If you're a micro-influencer, you need a chatbot

Why influencers need chatbots

Micro-influencers are the people who have an online presence and hope to create income from their social media accounts. They may even already be receiving payment for reviewing and posting about products and visiting establishments. Even if they’re not receiving payment, they may be sent products to review. And that’s exactly why they need a chatbot.

What is a micro-influencer?

Because this type of influencer tends to operate within the fashion, beauty, food, and travel sectors, they’re on the receiving end of clothing, shoes, makeup, skincare products, food items, and invitations to local and international travel opportunities. Sounds like a tough job, right? The reality is that it can be.

To be a micro-influencer, you need to sign for and collate all of those packages, plan and create all of those social media and website posts, and be in constant communication with your following. One thing that could really help in these situations is a chatbot. We’ve previously detailed the reasons why every business needs to make use of a chatbot. And micro-influencers need one possibly even more than a big business. A micro-influencer is a one-person business. They are very literally – it’s right there in the name! – tiny and need all the help they can get.

What is a chatbot?

There’s no doubt you’ve heard the term many times. But what is a chatbot, really? A chatbot is a type of software program that has conversations with users inside a chat platform of some sort. It uses deep learning to learn from the data it receives to predict possible responses based on past communication. When faced with a similar question or query, the chatbot will access examples of conversations and refer to the answers given previously. Chatbots are there to automate processes within any business, for just about every task.

What can a chatbot do?

For a micro-influencer, time is limited and tasks are plentiful. Many micro-influencers work full-time jobs while hustling at night and on the weekends to manage their online identity and business. When time is tight like it is for them, they need all the help they can get. Here are some of the ways chatbots can be used:

Automate content promotion. Sharing new content with your online following is a time-consuming process that every influencer knows all too well. Social media management is not for the faint-hearted. Once you’ve uploaded content to Facebook, you need to Tweet it, Instagram it, add it to your Stories, and create a Snap. And then you’ll probably have to start all over again.

Increase reach and following. Using chatbots as part of your social media management strategy ensures messages are sent out and replied to. Chatbots can lead to increased interaction with customers by always responding, leaving no customer waiting for a response.

Continue work while you’re not in the office. Sure, for a micro-influencer, “office” is a subjective term. A popular impression is that they likely do most of their work wrapped in their duvet during winter or sunning themselves on a beach in summer. Wherever their office is, when they’re not able to do work and respond to customer queries, a chatbot is there to handle things.

Solve customer support queries. Chatbots give businesses, no matter the size, the ability to “talk” to customers to help solve their queries. Yes, your aging mother is always going to believe that she spoke to a very nice, helpful person. But the reality is that she was probably chatting with a bot, one that was specifically created to imitate the way a customer support representative would talk to a customer.

Data collection. Using chatbots allows the business to collect data about customers, enabling it to tailor its offerings to better suit its most loyal customers.

These examples clearly show that there’s not much a chatbot can’t do. If you’re curious about how machine learning is leveraging micro-moments and how those stages of a customer’s buying journey continue to change the customer experience management and the purchasing process, read our recent article. It details the benefits of making data-driven decisions for your business.