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Introduction To Facebook Messenger 

Facebook Messenger is a FREE mobile messaging app used for instant messaging, sharing photos, videos, audio recording, group chats and more. Here is a link with a full list of features in the application. This is a growing application that Facebook continues to innovate and bring new features to its users. Messenger is a separate application from Facebook, but the two remain connected with your profile account.

As of date, there are more than 1.3 billion people on Facebook Messenger every month. That number continues to grow as Facebook has reported there are 100 million new users every five to six months; with over 7 billion conversations on the app every day. Here is a chart provided by Statista.com to help you understand to value and reach Messenger has.

As you can see from this chart, Facebook Messenger is the most popular amongst the 25 – 34 age group, which is also the age group with high purchasing power. Messenger is here to stay, which is why Messenger Marketing is the new hot marketing channel right now.

Now that we know there is a massive amount of users on the app, how can we make this work for our business? Currently, over 3 billion people prefer messaging applications to communicate with friends and businesses.  This is true with website chats boxes, social media direct messaging, or standard texting. More than ever there is an increase in business utilizing instant messaging for customer service. Slowly people are turning to instant messaging vs emailing.

Sometimes our inboxes can get bombarded with so many emails, promotions, and notifications that you just open the ones that seem urgent and important to you. This is why emails have low open rates; all industries have an open rate lower than 30% according to Mailchimp’s report. On the other hand, Messenger has demonstrated open rates over 80%, that’s a 50% increase minimum in your open rates. But what do higher open rates mean? Higher open rates → Higher Click-Through rates → Higher conversions → More revenue. Ultimately, this means you are converting more customers.

This doesn’t go to say that you should abandon your email marketing efforts, but it’s just to bring light to the potential opportunity that is available for your business in Facebook Messenger Marketing. Now, you can use Messenger however you see fit for your business. Some common objectives businesses use Messenger marketing for is any of the following:

• Customer Service
• Promotion & Announcements (similar to a newsletter)
• E-Commerce
• Engagement
• Lead Generation  

If you want to get started on Messenger Marketing today you can begin implementing messenger chatbots into your business page or website. A Chatbot is an artificial intelligence system that communicates with you on the command of the user. Bots are programmed to follow specific sequences and have designated answers based on specific actions. Not to worry though, luckily there are platforms online that take away all the techy and heavy-duty programming involved. On these chatbot platforms, you have to create the bot’s dialogues, conversation sequences, rules, and a little more. This can all be done by anyone who has the time and will to learn and execute this setup. If not, that is where you hire an agency like AimSquad to set up your Chatbot and assist in other goals.  Here are two popular platforms available to you that have a free user experience account.

• Mobile Monkey
• MannyChat

If you create an account in any of the two, you will be able to connect it to your Facebook Business page and begin creating a chatbot for your business. If you are not sure how to set up your chatbot dialogue or sequence, it’s likely one of your competitors have already implemented one in their Business Page or on their website. Go inspect their chatbot to cultivate some ideas and begin creating your own. Don’t be afraid to create your first chatbot, you can always make adjustments along the way. The most important thing to worry about is getting started. Once your chatbot is set, you can then experiment and test to optimize the best results for your customers and business.

To learn more about Facebook Messenger Marketing HERE is another great article.

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