You have surely heard recently about the bots used on social media and websites of many companies, especially the Facebook bot. Well, you should know that this technological tool currently constitutes a large part of online traffic.
They perform all kinds of tasks, often presenting themselves as real people, to maintain communication with users. Among their positive uses are web content search, improvement of search engines, and automation of customer service.
Knowing the features that it can offer your company can generate many benefits with its implementation. Generating bots for your specific needs will help you automate everyday and repetitive actions and even protect you from attacks by competitors and cyber pirates.
What is a Facebook bot?
A bot is a generic term used to describe software that automates a task. The Facebook bot goes beyond simple automation; it functions as a virtual assistant to provide users with answers to different inquiries.
They are developed with the Wit.ai engine from Facebook, which has the ability to convert language into a data structure. What does this mean? That they can understand a conversation and learn from it. One could say that a bot's "intelligence" increases with each interaction.
A Facebook bot can simulate a person, a pet, or a robot; however, its purpose is to address customer inquiries while progressively increasing its bank of automated responses. This way, person-to-person interaction is not necessary for every inquiry.
How do they work?
It can be compared to a physical robot that, instead of having nuts and wiring, operates with code. This code contains the instructions for it to communicate with users or other bots.
Some are basic, while others have been designed with complex techniques of artificial intelligence; therefore, it is not always easy to distinguish them from a real person. On Twitter, for example, chatbots can be generated to interact with followers in an automated manner.
What are they composed of?
This tool has three basic components: the execution code, written to program the bot's actions. The database is all the information available to perform its functions, which expands with interactions.
Finally, the API or interfaces allow the developer to add functions from other bots or apps to optimize its operation.
Most commonly used types of bots
The list and uses of bots used in social networks and e-commerce are vast. Here are the most common:
- Traffic bots. Their goal is to increase traffic to a webpage or social media to obtain likes and visits.
- Trending bots. Their function is to artificially increase the number of conversions, turning it into a trending topic or simulating popularity levels of public figures. They promote conversations, trying to get real users to like or comment on posts.
- Following bots. These are widely used on social media, especially on Instagram, to inflate the follower lists of influencers, politicians, and other public figures. These numbers are not real.
- Testing bots. As their name indicates, they are used to test or measure the acceptance of a program among potential users before its launch.
- Crisis bots. They can be used for positive purposes, and others not so much. For example, they are used to counteract attacks from other brands; but they also serve to attack the competition.
- Chatbot. This Facebook bot is one of the most popular. It is designed to interact with users. It is friendly and offers customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Crawler bots. They are very useful for collecting data from webpages, improving the performance of search engines and content comparison sites; categorizing new content and generating links to optimize searches.
- Game bots. These are the virtual (non-human) players that appear in video games.
All these bots respond to programming, to pre-established commands to execute specific tasks quickly and cleanly. Therefore, they are autonomous and do not require human intervention to fulfill their instructions.
Functions of a Facebook Bot
Bots can fulfill as many functions as internet users have needs; however, the most frequent are:
- Chat on customer networks. The idea is to maintain interaction with potential customers on their personal networks. For example, they help personalize a conversation on Facebook Messenger once the user has initiated contact.
- Welcome message. This is essential to begin segmenting your clientele, so its configuration and content will depend on your company's objectives.
- Gifts. This is part of the conversion and customer loyalty strategy. The basic question to answer is, what can you do for your customers before selling them your product?
- Automated responses to comments on ads. This strategy is ideal for obtaining important information about users and customers, such as consumption habits, opinions on products, and interests. Widely used on blogs and websites, it helps capture customers.
- Broadcast. These are the newsletters or messages used by bots. It is a marketing strategy that consists of sending announcements to users in the Facebook chat to their mobile or PC. Upon hearing the notification, the most common reaction is to open the broadcast.
Taking advantage of these functions will allow you to optimize customer service, increase your sales, attract traffic to your website, and keep your users informed.
Benefits that Facebook bots provide
It is no secret that implementing a Facebook bot can generate many benefits for your business if used properly. Some are:
- Lead nurturing. It will help you maintain and nurture the interest of the potential buyer (when they return for more information) after their first visit to your website.
- Manages the knowledge base. Customers do not always find it easy to search for the information they need about your products. Your bot manages all the information available in the knowledge base, facilitating the search for the customer.
- Adds fluidity to customer service. When customer service is congested with requests that it cannot resolve personally, the chatbot is a great support. It enables more lines of attention and reduces the number of calls, ensuring more efficient assistance.
- Distributes inquiries. A Facebook bot allows for effective distribution of inquiries among the customer service team, to resolve problems more quickly.
- Retains dissatisfied customers. Losing buyers due to problems during payment is a significant issue for any company. We already know that the ultimate goal is to sell. Therefore, you can use your bot to prevent the customer from leaving, helping them resolve issues.
- Offers personalized content. Facebook bots do more than just answer questions. Being designed with AI, they learn to identify customer habits, offering individualized content for each one. But it must be valuable content; only commercial content can be classified as spam by users.
Do you need a Facebook BOT for your business?
The implementation of any marketing strategy should be the result of a thorough analysis of its contribution to the business; a bot is not a trend, and the first step is to determine if you really need it. This brief guide will help you decide if it is appropriate to implement one for your company:
- Research if your target audience is on Facebook; do not waste this marketing tool.
- Do you have the capacity to handle the requests and inquiries generated? Do not open a communication channel if you cannot attend to it.
- If you have to continuously answer the same frequently asked questions about your products, you might need a bot.
- If you have a chat system on your website, it may be time to link it with your social networks.
- If you have low traffic on your website, you need a strategy to attract visitors; a bot is a good option.
Facebook bots can greatly assist your online business; but you must implement it properly, as it is not just a channel for answering inquiries.
How to make the most of your Facebook bot?
One of the goals is to achieve communication that is as natural as possible. Focus on the customer experience when interacting with your Chatbot; it is essential that you find qualified and experienced developers who can provide you with a professional result.
It is also important to continuously nurture and update its knowledge base, so that its range of responses expands and it can address more requirements. For this, you should maintain fluid communication with your developer, showing them your vision so that they can materialize it.
The concept is simple: the customer should feel like they are talking to a person. So you must start by ensuring that the bot understands what it says. Its language should be as spontaneous as if it were having a conversation with a friend on the street, for example.
Also, make sure to integrate it into your marketing strategies. Include it in your campaigns; make your customers associate it with your company as soon as they see it... or hear it. Connect with your customers by making these campaigns very interactive and engaging, stimulating their participation and emotional connection with your brand.
Happy customers, successful company
Do you want to find the formula to keep your customers happy? Provide personalized attention, respond promptly to their inquiries, and connect with their needs. If you don’t know how to do it, don’t worry; Mintec offers its professional services to automate your business quickly and efficiently.
It’s time to forget old marketing practices and join digital marketing; the world has changed, and so has the way you communicate with your customers. Our multidisciplinary team is ready to assist you and improve the performance of your online business.
Having AI-based Chatbots is a decisive step towards customer loyalty. Don’t hesitate to contact us and discover all the services we can offer you. Jumping on the Facebook bot train will help you manage your business better and increase your profits.