Hot eCommerce Marketing Trend: Facebook Messenger Ads

Conversational commerce is so hot right now.

We touched on this back in April, with the rise of Facebook bots. But it’s Facebook Ads’ newest development, Messenger Ads, that is taking conversational commerce and personal service to the next level. Instead of waiting for messages from new potential shoppers, you can now be proactive in getting more messages.

With 1.2 billion people using Messenger monthly, it is time to get in on the action!

So, What Are Messenger Ads?

Simply put, Messenger ads are sponsored Facebook Messenger ads that CTAs lead to your page’s Messenger tab, desired to start a conversation. There are two types of Messenger ads: Sponsored Messages and Destination Messenger Ads.

Sponsored message ads refer to ads that are part of the Facebook chatbot system and are still relatively new. These involve ads that have been delivered straight to a user’s message home page, i.e., they show in the Messenger’s home page, allowing you to target ads to a place where the user has fewer distractions.

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While Destination Messenger ads are those that look the same as your other desktop and mobile ads and display in their newsfeeds, the goal is to get message engagement, providing a hook that links you or your chatbot to your newsfeed. These are currently the most popular Messenger ads for small to medium eCommerce.

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Pro Tip: This is not the only way you can use messenger to boost sales, you can also incorporate them with your viral Facebook video campaign. Take a look at the example below where Dynasty Toys cleverly used and promoted a Facebook video and created a messenger ad within the comments, encouraging users to make contact to get their big discount.

The Benefits

As the world gets more digital, the value of human service engagement gets higher. Think of Messenger ads as the new direct marketing, where you are able to create a personal messaging ad service. By offering a message CTA, you are offering a personal space for potential shoppers to engage with your brand without feeling the pressure of a hard-sell.

Thirdly, with the rise of chatbot and Messenger payment technology, you can complete a sale from beginning to end through Messager. Messenger ads are best suited to situations where limited time is an issue, such as the launch of a new product, a seasonal sale, deals with a cut-off time or make a great tool for sending coupons to boost sales.

Setting Up Your First Facebook Messenger Ads

Convinced? Great – the next step is getting your campaigns up and running.

Once you have set up your custom audiences where you can target new customers or remarket to spenders, it’s time to set up your first Facebook Messenger ad campaign. Here’s how:

Go to ‘Create Campaign’ and pick ‘Traffic.’ ad objective.

Then select ‘Messenger.’

Once you have defined your audience as ‘normal,’ you will then select placement. This is where you decide whether you want the ads placed in newsfeeds (destination message ads), message home pages (sponsored Messenger ads), on Instagram, or all of the above.

You will then define your budget and bids, before setting up your ad design.

Bonus Tip: Selling Chatbots

Cut down your CRM time without compromising your personal service with bots that sell. Bots can do anything from answering simple questions about your store to facilitating a sale. By implementing and leveraging chatbots and Messenger ads, you’ll be taking your online store into the future and be able to compete with eCommerce brand like Amazon like never before.

You don’t have to create your own; there are a lot of eCommerce chat bots out there designed to do anything from automate your messaging and engage with customers to cart abandonment reminders such as Recart.

For more information on bots, here are 9 Merchant Chatbots on Facebook Messenger to Inspire You.

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That’s it. You’re now ready to get in on the Facebook Messenger ad action! Have something to add? Post it in the comments below!

Nicole Blanckenberg

Nicole is a content writer with over sixteen years experience and flair for storytelling. She runs on a healthy dose of caffeine and enthusiasm. When she's not researching the next content trend or creating business content strategies, she's an avid beachgoer, coffee shop junkie and hangs out on LinkedIn.

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