Precise Communications

Tiktok

tobeprecise — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 07:58:06 +0000

Join our TikTok Live Creator Network

Are you a part or full time creator on TikTok?

Get ready to level up your following, maximise engagement, and monetise your content like never before with TikTok LIVE.

Whether it's topic planning, tips for elevating the aesthetic of your livestream, learning to understand and use your analytics, or navigating the algorithm, we're here to simplify the process for you.

The best part? It’s completely FREE!

It’s time to turn your time into money! Register now and let’s chat

TikTok Creator Application Form

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The post Tiktok appeared first on Precise Communications.

Your Latest Guide to Social Media Image Sizes

tobeprecise — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 08:55:23 +0000

The post Your Latest Guide to Social Media Image Sizes appeared first on Precise Communications.

Incorporating Messaging In Marketing Automation

tobeprecise — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:07:22 +0000

Don’t push people to where you want to be: Meet them where they are.” – Meghan Keaney Anderson (VP Marketing, HubSpot)

Since their invention, phones have become a mass-market consumer technology. Over the years, the A2P messaging applications of mobile phones have grown alongside their demand. In recent times, another type of messaging platform that has seen a surge of users is social messaging apps. With the increasing population on social media, they have become prime target locations for marketers.

At its roots, social messaging is built off of text messaging services: sending electronic messages of alphabets and numbers between compatible devices. What sets social messaging apart is the range of options available for the media type for the outgoing messages as well as 2-way communications.

If there already exists a system for text marketing (SMS Messaging), is there really a need to add a new component to it? The new trend of incorporating social messaging in business plans doesn’t entail driving SMS out. On the contrary, it is about planning a strategy where they complement each other to bring better results.

The first step to take for this strategy is the division of labor. What situation appropriates the use of SMS and where can social messaging shine? A few pointers to look out for are:

The quantity of outgoing messages
Consents provided by the customer for each of the platforms
Is the communication transactional or promotional messages?
Requirement to send multi media messages

Taking these guidelines into account, as a first step, can help shape a strategy that maximizes the efficiency of these two applications – SMS Messaging and Social Messaging (WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, etc).

SMS and Social Messaging have their own flaws: one has a maximum character limitation while the other needs internet connectivity; one can’t send media files while the other can be time-consuming; etc. Essentially, we are trying to achieve a system where SMS and Social Messaging can cover each other’s flaws to maximize marketing proficiency and ROI.

So, what does social media messaging bring to the table? A few of the advantages it presents to the company are:

The ability to engage with consumers at any point in the conversion process.
A more readily available and convenient method of providing punctual customer service
It has a higher open rate and shows an extended level of engagement
It allows for more creativity and personalization of messages, consequently increasing conversion rates
Sending of files, images, location or videos that is not supported by SMS Messaging

Incorporating social media messaging into your company plan is a task that requires you to build a meticulous framework before you can reap the benefits. An important tip to keep in mind when facing this extensive possibility of a platform is ‘strategy over tools’. Though utilizing every feature is the expected initial course of action, it would be more beneficial to start with parts that are aligned with your existing strategy. This will help create a cohesive, stable, and efficient foundation which you can then gradually grow.

However, trying to adopt a new method is not a simple task. Even with the various steps to build a plan and team, there still exists the difficulty of managing the appropriate and timely messages being sent. This is where marketing automation comes into play. With the various tools at its disposal, marketing automation is capable of analyzing customer behavior, to then predict and send campaigns at the right time and place. Incorporating social messaging and SMS Messaging with marketing automation helps streamline the entire process.

For starters, according to surveys, a majority of people turn to messaging services for updates on delivery processes. Marketing automation at this juncture can help remove the burden of such menial tasks from people who can then focus on creative content. Even for taking customer feedback, marketing automation has tools that allow it to collect data, organize it and accordingly send web traffic to generate leads.

Strategy Over Tools

These are just a few ways in which a more efficient flow of data and campaigns can be ensured.

There are apps in the store that have been modified to be able to accommodate businesses’ marketing venture. These programs take the existing messaging platform and accommodate certain aspects of marketing automation in order to create a seamless interaction. WhatsApp Business API and Viber Business Messaging are two such examples that we at Precise are providing support.

