How to Drive Social Media Marketing Using Automated Chat

For more than a decade, brands have experimented with various social media platforms and other communication channels to communicate with consumers. And while social media has continued to evolve in terms of its capabilities and user experience, its primary goal of facilitating communication has not changed.

But the recent introduction of robots, or more specifically, chatbots (software programs that are developed to initiate and manage online chat interactions) powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is ushering in a new and powerful way for brands to communicate with their customers and prospects. In an increasingly online world and as consumers become more comfortable communicating with machine-driven interactions, chatbots are expected to dominate the social media marketing landscape in the near future and for years to come.

Chatbots have proven to be powerful and cost-effective, especially as the artificial intelligence that drives them continues to evolve. In fact, Gartner estimates that by the year 2020 roughly 85% of consumer interactions with their brands will happen without the need for human intervention.

Chatbots and Social Media Marketing

As most brands have learned, social media marketing can be highly effective. A recent study by HubSpot verifies this by reporting that more than 90% of online marketers believe that social media marketing strategies are a critical piece in effectively creating awareness and promoting their brand. The same study found that more than half of digital marketers who initiated social media marketing campaigns over the past several years enjoyed an overall increase in their sales.

But the challenge for many of these organizations, especially smaller businesses is in finding and deploying the resources required to manage the engagement that social media marketing can drive. As these companies have learned, responding to large volumes of messages, while trying to post new content and keeping the consumers engaged can be an overwhelming task.

The good news for those brands that will deploy chatbots to drive and support their social media marketing efforts is that they are able to drive engagement without the need for human involvement. Consumers engage with bots for content consumption, customer service and productivity or transactional engagements. And social media already drives many of these activities between brands and consumers, but social platforms function as a gateway to direct consumers to the company website, blog, landing page, or some other channel. Chatbots allow for more direct and immediate interaction, rather than simply using social media platform as portals.

Some of the specific benefits chatbots bring to social media marketing include:

Persistent Availability

Consumers today expect to be able to communicate with their brands anytime they choose to, even after business hours. Chatbots enable this by offering 24/7 availability to initiate and drive one-to-one personalized interactions.

Immediate Access

Another powerful feature of chatbots is that they eliminate the need for consumers to wait in queue for assistance. Chatbots are immediately available to address consumer needs and concerns.

Personalized Assistance

Chatbots provide users with a guided and personalized experience that addresses any needs they might have from their brand. And a well-designed chatbot will remember each individual user in order to make personalized recommendations for product up-selling opportunities.

Contact us to discuss the use of chatbots for your social media marketing programs.