February 5, 2018

A Beginner’s Guide To Facebook Messenger Ads

By Francesca Hooper at Inspiring Interns

Social media and digital marketing go together like strawberries and cream. It’s impossible to ignore the ads that pop up as you scroll through your feed, so it’s a no-brainer that Facebook ads can give you some much-needed exposure.

In January, Facebook announced it would make some changes to its newsfeed algorithm, much to the dismay of many social media marketers.

The aim of the old algorithm was to try and prioritise what you will find the most relevant. Now, it aims for you to have more meaningful interactions.

Before, your newsfeed would be dominated by posts from businesses, news sites and big brands. Now, it will be dominated by posts from your Facebook friends.

The reason behind this change was academic research which found that users wellbeing would only be increased by meaningful interaction. As a result, Mark Zuckerburg wanted the website to go back to its roots; as a social networking site where the majority of interactions are with your connections, rather than businesses.

This will, of course, change the way businesses are using Facebook to get their content reaching as wide and far as possible. Consequently, Facebook ads could become a more powerful way of gaining this reach.

Here are some tips on how to implement Facebook messenger ads into your marketing campaign.

What Are Facebook Messenger Ads?

These ads allow users to initiate text conversation with various businesses with a click of a button. There are three types of Messenger ads available at the moment:

  1.  Destination ads
  2.  Sponsored messages
  3.  Home section ads

It’s never been easier for advertisers to initiate conversations with users and drive interactions and, hopefully, sales!

Why Facebook Messenger Ads?

Almost everyone is on social media – your friends, your little niece, and your Gran – especially through the Messenger app. Business Insider has crunched the numbers and shown that at the beginning of 2015, monthly usage of the top four messaging apps surpassed usage of the top four social networks. It proves that users don’t just use messaging apps to catch up with mates but as a way to connect with brands and flick through merchandise. So why miss out on a huge audience?

Destination Ads

The destination style Messenger ad shows up in your newsfeed, but the call to action is what makes it different. Instead of ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Shop Here’, the call to action is ‘Send Message’. It encourages its audience to interact, rather than driving them to the website to make purchases.

Sponsored messages allow you to send carefully constructed direct messages to your customers. This is a more personal and direct way of reaching your customers.

You can set up the automatic message, or a ‘chatbot,’ and it is absolutely important to nail the opening greeting. Each click costs the advertiser and that’s before the conversation has really started! By investing in a good message then you have more chance of continuing a conversation and, potentially, securing a sale.

It’s also important to note that sponsored messages can only target people you have had an existing conversation within Messenger.

Home section adverts show up directly on the home dashboard of your messaging application, but function as adverts rather than messages. The aim here is to drive traffic to the website as well as initating conversation through the messenger app.

The Newsfeed Carousel

As Facebook has run out of places to insert ads, they’ve opted in using a newsfeed-style ad that pops up in between our chats on Messenger. They appear as a carousel that you can scroll across in the App.

***

Both of these ways are super useful in reaching out to customers as you’re opening actual private conversations, giving you the chance to offer a more personalised customer service experience. Social media has gotten a little crazy (and it’s only going to get crazier!) so that it’s actually possible for chat-bots to complete a sale from start to finish – payments included – without ever leaving Messenger.

***

Messenger ads, therefore, have clearly switched up the ad-game in social media. There’s no better idea than infiltrating the space where your customers chat in order to advertise your products or services. By setting up your brand with Messenger ads, you’re either creating a conversation or encouraging users to continue to learn about your brand’s content. Both are pretty beneficial to you and your company!

 

Francesca Hooper writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in finding candidates their perfect internship. To browse our graduate jobs London listings, visit our website.


Written by

By Francesca Hooper at Inspiring Interns