May 3, 2018
Facebook’s F8 Developer conference has been full of announcements, and we’re excited about two in testing that’ll improve customers’ relationships with brands.
First up, using AR for your brand yet? Thought not…
Facebook’s still trying to change all that with the launch of AR experiences in Messenger interactions with brands.
The functionality is currently in beta testing, but soon when a person messages your brand, you’ll be able to ask them to open their camera to see lots of AR effects and filters that you’ve created using the Facebook Camera Effects Platform. The update is designed to make shopping online (and through Messenger specifically) more attractive to consumers, and we can especially see this working for fashion, beauty and homeware brands.
Facebook’s testing the feature with Sephora (showcasing a range of makeup looks to ‘try on’ via your front-facing camera) and Nike (using the functionality to give users an exclusive way to see new trainers).
We can’t wait to see AR effects that let you test out new cushions and curtains in your living room or a filter that lets you virtually try on earrings (you can’t even do that in the shop!)
Secondly, imagine automatic translations…
Business owners, no matter what size, can struggle to resource customer service teams, especially if they have to take multiple languages into consideration.
Starting with marketplace sellers in the US, Facebook is rolling out a feature called M Translations – that will help businesses connect with buyers from different countries. The service will automatically detect when a seller receives a message that isn’t in their default language and will offer to translate it for them.
Whilst the functionality will only be available in the US to translate between English and Spanish at the start, we’re excited to see it roll out worldwide.
You can see all the F8 2018 announcements here.