During social media giant Facebook’s F8 conference on Wednesday, the company announced several new tools, with messaging for businesses being a central focus.
Facebook is aiming to provide businesses with the capability to manage more of their interactions with customers on its WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger platforms. In addition, it wants to allow more ecommerce transactions to take place directly on said platforms.
There were three key announcements from the conference – here’s all you need to know:
Instagram messaging
All businesses will now have access to the API – application program interface – for Instagram messaging. This means it will be easier for companies to manage and automate conversations with their customers. For example, businesses will be able to create automatic responses for frequently asked questions, such as “How many days do I have to make return?”, reducing the need for a live chat to take place. These capabilities are already available on both Messenger and WhatsApp.
Improvements to WhatsApp
The social network announced several new tools for businesses on its WhatsApp messaging platform. These include “reply” buttons, which provide customers with prewritten replies to choose from as they communicate with a business, and list messages, in which businesses can offer customers a list of up to 10 different options when communicating.
In addition, the onboarding process for the WhatsApp Business API will be sped up – the process, which used to take several weeks, will now only take a matter of minutes, so businesses can start conversing with their customers using the app almost immediately.
Multiple person AR
Facebook also announced its new Multipeer API program, which is currently in beta. This forms part of the social network’s effort to provide more augmented reality (AR) features for its users, and the program will enable software developers to develop new AR effects that can be used by numerous users at once. As an example, a group of Facebook users could sign onto a video call in Messenger and select an AR filter of party hats, which would then apply to everyone in the call.
These new tools are all centred around communication and highlight the importance of strong communication channels between businesses and their customers. These channels should include not only social media, but a website too, complete with a contact form. If you’d like to have a chat about strengthening your communication links with customers on the web, speak to a member of our team at Engage Web today.
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