Importance: [rating=4]
Recommended source: Facebook's blog
Facebook has announced a raft of new features for its Messenger app that promise to be rather interesting for business, as they offer opportunities for integrating messenger with their existing campaigns and utilising it for answering customer's questions. There are three new tools currently announced, which are: Messenger Codes, Messenger Usernames and Messenger Links.
The new codes for Messenger are just scannable codes which once picked up by your phone's camera automatically start a conversation with the brand that put out the code. Businesses could put them on all sorts of materials, be it online, in store or even business cards. It's kind of like QR codes but Facebook is gambling that by throwing the weight of 900,000 active messenger users behind it, they can be more successful.
There's reason to suspect they might be right on that count, given the success Snapchat have had with their 'Snapcodes', which are now being used by all sorts of brands to encourage their fans to follow them via Snapchat.
Burberry have even utilised Snapcodes in their advertising material, and doubtless many more brands will soon be doing the same.
Messenger usernames and messenger links are again extremely simple, yet open up more possibilities for brands. Messenger usernames just give everyone a unique messenger username rather than just their name, which can then be shared by other people. The fact it's unique makes it easier to find people, and means if you share your username, people can be sure to be able to find you. Messenger links takes this a step further by letting you link to your messenger account. This means you can add links in email signature or on websites, which let people message you or your companies' Facebook page directly. Great for letting people get in touch which your business easily.
Facebook hasn't announced a set launch date yet, but there shouldn't be too much longer to wait. Facebook stated that “It will all be rolling out gradually but it shouldn’t be too long”, so get planning for how you'll integrate messenger with your marketing campaigns!
By Robert Allen
Rob Allen is Marketing Manager for Numiko, a digital agency that design and build websites for purpose driven organisations, such as the Science Museum Group, Cancer Research UK, University of London and the Electoral Commission. Rob was blog editor at Smart Insights from 2015-2017. You can follow Rob on LinkedIn.
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