Chatbots are useful tools that many businesses integrate with their websites. They boost engagement and make things smoother, from getting customers to keeping them. Instead of spending much time on customer questions, chatbots handle tasks like answering FAQs and collecting feedback. This helps you save time, cut down on customer service costs, and concentrate on developing your strategy.
But how do you use chatbots to boost social media marketing? In the article, Protean Studios will guide you on how to integrate it and apply it effectively.
An overview of social media marketing and chatbots
Nowadays, chatbots are very popular in marketing activities and have many outstanding features. Below is general information about chatbots and their applications in marketing.
1. About chatbots
A chatbot is a computer program that simulates human conversation using natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI). It can understand and respond to text or voice messages from users through a predefined script.
Today, many companies integrate this tool with various social media platforms, such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, Twitter Direct Messages, and more. Using chatbots on a website or mobile app is a good choice for businesses to provide a seamless customer experience across different channels.
Other Article: Getting Started With Personalized Marketing
2. About chatbot marketing
Chatbot marketing is the use of chatbots to promote your brand, products, or services on social media platforms. It uses automated messages to exchange with customers when they need help. This tool can answer basic customer inquiries, resolve common issues, and provide immediate support, improving customer satisfaction and reducing the burden on human agents.
For instance, BlendJet, a portable blender company, saw a 17% increase in average orders and a 15% rise in sales by using a Facebook chat plugin. The automated messages made it easy to answer questions about prices, shipping, and delivery times. This not only increased customer interactions and satisfaction but also helped BlendJet gain trust from both repeat and first-time buyers.
The role of chatbots in boosting the SMM
Social media marketing (SMM) is a powerful way to reach and engage with your target audience, build brand awareness, and increase conversions. Yet, managing many social media platforms, creating and posting relevant content, and responding to customer queries can be time-consuming and challenging. That's where chatbots can help and provide support. In particular, it brings many benefits for businesses, as follows:.
24/7 Availability: Unlike human representatives, chatbots are always available to interact with users, fostering continuous engagement and a sense of accessibility. They can answer questions, provide information, and even entertain audiences through interactive experiences.
Real-Time Response: It offers immediate responses to user inquiries and messages, reducing wait times and frustration. This real-time interaction helps keep users engaged and fosters a sense of responsiveness.
Conversion Optimization: This tool can guide users through the sales funnel by offering product information, answering purchase-related questions, and even facilitating transactions. This streamlined process can improve conversion rates and drive sales.
Immediate Support: Chatbots can address basic customer inquiries, resolve common issues, and offer immediate support, even outside of business hours. This available assistance improves customer satisfaction and reduces the burden on human agents.
How to integrate a basic chatbot into a social media strategy
Chatbots are becoming more popular and useful in the digital marketing world. They can help you interact with your customers, provide them with information, and guide them through your sales funnel. But how do you integrate a basic chatbot into your social media strategy? Here are some steps to follow:
Define your goals and audience to set up a chatbot. What do marketers want their chatbot to achieve? These questions will help you design a chatbot that suits your needs and expectations.
Choose a platform and tool. There are many platforms and tools that allow you to create and deploy chatbots, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Chatfuel. Depending on your goals and audience, you can choose the one that best fits your social media strategy.
Design your chatbot's personality and conversation flow. Your chatbot should have a consistent and engaging personality that reflects your brand voice and tone. You should also map out the possible scenarios and paths that your chatbot will follow when interacting with your customers.
Test a chatbot. Before launching your chatbot, you should test it and make sure it works as intended. You should also check its performance and feedback and make adjustments as needed to improve its user experience and effectiveness.
Promote your chatbot and encourage engagement. Once your chatbot is ready, you should let your customers know about it and invite them to try it out. You can use various channels and methods to promote your chatbot, such as social media posts, ads, email marketing, or word-of-mouth. You should also provide incentives and rewards for using your chatbot, such as discounts, coupons, or freebies.
The top-best chatbot in 2024 for marketing activities
Choosing the best chatbot for your SMM needs depends on several factors, including your budget, industry, and desired functionalities. Here's an overview of four popular chatbots and their key strengths:
1. HubSpot Chatbot Builder
HubSpot Chatbot Builder is a powerful and easy-to-use chatbot platform that integrates with HubSpot CRM and Marketing Hub. You can create custom chatbots for your website, landing pages, email campaigns, and social media channels using a drag-and-drop interface or a code editor.
2. Intercom
Intercom is a popular chatbot platform that helps you connect with your customers across your website, app, email, and social media. It lets you create conversational chatbots that can answer common questions, qualify leads, book demos, and provide support.
Intercom also offers a rich library of pre-built chatbot templates that you can customize for your specific use cases. Intercom integrates with many third-party tools, such as Shopify, Stripe, Slack, and Zapier. Intercom's pricing depends on the number of active users and the features you need.
3. Drift
Drift is a conversational marketing platform that helps you generate more revenue from your website visitors. People can create chatbots that can capture leads, schedule meetings, recommend products, and close deals. Drift also uses artificial intelligence to analyze your website traffic and identify the best prospects to engage with.
Drift integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, and other CRM and marketing automation tools. Drift's pricing is based on the number of contacts and the features you want.
Read more: What Is Marketing Automation?
4. WP-Chatbot
WP-Chatbot is a WordPress plugin that allows businesses to add a Facebook Messenger chatbot to their website. It can create a custom welcome message, set up automated responses, and collect user data. WP-Chatbot also syncs with your Facebook page to manage all their conversations from one place. Now, WP-Chatbot is free for up to 500 messages per month and $9 per month for unlimited messages.
Summarize chatbots and their roles in marketing.
By following these guidelines and staying current with evolving chatbot technology, you can leverage these AI-powered assistants to boost your SMM efforts and achieve your marketing goals.
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If you want to integrate a chatbot for your sites or apps, our technicals can help you solve it. Protean Studios is an IT outsourcing company with many years of experience in MarTech fields. Thus, we can support you in developing a new website as well as integrating a chatbot. Feel free to contact us to learn more!
