What Happened
On Thursday, Facebook debuted two new tools that can encourage more users to communicate with brands in its Messenger app. With the new scannable Messenger Codes, brands will be able to generate a two-dimensional barcode that users can scan with their smartphone cameras to start chatting with brands on Messenger. In addition to Messenger Codes, Facebook also introduced customizable short URLs called Messenger Links that, upon clicking, can redirect users to brand accounts in the Messenger app. Earlier this week, Facebook started showing “Suggested Businesses” in its Messenger app’s search page to facilitate discovery on that platform.
What Brands Need To Do
Scannable codes have long been a staple discovery tool on other messaging apps such as Snapchat or China’s WeChat. In fact, Snapchat’s customizable SnapCode is so popular that Burberry even started putting it on tags on some of their retail items to encourage shoppers to follow their Snapchat channel. As Facebook continues to make its messaging platform more business-friendly, brands should learn to use all the new tools available to make it easier for customers to find them and start a conversation.
To learn more about how brands can navigate the unique challenges that messaging apps present, check out the Conversational Interfaces section in our Outlook 2016.
Source: TechCrunch
Header image courtesy of Facebook for Business
