It starts and ends with all of you — our ManyChat users, our Messenger Marketing community, the marketers and business owners that are so eager to grow relationships with their customers and change the world, one conversation at a time.
We knew back in January 2018 that we wanted to throw an event to gather people as passionate as we are together in one room to educate, engage, and grow with, and that’s exactly what happened at Conversations Conference 2018, the first-ever Messenger Marketing and Chatbot conference.
There were other things we knew, too…
- We knew this wouldn’t be like other marketing conferences (and your feedback has confirmed it wasn’t)
- We knew how critical it would be to have cutting edge content and fresh faces on our stage
- We knew that full bellies and glasses would create the perfect environment for more conversations (see what we did there?)
- We knew we’d have to communicate how important this Messenger opportunity is if we intended you to fully commit to it before the end of Day 2
… And that’s when we got clear on what makes this platform so unique and all the finer points this event needed to cover. Check out the note below (craftily written out by our CEO Mikael Yang) to see our 20 “whys”:
Fast forward many months of planning, and here we are! One Conversations Conference down, many more to go!
So, let’s recap! Below you’ll find some of the best quotes, photos, videos, announcements and takeaways from (y)our conference. Feel free to post your own in the comments, or in our Facebook Group, or on social channels with #conversations2018 — we’ll be adding to this post as time goes on!
That’s good news for anyone wanting a refresh on what was shared, and great news for anyone still refusing to believe the event is over (maybe us… a little)!
It all started with our amazing community and an enthusiastic welcome on Day 1…
Conversations Conference 2018 Day 1
We’re here because we want to help you grow your business by building meaningful relationships with your customers. – Mikael Yang, CEO, ManyChat
The actual revolution is the switching of the marketing communication channel. – Mikael Yang, CEO, ManyChat
We are fortunate to power over 400,000 Facebook pages in over 100 countries around the world. Those bots have over 150,000,000 subscribers and send over 3 billion messages every month. – Mikael Yang, CEO, ManyChat
Messaging apps will become the dominant channel of customer communication. – Mikael Yang, CEO, ManyChat
What’s next? People will start buying products and services through messaging apps giving rise to Messenger commerce. – Mikael Yang, CEO, ManyChat
ManyChat will be one of the first platforms to integrate with WhatsApp, iMessage, and Android Messages when they are released. – Mikael Yang, CEO, ManyChat
16 New ManyChat Features Released Available Now!
1. Randomizer
2. MailChimp integration
3. 90% bigger images in gallery cards
4. Ability to hide deleted subscribers in an audience
5. Save the date/time of an action
6. Tag manager
7. Comments inside the Flow Builder
8. Template installation wizard
9. Ability to do a broadcast from a flow
10. Facebook ads integration
11. Integromat integration
12. Compare custom fields to other custom fields
13. Ability to completely disable keyboard input
14. Google sheets integration
15 .$100k bot building contest
16. Agency Partner Platform
This is the community that’s driving the future of digital business. – Russ Henneberry, Founder, RussHenneberry.com
We must avoid over automation and premature optimization. – Dan Gamito, User Education, ManyChat
ManyChat growth tools are conversation starters. – Dan Gamito, User Education, ManyChat
Find out the questions people are already asking in your business. This is your lowest-hanging fruit for starting meaningful conversations with your customers! – Molly Pittman, User Education, ManyChat
The great thing about ManyChat is that it gives us the ability to learn more about the people interacting with our business so we can follow up with them based on what they want to do. – Molly Pittman, User Education, ManyChat
I want you and your team talking to more people who are on your website. – Ryan Deiss, CEO, DigitalMarketer
Our own models have taught us to expect low conversion rates. – Ryan Deiss, CEO, DigitalMarketer
When you’re automating parts of conversational selling, often the questions are more important than the answers. – Ryan Deiss, CEO, DigitalMarketer
We have a chance to revolutionize the way we interact with clients, leads, and customers, and the way we fundamentally grow our business. – Brian Bagdasarian, Senior Conversational Strategist, HubSpot
Conversations are fundamental to our business. – Brian Bagdasarian, Senior Conversational Strategist, HubSpot
Three rules your page/product needs to follow:
