Public Relations Account Manager Ashley Moran found agency life through a college internship. She moved to Cincinnati to work for the company full-time after graduation and stayed in the city for six years. She once convinced a local anchorwoman to dress as a gorilla to give the news. A Pittsburgh native, Ashley is a fan of the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and big sandwiches.

Facebook messenger is approaching one billion users, and with this milestone we can expect to see scannable codes, specialized links and welcome notes to elevate brand-to-consumer interaction. Facebook feels their users deserve personal, real-time responses, and as marketers, we couldn’t agree more.

Messenger for Unsurpassed Customer Service

During the past year, Facebook began introducing brands to the Messenger audience. Major retailers like Walmart, 1-800-flowers and Uber jumped on board offering a higher level of customer service. Uber lets users request rides directly from the messenger app, and many companies are providing customers with receipts via the app.

Facebook also integrated Messenger into brands’ main Pages. This encourages users to communicate with brands directly rather than posting to the business page or tagging the brand in a post, allowing brands to become more human through one-to-one communication with customers.

We use Messenger on a daily basis for our clients. Through the app, we are able to resolve customer questions personally and quickly. And, the tool is useful when hosting Facebook trivia giveaways. Users message the brand and have a dialogue about their prize.

Messenger and Conversational Bots

Whether it’s to quicken response time for customer service, send personalized weather updates or purchase a pair of sneakers, Bots on Messenger will soon be here to help. You might think of these Messenger upgrades as live chat on a website – except with a super intelligent bot that can tell you a particular brand of shoe runs a bit small and that you might consider bumping up a half-size. Bots on Messenger will give customers the ultimate shopping experience. No need for multiple search windows. No need to dig for email receipts. Just one-click ordering and tracking from your mobile device, through Facebook Messenger.

Messenger Adopts Usernames and Snapchat-Like Image Codes

Usernames will soon be introduced on Messenger, making it even easier for people to find one another and brands. In addition to usernames, Messenger is introducing Snapchat-like image codes. Users can seamlessly snap photos of the code with their phones and immediately connect with a person or brand on Messenger. How will these image codes and the new Facebook Live impact Snapchat’s growth? Certainly time will tell.

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