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Want to offer your customers the best customer engagement? Then choosing the right channels is important. You want to ensure that you reach your audience, preferably on the channels they already use and are familiar with. Because even though your own native app may be the most ground-breaking, perfect app in existence, in reality, nobody wants to download another app just to contact a company.
Facebook Messenger is popular among two large consumer groups: Millennials and Gen X. These two age groups favour Facebook Messenger as a communication channel. Our Communication Channel Advisor revealed that Millennials crown Facebook Messenger King as their number one messaging channel, while Gen X awards it a shared first place with WhatsApp Messenger. During the first quarter of 2023, the number of daily active users on Facebook reached 2.04 billion, and the social network’s audience reach is projected to be 75.79% of our entire population by 2027 (Statista).
Long story short: Facebook Messenger is a strong tool for engagement with your target audience—an excellent opportunity to grow brand awareness and build a brand community.
The community-oriented platform of Facebook offers great ways to showcase your corporate personality, allowing customer contact via Facebook Messenger to offer personalised support, in-channel transactions, and also marketing for your brand.
Facebook Messaging now supports Marketing Messages. Meta introduced this new feature in 2023, along with Instagram Marketing Messages.
Previously, businesses were only allowed to respond to Direct Facebook Messages. When a customer sends a DM to a business Facebook page (opt-in), a 24-hour window opens in which the business is allowed to send non-promotional messages to that customer. Outside that 24-hour window, no proactive messaging was allowed. This changed with the introduction of Marketing Messages.
Now there's a way to easily send customers regular updates on promotions, deals, and other topics they could be interested in outside that 24-hour window.
Marketing on Facebook Messenger
Marketing Messages are the newest feature of Facebook Messaging. This feature allows you to send daily, weekly, or monthly regular messages or notifications to opted-in users outside of the previously mentioned 24-hour window. Ideal for sending interested customers the latest deals and promotions to drive re-engagement.
Want to stay updated on our new products and deals? Get daily messages to never miss out on our great offers!
These recurring messages can be initiated anywhere in the customer journey and can include a wide range of topics to boost conversion. This means that these messages can be personalised to the customer and the stage he or she is in, and thus - relevant.
Irrelevant or non-personal messages will be seen as spam, and customers will not hesitate to unsubscribe from them, effectively closing your window of opportunity. So be sure to be smart about what you send and personalise it to your customers' tastes. It is also good to keep these best practices in mind.
Best Practices
To help you create a high-quality customer experience, follow the best practices below:
Make sure you let your customers know what Marketing Messages they can expect to receive in the opt-in request. The title, images, and text should all align with the type of Marketing Messages you will send them after the opt-in.
When sending more than one opt-in request to a customer, each opt-in request should clearly state the different, specific types of Marketing Messages that the customer can expect to receive.
Regularly review your opt-in requests and Marketing Messages to see if they still meet the best practices above.
Benefits of Facebook Marketing Messages
Let's take a look at the benefits of Facebook Marketing Messages.
Reach your audience where they are: on the app they are already using, whether on the Facebook website or the mobile Facebook Messenger app. This will boost conversion rates more effectively than standard channels.
Create additional touchpoints to speed up the customer (buying) journey. By initiating conversations with interested customers - at any point in the journey - you'll be able to accelerate sales, deepen engagement or even generate new leads.
Have personalised one-on-one conversations that resonate with your customers to deepen customer relationships and brand loyalty.
How to Get Opt-ins for Marketing Messages
As a business, you can only send Marketing Messages via Facebook Messenger if you have received an opt-in from your customers. In fact, these opt-ins can also expire. After six months, just before the Marketing Messages opt-in is about to expire, your customers will receive a re-opt-in request. They will then have the choice of whether or not to continue receiving the Marketing Messages.
But before worrying about expired opt-ins, you have to make sure to get that original opt-in from your customers. Don't worry, there are several ways to get opt-ins, and we'll highlight them below.
Facebook Page
Customers can contact you via the Facebook Page of your business if you turn on messaging. When they redirect to Messenger to chat with you, you can present them with an opt-in request.
Facebook Advertisements
Use Facebook advertisements that click to Facebook Messenger to run campaigns. The opt-in request is sent to your customer once they click on the ad.
Facebook m.me Links
These shortened URLs (or QR codes) will redirect your customers to Facebook Messenger to start a conversation. The m.me links can be included in websites, emails, and social media posts.
Chat Plugin on Website
You can add a Facebook Messenger chat plugin to your company website. When customers click on it, they can engage with you over Facebook Messenger, and you can present them with an opt-in request.
Facebook Messenger via CM.com
Facebook Messenger is a perfect tool for a personalised customer experience while building your online brand community and creating meaningful relationships with your customers.
Make sure that you re-engage interested customers daily, weekly, or monthly with recurring Facebook Marketing Messages to drive conversion. Send them product- or back-in-stock-updates, discounts, and personal offers via personalised messages on Facebook Messenger to create those additional touchpoints in the customer buying journey.
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