CONCLUSION:

“Its not just what you sell, but how you sell it.” – Dharmesh Shah (co-founder and CTO of HubSpot)

With the passing tides of time, it is pertinent that businesses too are flowing to farther reaches by adopting practices that keep up with the exponential growth of technology and people alike.

Incorporating Social Media Messaging into your digital marketing tools is not the final step of progress. But just one leap in our journey to achieve greater heights. And the most systemized way to achieve these goals will be through the incorporation of social messaging in marketing automation

Learn more about Marketing Automation and incorporating messaging solutions from our team @ Precise Communications.

The post Incorporating Messaging In Marketing Automation appeared first on Precise Communications.

Add Social To Your Business Messaging

tobeprecise — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:06:34 +0000

“This year, the business market for virtual assistants — a.k.a. chatbots — will grow 15 percent to more than $7 billion, according to a Gartner prediction” – New York Times

A customer need is a need that motivates a customer to purchase a product or service. The need can be known or unknown and is the ultimate factor that determines which solution the customer purchases. During this process, the Business must be available to communicate to the customer based on where they are.

As the Statistics point out, customers spend more time and prefer communications with the brands on Social Messaging Apps. Is your brand still waiting for calls or visits from customers to enquire about your products or services? Or are your existing customers still sending those emails and waiting for days to get responses back?

In the last couple of years, Social Messaging Apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Telegram, Signal, and WeChat have surged in popularity among consumers who prefer to communicate with the brands in real time. Usage of Social Messaging platforms has surpassed Social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to a Gartner report, more than 60% of customer service engagements will be delivered via digital and self-serve (chatbots) channels.

As per the current statistics, active users on these Messaging Platforms are*:

WhatsApp: 2 Billion
Facebook Messenger: 1.3 Billion
WeChat: 1.26 Billion
Viber: 820 Million
Telegram: 400 Million
Signal: 40 Million

How to Add Social Messaging to Your Business?

Social Messaging platforms will not replace websites or mobile applications, rather they will be an extension of your customer service offerings. The vast majority of the population is now connected through one or more of these platforms. Be it emergency updates, rumors, or sharing of jokes, Social Messaging Apps are the preferred channel used.

“Customer Conversion is dependent on the right Customer Conversation” – Rasheed Ogunlaru

To improve customer engagement and their service needs, a business can adopt one or more of the below options through Social Messaging Apps:

Providing an extended customer service platform by allowing the support team to communicate with the consumers
To obtain information like Product Prices, Exchange Rates, Flight timings, etc
Order for products/services, make payment and track status
To provide a location (Coordinates) for delivery or pickup
2-way communications using Chatbot
Provide a platform for carrying out transactions (Bank transfers, Parking ticket payments, etc)
Registration for accounts or events
Sharing of documents (tickets, boarding passes, invoices, etc)

And the best part is that you do not need to develop anything in-house to avail these services. We can connect to your existing systems or customer support platforms and extend the same service onto the required Messaging platforms, with very minimal integrations.

Be where your customer is!

According to Gartner, more than 65% of the companies now are competing primarily based on Customer Experience, which is up from 35% in 2010. One of the best approaches to creating a better customer experience is to connect with them from the platforms they are available.
Improve customer experience and engagement by offering services where they are regularly available – Social media, social messaging apps, and other digital channels. They prefer getting answers immediately and do not have the patience to wait for phone calls or emails.

Be More Personal

Customers prefer “Personalized Communications” when they are dealing with the brands. Understand where they are more active and send communications for better conversions. Integrate your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform to Precise’s Messaging platform and send personalized communications.

The advantage of Social Messaging platforms is that you can easily identify your customer and provide their specific information. For example, a customer initiating a chat can immediately receive their outstanding balance or loyalty points with the options to redeem them. They will not be required to log in into any system to know these details.

Better Customer Care

Apart from your call center or backend support team, extend the customer care service to any social media channels or messaging apps. Route all customer queries into one backend platform and respond instantaneously. This will reduce customer frustration in case they are raising any complaints. The system can be automated to provide information related to products or services to customers who enquire about the same, thus increasing the conversion rates. Updates from the brand to a customer can also be routed to multiple channels thus ensuring the message is well received.

