Three Reasons Publishers Need to Use Messaging Apps
Ping.
That’s the sound of publishers communicating with their users across various messaging apps.
With over 2.5 billion installs of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp alone, processing 60 billion messages a day, the amount of active monthly users on messaging apps is now outnumbering those on social networks.1
Publishing bellwethers have hopped on-board, with many seeing promising results.
1. Messaging Apps Increase Followers and Subscribers
The Huffington Post began using the messaging app Viber, hoping for a shot at reaching the app’s 250 million monthly users, most of whom are located in Russia, India, and the Middle East. After joining Viber, The Huffington Post acauried about 18 thousand new followers on its Viber Public Chats.2
Likewise, the BBC has found success using messaging apps during periods of breaking news. When the Ebola crisis began making waves, 25,000 users subscribed to the BBC’s WhatsApp channel to stay abreast of updates. During this time, the BBC also sent health alerts, with each one receiving about a 10% response rate with users messaging back.
2. Messaging Apps Increase User Engagement
The Wall Street Journal is reaching over 2 million followers on the Japanese chat app Line, with 30% of users commenting, liking, and sharing its content.3 And a 2015 MEC study found that 79% of messaging app users are likely to engage with brands during chat app experiences, presenting a great opportunity for publishers to test these new platforms.4
3. Messaging Apps are Publisher Friendly
Through Facebook Messenger, publishers are able to use chatbots, artificial intelligence that can interact with subscribers within the messaging app. According to a CNN statement about the bot, “Subscribers to CNN on Messenger will receive a daily digest of top stories right within the Messenger app. The bot will also recommend personalized content based on a user’s preferences and learned interests. The experience gets more personalized with each interaction on Messenger.”5
Learn four reasons why publishers need to use content personalization.
Although publishers are using messaging apps to acquire new users and build user engagement, there’s the problem of dark social.
Because content is shared through private channels instead of public platforms, analytic tools cannot measure and track how and where content within messaging apps is shared. Kevin Shively, Head of Content Marketing for Simply Measured, states that 70% of social sharing is dark with 50% of social traffic and sales being dark as well.6
What this ultimately means is that publishers cannot properly inform their future marketing and content distribution efforts, what with 80% of acquired social traffic being hidden into the direct traffic section of their analytics.7
Despite this caveat, publishers remain interested in the benefits and future possibilities of messaging apps. As Tom Standage, the Deputy Editor of The Economist, states, “Clearly messaging apps are where social media is going next, and we and other publishers need to figure them out.”8
In the time it took you to read this post, about 41 million messages were sent on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp alone. Publishers, understandably so, want their piece of the pie.
1. Lusthof, Michel. “Are Messaging Apps the Next Frontier for Publishers?”CrowdyNews, 21 Apr. 2016.
2. Boland, Margaret. “Publishers are leveraging chat apps to reach mobile audiences.” Business Insider, 19 Jan. 2016.
3. Lusthof, Michel. “Are Messaging Apps the Next Frontier for Publishers?”CrowdyNews, 21 Apr. 2016.
4. Dua, Tanya. “5 Things Brands Need to Know About Messaging Apps.” Digiday, 19 May 2015.
5. Sloane, Garret. “Publishers Rush to Get Their Bots on Facebook Messenger.” Digiday, 12 Apr. 2016.
6. Rahaman, Mahin. “How Marketers Can Track “Dark Social” Sharing in Private, Mobile messaging Apps.” Social Media Week, 10 Jun. 2016.
7. Romao, Joao. “Shedding Light on Dark Social: a Publisher’s Case.” Get Social, 31 Mar. 2016.
8. Hazard Own, Laura. “The Economist starts publishing its charts on the messaging app Line.” NiemanLab, 28 Jan. 2016.