1. Help your customers identify themselves.
2. Focus on conversation before conversion.
3. Follow the rule of 7s before you sell.
– Rachel Miller, CEO, Moolah Marketing
It is super powerful what can happen to your brand when you have conversations. – Rachel Miller, CEO, Moolah Marketing
I believe Messenger is the future of marketing. – Stefanos Loukakos, Head of Messenger Business, Facebook
We always look at how it’s going to change your behavior and the way you interact on the Messenger platform. – Stefanos Loukakos, Head of Messenger Business, Facebook
The most successful experiences we’ve seen start with automation and end in people talking with people. – Stefanos Loukakos, Head of Messenger Business, Facebook
It’s better to create a simple bot that solves a real business objective than a flashy bot that tries to do everything and fails. – Stefanos Loukakos, Head of Messenger Business, Facebook
The more clients you have and more successful your clients are with bots, the more successful the platform will be. – Stefanos Loukakos, Head of Messenger Business, Facebook
Conversations Conference 2018 Day 2
Use your click-to-message ads to set expectations. When your audience understands how you want them to engage, they’re more likely to stick around. – Anand Arivukkarasu, Product Growth Manager, Facebook
64% of people would prefer to message vs talk on phone or email a business. – Anand Arivukkarasu, Product Growth Manager, Facebook
At the end of the day, if you aren’t measuring anything, it’s not happening. – Anand Arivukkarasu, Product Growth Manager, Facebook
The goal is to talk TO people, not AT people. – Oli Billson, CEO, Oliver Billson Marketing
When creating a main event video, think about your story, your audience’s identity, and the connection they want to have. Include as much of this up front within messenger and your video to make the sale frictionless. – Oli Billson, CEO, Oliver Billson Marketing
5 ad angles + 4 images per angle + 30 audiences tested = 600 variations of your offer to get intimate data on who your audiences are and how they want to engage. – Oli Billson, CEO, Oliver Billson Marketing
Most people miss middle-of-funnel content completely. Think of this as the “dating” stage where you can engage and have meaningful conversations to discover your audience needs. – Curt Maly, Founder, Black Box Social Media
We’re often so focused on the front end of these funnels to acquire new customers or clients, we often neglect the funnels that have to happen on the back end. – Cat Howell, Founder, Eight Loop Social
If you’re not testing your bots, things can go very sour. – Cat Howell, Founder, Eight Loop Social
We’ve found that when people feel like they’re staying in contact with your business on the back end, that has been invaluable. – Cat Howell, Founder, Eight Loop Social
We now live in a conversational economy. – Arri Bagah, CEO, ROAS
The reason we love messaging so much is because it’s instant. And now we expect our favorite brands to respond instantly too. – Arri Bagah, CEO, ROAS
Anything that can be measured can be improved. – Arri Bagah, CEO, ROAS
Facebook Live + ManyChat + Webinars = Engagement & Sales Rocket Fuel. – Mary Kathryn Johnson, Founder, Messenger Funnels
Facebook rewards users who provide consistent value and credibility.– Mary Kathryn Johnson, Founder, Messenger Funnels
Sell people what they need not what you want to sell them. – Jason Swenk, Digital Agency Advisor, JasonSwenk.com
Six reasons bots actually work:
1. They’re transparent
2. They’re fun
3. They’re truly helpful
4. They tag users for easy follow-up
5. They have high deliverability
6. They provide your audience with INSTANT gratification
– Jason Swenk, Digital Agency Advisor, JasonSwenk.com
56% of people would rather message a business than call customer service. – Dorne McLoughlin, CEO, Ribbit Media Solutions
Conversational analytics aren’t better than traditional web analytics, they’re just different. You learn different things from each of them. – Tuba Tezer, Head of Growth, Botanalytics
It’s important to design a very structured conversational flow. – Tuba Tezer, Head of Growth, Botanalytics
To create the best bot you can, you need to reinvent it all the time. Don’t think, “I’ve built my bot and now my job is done.” Your job is never done. – Tuba Tezer, Head of Growth, Botanalytics
Each of us needs all of us. Messenger Marketing is a brand new market and this community has the opportunity to do things right! – Matt Leitz, Founder, BotBuilders
Making a purchase directly through Messenger removes a lot of friction from the purchasing process. – Joe Henschel, VP of Marketing, Kajabi
Over 20 countries were represented at this conference and we’re honored to connect with and learn from you all. – Mikael Yang, CEO, ManyChat
Nobody else is doing this stuff yet. You are a very special group of people. You guys are in the top 1% of the top 1% of marketers. – Mikael Yang, CEO, ManyChat
