Finding New Customers Through Messenger Ads

Today, an integral part of Facebook marketing is Messenger Ads. Launched in 2004, Messenger is an exclusive Facebook messaging app. It has around 1.3 billion users to date with more than 20 billion business messages sent daily. Messenger ads were launched in 2017. Since then, it has shown a 70% better open rate than emails. That is why 94% of marketers are using Facebook Messenger. Now, the question is: how do brands find new customers through Messenger Ads?

WHAT IS A MESSENGER AD?

A Messenger Ad is also called a click-to messenger advertisement. These ads are posted on Facebook news feeds and direct people to the Messenger app of a business once clicked. Brands can also create a Messenger Ad on Instagram and WhatsApp. The main target of Messenger Ads are users of mobile devices. It is perfectly designed to engage people using a smartphone because these ads are optimized for mobile.

Messenger ads often lead a conversation between the business and its prospect as noted by a social media agency Hong Kong. It is effective because most consumers today prefer to chat instead of talking over the phone to close a sale. It is more convenient and faster on their side. With Messenger ads, businesses can promote their products and services 24/7. This is through the use of auto-replies or chatbots.

BENEFITS OF MESSENGER ADS

A digital marketing speaker Hong Kong highlighted that Messenger Ads offer a unique advantage to fire up Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp campaigns. Here are its top benefits.

Automate Lead Qualifications and Follow-ups

One unique advantage of Messenger ads is the use of auto-reply and chatbots. First, it allows brands to promote their products and services and support its customer 24/7. Second, automation helps brands pre-qualify leads via Messenger chats. Through initial questions, the target customers with a high buying intent get captured for future follow-ups and sales conversations. This boosts the conversation rate and makes Messenger Ads a preferred marketing strategy among brands.

Boost Brand Awareness and Discovery

The two top goals of social media marketing are increasing awareness and discovery. Did you know that Messenger Ads are the best way to achieve these goals? As mentioned, they work on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Globally, there are 2.85 billion Facebook users, 1.074 billion Instagram users, and 2 billion WhatsApp users. That means Messenger ads reach almost 6 billion people. Isn’t that enough?

Instant Lead Capture

Whenever a user from Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp clicks a Messenger ad, the app automatically captures the following details:

Name
Profile photo
Country of location
Gender
Language
Time Zone

These pieces of information can be very helpful in segmenting your target audience for future campaigns. With Messenger Ads, you no longer need to apply lead generation tactics as it gathers enough data for brands to use.

Personalized Marketing

Social media platforms use artificial intelligence and machine learning to tap on the power of analytics and algorithms. Using Messenger Ads, asking simple questions to the customers can be powerful enough to know their interests and preferences. Through these insights, brands can customize Messenger Ads and appeal to the target customer more emotionally. This creates a stronger bond between the brand and its customer. A video marketing agency Hong Kong has noted that brands can use Messenger Ads to power their live streams, Stories, and other video content. These ads will appear on social media feeds based on the user’s interests and preferences.

There are three ways to advertise using Facebook Messenger.

Destination Ads

Brands can run sponsored ads through the Messenger inbox. These ads will appear in the Messenger inbox in between conversations. To create destination ads, go to Ad Creation and choose between the following objectives:

App Install
Conversion
Messages
Traffic

After choosing the Messenger ads objective, choose the ad’s destination. It may either be:

App (Business App) directs the user to your business app.
Messenger leads users to a Messenger conversation.
Website directs users to your business website.
WhatsApp leads users to a WhatsApp conversation.

Please note that you don’t need to choose a destination for the “app install” objective.

The next step is to choose the ad placement.

Automatic Placement delivers ad impressions at the lowest possible cost.
Manual Placement allows placing ads both on Facebook feeds and Messenger.

After choosing ad placement, you can edit your audience, budget for the ads, and schedule of the ads.

You can now upload your ad format. Messenger Ads only allow JPG or PNG images with a ratio of 1:1 and a resolution of at least 1080 x 1080. The last step is to click “Confirm” after you finish editing the ad.

Once you’ve set up sponsored ads through Messenger inbox, the system will automatically capture the profile details of a Facebook or WhatsApp user who clicks the ad. Messenger captures the data even before a conversation starts.

Click-to-Messenger Ads

These ads can be placed in different locations of Facebook’s family of apps. Some common locations are:

Facebook News Feeds
Facebook Stories
Instagram News Feeds
Instagram Stories
Instagram Reels
Messenger Stories

Once a user taps on a Click-to-Messenger Ads, he or she will be directed to a conversation either on Instagram Direct, Messenger, or WhatsApp. What is great about Click-to-Messenger Ads is the ability to set up custom or lookalike audiences to maximize the return on ad spend (ROAS).