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Facebook Messenger Bot Guide | How to Master Bots on Social

By Tinuiti Team

Imagine if someone could answer questions, nurture leads and address customer service concerns all while your entire operation sleeps.

 
It may sound like some sort of far-fetched, futuristic dream, but thanks to the Facebook Messenger Bot (as well as other types of chatbots), these capabilities are already here — and largely free.

 

 

“Facebook Messenger is definitely becoming a more widely used advertising platform and Facebook is pushing this super hard right now and is continuing to add messenger placements (Messenger Home, Messenger Sponsored Messages). Currently, they are testing a direct messaging app for Instagram which could potentially be a new ad placement in the future.”

– Savannah Montgomery, Social Marketing Coordinator at CPC Strategy
 

How the Facebook Messenger Bot Works

 
The Facebook Messenger Bot is a chatbot — an automated messaging tool that can literally have conversations with people (as well as answer questions, provide recommendations, execute tasks, process sales and more) all on your brand’s behalf.

 

facebook-messenger-bot
 
But they’re not just great on the business side. They’re also helpful for the customer, providing quick responses and easy access to information, even when business hours are over or the customer service center is closed.

Below is one example of how brands (like Pepsi) are leveraging Facebook Messenger to the next level.

In 2017, at the Fashion Forward event in Dubai, Pepsi launched a Facebook Messenger Chatbot where users could order their Pepsi beverage and the bot notified customers when their drink was ready.

You can watch the full clip of the Pepsi chatbot in action here.

 

facebook-messenger-bot-pepsi
Credit: AliveNowInc.

Here’s how Facebook Messenger Bots work:

 

Once all is said and done, business owners can use their chats to identify leads and re-engage customers with other marketing strategies.
 

The Many Benefits of Bots

 
Bots come with serious benefits for brands that use them properly.

Not only can they offer a way to quickly and easily connect with customers on the go, from anywhere and at any time, but they also reduce your customer service costs and improve your overall reputation.

 

facebook-messenger-bot-wod-life

 

Add in their advertising and remarketing capabilities, and that means solid lead generation and even sales are an option, too.
 

How to Master Facebook Messenger Bot

 
There’s no single way to build your Facebook Messenger Bot. You can program it from scratch, using resources from the Facebook Messenger for Developers community, or you can use a bot building platform, which help you create your bot in a simple, step-by-step way.

Here are some options for building your bot:

 
There are other options, too, including Botfuel, Botsociety, and ItsAlive. Most offer different levels of pricing depending on how much customization, support and measurement you’re looking for.
 

Facebook Messenger Ads

 
Facebook Messenger ads offer a quick and affordable way to promote your chatbot and bring past customers (or just past leads) back into the fold. You can also work ads into your chatbot conversations, displaying product carousels and other targeted content to the user.

The other option is to use your Facebook ads to send users to your messenger bot with a “Send Message” call-to-action.

 

facebook-messenger-bot

 

If you’ve honed in on a solid chatbot strategy, this can be a great way to impress new leads and potential customers. Just make sure you choose “Messages” as your campaign objective during set-up.

Now that you know the types of Facebook Messenger ads that are out there, how do you use them? Which situations are the best for and when should you cough up the extra cash to try them out?

Though these ads are pretty new, there are a few goals we can see Messenger Ads being really helpful with.

Here are a few:

1. Retargeting – Use Messenger ads to get back in touch with people who have brushed paths with your brand before. Encourage them to ask you questions, learn more about your company or address any hang-ups or concerns they had when initially encountering you. It may be just the extra push someone needs to become a customer.

2. Raise awareness – This won’t work with Sponsored Messages (because of the targeting limitations), but basic Messenger ads can certainly help expose your brand to new potential customers in your target demo. Just make sure to create an ad that prompts conversation or sparks a question.

3. Creating special offers – Messenger ads are a great way to deliver special offers and discount codes directly to those who stand to benefit most. This can also help in retargeting efforts.

4. Personalized quotes – Have a service that you can’t accurately priced without more info? Use messenger ads to get users to contact you, provide more info and get a customized quote in return.

5. Building a bigger messenger audience – Go broad with your Messenger ad targeting, and inspire more users to get in touch. Once you’ve built up a big enough arsenal of users, you can use that audience to reach more with your Sponsored Messages.

To learn more about the Facebook Messenger bot, email [email protected].

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