If you’ve been paying attention to social media news, you’ll definitely have noticed Facebook’s lowering user engagement. What might surprise you is that a lot of those users are still there, but they’re on Facebook Messenger.
Yes, the private DM app is becoming more appealing to users than using Facebook’s base app, omitting a lot of the features that made it appealing in the first place.
As explained by Social Media Today: “A key reason behind this is the divisive nature of conversations within social apps, with more political and topical discussion leading to an argument, and often causing more angst than it’s worth.
“You’ve likely experienced this yourself – how many times have you felt an urge to post something, started typing it out, then thought ‘Nah, not worth it’? You might have an opinion on the issue of the day, but is that opinion strong enough to defend your position if you get challenged, and do you really want to wade into an argument with randoms in the comments?”
That was …depressingly accurate. Have you stopped saying how cute your neighbour’s cat is in pics because your sister gets jealous, too? Have you got a strict “No commenting on news posts” rule, too? And don’t even get us started on fandoms! Selena Gomez or Star Wars: stay away.
So more of us are spending our time on Facebook Messenger instead. In fact, with the reputation that Facebook has nowadays been to get off the app either due to hate or the idea (whether correct or not) that only the geriatric department are using it, but keeping your account for the sake of Messenger.
But if users are migrating off the app itself, and using Messenger more and more, what does that mean for marketers? Marketers market on the app, in the news feed. Is there an opportunity to market in the Messenger app? We think so.
Set up your chatbots
The first move is to set up a chatbot in your brand’s Facebook Messenger account. It’s already a great customer service asset. Letting users know that you’ll get back to them with an automated message, answering frequently asked questions, and more.
Make use of Channels
Facebook has definitely noticed this shift to messenger, and is encouraging it as much as possible. Maybe it’s because they too want to move away from hateful arguing on the platform, which, let’s face it, is its bread and butter now. Facebook is the place to go if you want to get into a fistfight with someone’s grandma over a cookie recipe.
But Facebook has introduced a way to merge Messenger and Groups, into Channels. Somewhat like a group chat that centres around a certain topic, you can openly discuss your favourite things with people who are also into that stuff, thereby (hopefully) keeping the tempers to a minimum.
As Meta describes it: “Formerly known as subgroups, feed channels are separate spaces in a group where people can connect on specific topics and interests. For example, a group about hiking might have different feed channels to discuss hiking in specific areas. People can post, comment, and react in feed channels, just as they can in the group’s main feed.
Go looking for Groups, and within them, Channels, that are relevant to your business. There, you can make recommendations and engage with a demographic that is likely to take you up on your product offers.
Make use of Events
It’s so easy to love Facebook Events. There isn’t much of an equivalent elsewhere. Even on Instagram. If you want an activity to do on the weekend for free, you’ll find it in Events. It’ll be near you, it’ll be cheap, and it’ll be automatically added to your calendar so you don’t forget. What’s not to love?
As a brand, you can use Events to invite your audience to something special. It doesn’t even have to be a real-world event. If you’ve got a sale going on this weekend, set the time for midnight, invite a bunch of users and watch as everyone gets excited.
Offer personalised shopping
The good thing about embracing the idea of a chatbot is that you can offer more than another place to answer your FAQs. What do we mean? Well, if you get creative with a chatbot you can offer a personalised shopping experience. Your AI bot can look at what your customers have bought, wishlisted or otherwise looked at and offer suggestions on what they should buy next. It’s particularly useful for clothing retailers who can then offer something akin to a personalised shopping experience in messenger. Even better, you can expand upon it and offer it as a page in your retail store.
And the obvious…
Even Messenger has banner advertising.
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