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Chatbots, cool APPS.

Posted by Stephan Orlob on 17 April 2019

Chatbots. Latest Cool APP?

In the last year, chatbots have exploded. A chatbot, short for chat robot, uses artificial intelligence to imitate a conversation with people. One place they have exploded is the Facebook Messenger app, which is a free instant messaging platform. To get Facebook Messenger, you can download the app on your smartphone or go to https://www.messenger.com on your PC or Mac in any browser. In Messenger, a chatbot looks just like a person. All you need to do to connect to a chatbot is to go to the People section and enter the name of the bot you want to connect with. Typically, there will be a Get Started button. The bot may ask you some setup questions such as your time zone, city, or topic preferences.

Bots can do many things. There are bots to deliver the news daily (Chat Newswire), bots that entertain and play games, bots that help you find recipes and restaurants, bots that improve your productivity, bots that help kids with their homework (Christopher Bot), and even a bot that connects with QuickBooks. Each bot works a little differently. In general, you will receive a welcome message, then the conversation will begin. The bot will prompt you to ask a question, enter a phrase or a word, or select from a group of horizontal button choices.

Bots are useful for your daily routine. You can get daily news, weather, reminders, and tips. If you are stuck standing in line somewhere, riding public transportation, in an Uber or taxi, or experiencing other downtime, you can have several conversations with your bots to pass the time. If you don't know of any bots or wonder about a bot that does a specific thing, there are lots of bot directories available. To get you started, here is one bot list:  https://botlist.co/.

The cool part is you can design your own bot for your business which can be fun for customers. The Facebook Messenger platform is open, and you can find out more about how to create a bot here: https://messengerplatform.fb.com/. There are more platforms for chatbots besides Facebook Messenger, including Twitter, Android, Slack, and Amazon Echo, to name a few that you can explore if you don't care for Messenger or Facebook.

It's still early for bots. The effectiveness of the bots depends on how well they are designed as well as how much time the user spends learning how to work with the bot. Try connecting with a couple of bots to see if they will be productive for you. If nothing else, your kids will love the game bots while they are standing in line with you.

Need help starting or growing your business. For results you can count on, contact us at 1 844 577 7654 or at solutions@bizmetrics.ca  and please keep your feedback and suggestions for our blogs and newsletters coming.

Stephan OrlobAuthor:Stephan Orlob
About: Stephan is a dynamic marketing leader, speaker and author. He brings a deep understanding of the challenges facing Small Business today. Prior to founding BizMetrics, he has held senior marketing and business development roles with Sony, Wolters Kluwer, FujiFilm as well as Professional Firms in both B2B and B2C spaces, leading teams in high pressure and challenging environments. Stephan is a highly motivated, detailed professional who excels at developing business from the ground floor up. Consistent in driving innovative, cost effective business growth & marketing strategies, he is known for establishing a solid rapport with customers by creating an atmosphere of trust and respect in all relationships. Stephan holds a specialist BA in Economics, Commerce and Political Science from University of Toronto.
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