Facebook Messenger bots are chat bots which live within Facebook Messenger. Bots are usually programmed to know questions, give answers, and perform specific tasks. From a consumer perspective, they’re a very friendly and convenient time saver. Instead of opening up an application (let alone downloading it), sending a request, running a search, or typing a URL, your client can simply type a simple message, as they would to a close friend.
However, not all bot experiences are created equal. You may have heard about a bot called the Facebook Instant Messenger Bot. This bot is essentially a free version of Facebook’s own web-based email service called Facebook Mail. The idea is that a user can log into their account from any computer and see their messages there. This is similar to what an IM service might offer, but the Facebook Messenger Bot spares the user the trouble of having to set up an account, go through username registration, create a profile, etc.
Bot owners are now building ChatBots which can be accessed from within Facebook. These ChatBots are generally used for customer support, advertising promotions, marketing campaigns, and website promotion and maintenance. Bot owners can use Facebook’s Marketplace to sell their chat bots, or they can go through an established company such as Facebook Inc. Bots can be purchased for either a low price or, in some cases, for a premium price. If you plan to use a Facebook Messenger Bot in order to provide valuable customer service, you may want to look into purchasing a service such as the Facebook Messenger Bot.
One key feature of ChatBots is the built-in integration with the Share invite button on Facebook pages. With this service, you can create a promotional welcome message for a new customer which contains all the information about your bot and your website. Once your Bot clicks the Share button, a “chatfuel bot deployed” message appears on the right hand side of the screen. Users can click on the chatbot icon in order to chat with it.
In addition to the ability to chat with your Bot through the Facebook interface, ChatBots are also able to be integrated with social networking platforms such as MySpace, FaceBook, and Twitter. In fact, Facebook has developed a group of additional social networking apps around ChatBots. This allows the Bot to post information about special offers and new products which will encourage users to connect with your Bot on these and other social networking platforms. However, if you intend to use the Bot for customer support and advertisement promotions, you may want to deploy it through a third party application service such as the Facebook Webmaster Tools API.
If you choose to have the Facebook Messenger Bot deployed through a third party application service, you will need to register your Bot before it can perform its functions. Each Facebook Messenger Bot comes pre-branded with an invitation code which you will need to use to register your Bot. These codes are automatically sent to all members of your Facebook account whenever your Bot sends a message. This process, while not particularly time consuming, can be time consuming if you have a large number of friends or business contacts on Facebook. Fortunately, once you have registered your Bot, it should take just a few seconds to create a bot account and assign it a user name, then send a bot message.