How can Facebook messenger grow your business?

One of the main ways we build our clients businesses is through Facebook messenger. With the average person checking their Facebook (including their messages) an average of 14 times a day, companies need to understand the benefits of using the messenger tool. Facebook messenger can increase communication with customers, create leads, and generate more sales.
Photo credit: Flickr, iphonedigital
How Facebook messenger works
The first step to using Facebook messenger is making sure messenger is enabled. To do this, go to “General Settings” and scroll to the bottom. Check the box that says “allow people to contact my page,” and save your changes.
Once the function is enabled, you can configure your settings by displaying a response time. Here, you can choose to show that you respond quickly or enable instant replies. Instant replies are extremely beneficial, and let customers (or potential customers) feel that they are being heard. Setting this up is easy: in the same settings section, check the box to turn on instant replies, and insert a greeting that will automatically be sent to anyone who messages your page.
A similar option is creating saved replies so you can quickly respond to messages with the touch of a button. If you are often getting the same type of question, or want to send something like “how can I help you?” or “thank you for reaching out, we will be in touch soon,” you can create these responses ahead of time, streamlining your messaging practices and increasing your speed.
You can also add a messenger box to your own website, and let customers interact with you from there. This is great for e-commerce or companies who would benefit from instant communication with their customers (hint: that’s pretty much every company!).
photo credit: Flickr
 
Why use it for your business?
Using Facebook Messenger for your business allows you to get personal. In the past, Facebook was used as a way to keep in touch with friends and family, but as it has progressed, it has increasingly become a way to interact with businesses and professional services.
Besides the messaging aspect, you can also get information about the users who contact you (where they work, where they live, if they have reached out to you before, etc.). This gives you a leg up in understanding your customer and can generate leads, sales, increased profits and more.
 
Important practices when using Facebook messenger
It’s not enough to just enable the messenger setting—you need to know the proper way to use it or it may end up hurting you rather than helping. To ensure it helps, implement these daily practices:
Reply immediately: make sure one (or more) people are tasked with answering questions on messenger or utilize instant replies to do it for you. Either way, people expect instant, or almost-instant, replies, and will often give up if they don’t receive one right away.
Provide information: Use native content to share important information about your business, such as products, services, and hours of operation.
Offer support: Many of the questions that come through Facebook messenger can eventually turn into leads. If a customer (or potential customer) is asking something, be sure to respond with a thorough answer in a timely manner. If you don’t feel you can do this on your own, you can set up automated answers to specific frequently asked questions, and then respond personally as soon as you can.
Send reminders: Once you get a steady customer base on your messenger, use it to send reminders about upcoming events, specials or product launches.
Stay professional: Facebook is often looked at as an informal social site, so it’s easy to fall into a routine of acting casual while using Messenger. But if you are using it for your business, it’s important to always remain professional, keeping the voice of your company in mind, rather than your own voice.
 
Want to learn more about how messenger can help your business? Contact the pros at Ten Golden Rules by calling (561) 620-9121.