When shopping online, consumers are increasingly pursuing convenient, fast and reliable services. In recent years, communicating with users through instant messaging software has become a new mainstream. Statistics show that 71% of consumers believe that communicating with businesses through social media is more convenient and efficient, which makes social media marketing extremely critical.
Facebook Messenger (also known as Messenger) is one of the mainstream social media channels. It ranks third among the world’s most popular communication software, with a cumulative global user base of 3.07 billion. Businesses can make full use of Messenger to connect and interact with users, thereby gaining more business opportunities and improving the conversion rate of marketing campaigns. The main method and strategy for this is “bulk messaging marketing”.
Messenger bulk messaging marketing is basically similar to WhatsApp bulk messaging in form. In both two ways, enterprises can use preset message templates to send messages to target users in batches, so as to achieve the goals of service notifications or marketing conversion. However, due to different platform rules, their bulk messaging operation models differ with each other too. The biggest difference is that Messenger requires “interaction” as a prerequisite.
Prerequisites for Messenger Bulk Messaging Marketing
To implement Messenger bulk messaging marketing, it is first necessary to understand the platform’s bulk messaging mechanism. Messenger provides messaging service, and the platform strictly protects users’ personal information. Conversations between users and business accounts “must be initiated by the users first”. After interaction, businesses can obtain the user’s Facebook ID, which can then be used for bulk messaging of marketing messages and tagged messages. Before users proactively interact with businesses, businesses cannot reach out to them.
It is worth noting that waiting is not the only way for businesses to quickly obtain users’ Facebook IDs. In addition to replying to customers’ proactive private messages, there are 5 strategies to connect with users, which can help you obtain users’ IDs more efficiently.
M.me Short Link
An m.me link is a short URL. Businesses can insert m.me links in websites, emails and social media posts to direct users to the Messenger business account homepage.
Checkbox Plugin
The checkbox plugin can be used in forms on websites. After users click the checkbox, the public homepage will obtain relevant information to understand what users are interested in, and then send subscription requests to users. For users, it is a contextual way to subscribe to marketing messages.
Messenger Chat Plugin
Businesses can integrate the Messenger chat plugin with their official websites as a consultation entry. When users initiate conversations from the website, businesses can set up subscription invitations through call-to-action (CTA) buttons. After users click and reply, businesses can send subscription requests to them.
QR Code
Businesses can embed parameterized m.me links in QR codes. After customers scan the code, they can directly be guided to the Messenger homepage to initiate consultations.
Messenger Ads
Businesses can launch ad campaigns through Messenger ads. When users click on the ads, the system will send subscription requests to them.
Through the 5 methods above, you can proactively reach out to customers to accumulate “original” customer resources for your Messenger account, and lay a user foundation for subsequent bulk messaging marketing. But this is only the first step. To maximize the value of these user resources, you need to choose a cost-effective bulk messaging strategy.
Strategies of Messenger Bulk Messaging Marketing
Currently, there are 3 ways to help businesses achieve one-click bulk messaging (as shown in the figure below). Different methods have different advantages and disadvantages.
Strategy 1: One-Time Notification
Previously, Messenger introduced the “24+1” policy, which meant that users and businesses could chat freely within 24 hours of connecting, and after 24 hours, businesses could still send an additional message to users. However, this policy was revoked later, making it difficult for businesses to send marketing messages to users on Messenger.
Currently, Messenger has launched “One-Time Notification”. It means that between 24 hours to 7 days from the interaction between the user and the business, the business can send a one-time invitation to the user. If the user chooses to accept the invitation, the business’s Messenger page will receive a token (an official program interface), allowing a one-time message sending to that user.
One-Time Notification is suitable for businesses to send messages such as coupons, special promotion notices, product restock notices, and new product launches outside the 24-hour window.
However, this method has obvious disadvantages. If users choose to refuse or ignore the content, the message becomes invalid, and the business cannot obtain the user ID for subsequent bulk messaging. Moreover, this token can only be used once and will expire within one year, which means it is difficult for businesses to develop long-term connections with users through one-time notifications and to keep user stickiness.
Strategy 2: Message Tags
Message Tags are similar to one-time notification in function. They allow merchants to interact with contacts of the Messenger page outside 24 hours but within 7 days. However, message tags cannot be used to send marketing content such as promotional materials and campaigns. Only service-oriented content such as event notifications, order updates, and payment status are allowed. Therefore, Message Tags are not suitable for bulk messaging marketing.
Strategy 3: Marketing Message
Marketing Message means that after businesses successfully requesting users to subscribe their accounts, they can create bulk tasks to send marketing messages to users even outside the 24-hour standard time window. There is no limit to the number of marketing messages sent, and the template styles of marketing messages are more abundant and do not need approval.
Within the 24-hour standard time window, Messenger marketing messages can be sent to the same user 1-3 times under the same subscription topic. If customers reply within 24 hours, free messages can be sent within 24 hours, resulting in more diverse applications.
Overall, the first two strategies have varying degrees of limitations, which can not meet the needs of private domain operations. Therefore, the third mode is more recommended for bulk messaging marketing, which is more cost-effective.
How to Apply for Permission to Send Marketing Messages?
It is actually very simple to send the Messenger marketing messages, requiring only 3 steps.
- Register for the Sobot customer contact center system;
- Create a Facebook Messenger public homepage (skip this step if you already have one);
- Add the Facebook channel in the Sobot system to enter the marketing workspace for message editing and bulk messaging marketing.
In addition, businesses can build a closed-loop process of marketing and service through the Sobot workbench. For example, Messenger can integrate with Sobot products like live chat, chatbot, and ticketing system for service, and also integrate with voice for sales and SMS for marketing. When bulk messaging marketing arouses customers’ interest, human agents can take over the service, and help you further improve customer satisfaction and conversion rate with the help of data statistics and more other capabilities.
If you also want to conduct Facebook Messenger bulk messaging marketing, take action immediately to contact Sobot for a free trail. Sobot will spare no efforts to help you combine service and marketing, and improve your overall efficiency.
