Smartphones, tablets and other types of mobile devices have opened up a whole range of new opportunities for communicating. Which means they’ve also opened up a whole range of new opportunities for promoting your brand. In particular, there’s the rise of messaging apps as a new form of social media.
For instance, there’s Kik Messenger, which combines social media, texting, and IM, allowing you to converse and share content with your friends, privately and mobilely, either one-on-one or in groups. Or Snapchat, which lets you send photo messages to friends in short bursts that last no longer than 10 seconds before disappearing. These messaging apps eliminate the walls and newsfeeds and connect people directly with their social circles. They enable the things their users want, like messaging and sharing content, while eliminating a lot of the extraneous features of other social media platforms. And they’re quickly going from a novelty to a mainstream social media tool. According to a number of experts, these apps represent the future of how people are connecting with one another. Messaging apps are here to stay.
So how do you use them for marketing? Well, they allow you the opportunity to interact with your followers directly, instead of en masse, building up a relationship and giving your messages that personal touch. This is one of the most important aspects of social media marketing in general, and messaging apps provide a perfect outlet for that type of personal interaction.
For instance, Taco Bell successfully used Snapchat by sending its followers a picture of their Beefy Crunch Burrito as it was on the verge of being re-added to their menu. With just a simple picture, they were able not only to connect with their followers, but to get them excited about a new product. All within just 10 seconds.
Taco Bell was one of the first companies to make use of messaging apps in their marketing strategy. But a number of other prominent companies have followed suit. And you can, too! It’s all in how you present your information. If you treat messaging apps as an excuse to interrupt your audience’s lives with your product, and format your messages as advertisements, it will turn people off. But if you use it as a way to put a face on your brand, and interact with people on a one-on-one level, then your message can have a real impact.
Talk to people, not at them. Connect with them, don’t advertise to them. If you can make that personal connection with your audience, then they’ll be glad to take your brand with them, wherever they go.
