With over 1 billion people using it worldwide, the fast and convenient Messenger service offered by social media powerhouse Facebook is something that can’t be ignored.
This instant messaging service that allows for the sending of text, images, files, and audio isn’t just for private use – brands are getting on board too. Facebook data from April 2016 reports that more than 1 billion messages are sent between people and business Pages on Messenger every month. That’s a LOT!
And of recent times, we’ve seen brands get creative with automated Messenger bots. Take for example the news bot created by ABC News (this is a personal favourite of mine!!), or the handy shopping assistant Kmart Buddy that was released just in time for Christmas.
So how can the owners of Pages make the most of Facebook Messenger Applications for Business?
Get your Messenger Code
Every person and page who uses Facebook Messenger has their own unique Messenger Code. Similarly to QR Codes, this special code can be scanned by other people, leading them straight to a private message with your page. Here’s ours:
To find your Messenger Code, go to your Facebook Page’s message inbox. Down near the toggle for your Away Message you’ll see an icon that will take you to where your code can be downloaded. There’s 3 sizes for you to choose from, depending on where you plan to put the code – maybe a sign out front of your store, a decal on your car, on the packing slip sent with your products, or on your business card – the options are endless.
Handle Public Comments with a Private Message
Page managers now have the option to respond to a comment on their page via private message. This option is offered alongside the ability to Like a comment, or Reply to it publicly:
This is helpful for times when sensitive information needs to be discussed, and the best part is that other users can see that the page has responded by way of private message, so no one is left wondering if a person’s question or comment was left unanswered!
Try using ‘Send Message’ as your Call to Action
If you’re into Facebook advertising, “Send Message” is now being offered as one of the call to action options for Local Awareness campaigns. This is a great way to create direct engagement with potential customers online!
For maximum positive engagement, have these ads scheduled to run when someone can be manning your Messenger at the other end!
Customise your Response Assistant
Messenger now allows you to create Greetings, Instant Replies, and Away Messages:
- Greetings appear the first time someone opens a conversation with you on Messenger. So this is only for people who are messaging you for the very first time. You can keep it plain and simple, or depending on the type of Page that you run you might wish to give people some idea on what sort of messages they can send you. For example;
Hi [First Name],
Welcome to our Messenger service! We’re happy to receive messages here with questions about orders or feedback about our service. If you have any faults with your product, please phone our Faults Hotline on 1800 000 000 for urgent assistance.
- Instant Replies are an automated response that will be sent to people when they message your Page. You can personalise by adding things like their First Name, or your Page Phone Number.
- Away Messages are great to setup as a way of letting people know that they’ve messaged you outside of business hours, so this way they’re not wondering why you haven’t responded immediately. You can set this automated message up, and then also set your available hours using their tool, or simply swipe the Away toggle when you’re not there:
Create some Saved Responses
Most businesses have a set of Frequently Asked Questions on their website, well similarly you might find there is a familiar set of questions that tend to get asked through the Facebook Page. Pre-drafting these also means that you can have an approved list of responses sitting there, ready to be called upon. You can edit and personalise these as you go, but at least you can save yourself some time by having these at the ready:
Check out Notes & Labels
Facebook has also released some very handy features for the management of your messages, particularly for those who may have multiple Admins.
Firstly you can now add Notes to a particular message thread. These are only viewable by the Admins of the page and are a great way to keep track of where a conversation is at.
You can also create and manage Labels within Messenger. You may wish to create labels like ‘Customer’, ‘Product Issue’, ‘Service Complaint’, ‘Follow Up Required’, ‘Important’, and so on.
AND THAT’S IT!
If you’d like help to setup your Facebook Messenger for Business – our social media agency team would be all too happy to help! Just give us a call on 1300 65 85 43 and book a social media consultation over coffee.