Beyond Text: How Using Messaging Apps for Marketing Is Shaping the Future of Consumer Interaction!

Keeping in touch remotely is easier than ever. We're able to do it at a low cost thanks to smartphones, social media, email, and messaging apps. Let's look at the highly competitive world of messaging apps and the marketing possibilities they offer.

The highly competitive space of messaging apps

Instagram just announced new features for DMs, including photo editing and stickers. In addition, users can add birthday cake icons to Notes, the status-like blurb at the top of their DM inboxes. Instagram users can now edit photos right in the chat. The new photo editing tools in chats make the experience more like Instagram Stories.

There's a growing trend with messaging apps to introduce new features or bring in features from other parts of the ecosystem. There are so many apps out there - WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Signal, Line - that are popular across the world. There's just no way to keep track of them all.

According to Statista, Meta currently leads the pack with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, followed by WeChat and Telegram. Apart from rankings, these apps have also been competing with native mobile messaging apps like Google Messages and iMessage. The fight to keep users within the ecosystem is getting fiercer for Google and Apple. They have added features to their own messaging apps to compete with third-party apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. Keeping these apps in their stores is how they avoid legal challenges, and they have to make their native apps competitive to retain users.

is pushing boundaries of using messaging apps for marketing.

In the middle of this fierce battle for dominance, users and marketers win. I explored what's new and different in the native messaging apps - Google Messages and iMessage; in-platform messaging apps - Instagram DM, Meta Messenger, and LinkedIn Messaging; and WhatsApp, including WhatsApp Business. The criteria for picking them was to look at popular apps that offer marketers a way to reach their target audience. I had TikTok on my list. I couldn't cover it since it's banned in India.

I looked at the features of these apps that had just been announced or implemented. I also looked at how they can help marketers reach and target their audiences, and convert them. Let's walk through how these messaging apps are pushing the boundaries of marketing on all stages of the funnel - brand awareness, customer engagement, lead generation, and conversion.

Messaging apps are driving brand awareness,

From a brand awareness perspective, each app provides a different approach to direct marketing messages. Through Facebook's Messenger Day feature, brands can share stories and updates among a wider audience. Through WhatsApp Status, brands can leverage user-generated content to increase visibility and awareness. Instagram DMs are great for welcoming new followers, sending special offers to existing customers and showcasing user-generated content.

LinkedIn InMail helps you reach prospects and increase visibility. You can run rich-media ads for brand awareness using Google Messages with the Google Display Network. With RCS support in iMessage, Apple also offers similar features.

user engagement,

These messaging apps have gone beyond awareness by adding insane features and functionality to keep users hooked. Adding these features also makes it easier for marketers to keep their audience engaged. All of them offer voice and video calling, which brands can already use for real-time, personalized communications. They also have group chat functionality, which is great for creating buzzing online communities. All of them support sharing multimedia content, which lets you deliver rich content to your audience.

Websites can integrate with Facebook Messenger for immediate communication with visitors, improving engagement and providing support. You can send quick replies and customize them with WhatsApp's messaging tools. Through the integration of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram DMs, you can have a flexible messaging experience across multiple devices.

The Google Messages app supports RCS. This enables enhanced cross-platform messaging with multimedia and interactivity. AI-powered suggested replies keep people engaged through timely communication.

You can now add third-party apps to iMessage, enabling interactive experiences. It also streamlines document sharing and signing, making transactions and agreements easier.

With LinkedIn's Smart Replies, prospects get quick, AI-generated replies that keep them engaged. Video Meeting Integration enhances engagement and builds stronger relationships with prospects and clients by allowing real-time, face-to-face communication.

These messaging apps have amazing rich, multimodal messaging features that amplify individual expression and keep users hooked. Facebook Messenger, Google Messages, iMessage, and WhatsApp all support animated stickers, text effects, filters, reaction effects, GIFs, and emojis. Photomojis and animated emojis are available in Google Messages. Voice Moods in Google Messages lets you add emotional context to voice messages for better communication. Memoji, stickers, style and animated messages, photo and video editing are all available in iMessage. Users can also draw and handwrite messages in iMessage. InMail for LinkedIn only supports emojis, GIFs, and stickers to a limited degree due to the nature of the professional network.

lead generation,

With Facebook Messenger's chat and third-party bot integrations, you can generate leads with one of the industry's best clickthrough rates. The chat feature lets you talk directly to potential leads, facilitating initial contact and lead nurturing. Using third-party bots makes it easy to interact with potential leads, capture their info, and qualify them. Instagram's IG.me link makes it easy to capture leads since users can start a conversation directly. The WhatsApp Business Catalog and automated personalized messaging are also really useful. The Catalog feature lets businesses showcase products within chats, simplifying the shopping experience. Automated personalized messaging streamlines customer interactions and nurtures leads effectively, making conversions easier.

Google Messages integrates seamlessly with Google Ads so you can connect with potential customers directly. InMail on LinkedIn has become a proven method for B2B brands to establish initial contact with potential leads and nurture them through the sales funnel.

and conversion.

Because of their focus on D2C and industry-leading conversion rates, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp lead the pack when it comes to conversion. Next could be Google Messages and LinkedIn. So far, iMessage is lagging. All three messenger apps - Facebook Messenger, Insta DM, and WhatsApp - have Facebook Shop integration that lets you browse and buy stuff right from the app. It drives conversions with an integrated shopping experience. They support in-app payments. Also, they let you send tailored offers and messages to users, helping them make a purchase. The integration between Google Messages and Google Ads is also pretty powerful.

With LinkedIn InMail, users are reminded to respond to important messages, ensuring follow-up and converting leads. It has multiple messaging-based ad formats that deliver conversions for B2B brands.

The tech behind these apps, which don't include TikTok and WeChat, is just mind-blowing. The value they're delivering is more than enough to make a marketer's dream come true, for the most part. It's important to note that these messaging apps now integrate with multimodal large language models. Advanced functionalities can now be expected through customized chatbots or AI agents. Moreover, as emerging tech like AR and VR becomes available through consumer products like the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Ray Ban glasses, features like AR effects, integrated shopping, and hyper-personalized messaging will lead to more immersive and interactive experiences.

This war of messaging apps is likely to intensify thanks to AI and emerging tech. This could make messaging apps, whether in-platform or standalone, into a thriving ecosystem within a broader ecosystem. They are likely to become more immersive, amplifying reach, engagement, and business value from using messaging apps for marketing.