AI-enabled chatbots have transformed the way businesses interact with the world. While the earlier chatbot versions had a limited number of inputs configured in them, thus limiting their processing capability within those set parameters, the technology is far more advanced now. Artificial intelligence along with its subset of technologies like machine learning and deep learning, have made chatbots more intelligent than their predecessors. This advanced level of processing has made chatbots extremely valuable for a wide range of applications across a variety of industries, including media and entertainment.
The media and entertainment industry is rapidly evolving, and AI-powered chatbots are playing a crucial role in this evolution. Their ability to learn from and mimic human conversations has made them a non-negotiable part of this industry. Chatbots for media companies can now do everything from user experience personalization and product discovery to marketing and advertising, and more. Their ability to handle repetitive and time-consuming manual business tasks, thereby increasing efficiency and ensuring high-quality services, has led to the phenomenal rise of chatbots in the media and entertainment industry.
Need for chatbots in media and entertainment industry
One of the biggest hurdles hindering growth for most media and entertainment companies is their inability to personalize their content and/or services at scale. AI applications, especially chatbots, can help overcome these hurdles and help fast-track growth. Some of the ways in which your company can benefit from AI-powered chatbots are as follows:
1. Grow your global user base:
Why be limited by geography when you can scale globally? Chatbots for entertainment companies enable you to have a wider reach without compromising on your customers’ entertainment experience. Your chatbot can help you broadcast your content to customers all over the globe with customized targeting for an engaged global audience.
2. Increase audience engagement:
An engaged audience translates to customer retention in the long run. Personalization trumps generic when it comes to engaging customers in an interactive and fun conversation. AI-powered chatbots can integrate with social media platforms enabling you to create campaigns that garner more click-through rates and, therefore, more engagement.
3. Enhance personalization at scale:
Chatbots for media and entertainment companies allow personalization at a large scale for both content and notifications. Based on your users’ behavior, interests, and preferences, your chatbot can send personalized alerts for anything from the latest news to recommendations for movies, shows, or events, and automate content delivery.
4. Improve communication effectiveness:
When communication is handled by an intelligent AI-powered chatbot, the chances of any information getting lost in translation are close to zero. Chatbots can help your users identify the exact information they’re looking for and close the communication loop effectively and efficiently.
5. Save time and money:
Serve more, spend less — whether it is customer support or content delivery, AI-powered chatbots can provide solutions on the go. Your customers get what they want in just a few clicks without any added monetary pressure on your company.
How do chatbots work in media and entertainment companies?
Conversational AI has many use cases in the media and entertainment industry. Let’s look at a few of them that you can incorporate in your business.
1. Customer support
Customer service is among the most common use cases of conversational AI. According to HubSpot Research, 90% of customers consider it important to get an immediate response to any customer service query. And According to Zendesk’s Customer Experience Trends Report, almost half of your customers consider 24/7 support a vital part of good customer service.
With numerous OTT (over-the-top) content providers breaking into the industry, the question is how can you stand out and shine among your customers. Your AI chatbot is the answer! From resolving queries to sharing news updates or streaming music or videos to providing gaming updates and more, your chatbot will take care of your customer support needs like a pro.
2. Content discovery and broadcasting
AI chatbots for media and entertainment companies can learn about a user’s preferences from past behavior and tailor content that the user will love. Chatbots optimize the quality of search results and act as a digital assistant for content discovery. This capability, as a result, accelerates the media production process and helps content creators in the media and entertainment space to manage their content lifecycle more efficiently. Put all this on a global level, and you now have the power to broadcast your content to an audience around the world.
3. Personalizing content and alerts
Both chatbots for media companies and chatbots for entertainment companies can personalize audio and visual content based on user’s preferences and their past experiences. Modeling and predictive analytics make this possible, where the AI chatbot analyzes data to find relevant statistics and leverages that information for personalized recommendations. For example, your chatbot can identify your users’ interests and make personalized recommendations for content that they want to see, read, or hear. This applies to custom notifications too. So, what your users get is quick, personalized updates and notifications while you make the most of customized targeting and retargeting, every time.
4. Branded content distribution
Customers are more likely to connect with brands that have a human touch. Your intelligent AI-powered chatbot can be that “human” touch for building an authentic and lasting connection with your users. How? Your brand’s chatbot can be a friendly character who can also be your digital ambassador, and also an effective distribution channel for your branded content.
5. Marketing and advertising to the target audience
AI-enabled chatbots play an important role in branding and promotions by delivering the right marketing material to the right audience. The result is maximum output from ads and higher conversion rates. You can use chatbots for promoting anything from books, songs, art pieces, TV shows, movies, and more.
6. Subscription and event registration
Your chatbot can help your current users to subscribe to your content offerings — plans, publications, or any services you offer. It can also help new and existing users to register and pay for events your company hosts. That’s inexpensive lead generation at its best!
