may earn a commission (at no extra cost to you).

Marketing automation has been booming for the last few years with the advance of tools such as Clickfunnels, Convertkit, and Jungle Scout. What do Messenger bots have in store for us in the upcoming years?

Messenger bots are in their infancy. You can tell that a technology platform is starting to take off when someone figures out how to make money with it. For Messenger, that happened when Facebook figured out how to take payments from within Messenger. That’s a big deal because the whole point of Messenger is to keep people in, duh, Messenger.

Before Messenger figured out payments, you had to go to an external website to buy things. That was a big problem for the 30,000 or so bots on Messenger. So this is a big deal. High fives all around to the Messenger team.

We reviewed a number of automation platforms SMBs use for their social media, digital marketing, and operational needs. We selected six of them that are affordable, offer value for money and consist of useful features. Here they are: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Marketing Automation Tools

What Exactly Is a Bot?

I like to split messenger bots into two basic types. The first is Artificial Intelligence (AI) based (think Amazon Alexa) and the second is Automated Help (AH) based (like automated phone systems).

AI-based bots use natural language processes of either text or voice to figure out what the user wants. The classic example is asking Alexa to play the latest news or start a kitchen timer. The computing horsepower and skill required to deploy such bots is beyond the average content marketer even if you have CS degree.

amazon alexa
Introducing Amazon Alexa

AH-based bots are more like your automated phone system where you press 1 for sales, press 2 for customer support, press 0 for a human, etc. This type is more lists of menus with some AI to recognize voice commands. Implementing these types of bots is a lot easier. There are platforms, like ChatClub, that automate a lot of the development. More on that later.

Why Have a Bot?

Bots are starting to get more attention because of the way people are hanging out online. The first is the rise of bots that are getting funding to develop the AI to make things like Alexa work. The second is that Facebook Messenger has 1 Billion users. This is amazing considering 3 people built the first revision.

What’s even more telling is that the app boom seems to be over. Most mobile users are not downloading apps anymore. Most online users spend all their time using applications like WhatsApp, Messenger, and SnapChat.

us app downloads nomura

The increasing use of messaging apps means that brands will have a new genre in which to engage with their fans, especially on Facebook. That engagement platform will be on mobile via some sort of messaging app.

Some Bots to Pay Attention to

Facebook has about 30,000 bots that brands are using to reach out to customers and fans. CB Insights did a post on the top 51 corporate bots to pay attention too. It’s a pretty good list that I stole from for my list below:

dominos pizza messenger bot

  • Wall Street Journal: you can subscribe to different news feeds and even get up to the minute news. You can even get stock prices. Pretty cool for a old school newspaper.

wall street journal messenger bot

  • 1-800-Flowers: This bot as an example of how cool it is that you will never have to dial 1-800-Flowers to buy flowers again. It’s pretty slick.

1-800-flowers messenger bot

  • NBA: this bot is for all you stats junkies that want to know all things NBA. The commands are natural language like “When was Kobe Bryant Drafted?” Although if you want more details stats, it punts you to the NBA’s website. Gotta work on that guys.

nba messenger bot

  • Lazyset: I’m always on Spotify looking for new things to listen. It can be a pain to figure out. Enter Lazyset. This bot will do a custom mix for you and put it right in your Spotify account. It actually works well. Can’t wait till Yelp gets a bot to help with “where to go to lunch if I’m into Chinese but don’t really want Chinese.”

lazyset messenger bot

  • MemeGenBot: this bot will make a meme for you to share among all your fans that can’t get enough meme’s. Enough said.

memegenerator messenger bot

  • GrowthBot: comes from the guys over at HubSpot. It helps you with all your sales and marketing growth needs. It’s pretty darn useful and worth checking out. Lots of nifty natural language stuff that is an AI programmers nirvana.

growthbot messenger bot

You’ll notice that some of these bots are new and don't have many followers. I think that’s a sign of how new chatbots are. Being an early adaptor gives content marketers an opportunity to get ahead of the curve.

Getting Started with Your Own Chatbot

Even though I have a technical background and know my way around a text editor or two, bots kind of scare me. The reason is that it takes some smarts to get the menus right and connect to Messenger. Thankfully, I found a pretty simple platform that takes care of all the plumbing so that you don’t have to.

ChatClub is a chatbot platform for Messenger that takes 5 minutes to set up. No need to hire a slew of developers, AI experts or UI designers. Go to https://chatclub.me/. Connect your Facebook Messenger account (you can select which page), and get going. Once set up, you can start group chats, multiplayer quizzes, and music streams. Those are just a few of the growing list of features that ChatClub offers all for free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP7TWgMGSl0

Take a look at my first attempt for my The Daily MBA’s Facebook Page. It took about 5 minutes to set up and about 30 minutes for me to get all the photos cropped via Canva. While you’re there, why not like my page? I would appreciate it. You can tell I need some Facebook love :).

Some Things to Keep in Mind about Bots

Like all new technology, you need to be cautious that said technology is used for good and not evil. No one wants another pop-up ad that annoyed every single human on the Internet. He was even forced to apologize. No we don’t want that.

What we do want is something that enhances the user experience and makes it a lot easier for fans to interact. To achieve this, I present to you the prime directives for chatbots as I see them.

Prime Directive #1: A bot must not annoy

Prime Directive #2: A bot must obey instructions unless it violates the 1st directive

Prime Directive #3: A bot must be helpful unless it violates the 1st directive

What this means for chatbot developers is the following. Repeat after me:

  1. Your bot shall be way better than those annoying phone trees that I yell “Customer Service” at.
  2. Your bot shall make it easy for a fan to get what they need and nothing else.
  3. Your bot shall not be so complicated that it takes a million menus to do something.
  4. Your bot shall do a few things stellar and leave the rest to humans or your website.

There, that was not so bad now, was it? Now, go forth and create greatness.

Are Bots Really the Next Apps?

Chatbots are the future of online and particularly mobile interactions. Gone are the days of downloading tons and tons of apps that clog up your phone. Now, you can stay in one app and get everything done.

One person that believes that bots are the next apps is Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. He declared bots the new apps, and the “next big thing.” I’m not sure I agree with him, but we are at the beginning of a new way for brands to deliver content to their fans. Only time will tell if bots will take over apps. One thing is for sure — the AI that is the brains behind bots will continue to get better and better. I hope so. It’s frustrating when Alexa thinks I want to listen to the latest Tibetan chants when I don't.

P.S. Are you still using dated email marketing software? We've recently published a review comparing ActiveCampaign VS MailChimp, two giants in the industry. Click on the link to see the results and find out if you should be switching over to either!

BIO: Jarie Bolander is an engineer by training and an entrepreneur by nature. He has over 20 years of experience bring innovative products to market. Some of them include Bluetooth, USB, RFID, Semiconductor DNA sequencing, and SaaS for Healthcare. You can read his thoughts on management, marketing, and entrepreneurship via his blog or follow him on Twitter.

__________________________
Photo Credit: Visual Hunt

Recomended Readings