A growing number of businesses are using chatbots in lots of exciting ways – in fact, according to Facebook, there are now over 300,000 active bots on Messenger.
You can order food, schedule flights, and get recommendations for pretty much anything you can think of – and while we’re still in the early days, the latest numbers, both in terms of available bots and usage, all point to one thing. Adoption is growing.
Whether you like it or not, chatbots and virtual assistants are the future of marketing and customer support, and that means they may present new opportunities for your business also.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot (also known as a talkbot, chatterbot, Bot, IM bot, interactive agent, or Artificial Conversational Entity) is a computer program or an artificial intelligence which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods. Read more on Wikipedia.
What is a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant is a software agent that can perform tasks or services for an individual. Sometimes the term “chatbot” is used to refer to virtual assistants generally or specifically those accessed by online chat (or in some cases online chat programs that are for entertainment and not useful purposes). Read more on Wikipedia.
9 Great Examples of How Brands are Using Chatbots
- Lyft
- Fandango
- Spotify
- Whole Foods
- Sephora
- Mastercard
- Staples
- The Wall Street Journal
- Pizza Hut
Read more about these examples in the full article by Larry Kim here on SocialMediaToday.