Social media creators today face a seemingly impossible set of challenges: they need to gain followers (and for that they need to engage with their community, constantly, at-scale) and they need to monetize their content.
With the abundance of stuff on Instagram and TikTok, the first step — getting brand awareness — is tough. Everyone is selling something and that makes it easy for your followers to get distracted, lose interest, and spend their money elsewhere.
And for digital marketing today, a ‘link somewhere else’ strategy (like saying “link in bio”) is outdated. Brands now need smarter content strategies across all platforms. Getting people on social media to click a link is challenging; even fewer successfully navigate a link tree without getting frustrated. Mastering Messenger Marketing becomes crucial for creators, makers, small businesses, or really anyone promoting their current marketing campaign.
People want meaningful experiences and exchanges; they want to feel a connection with the brands they support. Messenger Marketing isn’t limited to just Facebook Messenger. It’s about sending followers a DM on their platform of choice, instead of having them search for a website link or wait for an email blast to sign up. Messenger Marketing offers a direct and effective way to deliver your product or service to your followers, bypassing the frustration of the ‘link in bio’ strategy of years past.
What is Messenger Marketing?
A messenger marketing strategy connects companies to their customers, provides helpful content, and takes actions that impact business, such as appointment booking, selling products, or signing up for a service like a class or seminar. Messenger marketing is the direct line from the customer to you; it’s the ace in the hole regarding brand awareness. It gets people interested in your products or services via platforms like Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, WhatsApp, WeChat, and Telegram through the DM.
Facebook Messenger marketing has consistently been a boon for customers because of the ease of use via the ease of use of messenger, which is stronger than email marketing simply because we’re all always on social media. But Instagram’s use of the direct message is even stronger, to the tune of two billion DMs sent annually. Regarding brand awareness and marketing strategy, going through the DM via the apps just works.
On platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where there’s constant clamor from comments, creators have a hard time keeping up — and that’s without new content creation. Followers do appreciate a well-timed DM — within reason. Effective messenger marketing is about convenience and trust. It creates a direct and personal relationship between the creator and the follower, guiding them exactly where they need to go without overwhelming their inboxes. This immediate communication can be a game-changer in your relationship with your audience.
One key reason messenger marketing is so successful is its reliance on automation. This technology automatically allows business owners to focus on engaging with customers who are interested in their products or services. Thus, the heavy lifting of communication isn’t forgotten but instead automated for the creator, who’s likely doing what they do best: creating content.
How Messenger Marketing is different from other marketing channels.
For anyone selling anything, there’s a constant fight for ways to get in front of people. Be it landing pages, social media, or email marketing, we’ve all used one, if not all, of these channels. So why add one more to the mix
The average open rate for an email is around 21.33%, and the click-through rate is an abysmal 2.3%, which means many people aren’t getting your messages. The days of email marketing are numbered; it just can’t compete with the power of instant messaging. Some creators cultivate an email list, (we can help with that, too.)
And when it comes to a landing page, the average conversion rate is an ugly 5.89%.
Considering the average CTR for paid Facebook ads is 9.21%, alongside a painfully low organic reach, it’s safe to say that finding new ways to communicate for customer engagement is more critical than ever. A brand awareness powerhouse, paid Facebook ads are not. Instead, creators should consider how a Facebook messenger marketing campaign can help.
Messenger marketing, on the other hand, is impactful. With a much higher 70% open rate, which equates to a shift in communication with customers that establishes a personal and authentic relationship through the customer journey, messenger marketing creates a direct link from the business or creator to the follower. Social media marketing is the way of the future, with so many people scrolling all the time.
Who is Messenger Marketing for?
Messenger Marketing gives every creator, small business, maker — basically anyone with a large follower count who wants to engage in conversational marketing continually, the opportunity to connect with their followers in an organic way that doesn’t feel forced.
A Messenger Marketing strategy is a better way to automate hundreds of customer conversations at once, so anyone using this method can answer more questions, generate leads, and close more business with a potential customer than they would if they did it manually.
If you’re a creator, you’re probably busy making content. It’s easy to let the comments pile up, but by using Manychat , the app enables you to automate conversations while scaling social media marketing, nurture leads, manage sales, improve retargeting, and offer 24/7 customer service all in one place. While you make new videos or Reels, the inbound communications can be handled on your terms – not worrying about providing customer support at four am on a Monday. You’re a creator, you’re busy; the crux of your business and, in many cases, livelihood is dependent on the amount of content released every week. It’s hard to keep up with that, let alone worry about how effective a paid Facebook ad could be.
A Messenger Marketing strategy gives a bird’s-eye view of every customer conversation. Everything happens in one place: an intuitive dashboard shows past customer interactions, campaign results, sequences or flows, and feedback. It’s also a powerful tool for promotional messages and building brand awareness that strengthens customer engagement.
