In a world where the continuously growing trend is interacting online, businesses need to make sure they’re keeping up. In fact, 56 percent of people would rather message a business than call for customer service.

Facebook Messenger is the world’s most popular messaging app with over 1 billion users each month. It’s an easy way for people to connect with each other. So why shouldn’t it be an easy way to connect with businesses?

Facebook Messenger marketing is a relatively unexplored territory in terms of marketing tactics, but it has so much potential. That’s why I’m here to show you 10 Facebook Messenger marketing tactics that will help fuel growth for your business.

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #1: Create a chatbot.

Creating a chatbot is the number one Facebook Messenger marketing tactic. You should build a chatbot before even thinking of your next move.

Chatbots are designed to communicate with human users across the internet. They save time and money for your business and make customer interactions simple. They can be used for countless things, from answering common customer questions to recommending products for customers.

This Facebook Messenger marketing tactic is essential because of the massive impact chatbots have on business. Not only does Facebook Messenger automation mean answers are available 24/7, so customers don’t have to wait to get information from your business, but they drive customer satisfaction and help you avoid busywork so that you can put more effort into fueling your business in different ways.

Engagement rates on Facebook Messenger are 10-80 times better than Facebook Newsfeed or email marketing. With chatbots, this engagement results in conversions.

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #2: Create custom audiences.

Once you’ve checked off Facebook Messenger marketing tactic #1 and have created the perfect chatbot for your business, it’s time to move on to Facebook Messenger marketing tactic #2, creating custom audiences for that chatbot.

Chatbots are amazing tools to use for lead generation because they can easily ask questions that collect user contact information. And whenever this information is collected, it’s saved as a custom attribute to a contact profile.

Obviously, this is great news for a number or reasons. But one fantastic reason leads us to Facebook Messenger marketing tactic #2 - creating custom audiences.

You can use the custom attributes collected by your chatbot to build custom audiences which you can then remarket to at a later date. This allows you to send follow-up messages to these contacts specifically, related to information that they themselves have provided.

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #3: Use click-to-Messenger ads.

So far, these Facebook Messenger marketing tactics have been about what you can do within the Messenger app itself. But there’s also a Facebook Messenger marketing tactic that you can utilize outside of the app.

Click-to-Messenger ads are one of the top Facebook Messenger marketing tactics to use for your business.

You likely already use Facebook ads; and these ads come with a call to action. Most businesses tend to use this call to action to drive users to their website. And while that’s a great move, as you want potential customers to see more about your business and product, there’s an even better way.

Facebook Messenger marketing tactic #3 is about creating click-to-Messenger ads on Facebook. These are typical Facebook Newsfeed ads, but instead of the call to action button driving users to a website, it takes them straight to a Facebook Messenger chat - with the chatbot you’ve already created!

Facebook Messenger ads are better than typical Facebook ads because they have a 100% conversion rate - that’s because you get the contact info of everyone who clicks the ad and can then message them back within 24 hours after their last message.

This Facebook Messenger marketing tactic is guaranteed to grow your Messenger contact list and increase your ROI.

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #4: Turn comments into free leads with comment guards.

Let’s get to another Facebook Messenger marketing tactic that will help you grow your business’s contact list.

That’s Facebook Messenger marketing tactic #4 - creating comment guards.

Comment guards, or autoresponders, are chatbots that send a message to everyone who comments on a certain Facebook post (a Facebook post that you set up with a comment guard).

Comment guards turn your already-engaged fans into lasting contacts by simply responding to their Facebook comments on your posts.

You can make this even more beneficial for you and your business by being specific about the type of post that you apply a comment guard to. For example, create a Facebook ad about a webinar or promotion that your business is giving, and have users comment if their interested in signing up or receiving a discount code. Then, your chatbot can ask them for their email to sign them up or send the code!

Suddenly, you have a growing Facebook Messenger contact list and potentially a growing email contact list. This Facebook Messenger marketing tactic is too good to ignore!

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #5: Utilize sponsored messages.

Once you’ve put each Facebook Messenger marketing tactic that we’ve gone over to use, you should have a growing Messenger contact list.

Now, let’s put that growing contact list to use!

With this Facebook Messenger marketing tactic, you’ll be able to access your existing Facebook Messenger contacts in an advantageous way - with sponsored messages.

Sponsored messages allow businesses to send promotions to their Facebook Messenger contacts. A business is allowed to send a follow-up message to a contact within the first 24 hours after the contact’s last message to the business.

They’re unique because they are the only type of Facebook ad that doesn’t appear in the user’s Newsfeed, making it personal to the contact.

Case studies from Facebook show Sponsored Messages get a 10X click-through rate compared to other Facebook ads and a 7.5X ROAS -- return on ad spend!

This Facebook Messenger marketing tactic, however, can only be used when you’ve already been in contact with a user. This means that it’s a perfect way to re-engage with or remarket to previously engaged contacts!

