Meet Email's Little Brother - FB Messenger Marketing

Today we'll be discussing how to leverage messenger marketing to grow your business. Few platforms offer the level of engagement, deliverability and responsiveness. Tune in to get the whole scoop!

Hello and welcome Happy Monday to you. This is Dennis Lewis are here I am with another soliloquy from a very secluded soapbox six weeks into a severe lockdown in Spain and still relatively sane. Not at least I’m not bouncing off the walls. And I hope you had a great weekend. I hope you had a safe weekend. I hope things are going well for you.

And today I want to talk to you today about as usual on Mondays we’re going to talk marketing and we’re going to talk about a different marketing channels, something that maybe you’re not doing, you should be doing, I hope you’re doing and if not, maybe this will open your eyes a little bit to something that you should consider doing.

And that is messenger marketing. So today we’re going to be talking about the amazing power of message Through marketing. And to get this off, I just want you to know that this is the remarkable little, the little brother of email, okay. You know, when I talk about Facebook Messenger marketing, you all know what I’m talking about. It’s It’s It’s messenger, it’s where you chat with your buddies.

If you aren’t, or you know, you get the little red icon on your on your on your cell phone and you jump off and look to see what it is you don’t want to you don’t want that growing and turning into a monster of 7463 unread messages. And so you keep up to it. And the thing about that is is and we’re going to see is it has converted itself into a very powerful marketing channel. And it is, it’s sort of like building your email list and in fact is very similar.

We’re going to talk about it not being the same as building an email list, but it is a very powerful Powerful asset that you should be cultivating in your, in your business and in your marketing. So, you know, the only thing I’m going to talk about and you know this, this slides always out there and I promise not to repeat myself over and over again.

But I do want you to know that Facebook Messenger relies on a psychological trigger, and it relies on that need to not miss out. So you know, phones would sit here as we sometimes call it, fear of missing out and the idea is that, you know, that little red button that says four or says three or says one or it says nine is a psychological trigger to you too.

I shouldn’t let that I should see what’s going on there and make sure it goes away. And it’s a conditioning. It’s like Pavlov’s conditioning. we’ve kind of been built it you know, Facebook is very clever. There. Very smart. They’re they’ve done a great job of building a platform that really grabs you and kind of uses that trigger very well.

And so let’s just think about this. And I just want to give you some stats here to kind of give you some context to what we’re talking about. So there’s over 1.3 billion monthly active Facebook Messenger users, okay, just messenger, not even Facebook, just messenger. Okay? It’s the fifth most downloaded app in the App Store. 71% of American adults use Facebook regularly. And 74% of Facebook users login every day.

Now, maybe you don’t, you know, maybe on your cell phone, it may be you know, in your browser, it could be anywhere but that’s it. Those are amazing statistics. You know, we can we can argue as much as we want whether mark is a great guy if he is a positive influence on society or a negative one. If he Give squat about your privacy and who you are, you know, we could have a 14 episodes talking just about that.

But from a marketing point of view, he is built a true beast. He’s built something that is amazing. It is very powerful. And it is, you know, regardless of whether you love it or hate it, it is and it is something that you shouldn’t ignore as an entrepreneur. So more than 20 billion messages are exchanged on messenger monthly between business and users. Okay, that is an enormous amount of messages.

Okay, think about 20 billion that’s like three for every human being on the planet. Excuse me. And Facebook Messenger marketing has been shown to have between 10 to 80 times better engagement than email, okay? And it’s all due to that psychological trigger that we mentioned. Just a I mentioned just a few minutes ago, we’re going to talk about that.

But these stats, what it does is it gets should give you an idea that this isn’t something that you should be ignoring. Okay? So let’s jump in here. I went the wrong way. Okay, hold on, there we go. And it is the most effective way to deliver your message and I just love this little guy. He is super cool post man and he’s delivering the envelope right there.