Chatbots

Once done manually, Business chats are now being automated with advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies and Machine Learning (ML). Machines are trained to understand customer queries, connect to your backend system to retrieve relevant information, and communicate with the customer in real time.

Connect to your existing Chatbot or Precise will help you build your own by defining the entire workflow and logic. API integrations, as well as customer journey, will be part of the Chatbot solution.

As per research, it is expected that 70% or more customers will prefer messaging businesses in the future. Isn’t it time that your business is also socially active on these platforms? Speak to us for an integrated Messaging solution.

* Source: Google

The post Add Social To Your Business Messaging appeared first on Precise Communications.

How you can benefit from UAE Local SMS Route

tobeprecise — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:05:36 +0000

In United Arab Emirates (UAE), there are two major telcos (operators) – Etisalat and DU – and 2 Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) – Virgin Mobile and Swyp. Base network for Virgin Mobile is DU whereas for Swyp it is Etisalat.

Etisalat and DU provides direct connectivity for A2P SMS messaging to UAE with the ability for terminating SMS On-Net and Off-Net, without additional charges. This allows SMS Aggregators to avail the service from any one of the operator and terminate SMS to any mobile numbers in UAE. Apart from the Local (Enterprise) connectivity, both the operators offer A2P messaging service to International aggregators through the International Hub. Even though there is no difference in terminating the messages to end customer, International Hub have its own advantages to provide lower cost to end clients.

This advantage lead many brands to avail the service directly from International aggregators who were able to offer rates lower than the buying price that was offered to Local Aggregators (like Precise Communications). Apart from the pricing, the sender name registration process was simpler that lead to many brands shifting their traffic from Local vendors to International Vendors. Even some of the local Vendors started using these International Aggregators to get lower rates.

Starting from 1st February 2022, Etisalat and DU has introduced higher pricing (as high as 5 times) for all SMS terminated through their International Hub for all types of SMS – Local or International brands. At the same time, there has been no change in pricing for the Local Direct Route (Enterprise connection), which means brands can now avail better quality routes at lower rates.

So why use the Direct Local Route?

Rate being one of the main advantages, some of the other benefits include:

Data Security: Your data is not shared with multiple aggregators with whom you have not signed any agreement. To get lower rates, some of the vendors might depend on multiple International aggregators that are located outside UAE and your data is shared with all. With Local vendors, your data is secure within UAE and shared directly with the operator. There will be no third party involved other than the vendor and the telcos. Your agreement will be directly with the local UAE vendor.
Handset delivery reports (DLR): All your SMS are forwarded as is to the operators without any filtering or number lookup. This means that the delivery report you receive will be more accurate and directly from the mobile handset and/or the operator. This in turn increases your responses to marketing campaigns.
Fast Delivery: With the Enterprise connectivity, there are multiple short codes (shared or dedicated) that are allocated to your account for each sender name. Hence your high priority (OTP) messages are not affected with other messages or marketing campaigns.
Higher Throughput (TPS): For marketing campaigns with large volumes, we can obtain multiple routes (short codes) to submit SMS with higher TPS (Throughput per second). Marketing campaigns planned at the last moment can be still executed before the cut off time of 9 PM with the ability to route larger batches in a shorter time period.
Better Accountability: Since the connections are direct and there is dedicated support team from the operators, any issue in delivery can be traced and the exact reason can be produced. In case of any errors, it is either with the Local vendor or the operator, unlike multiple vendors if International routes are used. In case of messages not getting delivered, Local vendors will be able to raise the concern immediately with the operator and get immediate response.
Follows UAE Rules and Regulations: As a registered entity in UAE, all Local vendors are required to strictly follow the rules and regulations of the Government, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TDRA) and the operators. This in turn assures that your brand names as well as messages are processed accordingly and avoids any complaints or fines. Your brand names (sender names) will be secure and can only be used from your side. Any changes in rules are immediately communicated to the brands.
Local Support: With Local connectivity and vendor, you also get support from the team who are within UAE. Support teams are a phone call away that ensures that there are no delays in getting responses or to execute your SMS campaigns.
Latest Updates: As a local provider with long terms relations with the Operators in the UAE, we are able to get firsthand information regarding any new updates which will help you be prepared for any such instances as we will guide you through these processes.

