How to use chatbots and AI with influencer marketing

How to use chatbots and AI with influencer marketing
How to use chatbots

A guide to using chatbots as part of your influencer marketing strategy

Look no further to find out how to use chatbots effectively for your business.

Commerce is becoming more conversational. Businesses can now use chatbots and artificial intelligence to communicate with their customers immediately.  According to an Oracle survey, 80% of businesses want chatbots by 2020. We’ve put together this guide on how to use chatbots and see effective results.

Firstly, to give it some context, we give an overview of the technology behind the chatbot.

What is a chatbot?

A chatbot is a robot chat that conducts conversation by voice commands or text. Chatbot programs that use AI (artificial intelligence) can imitate human conversation. They also self-learn how to get better at interacting with people. 

Chatbot technology is machine learning with natural language processing (NLP). Chatbots are highly customisable, making them an ideal tool for brands across multiple verticals to use for conversational commerce with their customers.

Machine learning

Machine learning is the creation of chatbot algorithms. These algorithms are also referred to as neural networks, inspired by the structure of the human brain. The artificial neutrons of the machine learning algorithm are interconnected and responsive to one another.

The sentiment analysis tool of machine learning works as an empathy reader, like a regular human interaction. By analysing the language and context of the conversation, it can determine both the recipient’s attitude and emotional state and respond accordingly.

NLP

NLP (natural language processing) mimics human conversation by picking up conversational cadences in speech. When used by brands to communicate with customers, the human tone of the chatbot creates a more intimate interaction. Rather than relying on a prompt, the predictive analytics of NLP uses modelling, statistics and data mining to proactively generate information.

Why use chatbots?

Chatbots help brands to be there in the moment that customers need them. They streamline the whole process of customer service from end to end.

Solve a problem

A challenge for brands has always been how they can be there when a customer is considering making a purchase. Instead of customers having to wait hours, or even days, to hear an answer to a question via e-mail or telephone, chatbots enable brands to communicate straight away. Waiting for an answer can be an irritating process for customers, and they might go to a competitor. Chatbots make the whole customer service experience more positive.

Generate leads

Chatbots can also generate leads by engaging with potential customers. They can use data to predict when a customer might be interested in learning about a business. A chatbot can act as customer support, answering FAQs, an awareness-raising tool about a new product launch, an educational tool, or a tool to drive traffic and channel conversions to your website.

Initiate conversation

Customers are likelier to interact with your business via a private chatbot message than a public comment on a social media post. Chatbot messages give the feeling of immediacy. The chatbot uses technology to provide a relevant response instantly. This is not the case for a social media post or e-mail. Chatbots can also be given a fun personality to make your brand more likeable.

Customers will love it

From a customer perspective, chatbots are still a bit of a novelty, giving brands an advantage over competitors. They assist quickly and efficiently, can be entertaining and enhance the social experience of your brand.

How to use chatbots for business

The chatbot market is set to grow exponentially. By 2020, over 85% of customer interactions will be handled without a human, according to a Gartner forecast. You don’t need to be a Silicon Valley mega giant or have hundreds of developers at hand to know how to use a chatbot effectively.

While the complex AI might not yet be readily available for every budget, there is a lot that brands can do now, thanks to platforms like Facebook, with which you can build a chatbot and track the results. There are ways your business can get started with chatbots today to better engage your customers.

When using chatbots for business, the first thing to do is ensure that your bot provides helpful service and immediate value to your audience. Determine your key objective of using chatbots, and then figure out what service would be most beneficial for your customers to achieve that objective.

It’s easy for your brand to get started with chatbots. There are lots of self-service programs that have emerged to help brands build a chatbot programme. The tricky part is ensuring that it is an interactive agent that consumers will trust.

How to use chatbots on the Facebook Ad Platform

Vamp’s Media offering gives you the potential to implement chatbots as part of your content and influencer marketing campaign via the Facebook Ad Platform. We manage and optimise it on your brand’s behalf. 

Vamp can produce chatbots to interact with existing and potential customers. The Vamp chatbot functionality can vet the user to identify what information and products are most relevant to them and push them to a specific destination based on validation. The Vamp chatbot can be aligned to brand personas and be activated in both Facebook & Instagram Ads. 

To find out more about Vamp’s media offering, contact us here.

How to combine chatbots with influencer marketing

Chatbots and influencer marketing go hand in hand. Here are some of the ways you can use chatbots with influencers:

  • Build a chatbot version of an influencer who aligns strongly with your brand to give your brand a personable, authentic face with which your audience will be more inclined to interact.
  • Utilise an influencer’s intimate knowledge of their audience and Facebook’s audience data to better target chatbot ads on Facebook Messenger to relevant people.
  • An influencer campaign could help by driving traffic to a website. Use Facebook pixel tracking to re-target visitors to your site with a chatbot on Facebook Messenger to help them with their purchase journey. 
  • Align it with an influencer-related event, using influencer-produced content to add a higher level of authenticity. You can provide event notes, important information or a follow-up survey afterwards which would be less likely to be ignored than a survey sent to a saturated e-mail inbox.
  • Use influencers to create content for a micro-site that acts as an educational tool for customers about a new product launch. Then use a chatbot to act as an agent, which brings this to your audience’s attention where a social media post on your brand’s Facebook page might have gone unnoticed.

These are just some ideas to show how chatbots and influencers align naturally and can help brands maximise their chatbot activity’s impact.

Conclusion

Chatbot technology has come a long way in a short space of time. Brands getting a sophisticated understanding of how to use chatbots are ahead of the game, but it won’t be long before interactive AI becomes commonplace in areas like customer service. Machine learning AI and NLP technology will continue to develop in the coming years. There are many ways brands can use chatbots to their advantage in their marketing strategy now. Influencers can help to increase the impact of a chatbot campaign.

Download the free Vamp guide and learn how your brand can succeed on the original influencer marketing platform, Instagram.

Download this free Vamp guide and learn how to succeed on the world’s most viral platform.