Running a Facebook Messenger ads campaign is similar to the process of starting to date someone. You start slow through conversation, get to know one another, and then one day, you hope to take the step to be an exclusive pair.

But like many relationships, Facebook Messenger ads can get a little bumpy along the way. But with a few tweaks and lessons learned, you’ll be on your way to a prosperous relationship with your customer via a Facebook Messenger ad.

Facebook Messenger ads are one of the many opportunities to make money through the social media giant. And while these ads will show up in your customer’s newsfeed the way other Facebook ads do, the customer interacts with a Messenger ad in a different way.

A Facebook Messenger ad works in one of two ways. The first is when a customer sees the ad and there’s a direct link for the potential customer to send a message to your company. The customer’s Messenger app will open up and begin the conversation.

The second type of Facebook Messenger ad is one that can live exclusively in the Messenger app. Both these avenues of advertising are designed so you can immediately start engaging with potential customers on a more personal level. Think of it as a direct line to their messenger inbox.

Why Your Business Will Benefit From Facebook Messenger Ads

Many of us have become so accustomed to social media in our daily lives, we forget just how big some of the platforms are. While Facebook has been on the social media scene for over 15 years, it’s still in the top 5 downloaded free apps on the Apple App Store. Facebook Messenger claims the #4 spot, making these two apps quite powerful.

Facebook has created a way for businesses to harness the power and popularity of the apps by purchasing Facebook Messenger ads. With 1.3 billion Facebook users using Messenger each month, Facebook Messenger ads allow your business to directly engage with customers in a more personalized way, while still making your business visible in people’s newsfeeds.

Getting Started with Facebook Messenger Ads

Before you can get the most out of your ads, you’ll need to know how to set up the campaign. Here are a few resources for getting started with the actual creation of the Messenger ads.

• Facebook: There’s nothing like getting advice straight from the creator. Head to the Facebook Ad Creator: to receive your step-by-step instructions.
• If pictures and detailed instructions are your thing, then you’ll find the HubSpot guide: for setting up ads to be quite helpful.
• AdStage: With even more detailed instructions, AdStage has an ultimate resource guide for setting up the Facebook Messenger ads.

These are only a few of the many resources available, but they’ll get you started so you can spend less time creating and more time engaging.

How to Get the Most out of Your Facebook Messenger Ads

Getting an ad created and ready to go is one thing, but to really make your Facebook Messenger ads pop, we suggest you include the following.

1. Understand What Makes Facebook Messenger Ads Work

Like our dating analogy, Facebook Messenger ads take time to cultivate. These types of ads may not necessarily result in immediate sales, but here’s what makes them so valuable:

• Create engagement with the customer: The point of Facebook Messenger ads isn’t to necessarily make an enormous sale off of a customer right away — although anything is possible. The best Messenger ads create engagement and build trust with someone. Any company can slap a pretty image on an ad and plaster it all over the place. It takes a personalized touch to engage with a potential customer, and the Messenger ad is perfect for this.
• Messenger ads do not require additional clicking or taking anyone off-site: One of the best aspects of Facebook messenger ads is your potential customer can stay right where they are, without additional clicking, and get the information they need. Let’s say you’re a blogger and have a course you’d like to offer. You can place a Messenger ad to promote your business and the potential client can easily click to find course info and ask you questions directly.
• Your client can get an immediate response: Through the beauty of artificial intelligence (AI), your customer can get an immediate response from you, even if you aren’t monitoring your inbox directly. Knowing how quickly your customer needs information should impact how you run your Messenger ads. For instance, if you’re a 24-hour plumber, you would want to highlight your 24/7 availability and therefore respond within seconds. A messenger bot can respond rapidly so your potential customer can call or text you right away. You don’t want to run these types of ads if you aren’t willing to create the right follow-up experience with your customer.

2. Understand which type of Facebook Messenger Ad you’ll use

You may think all Facebook Messenger ads are the same. But when you start using them, you’ll soon realize there are various types of Messenger ads, and you’ll need to know the differences between them.

• Destination: Destination ads show in your customer’s newsfeed and feature a CTA button that takes them directly to Messenger. The idea is to engage with your customer once they’ve clicked on the “send message” button. You can then start messaging and answering their questions.
• Sponsored Message: These ads show up in your customer’s newsfeed. When a customer clicks on the message button, it will take them to the Messenger app automatically. The difference between this and a Destination ad is that the information (such as a coupon code) will stay in their inbox, even if your potential customer closes out the conversation.
• Stories: The Messenger app now features stories from your contacts. You can choose to run ads that show up in between these stories and take a customer directly to a chat with you.
• Home Section. These are ads placed on the home screen in your customer’s Messenger inbox. Although they’re not as common as they used to be, they’re great for capturing your customer’s attention as soon as they open up the Messenger app.

