The key to any successful marketing campaign is engagement. Regardless of whether your objective is sales, sign ups, or just raising awareness, getting your message across is essential. In order to achieve this, we usually emphasise factors such as developing relevant, quality content, providing a great user experience (especially on mobile devices), and optimising content for search engines. But there’s another great tool that is often overlooked and that’s the role of messenger services.
In this article we’re going to look at how you can make use of Facebook Messenger. With over a billion daily users it’s no surprise that it has attracted the attention of marketers. Facebook is also aware of this huge, relatively untapped resource and has responded by developing new ways for us to use it for marketing. Let’s see some of the ways you can leverage it.
With over a billion daily users it’s no surprise that it has attracted the attention of marketers
- Fast and direct customer service
One of the great ongoing debates is whether you should include an email address or a contact form on your website.
Some experts argue that visitors assume an email query will just go answered. But the same can also be said for submissions via contact forms. Experience tells us that if we get a reply it is often days later. A small business can’t afford to alienate potential customers in that way. The solution is to include messenger as an option. It’s instant, it’s direct, and it shows that you genuinely care about engaging your customers one-on-one. It’s the next best thing to them phoning you or calling in at a physical store.
You could just include a live chat box, but there are big advantages with opting for Facebook Messenger instead. For a start, it helps link customers with your Facebook account (and vice versa). Secondly, it makes it a lot easier for them to contact you again.
- Use Messenger for content delivery
Another useful way to use Messenger is to incorporate it into event planning. For example, imagine your business is part of a conference. You can then let participants get information and updates directly. This might include things like the daily itinerary, important announcements, and a summary of key points from seminars. The same principle can be applied to you regular products and services. Remember not to over do it; keep your messages relevant and regular enough that they add value to your customers without them coming across as spam.
- Chatbots
It’s also possible to engage customers via Messenger even when you aren’t able to respond directly. This is where chatbots can help. In essence, these are small programs that can interact with your audience either individually or in groups. They can provide automated responses to keywords and questions. Because they are triggered by the user’s input their responses are likely be relevant and informative.
Luckily, you don’t need to be a programmer to create one because there are good third-party tools available:
- Advertising – the new frontier
Our final section looks at the advertising services Facebook provides for us. Because Facebook also owns Instagram you can reach an even bigger audience. Given that more than a billion people communicate with Messenger every day that’s a huge global reach!
Start by utilising Facebook’s powerful ad placement service. It delivers ads to the home screen of the Messenger App, just as you would see ads within Facebook itself. The ads don’t just target random users though; Facebook makes use of their internal data to ensure that ads are targeted at potential customers. That helps to minimise the ad spend cost for you.
The other way you can use Facebook advertising is with Click-to-Messenger Instead of targeting the home screen of the app, the service targets the conversation streams of users. It will include current clients who are already connected to you as well as potential ones.
The best place to start investigating paid advertising is with Facebook’s online help: How does advertising on Messenger work?
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