Facebook Messenger Marketing: Is Your Business Making The Most Of It?

A 2016 study showed that 53% of consumers are more likely to shop with a business they can message directly. Is your business using Facebook Messenger marketing to its full potential? If not, you could be missing out on valuable leads and sales.

Below, we detail the various tools and techniques available to your business’s Facebook Page when it comes to Messenger.

Is your Facebook page set up to receive messages?

All business pages are able to receive messages, but admins do have the capability to disable this.

To check if your page has messages enabled, go to your Facebook page and click on “Settings”. Next, you’ll need to select “Messages” under the General settings and check whether the following option is ticked: “Allow people to contact my page privately by showing the Message button.”

Setting up a Facebook Messenger Greeting

Facebook allows you to create a greeting that will automatically pop up whenever someone visits your page and opens up a chat thread. This is an inviting feature that increases the chances of a lead getting in touch with you.

To set up your greeting, access your Facebook page’s Messaging settings, scroll to the bottom until you see “Show a Messenger greeting”.

By switching this Facebook Messenger marketing option on, you’ll have the choice of sticking with the default greeting or creating your own. We advise creating your own in order to make your business appear personable and friendly.

Facebook Messenger gives you the option to insert personalisation into your greeting. At Knapton Wright, we use the person’s first name to add a bit of a personable flair to our greeting. However, if we were a more formal organisation such as a law firm, we’d probably opt for the Person’s last name with a Mr/Ms before it.

Try to imagine each person visiting your page is someone walking into your shop or office. Avoid jargon or waffle, and create a friendly, inviting and helpful greeting that will encourage them to follow through with a question or query.

To further encourage conversation between you and your page’s visitors, you can set up a Facebook chat window to appear when people visit your page. To do this, you again need to access your Page’s settings. From here, select “Messaging” in the left-hand menu, and make sure “Prompt people to send messages” is switched on.

Setting up Facebook Messenger pre-set questions

Depending on the Facebook Page template you are using, you can create a list of FAQs for your Facebook Page’s Messenger. This makes it easier for visitors to find the answers they’re looking for.

If your page is set up in the Standard template, you should have the option to “Help people start a conversation with your Page” in the Messaging settings. Switching this on will provide a list of Frequently Asked Questions, which you can add, edit and remove from your Facebook Page’s Messenger.

Think about the common questions you get asked about your business. Consider the problems your products and/or services solve. A car showroom, for instance, may have the following preset questions:

• Can I book a test drive?
• What are your open hours?
• What servicing do you offer?
• Where are you located?
• What offers do you currently have?
• What vehicles do you have in stock?

This Facebook Messenger marketing technique makes it easier for customers to get in touch and find exactly what they need, thus starting a two-way conversation between business and potential customer.

Facebook Messenger Response Time

Response time is important to ensure Facebook users know your business prioritises customer service. Aim to respond to all messages as quick as possible in order to maintain healthy response stats.

If you don’t know the answer to the messenger’s query, avoid “winging it” just for the sake of stats. Instead, acknowledge their query with a response letting them know you’ll have an answer to them shortly.

If you respond to 90% of your messages within 15 minutes, Facebook will reward you with a “Very responsive to messages badge”, which your Page can wear with pride.

Remember, you need to respond to at least 75% of the messages you receive within a day or less to be able to display your response time on your page. Once you’ve achieved this, you can select a response time from the following options:

• Automatically set response time (based on your actual responses)
• Typically replies instantly
• Typically replies in minutes
• Typically replies within an hour
• Typically replies in a few hours
• Typically replies within a day

Be honest when selecting one of these options, as it’s important to manage the customer’s expectations and avoid frustrating them. Again, these features are all available within the Facebook Page Messaging Settings.

Setting up an automatic Facebook Messenger Response

If you often find yourself too busy to respond to a Facebook message immediately, you can set up an autoresponder to those messaging your page for the first time.

To do this, access your Facebook Page’s Settings and select ‘Messaging’. Scroll down to ‘Response Assistant’ and switch on the “Send instant replies to anyone who messages your page” option.

If you sometimes receive negative feedback or have to handle complaints on Facebook, we recommend setting up a message that acknowledges it’s an automated response, just so the sender understands you're not being purposefully vague and that an actual response will be with them shortly.

For further advice on best practices for this feature, we recommend you check out our Facebook Instant Message Replies Guide.

Encourage people to send your Facebook Page a Message

There are plenty of ways you can drive people to get in touch via Facebook Messenger marketing. If you would like to make this your key sales funnel and contact method, make sure your Facebook Page’s Call to Action reflects this.

To change your Facebook Page’s button (displayed at the top below the cover image), hover over it and select ‘Edit Button’. Under the “Contact you” drop-down, select “Send Message”. This will prompt page visitors to get in touch via Facebook Page messages.

Another thing you can do to continue driving people to your Facebook Page’s Messenger is to share your Messenger Link, which is m.me/[your page’s username]. For example, our Messenger Link is m.me/knaptonwright

Create posts across your social media platforms that drive people to this link. You can also include it on your website to continue increasing your social media engagement.

Facebook Messenger Ads

1.3 billion people around the world spend time on Messenger interacting with businesses and brands. With this in mind, why not create Messenger ads for your business that target your exact market?

These ads are displayed on the Messenger home tab and can be set up to boost traffic, conversions, app installs, reach, messages, brand awareness and catalogue sales.

Optimise your Facebook Messenger Marketing

8 billion messages are sent per month between users and businesses on Facebook Messenger. Make sure your business is not missing out on any potential leads by ensuring your Facebook Messenger marketing is set up to drive and manage as many enquiries as possible.

Need help ensuring you’re reaching the right people, at the right time, with the right messaging on social media? We can become an extension of your marketing team – call 01652 638290 or email hello@knaptonwright.co.uk to find out more!

Oliver Wilkinson
Content Marketing Executive
Knapton Wright