You need to approach your customers in the places where they’re already hanging out, it’s that simple!

Facebook Messenger Marketing… Why use it? Generally speaking, people are moving away from emails, texts and phone-calls and are instead converting to mobile-friendly solutions like messenger apps. From Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and WhatsApp, people are using these as a convenient and instant way to stay in touch with friends, family, and even businesses. Facebook Messenger Marketing has quickly become the latest and greatest marketing channel, and it’s a trend that isn’t passing any time soon.

Let’s take a closer look…

1.3 billion people actively use Facebook Messenger every month.

Yup, that’s active users, which is an insane amount of people using Messenger on a regular basis. With an audience this big, you have to figure that just about every market is represented.

There are 2 billion messages sent between people and businesses each month.

With 53% of people saying they are more likely to shop with a business they can reach on Messenger, it’s no wonder people are using this platform to instantly connect with the brands they love. Although Messenger is exploding with popularity, it’s still very much a well-kept secret when it comes to including it as part of your digital strategy in that only 1-2% of businesses are taking advantage of the platform—meaning it’ll likely give you a competitive advantage if you were to implement it.

Messenger Marketing is so critical in that it helps you and your audience get to know one another, and enables you to more effectively communicate your brand story—quickly. Messenger lays the groundwork for trust, which is absolutely essential if you want to build, market, and nurture long term relationships.

While the internet has forever changed the way we shop, (with more buying choices but less time to do so) selling with chatbots gives business owners and marketers a simple yet flexible framework to deliver a new type of buying experience. A well-designed Messenger bot can be just as insightful as a traditional website, while being much more efficient (not to mention entertaining!) compared with an organic Facebook post reach. Facebook’s latest News Feed algorithm allows only 1-2% of your audience to see your content, where Messenger has open rates of up to 90% and click through rates of over 50%—this means good things for your company’s visibility and engagement!

Okay, but how can Messenger bots actually be used?

1. Viral Facebook campaigns: By building and creating a Facebook campaign we can capture a new audience while engaging your current one. Traditionally, Facebook ads linked people to your website (which isn’t all that helpful). Instead, ads can link your customers to Messenger which means you instantly receive the customer’s name and location with the ability to directly engage with them. This instantly builds your contact list for you to be able to mass-message in the future, while simultaneously gathering customer data and insights.
2. Adding value with inbox thank you cards: If a customer buys something from you online, they could receive a thank you card when their order arrives. This could include a CTA (call to action) to scan a unique code. This would link them into a conversation that will thank them for their purchase and continue to gather info about your customers and add value. Depending on what questions they answer, it could lead them to different prizes, or a discount for their next order. This creates a unique experience for both you and your customers.
3. Autonomous Facebook Messenger Chatbots: These automatically engage with customers and operate on a Q&A basis to respond to specific questions, as determined by you. This means your customers can contact you any time, any day, and be responded to quickly. If your queries get a little too complicated for the chatbot, a live agent can step in and chat with you directly.
4. Website Slide-In: You can capture new customers by having them take an action, which in turn sends an offer into Messenger. This can be adapted to suit giveaway and promotional campaigns and be consistent across all channels.
5. Facebook Advertising: As we capture a new database we start to build a new audience. This audience can be sent highly targeted campaigns that have your brand front of mind.

With all of this we can measure everything from:

• Open rates
• Click through rates
• Engagement
• Subscriber growth
• Segment audience, i.e. their sex and age
• Opt-in rates for each campaign
• Reach
• Likes
• Action taken

There you have it, a nearly endless list of reasons why you should invest in Facebook Messenger marketing chatbots! With Messenger usage trending to rise, it makes sense to adapt your digital strategy to capitalise on the benefits of Messenger for a personalised customer service, increased engagement, and higher conversion rates.