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BotPartyJoburg brings to light the benefits of bots

30 Mar 2017

Messenger bots are disrupting the world of social media community managers. But what exactly are messenger bots? Instead of relying heavily on people to facilitate communication between brands and their customers, bots are used to carry out this form of communication, making constant interaction between brands and their customers possible.

It also frees up a lot of time for social media managers, allowing them to focus more on strategy and the measurement of their social media efforts.

Facebook Africa, in association with GotBot (sister company of Injozi Digital Design) and Jozihub, hosted BotPartyJoburg last week. The event was aimed at bringing together developers and non-developers to share knowledge and insights on bots and the creation of applications that are focussed on the African continent's needs.

Proud Dzamburika of Facebook Africa introduced the Bots for Messenger Challenge to the audience. Developers in teams of three are invited to create bots in three categories: gaming and entertainment, productivity and utility, and social good.

The winning teams stand a chance of walking away with great cash prizes and the opportunity for mentorship programs and virtual reality (VR) gadgets.

Proud Dzamburika of Facebook Africa.

Commercial applications

Nick Argyros, CEO of Injozi Digital Design, addressed the audience on the commercial applications for messenger bots. These included customer service, the target market, the problem GotBot is currently solving in the market, as well as future capabilities.

Chris Argyros, CEO at Injozi, parent company of GotBot.

He then made way for Chris Green, lead developer at GotBot, who built a bot for the audience. He also shared knowledge on the bot development industry and its capabilities when it comes to customer service and e-commerce.

“One day you will be able to order everything you need using a single bot through Messenger,” says Green.

Chris Green, lead developer at GotBot on building a messenger bot.

For social media managers and developers, it was an extremely insightful afternoon on the future of the industry. Understanding the impact that these trends will have is very important as it will shape the understanding of how brands can leverage the power of bots and human interaction.

For developers, it was great to interact with other developers and learn about building bots, while creating partnerships for possible future collaboration.

It is not all doom and gloom for social media managers as this provides a way for them to enhance their careers through focussing on strategy and other elements of social media management and interaction for business. We won’t see the complete take-over of the workplace by bots just yet, as humans and bots can work hand in hand to create a better customer experience for their respective brands.