- Jan 30, 2019 Facebook is reportedly working to combine Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram messaging into a single, unified platform, but don't expect that system to hit anytime soon: CEO Mark Zuckerberg has.
- Hangouts is a combined SMS and IM app that separates the two types of messages but can be used to automatically place voice calls and video calls from your phone via Hangouts. It's the key app for those who use a free Google Voice phone number, which is an incredibly handy thing to have.
- WeChat is a messaging and social media app from Tencent that has over 1 billion monthly active users. Create group chats with up to 500 members, and run group video calls with up to nine people. Send files up to 100 MB — PDFs, documents, spreadsheets, slideshows, and more — without the hassle of email or file-sharing apps.
Messaging apps are the biggest platforms connecting us today. According to a recent report by HubSpot, the top messaging apps have over 5 billion monthly active users combined, and this number isn't slowing down any time soon. And this is a market that a huge majority of businesses simply haven't begun to tap into yet; a report by Buffer found that barely 20% of companies are making the most of messaging platforms.
But how do you know which chat app to use for your type of business to connect with your specific audience?
Firstly, you have to understand what users want. According to a recent Facebook-Nielsen report, from a survey of users on messaging apps:
- 61% appreciate when businesses send personalized messages
- 63% value the ability to make a purchase or pay a bill with a messaging app
- Over 50% of users are more likely to interact with a business if they can message it
So can we expect to see social media popularity fall behind messaging app popularity? Current trends say yes, especially with the most recent issues surrounding Facebook and an online push towards keeping information private again.
Via Business Insider
Any business that wants to stay relevant and engage clients should step up their game when it comes to messaging apps. Use the information below to find which app would work best for you.
Android Messages (Top Choice) The good news for a lot of people is the best text messaging app is. A new app called Snowball aims to unify the plethora of messaging clients such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat, SMS, Hangouts, Twitter, Line, WeChat, and Slack, into a single inbox.
Slack
Slack may be the best platform for B2B companies for a number of reasons. Slack reported a while back that 77% of Fortune 100 companies make use of their platform. That roughly translates to nine million weekly active users, most from the ages of 25 to 54. A report from iDataLabs found that a majority of businesses in the United States prefer Slack.
Here's how you can make better business use of Slack.
Slack Tip #1: Build a community for potential partners and clients
The great thing about building on active and growing platforms is that the clients and partners that you want to find are most likely already on the platform. And this is why Slack has so much potential to boost your business: by simply creating a community where potential clients can contact you, you can better establish the bridge between your business and other businesses.
There are thousands of active Slack groups and communities with hundreds of members each, with more hitting that number every day.
Slack Tip #2: Build a community for your existing partners and clients
Wistia is a B2B company that gives growing businesses access to an easy-to-integrate video platform. Two years ago, Wistia announced that they were moving their community operations from an online forum to a Slack channel. According to Chris Savage, Wistia made this switch primarily to grow their community:
'The new Wistia Community is already starting to hop, and we are seeing way more conversations and stronger bonds between community members. We believe that part of the reason this is the case is because many of us are already in Slack, and it's much easier to hop into the community and ask a question than it's ever been before.'
So what can we learn from this?
- Customers and businesses alike love realtime and active communication
- Stay in the loop with a variety of channels for all the different areas of your business
Facebook Messenger
A report by TechCrunch found that Facebook Messenger hosts activity from 1.2 billion users every month. The simple interface, attractive design, and the fact that for most people, it might be the only messaging app they know, all combine to create a behemoth in the messaging app world.
As a B2C company, there's no better place to connect with your customers worldwide than Messenger.
But what's the best way to engage your customers on Messenger? Perhaps it might not involve you at all, but a chatbot.
Neil Patel has made a bold statement that with Facebook Messenger chatbots, he could help a campaign achieve 88% open rates. According to Patel, the reason is that customers don't have the same 'email fatigue' or 'banner blindness' that have made us resistant to other means of marketing. Instead, we're open to the idea of using bots to get what we want. Why?
Simply because a bot is designed to give the user 'exactly what they're looking for, and nothing more.' HubSpot reported that 47% of shoppers are open to buying items from a bot, and this number will only continue to increase as they realize that bots are now much more sophisticated than they once were.
Here are three ways you can use Messenger chatbots to reach out to your audience:
1) Deliver Content
A popular online marketer, Josh Fetcher, found a great way to make use of his Messenger chatbot. On top of sending his clients the weekly emails that they subscribed to, Josh also used the chatbot to send the same message through Messenger.
Via Sendible
While he hasn't shared his open rate, we can only assume that it is much higher than the average open rate for his email newsletter.
