In fashion, they say if you wait long enough, every trend comes back into style. Social Networking, as we know it, is undergoing a major shift, one that looks very familiar to its roots.
Brief History of Social Networking Origins
The go-to example of the social networking site that didn’t quite make it is short lived Friendster, but really, we should all look back at the internet giant, recently turned ad network, AOL.
In the early 1990s, AOL brought internet service to the masses using registered mail to offer thousands of hours of free internet on brightly colored CD ROMs.
They also introduced two of the first social platforms, AOL Chat Rooms and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).
AOL Chat Rooms
Like many of the early internet forums, AOL chat rooms gave niche communities a place to congregate, learn, and connect. Launched in 1993, people originally used chat rooms to discuss topics with a broader range of people than they were able to find in their school, town, office, etc. Later, these conversations moved over to social destinations like Facebook Pages or Reddit Threads.
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
AOL launched AIM in 1997, giving users an opportunity to brand themselves online by choosing a screen name. Although some are now embarrassed by their choice, this feature has lived on in networks like Instagram and Twitter.
AIM also provided the option to leave an “away message,” rather than having to sign off every time you left your computer. These away messages resembled a lot of early tweets and Facebook status updates.
MySpace and Facebook launched in the mid-2000s, giving rise to static page-based social media, which did not have a chat focus. However, a decade later, internet companies have built global messaging apps with billions of users:
Facebook has even considered replacing its “Share” button with a “Message” button on social posts.
Why Chat, Why Now?
The ease of using the internet gave rise to AOL, and similarly, mobile technology has made chat a more valuable option. Humans are visual, as shown by the rise of video chat (FaceTime, Snapchat, and soon Sense Chat!), which has been enabled by advances in mobile phone hardware and network bandwidth. We’ve also seen emoji’s become part of chat and popular culture (even if that’s caused some problems for our judicial system 😂).
Next, influencers, on platforms like Twitch, that combine video streams and chat rooms, began to prove that chat audiences could be converted to revenue generating customers. This has caught the attention of companies, especially those who have already looked to social sites as a channel for sales and customer service.
Over 75% of the time a user is communicating with businesses, it’s for these main reasons:
Chat as a Sales Channel
Direct conversations create evangelists of their products and allow companies to market directly to their most passionate consumers. According to Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands who recognize, remember, and provide relevant offers and recommendations.
MasterCard estimates that “Conversational Commerce” (chat and voice) will account for $40B in sales by 2022. However, as we discussed in our previous article, “Hey Dad, I Need Your Credit Card for _________,” sharing sensitive information, like credit card numbers, is neither safe nor great user experience. Messengers, like Sense Chat, that have a built-in digital currency will have a leg up in payment processing for this major sales channel.
Chat as a Customer Service Channel
Customer service is another channel that found itself move to the static social page and has now made its way back to personalized chat. Chat is great because it serves as a record for previous conversations with users. It was found that 60% of customers change communication channels within a single inquiry and 49% are put off by having to repeat themselves to multiple customer service agents.
Your brand’s value is now calculated based on every step in the customer journey.
Coming Full Circle
As a brand, influencer or micropreneur, your content, and products are your calling card. However, once you’ve built a following, your community can take on a mind of its own. You’re not always going to be able to explain everything to everyone on your website and in your marketing messages. However, the return of chat gives you an opportunity to be there every step of the way.
If messaging is not part of how you delight your customers, they won’t just abandon their cart, but they’ll abandon your brand for one that does.