How to get the SMS Service for UAE?

Without any geographical time difference and for secure and quality based service, we always recommend you use partners who are present in UAE. With Precise Communications, you will have all these benefits with additional routing facility for other destinations. Speak to one of our dedicated representative to get your test account FOC.

All you need is:

Share your requirement and agree on the rates
Test our platform before signing the agreements
Sign the agreement and payment terms
Provide necessary letters (NOC) for sender name registrations
Go Live using SMPP or API or Mobile SDK connectivity

TALK TO US

The post How you can benefit from UAE Local SMS Route appeared first on Precise Communications.

Omni Channel Marketing

tobeprecise — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 20:29:15 +0000

Your Customers are expecting for you to be where they are, the moment they want, irrespective of the platform they are using. Majority of consumers spent 3 or more hours on average on their mobile phones, of which a major chunk is for communication. Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok, are few of the social platforms consumers use apart from checking their emails or text messages.

“The Aim of Marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits them and sells itself” – Peter F Drucker

Statistics released by Oberlo in June 2021 gives us a good insight on the usage of Mobile phones by consumers.

There are currently 6.4 billion smartphone users worldwide (Statista, 2021)
In 2019, the average US adult spent 3 hours and 43 minutes a day on mobile devices
69% of internet users prefer to look for reviews on their phones than approach an in-store employee
69.4% of internet users use shopping apps on their mobile devices
Almost six out of every ten shoppers say that being able to purchase products on mobile devices is a key factor when it comes to choosing brands or retailers to buy from (Google, 2019)
Mobile web traffic accounts for 54.8% of global web traffic
70% of the total digital media time in the US is spent on smartphones
More than TWO-THIRDS of the total digital ad spend of $129.34 billion in 2019 was on Mobile Ads
How do you then decide the right platform to reach your customer?

Omni Channel

Omni Channel platforms allow you to have multiple Digital touch points with your customer from a single platform. Some of the platforms also allows sending of follow up communication through the same or different channel, based on customer’s action to the previous communication. This allows you to reach through all the touch points available for a customer and at the same time, measure the responses all from one platform.

Omni Channels will allow you to integrate multiple communication channels into one platform. Channels may include SMS, WhatsApp, Email, Voice Call, Social Media Messengers (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc), Telegram, Viber, and many more. Communications through Google Home or Amazon Alexa are also possible from these platforms, once the customer information is available.

Omni Channel platforms will also allow you to collect responses from your customers (like Feedbacks) or have 2-way communications (2-way SMS or Chatbot) in real time. This allows in providing real time updates and feedback to customer and at the same time collect additional customer interests.

As with any platform, Omni Channel may provide negative results if campaigns and customer targets are not managed intelligently. When designing the campaigns, do take into consideration about customer’s previous response as well as provide enough duration between two communication through the same channel.

AI Driven Omni Channel

Chose Omni channel platforms that are Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven that will help you in targeting customers based on their past behaviour and conversions and suggesting the right channel for better ROI. A platform that will help you with Predictive Marketing can further guide you to reduce your cost by helping you further filter customer segments based on the campaign type and expected response.

Traditionally, when a campaign is planned, demographics is defined by the budget and database availability. Customer profiling as well as the past behaviours are less considered, which leads to wastage. AI combined with Predictive Analysis will help you achieve better performance for your marketing campaigns with lesser budget.

Channels Available for Marketing

The limit on platform usage is based on the customer profiling that is available. Apart from the traditional SMS, Email, Digital and Print Media, Omni Channels will also allow you to utilize Messaging as well as Social platforms to reach your customers with the same campaign, but with different and customized contents.

Using multiple channels from one platform allows you to get a holistic view of the campaign and measure the response and ROI, rather than generating the reports and combining them manually from multiple platforms. It is also easy for fine tuning the campaign and reach based in real time based on the responses.

Reach Us

To know more about Omni channel marketing and platforms, speak to one of our team member.

The post Omni Channel Marketing appeared first on Precise Communications.