2) Boost Participant Engagement During Events
There's no reason why you should stick to bland, reactive uses of your chatbot. You can also use the chatbot to boost participant or customer engagement during events launched by your business. For example, ahead of the launch of the latest Call of Duty video game, the parent company Activision created a bot that mimicked the personality of a popular character, Lt. Reyes.
Via CMO
This bot was highly successful, with over 6 million messages sent back and forth with excited customers.
WhatsApp opens your doors to a huge market: With 1.5 billion monthly users and 60 billion messages sent daily, there's more than enough reason to start promoting on WhatsApp. What makes WhatsApp different from Facebook Messenger is the target audience. WhatsApp is generally more widely used in developing nations, giving you access to a new market unavailable on Messenger.
WhatsApp Tip #1: One-on-one Messaging
Since WhatsApp doesn't allow chatbots like Messenger, businesses have to find more active methods to connect with their customers. One business did just that: Agent Provocateur, a high-end lingerie brand, launched the Ménage à Trois campaign.
With this, WhatsApp users could message Agent Provocateur's WhatsApp and talk to an AP Agent who would help them figure out the best raunchy Christmas wish list for them and their partner.
WhatsApp Tip #2: Make the Most of the Status Feature
Hundreds of millions of users update their status on WhatsApp every day. These statuses can be text, images, or videos, which are automatically wiped after a day. The best use of this feature was probably done by a popular Indian restaurant called Cafe TC.
They called it the liquor ticker, and it would show the latest updates and promotions from the cafe in the status and profile pic. But instead of the status, it would display as a blinking sticker, and the profile pic, a moving GIF.
They did this by creating a custom API, turning pics into gifs and statuses into stickers. There's no better way to catch your customers' attention while they're scrolling through WhatsApp.
Kik
Combined Messaging App Login
Kik is relatively new to the messaging app game, which is why its user base is much younger than other platforms: according to an update from Kik, the users on Kik are between the ages of 13 and 24. But that doesn't mean it's a small population of users; about a third of all US teenagers are active on the app.
So if you are running a brand that needs to target the younger generation in the US, Kik is your best bet.
But how?
The Indianapolis Colts actually found a way to promote on Kik, hoping to reach their youngest fans. Kik sells Promoted Chats to advertisers, and also allows businesses to buy branded GIFs which are sent to their users.
With the Promoted Chat feature, the NFL team designed a chat game that would 'take followers through seven levels of a choose-your-own adventure story about rising through the football ranks from high school player to the pros.'
By creating a chatbot that would engage with the users and take them on a step by step guide alongside the Colts, they managed to turn thousands of casual young fans into potential lifelong supporters of the team.
Snapchat
If you are trying to target millennials, Snapchat is the perfect messaging platform for your business. There are over 158 million daily users on the platform, and nearly 75% of them users are under the age of 25; whatever ad you might have on Snapchat will have a millennial-heavy audience.
Snapchat Tip #1: Partner with influencers
When looking for a great example of a Snapchat influencer who knows his stuff, you have to look no further than DJ Khaled, the self-proclaimed 'King of Snapchat'. Khaled is always in demand for influencer partnerships with brands who want to promote on Snapchat.
One brand that partnered with Khaled was Stride Gum, which launched a series of Snapchat-friendly images that Khaled shared to his followers.
Via HubSpot
Khaled took over their Snapchat for 24 hours while they released a series of videos to help rebrand to a younger and more intense image. If you can find the right influencer with an audience that fits your market, you can hit a goldmine of engagement and activity.
Snapchat Tip #2: Use Everything They Offer
When advertising on Snapchat, there's no reason why you shouldn't go all out. Here's what they offer:
- Snap ads: Short 10-second clips that will be found in your followers' Discover panel
- Sponsored Lenses: Lenses or picture modifiers that allow users to change their image with your business' branded content
- Sponsored Geofilters: Allowing users to find your promotions in certain locations
One way a 'boring' business turned itself fun was Cisco's 'Day in the Life of an Account Manager' series. Cisco made their own custom lenses while showcasing quick and quirky videos of their account manager as he went through an average day.
What can we learn from this? You don't have to be a young or youthful brand to be exciting on these younger platforms. Just think outside the box, and find a new way to present who you are as a business.
SMS
Text messaging may be a decade or two older than most messaging apps out there, but that doesn't mean that it can't pack a punch with the right marketing campaign. There are a couple ways that an SMS marketing campaign can reach better results than a messaging app campaign. Iphoto compress photos.
What's great about texts is that they are fast and they require no internet connection. This gives it some unique functionality that messaging apps can't do. For example, you might be better off with an SMS marketing campaign for these situations:
1) Fast Campaigns
People love relevance; there's nothing better than knowing that something is going on right here, right now. Impermanence is always attractive (which is why we love 'limited time only' campaigns), and texting is a great way to create that 'rush' campaign.
