Facebook Messenger Platform: New Updates
August 16, 2016
There was a bit of grousing when Facebook made it a requirement that people download the Messenger app if they wanted to check their messages on their mobile phones.
Yet now many people use the app without thinking much about it. Using the app is just the new normal. And in fact, some people now prefer it since it gives individual notifications for when important messages might be waiting.
Now Facebook has announced some new updates that can make the experience even better. Here’s what we know about the Facebook messenger platform new updates:
Blog
The Facebook Messenger app now has its own blog for developers.
If you want to build a bot for messenger, you can get tips from the experts, read success stories, learn about guidelines and more. The blog also shares updates for Messenger and other Facebook platforms.
Visiting the blog regularly is a great way to stay up-to-date so you can be sure your social media marketing strategy is taking advantage of all the latest tools and trends.
Content
When people send a message through Messenger, they don’t always want to write a quick note.
Sometimes, they want to send videos, gifs or images. Now they can with the updated Messenger.
The platform now supports a variety of content types, including images, videos, gifs, and audio. You can even send file attachments, making it just as good as most popular email platforms in terms of what you can send.
Finally, the platform provides a number of other content types, such as content directly from Dropbox, Bitmoji, Tumblr, Draw Something and much more.
Automation
The new Facebook Messenger app has features that allow you to automate your conversations.
You can choose from up to 10 dynamic buttons to automate your conversation. You can do things like call or chat over video with the people in your conversation. You can add people to the message and much more.
Having the additional options gives you more control over your conversations.
A persistent menu also supports up to five actions to eliminate the need for people to remember text commands. People can send messages with more accuracy, and they can navigate the app more easily.
Muting
Muting conversations allows you to put a pause on a talk without leaving someone hanging and expecting an answer from you.
Bots now allow you to mute conversations, as well. You can easily let others know that you are away, and you can avoid the annoying notifications that are keeping you from working or doing other important things.
Business Messages
Typically, you can only message people you know on Facebook. If you send a message to someone you don’t know, it will go to their “others” folder or to a list of filtered messages.
Most people don’t check these folders — in fact, most people don’t even know that they exist. That means that your messages are not getting through if you are sending them to customers who are not connected to you personally (which is likely all of them).
Now, Messenger allows you to send messages to customers directly so long as they opt in to receive them. You can post a message on your business page asking your customers to opt in, just like you would do for your email list. Make sure you include a good incentive for them to opt in, such as receiving exclusive discounts or other offers.
The expanded offerings make Messenger a much more functional platform for both individual users and businesses alike.
The success of the Messenger platform has also shown developers that there is value in creating bots for it. In fact, the vice president of messaging products for Facebook said that 11,000 bots have been launched for the Wit.ai bot engine. Another 23,000 developers have expressed interest.
The Messenger app is just one of many Facebook offerings that help you get more from the site, and there are sure to be many more as developers continue to create bots and apps.
It is important that you develop a comprehensive social media strategy that includes as many of these tools as possible so that you reach more people.
Using tools like CodeFuel’s In-Tag can also help you reach more people through social media and content marketing. The platform places links automatically on your content and other publishers’ content to reach the right customers at the right time.
In-tag uses intent-based signals to determine what users really want and need. It then delivers tailored content based on those signals. The result is more clicks and more conversions because the right content is matched with the right customers.
Make sure that you include In-tag in your overall marketing strategy and that you take a comprehensive approach to both online and social media marketing. You will get more results more quickly.
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