There’s a lot of talk, these days, about digital transformation. Innovations like cloud computing, big data analytics, and AI have all but taken over the way many organizations do business.
But it’s not just business operations that are going digital. It’s social interactions as well. Gaming, catching up with friends, and even dating are, more than ever, happening online. That’s why the era we’re living in is not just the era of digital transformation, but of social transformation.
Websites and apps have become places where people expect to find genuine togetherness and shared experiences. That’s why your best user engagement tool is one that provides a way for your users to create authentic community without leaving your platform. And the best way to do that is to make sure your platform has features that allow visitors to communicate with each other, and with you, in a meaningful way.
In other words: It pays, from a product management perspective, to lean into the era of social transformation. Here’s a breakdown of what it looks like to add in-platform communication functionality to your platform, and why it could prove to be the user engagement tool you’ve always needed.
There are plenty of sites and apps that are specifically built around real-time communication. Zoom and Google Meet come to mind, as do platforms like Twitch or Instagram Live, which allow users to livestream their activities while their audience engages in the comments.
But the primary purpose of your site doesn’t have to be video conferencing or live streaming like it is with these platforms. Just about any site or app can take part in social transformation. You can be an e-commerce site, or a news media site, or a gaming app, and add in-platform communication to your user interface – often pretty easily.
Some companies do this by building communication functionality themselves, as part of their native product offering. Others add audio, video, or text chat modules through integration, using software development toolkits (SDKs). These allow your engineering team to implement in-platform communication, through modules you can display in whatever way works best in your UI, without a big coding lift or time commitment.
Check out Aircore’s Sync and Flex SDKs for real-time, in-platform communication.
Here are a few ways adding communication functionality, either through native product development or SDK integration, can be game-changing for your platform.
In the era of social transformation, online communities are forming – with you or without you. In-platform communication makes sure they form right on your site or app. This keeps your users engaged in your platform without distraction, leading to longer, more meaningful user sessions.
It also empowers you to claim exclusive access to signals and data around user sentiment and insights. Insights like these can inform feature development and marketing plans and improve your product.
Think of the alternative: Two friends playing together on a gaming app want to be able to engage in some friendly trash talk like they would if they were sitting next to each other on the sofa. If they can’t do that within their gaming app, they’re going to turn to Discord or some other third-party platform. If you’re the maker of the gaming app, you’re now ceding a portion of your users’ engagement – and all the data and insights that come with it – to other sites or apps.
A lot of companies are late to the party on social transformation and haven’t invested in bringing real-time communication to their platforms. Those that have are still figuring out how to make in-platform communication seamless and fluid enough to give users the experiences they’re looking for – maybe they’ve integrated communication SDKs, but those SDKs are disruptive to their brand integrity or have a clunky layout.
Companies that go all-in on social transformation and deliver seamless, elegant communication experiences will be something of a four-leaf clover, from the user perspective. They’ll be one of few companies who have turned their platform into a true community where interaction feels natural and smooth.
In doing so, they’ll turn their users into their champions, delivering a delightful experience that keeps users coming back – and telling their friends. That means stronger user loyalty and increased adoption.
Adding audio, video, and text chat to your platform doesn’t just enable your users to connect with each other – it enables them to connect with you as well. Communication SDKs make it possible for your team to provide personalized support experiences to your users.
In the short term, this can prevent users from leaving your platform when they experience an issue. In the long term, it tells your users that you’re there for them, which can further strengthen customer loyalty.
There are plenty of user engagement tools out there. But in the era of social transformation, the most impactful are those that don’t just get users engaging with your product, but with each other.
Get in touch to learn how Aircore’s SDKs deliver real-time communication functionality, so your users can delight in authentic social experiences without ever having to leave your product.
