Facebook Messenger Marketing: What Marketers Need to Know

Do you want to communicate with your customers via Facebook Messenger?

Wondering how Facebook Messenger bots and Messenger ads can help?

To explore this topic, I interview Molly Pittman.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Molly Pittman, the vice president of marketing at DigitalMarketer. She specializes in customer acquisition and teaches regularly for DigitalMarketer Engage, which is the company's membership community.

You'll discover how businesses can benefit from integrating Facebook Messenger features into their marketing.

Molly shares use cases for Facebook Messenger marketing.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
Listen Now

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, or Stitcher.

Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Facebook Messenger Marketing
Why Consider Messenger Ads?

As soon as Facebook Messenger ads became available in November 2016, Molly started experimenting with them. Molly says she's excited about Facebook Messenger ads because they're not just a new interface element or feature. Facebook Messenger ads are a whole new channel.

Molly believes the value of Facebook Messenger ads lies in the app's popularity and convenience. More than one billion people communicate via Facebook Messenger. Because that's where people are having conversations with friends, family, colleagues, or whomever, Molly believes businesses should be connecting with their customers via Facebook Messenger, too.

The app's popularity makes Facebook Messenger a good place to buy ads, connect with prospects, and talk to customers. Molly says that DigitalMarketer's initial tests have shown good results. The open rate and consumption are really high.

Molly has seen the benefit from the consumer's standpoint, too. A few months ago, as Molly was driving in Austin, she saw a new apartment complex being built. Molly was interested, so she went to the company's Facebook page and contacted them through their Message Us button. They responded almost instantaneously. Every step of her communication with the company was done through Facebook Messenger.

I ask Molly if she believes Facebook Messenger will replace email. Molly responds that email will likely always be a powerful tool for marketers, certainly for the next five years. However, she says Facebook Messenger isn't necessarily a replacement but is the mode of communication most similar to email. In some aspects, Messenger is better than email, she continues, because people tend to respond instantaneously on Messenger, whereas people don't feel compelled to respond to emails right away.

Listen to the show to hear Molly and I discuss our predictions for the future of Facebook Messenger.

The Types of Messenger Ads

Molly explains the two types of Facebook Messenger ads.

The first one is called a destination ad because when you set it up, you choose Facebook Messenger as the destination (as opposed to your website). Like a regular ad, a destination ad appears in the news feed and can display a video, carousel, or image. When someone clicks the ad, a message to your Facebook page opens in Facebook Messenger and you can begin a conversation.

For example, the first test Molly ran was a simple destination ad that said, "Do you have questions about how DigitalMarketer can help grow your business? We'd love to chat." When someone clicked the ad, a Facebook Messenger window opened where the person could type his or her message to DigitalMarketer.

Molly says you can target anyone with destination ads, such as your custom audiences and interests. The opportunities are endless.

The other type is a sponsored message, which is more like an email.