Social media marketing has enabled brands to connect with the online audience on a near-personal level. Still, some brands may struggle in providing a truly engaging and meaningful experience on social media for their audience. Most marketers focus on content but fail to establish a conversational “connection,” which is needed to spark a good relationship between your brand and the social community.
Today, online brands are increasingly leveraging chat apps to communicate with their audience members in real time, one-on-one. A key advantage of this strategy is that it expresses the “human” side of your company; the actual people that the online audience should consider trusting and having conversations with. Providing sales and customer support through live chat is also a great way to expedite conversions, resolve issues quickly and foster customer loyalty.
By far the largest social network today, Facebook is currently the focal point of most companies’ social media strategy. With over a billion daily users, there’s a high probability that you’ll find your ideal audience on Facebook somewhere, waiting for you to reach out to them. Facebook’s Messenger app, on the other hand, has about 900 million monthly users and is emerging as one of the cornerstones of Facebook’s strategy for the future. Messenger includes some powerful engagement features, and brands can even build custom chat bots to operate within the Messenger platform.
Here are three ways to get people talking to you on Messenger:
1. Using the Messenger Button
As a marketer, it is your job to make it easier for your audience to connect with you socially. Aside from social sharing buttons, you can also include a customized Messenger link to enable users to initiate chat sessions with you. These buttons can be placed on your web pages so users can make quick queries based on the content they have just read, or offer them content alert pushes via Messenger links.
Currently, there are three ways to add a Messenger button on your website. The simplest method is to use Zotabox’s Facebook Messenger plugin for WordPress-powered sites. It is a free plugin that can be installed straight from WordPress’ plugin library, and it can even be set to open a chat box embedded on your web pages. You can also integrate the Messenger button manually by logging into your WordPress dashboard and inputting the necessary codes as widgets.
2. Using Bontact
Bontact is a multichannel live chat platform that supports several different ways to keep in touch, including onsite chat, Facebook Messenger, email, phone, text, and Skype. It allows you to aggregate all of your discussions with sales leads from all platforms to one dashboard, so you can quickly respond on the fly, track site visitor interactions and even assign conversations to specific team members. Of course, you may already receive new message notifications via mail, but replying to those requests may take much time since they are not always so fast or organized.
Remember that response time is critical if you want to ensure the best experience for your audience. You need to offer technical support at the soonest time possible, especially if your customers are having serious issues that might ruin their experiences with your product or service. Using Bontact is an excellent way to stay on top of all your conversations while also giving your audience more options to reach out to you.
You can install the Bontact plugin for WordPress, Magento, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace and Drupal to allow your visitors to send messages quickly using their preferred platform. You may also install the Bontact app for mobile devices to receive and respond to messages wherever you are.
3. Using Messenger ‘Codes’
To help more people connect with your brand via Messenger, you can start sharing Messenger codes for your Facebook account. These are similar to QR codes (Quick Response codes), which can be scanned by mobile devices to access websites quickly, or Snapcodes, for adding Snapchat users.
Messenger codes can be scanned directly by the Messenger app, enabling people to quickly compose new private messages to your company. To get your Facebook account’s Messenger code using a mobile device, go to your Profile tab, on the far right, and your code should be displayed right above your name. Tap on it to enlarge the code, and tap again to open the menu. Select “Save Image,” and then upload the file to your web pages. You can also share it directly in other networks and chat apps.
On iOS devices, you can access your Messenger code by just tapping the icon in your Messenger inbox. If you have never shared the Messenger code before, look for the “Download and Share your Messenger Code” prompt. From there, you can tap the Download button and choose from the available resolutions.
Remember that there are other creative ways to spread your Messenger code. For example, you can embed it in your other social network profiles, print it on business cards, and use it in your email signature.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that engagement through social platforms is an excellent way to build trust. Trust, in turn, is necessary to increase conversions and foster brand loyalty. With the Facebook Messenger app, you can establish a direct line of communication and inevitably develop that much-needed trust for growing your online business.
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