Although many people use Facebook Messenger daily, the mobile application remains largely untapped in terms of business potential. This is great news for marketers: they can capitalize on a vastly popular tool and still have the first mover’s advantage. While other marketers focus on advertising, social media, and email, the modern marketer can hone in on a new frontier: Facebook Messenger Marketing.
There are currently 1.3 billion monthly users on Facebook Messenger. With such a large number, it’s an area your business shouldn’t ignore. Here are five different ways you can use Facebook Messenger to help your business generate revenue:
1) Start Planning
Every marketing strategy’s success is based on the foundation it’s built upon, and without the right planning tools, you may find that your project is all over the place. It’s common for businesses to have several people working on their marketing team, especially if you’ve outsourced some aspects of the strategy. On the other hand, you might have a business that sells software. Either way, communication is key.
2) Create a Micro Newsletter with Messenger Marketing
Today, new tools allow businesses to send email newsletters directly through the Messenger app. While this might seem counter-intuitive, many studies have shown it works. Instead of the traditional email marketing newsletter, you’d send a micro newsletter directly to their inbox. While traditional email campaigns have an average 20% open rate, open rates for Messenger are around 80%. Clickthrough rates for Messenger are also between 4x to 10x higher than email, depending on your industry and the nature of the messaging.
“Messenger sequences are way faster than email campaign sequences,” says renowned marketing expert Neil Patel. “With an email campaign sequence, you typically should wait a day or two before sending additional emails. With Facebook Messenger, you can send more messages in the next 10 seconds, 10 minutes, 10 days, or whatever you want. Best of all, the response is instant, and you can engage in real conversations with your leads.”
3) Improve Your Customer Service With Bots
Today’s customers want the ability to reach the businesses they purchase from through several channels. After all, customer service can make or break your business. With half of all new businesses and startups losing half their initial customer base within five years, focusing on customer acquisition and retention is more important than ever. One way to do that is to make yourself available more often and to have a better customer service strategy.
Chatbots help make this possible. Facebook Messenger bots are automated messaging that offer your current and potential customers immediate responses to their inquiries. As you build your chatbot, consider every FAQ from your customer support team. Think outside the box, and go through your previous ticket requests to be sure you’ve covered every potential topic. This allows you to generate more high-quality answers across a range of topics. When you can offer an immediate response, you increase the chances of them making a purchase right away.
4) Collect Data for Retargeting
After you’ve set up your Facebook Messenger bots, you can use it to retarget future customers. Retargeting is attempting to reel back customers that have already demonstrated interest in your product or service. In this case, they may have already interacted with you on Messenger or selected an option that took them to Messenger to opt-in. As you gather information and answers from your bot, you can use this to create the most relevant retargeting campaigns.
5) Incorporate Your Online Store
After your bot is fully built, you can easily link your online store. Your customers can view products directly within the Messenger app through the Messenger Sales Channel. For instance, if a potential customer reaches out to your business through Messenger and asks questions about products, they can easily view related products without having to search manually. You can also add a “Buy Now” button so that customers can purchase products directly from Messenger.