4 Reasons to Try Facebook Messenger Ads

4 Reasons to Try Facebook Messenger Ads

Social media feed ads have become so commonplace that users often scroll right past them—unless these are hyperpersonalized or particularly eye-catching. Or if they click on them, users can quickly lose interest if they don’t immediately find what they want.

But this doesn’t mean social media advertising isn’t effective. It just means that marketers must try innovative ways to capture customers’ attention, such as engaging them in a conversation.

This is why some marketers turn to conversational ads on channels like Facebook and WhatsApp. These ads invite personalized communication with qualified prospects and can lead to better conversions.

If you’re just learning about conversational ads, you’re not alone—it's an underused type of social media advertising that’s starting to pick up steam. This post will get you caught up on what Facebook Messenger ads are and why you should give them a try.

What are Facebook Messenger ads?

Facebook Messenger ads include paid posts or sponsored messages that appear in users’ social media feeds or inboxes and lead them to a conversation on a messaging channel. There are 3 types of Messenger ads:

• Messenger inbox ads appear as sponsored messages in a user’s Messenger inbox. (​​Inbox ads are currently unavailable in the US, Canada, Australia, and France.)
• Messenger stories ads appear in stories within the Messenger app, interspersed between organic stories.
• Click-to-messenger ads appear in the user's Facebook or Instagram feed, and the call to action (CTA) leads to a conversation on a messaging app, like the below example from Facebook.

Businesses can place these ads across Meta’s properties: Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. For example, you can:

• Place ads on Facebook and Instagram feeds that lead to a conversation in Messenger.
• Place ads on Instagram that lead to a conversation in Instagram’s messaging feature.
• Place ads on Facebook and Instagram that lead to a conversation on WhatsApp.

Plus, the CTA button on click-to-messenger ads includes the logo of the destination app, so users will know exactly where it'll take them.

Benefits of Facebook Messenger ads

Let’s explore how conversational ads across Meta’s properties can help your business build stronger relationships with customers and drive conversions.

1. Reach qualified leads

Facebook Ads Manager, where you can create all 3 types of messaging ads, lets you get ultra-granular with your target audiences. For example, you can target:

• Users with specific interests
• Users with similar traits to your existing customers
• Users in specific geographic areas

This targeting helps you ensure that click-to-message ads reach audiences likely to be interested in your offering.

Inbox ads target even more qualified leads because you can only show them to users who have already interacted with your business on Meta’s platforms—so you know for certain they know your brand and are interested in it.

2. Start a conversation

While traditional social media ads send users to a landing page where they may or may not convert, Messenger ads engage users in a 2-way conversation that can move them closer to a conversion.

This is conversational marketing, and it helps businesses build deeper relationships with customers by answering their questions and making recommendations based on their needs. Conversational marketing also allows for better personalization, increased conversions, and customer loyalty, which we’ll discuss in a moment.

3. Leverage chatbots

Customers today expect quick responses when they reach out to a business, especially on social media. In fact, most consumers expect a response within 24 hours, and most businesses (95%) deliver on that expectation.

While this response time may be difficult to achieve with live agents, you can leverage chatbots to start the conversation immediately. Chatbots can answer customers’ basic queries, ask them a few questions to determine their needs, and complete tasks like:

• Making an appointment or reservation
• Recommending products or services
• Sending a coupon for a specific location
• And more

And for more complex issues, the bot can hand off the interaction to the right agent, along with the context needed to resolve it quickly.

4. Achieve higher ROI

As we hinted at earlier, personalization can lead to higher return on investment (ROI)—in Twilio Segment’s State of Personalization Report, 49% of consumers say they’re likely to become “repeat buyers after a personalized shopping experience.” This personalization is exactly what conversational ads can provide.

We can see this in action in Facebook’s case study of LEGO’s Messenger ads. First, the company created a chatbot to help customers find a gift for their loved ones. Then, the chatbot asked questions like “Where are you shopping from?” and “How old is our builder?” before offering product recommendations accordingly. The campaign delivered the following results:

• The chatbot ads helped LEGO get 3x higher conversion rates compared to other conversion-based ads.
• The ads got up to 6x the return on ad spend in certain markets.
• The cost per conversion of these ads was a third lower compared to other conversion-based ads.

With these results, you can see why it’s worth giving conversational ads a try.

Get started with conversational ads with Twilio

Now that you understand the value of conversational ads, you may wonder how to manage this channel with the rest of your communication stack. With the right platform, you can seamlessly integrate conversational ads with your existing channels and scale to new channels to fit your business needs.

Twilio’s Conversations API enables you to provide conversational messaging across channels, including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Plus, the customizable API allows you to build the right solution for your business and deploy quickly with web and mobile SDKs.

And if you’re just getting started, we have your back with our webinar Best Practices for Building Conversational Ads With WhatsApp. In this webinar led by Twilio experts, you’ll learn how to increase conversions and improve customer acquisition costs with conversational ads using our APIs.

Register for the webinar, then sign up with Twilio for free to start building.