Meta announced a bunch of new features recently related to messaging and lead generation. One that got my attention was the ability to send marketing messages to people who opt-in via Messenger in Meta Business Suite.
This could be really interesting. Let’s explore what is known so far…
What We Know
“Marketing Messages from Meta Business Suite” are currently being tested, although I have not seen an example of the feature in the wild. Meta says that it will allow businesses to send promotional message campaignsThe campaign is the foundation of your Facebook ad. This is where you'll set an advertising objective, which defines what you want your ad to achieve. More from Messenger to customers who opt in.
Here’s a screenshot provided by Meta:
From this image, we see the following…
1. Options for selecting the group of people that will receive the message. These are defined groups, presumably from specific opt-in forms (more on that unknown in a bit).
2. Steps for building the message that includes a headline, text, button, and link. It’s a lot like creating an ad (but not, of course).
3. A schedule for when you want that message to go out. You determine when this group of people will receive a message in their Messenger.
Understand that this is not an ad. This is an organic message sent over Messenger to people who have opted in to receive it.
Questions
While it was nice of Meta to provide a paragraph explanation and a screenshot, there are so many questions that I want answered. Here are a few…
1. How will someone opt-in to receiving these messages? This seems important. Will this utilize the instant forms from lead ads or something organic associated with your page?
2. Will this be a new lead form type specific to building your list of people who can receive marketing messages from you via Messenger? It would make sense since collecting an email address wouldn’t even be required at this point.
3. Will you still get access to a user’s email address, and will you be able to send contact info to your CRM? Or will this be entirely within Messenger?
4. Will these leads expire like with current leads generated from instant forms? You can continue to contact leads generated from lead forms via your CRM, of course, but they disappear from your Lead Center.
5. Will you have any rights to contact these people outside of Messenger? While the goal should be to get leads onto a list that you own, there is still room for something like this — especially if they are available for marketing messages from both Messenger and your CRM.
None of these answers are clear right now. What is ultimately revealed will certainly color how beneficial the feature is for marketers.
Current Impressions
Despite the gaping hole regarding how this will work, the feature has the potential to be really effective based on what we know so far. One reason is that you don’t have to worry about people using inactive email addresses since this is related to reaching people on Messenger.
If the opt-in was from Facebook to connect with people using Messenger, the chances are very high that it is an active account they are using. Presumably, the open rate could be much higher than with email. Of course, we don’t know if these messages will go to a special inbox that users won’t see.
It’s also possible that marketers will abuse this to the point of making it ineffective. Surely, there will be some strict rules around such messaging to prevent these issues.
For now, there are a lot of open questions. There’s a lot we don’t know. But, this is absolutely something to keep an eye on.
Your Turn
What do you think about Marketing Messages from Meta Business Suite? Do you have it yet? Do you think that you’ll use it?
Let me know in the comments below!