Understanding which Facebook Messenger ad you’ll use will help you determine the best approach. For instance, if you’d like to offer a coupon code for your clothing boutique, you might opt to choose a Sponsored Message so it continues to stay in their Messenger inbox.

3. Decide Your Main Goal for using Facebook Messenger Ads

It may seem like an obvious answer, but before you run a Facebook Messenger ad campaign, it’s important to clearly define your goal. Because you can run several different types of ads, defining your goal can keep you from being all over the place. Goals for Facebook Messenger ads may look something like this:

• Increase your business’ brand awareness among women aged 25-44
• Reach a more targeted audience, such as men aged 18-34
• Gain subscribers to your newsletter or blog
• Increase the CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for your ads

As you can see, your goals can vary widely depending on each campaign. Once you determine your goals, then you can set benchmarks to measure the success of the ads.

4. Clearly Define Success Before You Use Facebook Messenger Ads

Since you have different goals for your Facebook Messenger ads, it’s important to define success based on the goals for each campaign. Sure, every business owner wants more sales. But there are other metrics you can focus on. Knowing these metrics ahead of time will help you set realistic expectations and get the most from your Messenger ads.

Success for each ad campaign may look different. One campaign may be successful because you engaged with twice as many customers as the previous month. Another round of ads may yield hundreds of viable contacts. Whatever it is, knowing your goals and how you will measure success will help you spend your marketing budget on ads the right way.

5. Learn How to Retarget Your Customer By Using Facebook Messenger Ads

The Facebook Messenger platform allows you to show your ad in a customer’s newsfeed. Then a customer will click on the button and will immediately be taken to their Messenger inbox to begin a conversation with you (or your bot). These ads are amazing resources for retargeting a customer that you’ve had an online interaction with before.

An online interaction from a customer could have come from a website visit, a social media comment, or a visit to your Facebook page. For whatever reason, the person decided not to continue the interaction. You can use Messenger ads to retarget those who’ve shown interest.

This also applies to customers who’ve left items in their shopping cart from your site or who need prompting converting their cart into a sale. Imagine the increased sales you could make by simply nudging someone with an interactive Messenger ad. Facebook Messenger ads are a perfect retargeting solution to help increase your overall sales.

6. Use Chatbots for Your Facebook Messenger Ads

One of the most important steps you can take to ensure success for your Facebook Messenger ads is to use the services of a chatbot. Before you think we’ve gone off the deep end with AI, just hear us out. By incorporating the use of a chatbot, you can engage with your customer and provide better customer service. Win-win!

Chatbots are the key to making Facebook Messenger ads work. After all, what good is it to get into your customer’s inbox and not be able to interact with them? Let the chatbot do the work and help retrieve the valuable information you need from your customer. Does a chatbot sound a little futuristic? Yes, but the use of chatbots is continuing to grow and this is a way to improve your Facebook Messenger ad experience.

To understand more about chatbots, we recommend you check out the ManyChat Ultimate Guide.

7. Be Visually Appealing

Although the goal may be to start a conversation with your customer, a Facebook Messenger ad still needs to grab their attention in the first place. Similar to the same way a person can catch your eye like in our dating example. So how do you catch your customer’s attention in a newsfeed full of snarky memes and pictures of babies? Here are a few of our favorite ways:

• Use a Video. Videos make everything better, and this is certainly true with Messenger ads. You can liven up your ads by inserting videos, then adding a “Learn More” or “Send Message” button below the video.
• Add an Opt-In. Make it as easy as possible for your customer to interact with you. You can use an opt-in with your ad so they can immediately begin interacting.
• Emojis. Who doesn’t love emojis? Don’t be afraid to use emojis to help your Messenger ad stand out.
• A Carousel of Pictures. A set of rotating pictures can really catch someone’s attention. Especially if you get creative with the sequence of images. Add a carousel of pictures and no one will be able to resist interacting with your ad.

Remember, you can get creative with the visual aspect of your Messenger ads. Your ultimate goal is to start interacting with someone, but a visually appealing ad will be a great way to lure them in.

Final Thoughts on Achieving Great Results with Facebook Messenger Ads

While Facebook Messenger ads are only one way to get a customer’s attention, if done correctly, they can be extremely effective.

You are literally reaching your customer right where they are at the moment and possibly entering into a conversation. You can improve the results from your ad campaign by using features such as chatbot, choosing the right placement of ads, and incorporating eye-catching visuals. Try these techniques and it won’t be long before you’ll be in a thriving relationship with Facebook Messenger ads.