Okay, that’s the key advantage to Facebook Messenger is that it gets delivered, it gets seen. Okay, it is very effective at that. Now we’re going to talk about best practices and we’re going to talk about, you know, the pros, a little bit about the pros and the cons, the pros and the cons, but it is the most effective way to get your message delivered. And I’ve got a runny nose.

Don’t have Coronavirus So, at least I don’t have COVID-19 Who knows? A messenger marketing is more powerful than poorly executed email marketing. Okay. And yes, that’s a backhanded compliment. Because the honest to god truth is that most businesses do really poor email marketing, okay? And I am a very, very fervent supporter of good email marketing and doing it right.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen very often. And if you’re going to do crappy email marketing, I would suggest that you just do Facebook Messenger marketing instead. Because it will be a much better you’ll get better results. Now, if you do email marketing, like we’ve talked about in previous episodes, and you do it right, it is much more powerful. On Facebook Messenger marketing, okay, so don’t get me wrong. And that’s why this is a backhanded compliment.

But the honest to God, truth is you need to evaluate and say to yourself, Am I doing my email marketing? Top Notch? Or am I doing? Yeah, email marketing? And if the honest answer is that you’re not really doing great email marketing, then do Facebook Messenger marketing. Ideally, do them both, obviously, and build both of these assets and understand that a well used email list is much, much more powerful. But this is a very quick and a very effective marketing tool that shouldn’t be ignored. And actually, you can use them together, and even you know, create synergies that are even more powerful than either one of them by themselves. So with that said, let’s talk about Facebook Messenger.

Market number one, it has amazing open rates, okay, it’s just much higher than email because of that kind of, you know that that psychological trigger because it is a, you know, there isn’t a spam filter that moves messenger messages into a spam folder. So it just works they get there, they, you know, they you will get eyeballs in your Facebook Messenger messages, they will get seen.

And that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going to accomplish your goals, okay? Because like everything is going to depend on the message. It’s going to depend on who’s on your list, it’s going to depend on a lot of things. But they get amazing open rates, they really do get seen. And the more use the more you’re seeing, the better your chances of getting the click.

Now, those of you who’ve listened to me before, I’m sorry, this is just a funny Monday runny nose thing, the more You know, anybody who’s listened to me knows that you can’t take clicks to the bank? Okay? They’re not. They’re just they’re just clicks. That’s all they are. Okay, they’re not money, they’re not sales. So measuring clicks is of less importance by a longshot than measuring conversions.

But, you know, like I was saying, if your, you know, clicks are better than nothing by by a longshot, and the more people that so if you’re doing a mediocre email, and you’re getting 15% open rate, then you’re getting 15% times mediocre. If you’re doing a mediocre, decent Facebook message, and you’re getting 90% open rates, then you’re getting 90% of that message. So the math works in your favor.

That’s why I say that Facebook Messenger marketing is better than mediocre or poor. we executed email marketing. Okay, that’s the key there. Because it has an inbuilt addictive technology to it, it just, it’s it people don’t want, it’s kind of like SMS messages, but you don’t have to pay for every message. So it’s even much more powerful than that. But people don’t want to leave those messages unseen. So they will look at them.

And that doesn’t mean they’re going to jump into, you know, through like a flaming hoop and into a, you know, over the edge of a cliff and into a, you know, down a waterfall that’s three miles tall for you, just because you’ve sent them a message. They’ll see they’ll see that they’ll read them. Okay. It is a strategic platform for Facebook. So this is really important because Facebook is a business has said that messenger is strategic and is core business to them.

You know, they’re working to unify message During what’s up and you know, and the Instagram, it’s instant messaging into a one core technology that may have three different visible interfaces. But messaging is integral to Facebook strategy. And that means that they are going to in their algorithms are going to reward you for using that strategic platform. So that’s another important advantage.