7. Conducting surveys
Having real-time insights and analytics can be the anchor to your company’s growth trajectory. And you can trust your AI-powered chatbot to get you that data through questionnaires and surveys that give you all the information you need about your users’ behavior etc.
Deep Converse’s media support bot for the media and entertainment industry is conceptualized and designed to help you with these use cases and more.
Related: Learn how to build AI Chatbot for your company?
Media & entertainment companies that use chatbots
The media and entertainment industry is no stranger to artificial intelligence. However, the industry has come a long way when it comes to using this technology more intimately than limiting it to science fiction movies and shows. Chatbots have found a permanent home at some of the leading media and entertainment companies. Let’s take a look at some of the top companies using AI-powered chatbots for their business.
1. Spotify
A digital music platform, Spotify is a brand name known to all musicians and music lovers worldwide. The company’s chatbot is deployed on Facebook’s messaging app, where it helps users to search for and share music, and create playlists directly on chat.
2. Disney+
Disney is all about creating “magic”, and that’s what the brand’s streaming app does with its chatbot! The brand’s chatbot brings some of its characters into the real world while providing utility for users through customer service, movie/game recommendations, billing support, and more.
3. The Washington Post
This leading American news publication has a chatbot that features the latest and top news stories of the day. Their users can swipe to read more headlines and similar stories. The chatbot can also share specific news stories based on a user’s queries on a particular topic — although, this feature is enhanced only during special events. For example, during elections, the chatbot can share election results for any zip code the user desires.
4. The Wall Street Journal
Adding to the list of leading American news publications to embrace AI chatbot technology is The Wall Street Journal. Deployed on Facebook messenger, their chatbot provides the latest news and updates, and other information based on their users’ queries.
5. Food Network
The Food Network’s Facebook messenger chatbot allows users to discover relevant recipes from the company’s website based on the preferences they shared with the bot. This is a classic example of how you can leverage your evergreen content on multiple platforms for maximum user engagement.
6. National Geographic
Another Facebook messenger chatbot, NatGeo’s Albert Einstein gave users a “chance” to chat with one of the most celebrated physicists of all time, so to speak. The chatbot not only communicated in Einstein’s tone of voice, but it also created a memorable, immersive messaging experience for fans where they could discover lesser-known stories about the genius scientist through custom content.
Tips for choosing the right chatbot for your business
Gone are the days of cold and impersonal email communication with customers. Chatbots allow businesses to connect on a more personal level via direct messaging. However, when it comes to AI-powered chatbots, one solution does not fit all. Here are a few things you should keep in mind while choosing the right chatbot for your media or entertainment business:
1. What is the problem you’re trying to solve?
The first step before choosing a chatbot is understanding your company’s customer journey, current user experience, and pain points. The next step is deciding whether you need a chatbot for a specific campaign, lead generation, process automation, workforce efficiency, or self-serve interactions. Depending on these, you can get a chatbot custom-designed for your business.
2. Do you need a chatbot for one or multiple channels?
Customers expect nothing less than a five-star experience irrespective of the digital platform they’re on. They want completely hassle-free support, and they want it now. Therefore, if you are choosing a website chatbot, you should ensure the same bot is optimized for other digital channels, such as mobile apps, social media, etc.
3. Do you want your chatbot to know when to start and end a conversation?
Well, AI-enabled chatbots are powered by technology that enables them to “know” how and when to engage with users. For example, if the user is navigating your website seamlessly, the chatbot shouldn’t interrupt the user. A well-targeted chatbot can intervene to offer assistance when the user is stuck. Advanced chatbots “remember” user preferences and understand the context of the conversation, which allows them to address issues accordingly.
4. Does your chatbot incorporate speech support and natural language processing?
An efficient chatbot is designed to understand user intent and respond with relevant answers so that the conversation feels as natural as talking to a real person. This is possible only if the chatbot includes natural language processing and speech support.
5. Is your chatbot designed by experts in the field?
Chatbots developed by conversational design experts can make interactions appear more human-like. They can also help avoid or tackle potential issues in the customer experience process. Therefore, it is imperative that you work with an appropriate chatbot development platform for your needs.
6. Do you have the ability to measure your chatbot’s impact?
In the end, it boils down to whether your chatbot is adding value to your business. You can gauge that only if you can measure its efficiency through analytical data about the chatbot’s conversations with your customers.
Conclusion
The applications of conversational AI chatbots in the media and entertainment industry are virtually limitless. Chatbots will continue to make powerful brand interactions possible while resolving customer queries and providing useful information effectively, efficiently, and inexpensively. Do you need help choosing the right chatbot for your business and leveraging its benefits? Explore our chatbots in media and entertainment platform today.
You can also check out more resources on AI & automation from DeepConverse Blog
