Facebook F8 2021 Recap: Messenger API for Instagram, new WhatsApp for Business features, and more

Facebook has announced a number of new developer tools, including several messaging features for businesses, at its virtual F8 software developer conference.

This year, Facebook placed a focus on new features to help businesses communicate with consumers directly via its messaging services. This is a key focus for Facebook, which is seeking to enable more e-commerce transactions directly on its services and enable businesses to handle more of their customer support via Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.

Instagram Automation

People come to Instagram to discover and connect with brands, with over 90% of Instagram users today follow at least one business, and messaging is the primary reason for this. Here are more reasons why modern businesses need to be available on Instagram:

• Instagram has 1.074 billion users world in 2021 (EMarketer, 2020)

• 2 in 3 people surveyed say that Instagram enables interaction with brands (Facebook IQ, 2021)

• Instagram users spent an average of 53 mins per day on the platform (Recode, 2018)

• 50% are more interested in a brand when they see ads for it on Instagram (Facebook IQ, 2021)

Businesses and consumers increasingly engage with brands by replying to stories, sending direct messages, or mentioning the brands. The Instagram Messenger API is now available to all developers, which enables brands to integrate messaging experiences into the platform, with a phased approach for businesses based on their followers counts:

• Phase 1: 10,000 – 100,000 followers (June 2021)

• Phase 2: 1,000 – 100,000 followers (July 2021)

• Phase 3: All accounts (August 2021)

Instagram messaging can be integrated with business applications and workflows to increase customer satisfaction and drive sales through meaningful conversations. Some of the Instagram automation features include:

• Conversation Starter. These are pre-filled buttons presented to new customers when they message a business account to kick-start a discussion about that topic.

• Automated Responses. Trigger messages if user messages the brand with a specific, pre-determined keyword or phrase.

• Conversation Builder. Brands can customize text, media, buttons and links (to website) and lead user to a conversational flow, without any coding skills required.

• Acquire from Comments. Brands can trigger automations into user’s IG inbox (Direct Message) at once when a user comment, like or “heart” a Instagram Post.

• Acquire from Story Mentions. Brands can instantly reply to anyone who mentions their account name in a Story.

WhatsApp New Experiences to Make Business Messaging Faster and Easier

The WhatsApp Business account is used by 175 million users every day for customer support and discussing products. In response to the growing demand of conversations with businesses via WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business API has now to make it simpler for businesses to start using it and for end-users to connect with them easily:

• Quick onboarding via Embedded Flow: We’ve made it easier for businesses to register for WhatsApp Business API. The time it takes to onboard has been trimmed from weeks to just five minutes. This can be done directly within a Business Solution Provider (BSP)’s website rather than multiple disparate locations.

• New account model: Businesses will create and own their WhatsApp Business account within their company’s Business Manager.

• Trial experience: Businesses will have access to a limited number of messages in a trial experience before completing the verification process.

• Phone verification: Phone verification will happen directly within embedded signup rather than being a separate manual step.

• Get more information from businesses: Businesses use WhatsApp to communicate with customers. For example, people want to know when the COVID-19 vaccine is available locally and when they can order it. The use of WhatsApp by more companies is improving the way businesses connect with their customers. In near future, business will send messages about when items are back in stock.

• New messaging features: New messaging features allow businesses to response to customers in new ways. Among them are list messages, which people can respond to without having to type even a single word, and reply buttons, which people can select by tapping on them.

Introducing Login Connect with Messenger

Thousands of apps and websites can then be integrated with Facebook Login, Facebook’s flagship developer product. Facebook has created convenience for hundreds of thousands of people worldwide since we launched it 12 years ago.

Using Facebook Login, developers have made their applications more personalized, thus providing a more meaningful and valuable experience.

Nonetheless, Facebook Login has vast potential to connect users further and give them a deeper experience. Login Connect with Messenger is a new feature that lets people contact businesses through the Messenger Platform directly from the Facebook login page.

In addition to strengthening customer relationships, this new feature allows us to offer more tailored engagement through the Messenger Platform and offers businesses the ability to provide a more personalized experience and build stronger customer relationship.

The following are the benefits businesses have experienced through Login Connect with Messenger:

• Provides powerful new ways to access customer message threads: Over 70% of all users have chosen to communicate with companies through messages that facilitate Login Connect with Messenger. Businesses looking to increase customer engagement through messenger open up a whole new channel for new conversations.

• New opportunities for user engagement: The Messenger Platform can communicate offers, product recommendations, and other marketing messages to activate and speed up the path to the purchase of new users.

• Delivers more effective customer support: Using Login Connect with Messenger, customers receive better and more personalized service. Through Messenger Platform automation, businesses can better serve their customers and build repeat business by spending less time answering a few simple questions.

The exciting new features announced at F8 has pushed business messaging to the next level, allowing brands to effectively scale messaging workflows to better own the customer experience and build more authentic relationships.

If you want to learn more on how you can integrate Instagram and WhatsApp into your CX strategy, please contact our team here.