Okay. It is also it promotes bi directional communication because, like email, but even more so, a messenger is a it’s a chat it’s a conversation it you know, I told you all the time. Email is a conversation you’re having inside your, your readers mind in their head. But messenger is a conversation that you’re actually having in their phone with them. They can answer back They will and they should and you must be. Take advantage of that.

Okay? So don’t think of it as just a broadcast media. Okay? It is a bi directional communication. And if you do it well, that is super powerful. You can also create amazing automated bots, okay? And don’t let that word bot use negative connotations on you, this is a powerful thing that you should be doing it. It can alleviate stress for you and your organization.

And it can provide instant satisfaction to your to your audience, because if your messenger the messenger account on your page is able to respond to a you know, the majority of the questions that your audience may have automatically that means they’re getting the answers instantly, and that makes you come across as a response. Have a business that is in tune with their needs.

And that’s really powerful. And then it’s also an incredible way to announce promotions and promote your content and we’re going to talk about that. That is one of the, you know, the, it’s just very quick, it’s very instant, it is straight to their to to your audience on a one to one level, and they can interact with you.

So what’s not to like, I mean, this is powerful stuff. This is great for any marketer, you know, if you have this ability to have a conversation with your audience and your audience is well chosen, then you’re halfway there and making the sales. Okay, so this is not a this is not something I would tell people to do Facebook Messenger marketing, if you get a chance, do it if you could, if you could squeeze it in.

Now but this really close to the center of What you doing? It’s, it’s important, this is a big deal. Okay? Some tips and best practices about Facebook Messenger marketing. Okay, first of all, you can’t just sit by now messages, okay? Not just because that’s poor taste, but because Facebook won’t deliver, okay, they do have guidelines they do.

You know, they want the experience that their users have when they interact with businesses through Facebook messenger to be a high quality experience. And that means that they will, they will not deliver or they may even ban your account if you’re too spammy on it. So you can’t just send here’s a product with a Buy button.

Here’s another product with a Buy button. Here’s another product with the buy button. Okay, that isn’t a good experience for The user that receives those messages there, it’s probably not going to work that great. And you’re putting yourself at risk by being penalized by Facebook. So how what do we do? First of all, use automation to improve your responsiveness.

So make sure that your your your Facebook Messenger for your page, your profile for that page has an automation sequence that answers lots of questions. It has a menu that lets them find what they’re looking for. It has a you know, the ability to, you know, interact in a semi automatic way. And then make sure that it there’s a person that is on top of it as well.

So that if things are you know, if messages are coming in that you know, that require you to actually engage, make sure you’re doing it now that one mess doesn’t necessarily need to be 24 seven with a, you don’t need an army of people Manning your Facebook Messenger, you know, at all times unless you have a huge profile and you, you know, and if you do that, that’s great, it’s gonna be worth it.

But, you know, it is important to be responsive and the more responsive you are, the more you know your audience is going to appreciate. Ah, so the way we get around some of this is to look for engagement and that’s to ask questions first. So, I said you can’t you shouldn’t send messages like here’s a product by now.

But you can send a question you know, do you you know, if you’re selling you know, if you’re selling dog collars, you could send the message is your dog’s collar grungy? Yes or no? And if they say yes, then you say look You know, you know, what color do you like? Or you know, is your dog a boy or girl? And you know, if it’s a boy, you send him a blue one. If it’s a girl, you send him a pink color. He’s there. Now that’s perfectly in alignment with Facebook’s, you know, guidelines because you’re actually interacting with the customer.

They’ve, they’re the ones that have answered a question, and you’re responding and you’re in, you’re guiding them to a solution to something they’ve requested. That’s perfect. That’s great. So that is a much more powerful way. Now. If they’re caught their dog’s collar isn’t grungy, then they’ll say no, and that’s cool.

Maybe you’ll send them another question then and saying, hey, but what about the leash? Is it you know, is it getting frayed? And you know, you can take them down a different path. So that’s awesome. use Facebook Messenger also to grow your wealth, first of all, how do you get it messages when you grow up with contests, you grow up with ads. So you can run ads that automatically when the user clicks on them, that will start a conversation.

