On the 18th and 19th April Facebook hosted F8, their annual global developer conference, where the technical community joined up for two days of workshops, product demos and 1:1 time with Facebook’s product experts.
Whilst the content and announcements at F8 are typically geared towards developers, there is always interesting and important news that digital marketers should be aware of, too. For this post I’ve selected five top announcements but you can watch the full keynote here.
What is this:
During the F8, updates were announced for Facebook Analytics in order to help businesses better understand their customer behavior across devices and channels. This update is designed to enable businesses to measure and optimise their complete customer journey across mobile, web, bots on Messenger, and now Facebook Pages and Offline Conversions, too. Facebook will also be launching automated insights, custom dashboards, and additional enhancements to existing features.
What this means for businesses:
With Facebook Analytics, businesses can get a complete picture of their customer journey across multiple platforms and measure and understand their audience’s behavior in order to better tailor their content, inform marketing and optimise their customer experience.
Product teams, retention and lifecycle marketers and developers will get the most use out of Facebook Analytics, as they can use the tool to measure and understand their audience as well as the interactions they have in their product. This will help increase engagement, conversion and retention to ultimately drive growth.
More details can be found at https://developers.facebook.com/products/analytics
What is this:
Facebook introduced Messenger Platform 2.0, which includes updates around business discovery, AI-powered experience and advanced developer tools.
What this means for businesses:
The new Messenger Platform 2.0 is designed to enable businesses to benefit from additional discoverability in Messenger through a new Discover tab, set up automatic replies to FAQs and chat extensions, which allow bots to interact in existing conversations or groups. Businesses are encouraged to leverage Messenger to enhance customer service capabilities and drive business outcomes.
For more information visit https://messengerblog.com/
What is this:
Facebook are enabling a business that has customers logged into their app with Facebook to identify the same person in their bot on Messenger.
What this means for businesses:
Businesses who have an app with customers logged in with Facebook and also a bot on Messenger can now recognise the same person across both channels. This means that a business can grow the connections made in their app into a relationship and continue to engage with the same person in their bot, providing a more personalised experience and customer service.
What is this:
Facebook are expanding their alpha testing of the shops API to additional third party eCommerce platforms. At the moment, small-medium businesses can create a shop section on a Page via self-serve Page publishing tools, or through third party eCommerce platforms, Shopify and BigCommerce. Facebook are expanding API testing to additional third-party eCommerce platforms in an effort to empower even more small-medium businesses globally with mobile storefront presence on Facebook.
What this means for businesses:
Last October 2016, Facebook introduced a shop section on Pages, designed for small and medium retail and ecommerce businesses. Until now these businesses had two ways to create and manage their Shop: through a self-serve Page publishing tools on Facebook, or via integrations with Shopify and BigCommerce.
From now on Facebook are expanding API testing to additional third-party eCommerce platforms. They have committed to continued focus on empowering small and medium businesses, and will be opening this alpha to select third-party eCommerce platforms working with businesses of this size.
For more information on the Shop Section visit Facebook’s help center.
What is this:
The Camera Effects Platform provides an opportunity for artists and developers to create effects for the new Facebook Camera. Included with this new platform are two creative tools that give the Facebook community the power to create a full spectrum of camera effects, from simple frames to interactive effects, 3D masks and augmented reality (AR):
What this means for businesses:
The Facebook camera and the Camera Effects Platform are part of Facebook’s video-first strategy for people. These products are still in the early days, so the company will work to optimise both the Camera and the Camera Effects Platform for people first. In the future, if appropriate, they will consider paid ways for businesses to participate (consistent with Facebook’s ad product philosophy).
However, businesses are welcome to experiment with the Platform organically to connect with the audiences that matter to them by providing effects to help people creatively express themselves. Businesses can use this as an experimental canvas but this is not a standalone advertising tool that is intended to drive a business outcome. For example, a local cookie shop could create a frame with cookies and other treats for their patrons to use when they visit the shop to share their experience there.
What is this:
A new VR app called Facebook Spaces allows you to hangout with your Facebook
friends and family, have fun and share experiences as if you were in the same room, no matter where you are in the world. Launching in Early Access for Oculus Rift, Facebook say this is only the beginning as they continue to explore how VR can open new ways for people to connect with each other.
What this means for businesses:
While Facebook are thinking about ways that businesses could participate in the future, their focus right now is on making the best consumer experience possible
(following Facebook’s product monetisation philosophy). If brands have produced 360 content, people will be able to bring those videos or photos into their Spaces environment to view with friends.
By Gavin Llewellyn
Gavin Llewellyn (LinkedIn) is an independent consultant. He is a Chartered Marketer who specialises in digital marketing, specifically in social media, SEO and online strategy. Gavin blogs at One Too Many Mornings where he offers advice, guidance and ideas on how individuals and companies can use digital marketing effectively to get found online, build engagement and generate conversion. You can Follow Gavin on Twitter.
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