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #6: Use Messenger for customer service.

Since people prefer to contact brands through messaging, why not use messaging for all reasons for communication?

This Facebook Messenger marketing tactic is about using Facebook Messenger for all your customer service needs.

This is made even easier with the chatbot that you’ve already created from Facebook Messenger marketing tactic #1. Chatbots are a perfect tool to use for customer service. You can create FAQ chatbots, which answer frequently asked questions from customers, such as product pricing, business hours, and more.

Chatbots are also incredibly quick, which people are looking for in their customer service inquiries.

The best part about using Customer service chatbots is that you can have live operator takeovers. This means that when a user uses a certain word or phrase, it can trigger an email directly to your inbox letting you know that a user is in need of human assistance. Then you can jump into the chat and carry on the conversation!

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #7: Deliver forms and surveys.

The next Facebook Messenger marketing tactic is another great way to generate leads and collect contact information.

Beyond that, forms and surveys are ways to spread the word about your business and grow your customer base.

Think about using a previous Facebook Messenger marketing tactic to start, like a comment guard or a sponsored message. These are perfect formats to deliver forms and surveys to engaged users. For example, you can create a Facebook post offering a discount or fun free feature to people who are willing to fill out a survey. The people who would like to participate can comment, and an autoresponder can send them the survey on Facebook Messenger!

Using Facebook Messenger to deliver forms and surveys is extremely beneficial because it makes engagement rates soar. This happens for a number of reasons; because the surveys are through Facebook Messenger, they are, by default, mobile-friendly. This will make them easier to fill out and complete, meaning more users will follow through!

And, of course, since the interaction is done within Facebook Messenger, this allows you to follow up with the contact over the next 24 hours after their last message. You also get to add another contact to your Messenger contacts and, depending on the content of the form or survey, to your email list, as well!

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #8: Integrate your data.

Another important Facebook Messenger marketing tactic that takes place outside of the app is the integration of your data.

With each Facebook Messenger marketing tactic we’ve gone over, you’ve been building and adding tools that will grow your contact list exponentially.

So why not use that to your benefit?

You’re definitely using more than just Facebook Messenger to run your business, but you’re growing contact profiles within Messenger.

This Facebook Messenger marketing tactic is about syncing your Facebook Messenger contact profiles with the other systems and platforms you use to run your business. With chatbot integration, you can integrate with a vast number of different systems and platforms, making yet another task hands-off for you and fueling your business growth.

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #9: Do drip campaigns.

Here’s another thing you can use Facebook Messenger marketing tactic #1 for - creating drip campaigns!

Easily create a drip campaign using a chatbot so that you can check off this Facebook Messenger marketing tactic. All you have to do is create the campaign and it will do the rest of the work itself!

Drip campaigns are fantastic ways to get out a lot of information right in the Facebook Messenger app. It’s useful for providing solutions that are a little more complicated, or potentially for onboarding new customers or clients.

They’re great because you can, for example, welcome new customers and then send them another message the next day to re-engage them with some new valuable content. Include links or CTA buttons in your chatbot’s messages to engage the user even more!

And remember, as long as the user responds, you can contact them again within 24 hours of that response!

Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactic #10: Transition to Messenger for interactive mobile landing page experiences.

This last Facebook Messenger marketing tactic is an important one. We’ve touched upon it lightly in previous Facebook Messenger marketing tactics, but this is where Messenger's unique advantages really come into play.

Facebook Messenger marketing tactic #10 is all about using Messenger as your mobile-friendly landing page experience.

Here’s the thing: people are engaging in social media through mobile devices. And the reality is, a lot of web pages aren’t optimized for mobile.

There’s nothing worse than being sent to a landing page that is a terror to navigate on a mobile device.

This will turn people off and you’ll lose customers. So why take the risk?

It’s time to use Facebook Messenger as your chat-based landing page. This means that you're sending traffic, leads and customers to a mobile-friendly experience by default, meaning you won’t be leading traffic (paid and organic) to clunky web pages that are impossible to navigate on mobile devices.

This means that you’ll engage more users for a longer period of time, resulting in more conversions!

A Facebook Messenger bot becomes your mobile-friendly landing page experience any time you direct traffic to it, including any and all of these Facebook Messenger marketing entry points:

  • Links in emails, blog posts or social media
  • Buttons on your website or Facebook page
  • Checkboxes from forms or sign-up pages
  • Website chat
  • Facebook ads

Put These Facebook Messenger Marketing Tactics to Use!

Now that we’ve gone over 10 different Facebook Messenger marketing tactics, it’s time for you to put them to use with your business.

Facebook Messenger marketing is an engagement-heavy method to access more people in quicker, easier, and cheaper ways. It’s time to make the switch to chat-based marketing!

Which Facebook Messenger marketing tactic will you start with?

Larry Kim,

CEO & Founder, MobileMonkey, Inc.