Late last month, The Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his intention to integrate his company’s messaging services, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram direct messages into one. This consideration would be done in an effort to make it easier for people to reach friends and family across various networks. The new infrastructure – expected to be completed late 2019 or early 2020, will keep the three apps distinct while simultaneously enabling users of each platform to chat with each other despite where they are logged in.
The applicability of the integration is still in question as the Facebook team hasn’t commented on the matter. After the report was made in January 25th, many people have been speculating about this massive technical and logistical undertaking. Well, it will clearly please those people who don’t like to switch between multiple messaging apps to communicate with family and friends; however the move will benefit advertisers, marketers and online businesses the most.
The following are the three main opportunities that the integration is expected to present to businesses.
Bigger and more diverse audiences reach
It will be much more effective for businesses to reach out to customers on three diverse chat applications, from just one chat marketing platform. With the Facebook integration one will be able to reach a larger, worldwide audience, and spend more time connecting with both new and returning customers. Initially, many people were only able to connect with the 16-24 year old demographic that dominate both Instagram and WhatsApp, but with the integration one can be able to reach the increasing number of 25 and older users that thrive on Facebook as well.
Chatbots will be the in-thing in marketing
Using Chatbots in marketing is set to become one of the biggest opportunities for online marketers over the next few years. The automation used with Chatbots is one of the most user-centric growth-critical trends in the digital marketing sphere especially in personalization, artificial intelligence, interactivity and automation. They help businesses tackle the various hurdles and enable them to be more responsive. With the integration, businesses will be able to connect with their customers across the world, across diverse populations all under one chatbot building platform.
It will provide businesses with a channel for direct communication
Over the past few years, we have witnessed email-marketing declining engagement. This is because many people are opting for more direct communication with businesses because it’s more engaging and user friendly. The integration will help provide a better alternative to email marketing, where businesses can enjoy higher open rates as well as click rates. Businesses’ will have a single platform for engaging with their customers more effectively than email marketing.
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