Murray Newlands — July 31, 2017 — July 31, 2017
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Simply developing a chatbot is no longer enough. You now have to get people interacting with it. One of the biggest challenges companies are facing is discoverability. While platforms such as Facebook have created plugins that you can now add to your website and various other pages, these still aren’t enough to get the right amount of traffic to your chatbot.
To help you, I’ve created a list of techniques you can use to get thousands of users on your chatbot.
Make Sure You Have a Useful Product
Before you can get people to your chatbot, you need to make sure you have a good product.
If you don’t, all your marketing efforts will be for nothing. Your chatbot should fit with your brand. It should be useful, offer a service, solves some sort of real world problem, or provide entertainment to your audience.
Use the Right Chatbot Building Platform
To give your audience a chatbot that will benefit them in some way, you need to make sure it is created correctly. Luckily, you don’t have to have any coding knowledge or hire an expensive development team to get this done. Chatbot-building platforms allow you to create a chatbot in record time by simply linking your Facebook profile to your account.
Viral Loops
Viral loops are a type of marketing campaign for a product, service, or brand that basically have for aim to encourage others to share the information they receive. Basically, they’re meant to go viral…quickly. Some ways you could use viral loops include:
- Rewarding users for their engagement
- Making socialization part of the product
- Giving consumers monetary rewards
- Appealing to consumers with inspirational products and stories
- Using the power of media, such as video, memes, and GIFs
Influencer Marketing
The power of influencer marketing is still incredible. Influencers are your online targeted distribution channels. Through them, you’ll reach an entirely new scope of potential customers from the moment they post about your product, service, or brand.
When putting together an influencer marketing strategy to get your bot out in the world, choose an angle will benefit both your influencer and their followers. You should also always use the most engaging way to tell your story and share your content, be it via video, imagery, or text.
Work With Bots With Similar Value Propositions
Networking is key in the professional world, and bot-to-bot connections are proving to be an efficient way to improve reach. There are loads of chatbot companies that are now interested in collaborating with other businesses that share similar value propositions.
Use Content Marketing
Remember that chatbots are still very new to the marketing, sales, and customer care worlds. With that in mind, innovative content is released on a daily basis. Jumping on the bandwagon now will allow you to get published in various blogs that will attract customers directly to your chatbot.
Implement a Dual Language Interface
If you offer your services or products on an international level, why would you limit your chatbot to just one language? Translating your interface into various relevant languages will allow you to expand your chatbot’s audience. Remember, your chatbot’s tips are most likely useful on a universal level, so the more languages in which it can communicate, the more users it will have.
Bot Directories and Search Engines
There are now chatbot directories where you can list your chatbot so that users can find it easily. They’re basically “app stores”, but for bots. Aside from creating profiles on these directories, you should promote these profiles across your own marketing channels.
Some of the most popular bot directories and search engines include:
- BotList
- BotPages
- BotFinder
- Chatbots.org
Submit Updates and Upcoming Features
When launching a new version of a product or service, you promote it, right? The same should go for your chatbot. One of the best ways to create a good chatbot is to start small and limit it to specific tasks. Once your chatbot evolves, you should start introducing new features or versions of it.
Tell your audience about anything new you are doing. Aside from the fact that you’ll be reminding them of your chatbot’s existence, you’ll also catch the attention of various directories. BotList, for example, allows users looking for a chatbot to filter them by “recently updated”. By keeping your profiles up-to-date, you’ll gain access to easy traffic opportunities.
Finally…
The chatbot ecosystem is gaining momentum, and making sure consumers know about yours is essential to its success. By following some of the steps outlined above, you’ll be able to go viral in no time, gathering new users from across the globe.
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