And you can program a sequence there as well so that it actually kind of interacts with him gets that conversation flowing. And you can do it with contests as well. So you know, if you’re running a contest and giveaway, one of the actions that you can ask them to do is send me a message on Facebook Messenger, and boom, now they’re in your list.

Now you can interact with them. Okay, use your messenger marketing to grow your email list. Okay? That’s just common sense. But I see so many people that don’t do that. So do that. You know, ask them for their email. Get them on now you’ve got them on both sides. Okay. Use your Facebook messenger to showcase your content.

Okay. That is really will get you out there in the night higher not just with Facebook because they want to be you to be providing something engaging and interesting to your to their to their users. And if you can do it in a way that doesn’t take them off of Facebook, so using Facebook, you know the instant stories and stuff like that, so that keeps them on platform, Facebook will reward you even more.

So, these are these are good ways to really cultivate in engaged and participatory audience on Facebook Messenger. And lastly, you have to understand the limitations. Okay? The reason good email marketing is so much more powerful is because it is more intimate conversation and you can build a it’s more prone to building a relationship through email.

Okay, then through Facebook Messenger. Messenger is really honed in on very short little snippets. Slight chatting with your buddies, right? You don’t normally Write out a, you know, a four page message on messenger or WhatsApp or whatever on a chat application. You do it. It’s quick, it’s football and football, not motorcars. And, you know, that’s, that’s what it is.

And you have to be true to the spirit of the media medium. And, but that does have limitations, it does mean that you can’t, you can’t, it’s harder to tell a story. It’s harder to get them you know, to bring them into a a feeling and a sensation and emotion. So that’s part of the limitation. You know, it is you It isn’t your asset, okay to understand this, okay.

When you’re building an email list, you’re building an asset that is yours. You can take it anywhere you want. You can use any autoresponder program that’s out there. You could use you can, you can use set it up on your own servers, nobody can take away your email list. Okay, Facebook, return your messenger list off, we can take a page away.

Okay? So don’t rely exclusively on this, okay? Because you can be deep platformed you know, you shouldn’t be it won’t happen unless you’re doing weird funky stuff, but even still understand that that is a typical risk and something you’ve got to be prepared for. And, you know, in general, it just, you know, even though you’re going to get great open rates and people are gonna look at your messages, they’re going to be there.

They’re not in a minute, you know, they’re they are in a short attention span mode, okay? They’re just people who are looking, they’re reading they’re clicking there, but they’re, they’re not probably, you know, sitting down to read your email is a little bit more of a, okay, I’m going to read my email.

There’s, it’s an event it’s a it’s a happening, checking your messenger is a blink of an eye sort of thing. So these are things you need to take into account. So when I talk to my clients, I always say email us first and Facebook is it messengers second, okay? But because I know how to help my clients do email the right way to get real results.

Whereas, you know, oftentimes you don’t have the resources to do email as well as you should. And so you should be complementing it by you know, Facebook Messenger, which is requires a little bit less effort to do a good job. And last but not least, use them in conjunction, send an email, and then tell them hey, I use Facebook Messenger say, Hey, I just sent you an A really important email, check it out.

And use Facebook messenger to drive your open rates and your read rates on your emails up. That’s really powerful, cool, little secret. Okay, if you stuck around 23 minutes into this live stream. I just gave you a tip, write that down, go back, rewind, listen again. So all that being said, I hope you’ve enjoyed talking about Facebook Messenger marketing today. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below.

Please hit the like button. It’s important for LinkedIn algorithms. And it also is important for me as a human being to know that somebody cares about what I’m ranting about every day. So yeah, take care. Stay safe. I hope you’ve enjoyed this and stay tuned tomorrow we’re going to talk about some just a practical way of doing making what we’ve talked about today in reality, so definitely stay tuned. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye for now.