Facebook Messenger is one of the most popular mobile apps in the world. Millions of people use the program every day to connect with friends, family members, and businesses. Over the past few years, Facebook has found more ways to monetize the Messenger platform. Advertisers can show targeted ads on the Messenger, and businesses can use the app for communicating with customers. Recently, Facebook added a feature that makes it possible for companies to use Facebook Messenger for lead generation.
One of the challenges of Facebook marketing is that it’s difficult for a business to initiate a conversation with someone on the platform. A company can reply to a message that someone sends the business, but the business can’t be the first one to send a message to a person on Facebook. Though a little frustrating, this rule is needed to protect the user experience on the platform. If the Facebook rules allowed companies to message anyone they wanted to, everyone would have an inbox filled with spam.
Marketers are still unable to initiate conversations on Facebook Messenger. However, a new option from Facebook will make it easier for businesses to chat with potential customers through Facebook Messenger. The new tool is designed to improve lead generation efforts on the platform.
The social media giant announced the new option in a post at the end of August. The Facebook Business team wrote, “Today, August 29, we are announcing the global rollout of lead generation in Messenger, which enables businesses to set up an automated question experience. Ads that click-to-Messenger, created in the messages objective, opens a Messenger conversation between a person and business and kicks off a set of questions that can be answered through pre-filled or free form text.”
The system makes it easier for social media marketers on Facebook to reach a highly-targeted audience. Marketers wouldn’t be able to single out a random individual they want to target, but if the person is in the company’s CRM solution, it will be possible to target them with lead generation opportunities through Facebook Messenger.
According to Facebook, “Businesses can then integrate with their CRM provider and continue the conversation with qualified leads through Pages Inbox, Pages Manager App, or a third-party live chat provider. A timely reminder is automatically sent to people who have not yet completed questions, prompting them to respond.”
Companies involved in the beta test achieved impressive results by using the new system. Facebook shared the example of RIFT Tax, a UK-based financial services company. This business used the latest lead generation feature in Messenger to increase its customer base of Armed Forces members and managed to increase qualified leads by 42 percent. The speed and seamless nature of the system allowed for quicker follow-ups and achieved an 18 percent higher lead resolve rate versus the phone.
Social media marketers who are looking for new ways to communicate with their customers through Facebook should consider using this new feature. The majority of people consider Messenger one of their favorite ways to communicate, so it’s smart to use the app for lead generation.
For more news about digital advertising, read this article on some of the new options for businesses on Google Ads.