No one said starting your own business was easy, you’re going to have to innovate, and come up with new ideas. Sometimes things aren’t going to work, remember, you are now a bigger fish in an even bigger pond. Engaging with your prospects, new and existing customers, and forecasting the future of your audience is an integral part of your success. So how’s Facebook Messenger of all things going to help your business grow? Facebook Messenger allows people to ask questions directly to your company, and maintain the conversational aspect, which creates the right relationship equity. This is the nature of the platform, which is a powerful thing, but remember, it is a “conversational platform” first!
Just how amazing is Facebook Messenger?
Facebook is expected to surpass 2.41 billion active Messenger users every month by 2021. You need to at least be reactionary with prospects and customers on this platform, it will be like not picking up the phone if you don’t!
You can see this platform is primarily a communication channel, where people “find their Facebook friends they don’t have a phone number for” (TechCrunch). It is easy to predict that within less than 5 years, most people will quit using their phone numbers altogether! Messenger is more of a communication channel than even text messages! This chat app is transcending at an alarming rate, it’s not surprising that Facebook plans to monetise it through ads.
Are we seeing Messenger turn into an eCommerce Platform?
We are already seeing the early forms of messenger turning into an eCommerce platform. Paypal through Messenger has already been rolled out. So how does it work? Small businesses right now can be paid via Paypal through Messenger, you will be able to fill out your payment method, shipping address, contact, phone number, and email right inside Messenger! Another addition is that Messenger won’t be taking cuts out of your payments or commercial activity, but instead, Facebook will play an integral role in driving Messenger monetisation via ads. Facebook wants your business to reduce the “friction” involved when they want to purchase something they’ve seen, making the experience “stickier” by keeping users within Messenger. Payments and commerce capabilities inside one place can be very valuable to start-up businesses, to reduce the sense of friction.
Are people’s preferences shifting to Messenger?
Here are some pretty insightful statistics regarding Facebook Messenger:
- 85% of mobile messaging app users in the world use a Facebook messaging product
- Every day, there are 260 million new conversations launched over Messenger
- 17 billion photos are sent every month on Facebook Messenger.
By 2021, it’s predicted that the global user base for mobile messaging apps will have risen by a further 23%.
Will this will only work for tech industries?
Not true…it’s not just about being “high-tech”, it’s about entering the conversation where your audience is having theirs. It works for any audience! That’s because of Facebook’s diverse population of people using their platform…all 2 billion of them.
Messenger is not just customer service…
Consideration
- 35% asking a business a question
- 33% asking about store hours, location or inventory
Conversion
- 34% making or confirming an appointment
- 33% making a purchase or placing an order
Connection
- 30% providing feedback about a business
- 39% sharing photos or a product
Will this will only work for tech industries?
It fits where you are needing a lift, better results or more touchpoints with your customers and prospects, where you can easily fit a Facebook Messenger Strategy into that area. You probably have customers in each of the following steps:
- Awareness – Making your customers aware that they have a problem that needs to be solved by your product or service, in regards to Facebook Messenger, you can able to generated awareness and create messenger subscribers.
- Evaluation – This is what is actually going to happen after the customer takes action with your Facebook page, how you follow-up, how are you segmenting and what are you saying to them to turn them into a lead or a what is referred to a “low price buyer”, which is any product or service you are providing with a deep discount. The next step is how do you get them through this evaluation phase and the conversion stage.
- Conversion – You are now trying to monetise Messenger by getting them to buy. Do you send them a broadcast? (Which is possible to add them to a Messenger subscription) Do you move them off Messenger? The possibility to use Messenger as a conversion mechanism are endless!
Important Note:
Facebook Messenger is an “engagement tool” first! People are using this to start a conversation with prospects and customers, the engagement works to move them from Awareness to Evaluation (see above) and then from Evaluation to Conversion. The question that you need to find out is at what stage does your business need a touchpoint to engage your customers that correlates to their stage of your customer journey, that’s where we come in…
If you require help with your Social Media Strategy and Facebook Messenger Marketing or even need a website designed or redesigned, not to worry… email us at info@staging.websquare.co.uk and we can provide you with some guidance.