For example, one Australian football club called the Essendon Bombers texted all of their fans on a game day that they were having a rush sale on merchandise inside the stadium.
2) Keep Customers Updated
Texts are the best way to make sure that your message gets through to a customer. If you run into the problem with too many customers not showing up for appointments or meetings, texting them with updates and reminders can reduce that no-show rate. This could be the case for all appointment-based businesses like salons and private healthcare practices.
3) Surveys
Texting is a great way to get your customers to respond to surveys. There's just something about the SMS format that makes people more willing to participate than on other platforms. In fact, the average reach for SMS surveys is 15-20%, with one company having boosted this number up to a regular 60% response rate.
Key Takeaway: Experiment
If there's one thing the case studies and statistics above should teach you, it's that you need to experiment. The messaging app marketing world is still going through its earliest stages, meaning there's no tried and tested technique for anything.
Feel free to try it all, from texting surveys to your customers, to sending them chatbot games through Facebook, or making your own customized lenses on Snapchat. Feel around until you find something that works for your business, and maximize it.
About the author
Anastasia Sviridenko is a content marketing manager at TextMagic. When she's not working, you can find her baking something with bananas or reading a sci-fi novel.
There are several Instant Messaging apps on smartphones that make communication very easy, but several people do not know there are equally awesome instant messaging apps for PC. Some of these applications are multi-protocol platforms, meaning that they can support many of the popular smartphone instant messengers. Others are very well designed for businesses, and can help boost their communication.
No matter the Operating System you run on your PC, there are several free instant messaging apps for you. But which is the best instant messenger for pc? This post will analyze five of the best instant messaging apps for PC, providing you with more than enough information to decide on the best one for you.
Five Instant Messaging Applications for PC
We have outlined 5 very excellent instant messaging applications for PC. These applications are very good solutions to your communication problems. In no particular order, they are:
1. ezTalk
This is a very rich instant messaging app for computer that checks all the features a user could possibly ask for. This app is perfect for business purposes and for personal purposes.
ezTalks- Easy & Free IM App
- Free for up to 100 Participants
- Fluent Group Video/Audio/IM Chat
- Screen Sharing and Annotation
- White Board and Collaboration
- Record and Playback
It features rich emoji and very secure gateway for your messages. You can also conduct video conference call via this app, allowing for other options of business communication.The user interface is very simple and well designed. You will never get lost or hooked trying to navigate through this app, as everything is very well designed. There is a group chat feature where you can invite whatever number of participants you want. Besides this instant messaging feature, you can also share screens if you want someone you are chatting with to see what is on your screen. In all, this app offers some of the best features available on any instant messaging app for PC.
2. Pidgin
This is one of the best free instant messaging apps for PC. This application works well on all Operating Systems – Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It is an open-source desktop client that is very simple and powerful. The interface of this platform is very well designed and navigation through it is intuitive.
This application supports multiple instant messaging platforms, providing all you need such as emojis and group chats. Some of the platforms supported on this platform are: AIM, Google Talk, MSN, IRC, Yahoo!, etc. Perhaps the best feature of this instant messaging app for PC is its third party plug in interface. This interface allows you to plug in any instant messaging platform, such as Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, etc.
3. Digsby
This is another very notable instant messaging app for PC. This app works only on the Windows operating system and puts all your social networks in one single interface. You can also merge several friends' networks into one account. Some other features of this app include the ability to send SMS, pop-up notifications, status change for all networks, conversation history, data sync, etc. This is a platform that supports all the popular networks, including Facebook, Gmail, Google Talk, Twitter, etc.
Android Messaging App
4. Instant Bird
Combined Messaging App Icon
This is a very simple and well functional instant messaging app for PC. The design of this app is very simple and easy to understand. It can be customized to the taste of the user, reflecting its high flexibility. It has several other features, like chat encryption, spell checker, dictionary, etc. The instant messaging app works on all Operating Systems – Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
5. Trillian
This is one of the best Instant messaging apps for PC. It features a rich design that is bound to catch the eye on first use. It has very unique and interactive user interface that helps the user perform operations seamlessly. This platform features a distinctive game chat feature that allows users to talk with other people while playing a full-screen game. There are several other features like a built in spell checker, multiple tabs for conversation, emojis, etc. It works seamlessly on all popular Operating Systems including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Conclusion
Communication is an essential need in this digital age, and these five instant messaging apps for PC have provided great channels for communication. This post has extensively revealed all there is to know about the best 5 Instant messaging apps for PC, so you should be able to properly choose the best one for you.
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