Messenger marketing also tracks and stores customer information, including interactions and demographics, which can be helpful later when thinking about campaigns. And by having access to past conversations, it’s easier to learn about and market to your audience. This gives all that good visibility into how people have interacted with your company, what content they’ve seen, and what they’ve bought. This is awesome for a creator or a small business because it helps grow with less.
Why Messenger Marketing matters for your business?
Check out these numbers:
Social media is the default way to connect with friends and family, share information, and stay updated on the latest trends and news. Innovative creators have embraced instant messengers as the future of communicating with their followers.
For good reason: customer service is higher, content is more manageable, and directing potential customers to a specific sales point is much easier. Everyone wins. Having a following on social media and making money but consistently acquiring and holding on to customers is a challenge.
For those of you who like to be extra prepared and extra thorough, you can even save and store external information about your customers via a CRM or Google Sheets, including information lead score, phone number, and webinar registration date (if you’re doing webinars). This level of information allows for quickly identifying the best call-to-action buttons for each lead group.
How does Messenger Marketing work?
Messenger Marketing is all about the power of the DM, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp. The business or creator downloads the app, and there, they set the parameters for the interactions – a creator can make a Reel telling their followers to leave a comment with a specific word. By doing so, that word will trigger a DM directing the followers to the creator’s website or wherever they want them to go.
The app can also answer questions and respond like a real person. When a message comes in through the DMs, the app reads the text and replies based on the user’s predetermined responses.
Here’s a quick example: if an Instagram creator is a famous chef who has a partnership deal to promote a new line of pots and pans, they can use Manychat and then instruct their followers to leave a comment like, “spicy” and the followers who are interested in the pots and pans will get a direct message to their inbox with a link rather than asking the user to go click the link in their bio – which most won’t do. Instead, the user is in the moment and more likely to act. And boom, those followers just became customers.
For a small business, this makes sense on a different level: Messenger marketing can help folks make real-time reservations, check an order status instantly, and get help when they need it day or night. The followers feel comfortable with everything on a platform because they use it daily, and going through the messenger has a personal feel that a scattershot Facebook ad or a bland email marketing campaign just doesn’t.
How Messenger Marketing can help your business today
1. Inexpensive lead generation + automated conversations + ease of use
Messenger marketing lowers the cost of acquiring a customer. Between creating and launching ads, consistently posting to social, or creating free content as lead magnets, the time and resources it takes to execute a profitable lead generation strategy takes time, money, and effort. Instead, by launching a messenger campaign, creators who invest in social media marketing connect directly with their followers, whereas promotional messages don’t feel like a sales pitch but a note from a friend.
2. It pumps up the business’s bottom line.
Messenger marketing has actual, tangible results – to the tune of an 85% open increase.
3. Better audience targeting
Messenger marketing can help you discover and refine your audience and then segment them based on select criteria. By concentrating on targeted groups, ad dollars can be spent attracting suitable leads, and sequences can nurture and guide passive followers to become paying customers. With this information, marketing campaigns are more effective, and customer engagement is higher based on tangible data.
4. Get real-time customer support
This one goes without saying, but customers want fast, personalized support 24/7. Suppose you’re a small business or a creator who cares about customer service. In that case, messenger marketing offers a powerful self-service tool for giving customers what they want – anytime around the clock. With a few clicks, a user can set up real-time, automated, one-to-one customer support conversations that help customers solve their problems, track customer satisfaction, and simultaneously respond to thousands of queries.
5. Improve retention
A good Messenger Marketing strategy will keep followers and customers in the loop on whatever the user is cooking up. Whether consuming new content, special deals, or a free download, whatever the case, this empowers the brand as a personal touchpoint that turns loyal followers into advocates. Social media marketing is a different ecosystem than traditional marketing, thanks to the followers being plugged into a creator’s world. With things like sponsored messages and messenger campaigns designed to inform and educate followers, email marketing has become a thing of the distant past.
6. Amplify Support Chat Efforts
Messenger is one part of the entire Chat Marketing ecosystem. You can send SMS messages via texting or email marketing to prospects and customers, then bring them back into the DMs to continue the conversation. With ManyChat, you can even start a Live Chat with customers in Messenger or SMS to help answer questions or give product recommendations. The possibilities are endless.
If you’re a small business, influencer, or creator curious to learn more about how Manychat can help you flip the script on your marketing campaigns, download Manychat and see how we can help transform how you communicate with your followers. (We even have a free version. Check it out here.)
A comprehensive marketing strategy that doesn’t rely on Google ads or traditional digital marketing could be the difference maker for a whole lot of potential customers everywhere. Instagram and Facebook marketing can get people into your sales funnel and stay there.
How to set up a Messenger bot
Messenger Marketing is accomplished by building a Messenger Bot using a platform like ManyChat. Building your first one is quick and easy. You can do it in six steps:
- Create a free ManyChat account.
- Link your Facebook Business Page.
- Determine the theme and purpose of your Facebook Bot.
- Create a Welcome Message.
- Set keywords to automate bot replies.
- Create a CTA.
