HSH 064: Introduction to Facebook Messenger Bots (Part 1)
On this episode, we are talking about Facebook Messenger automation and ManyChat. If you’ve been seeing me in your Facebook inbox or you see other marketers doing it and you want to know you can introduce this to your business too, you’ll enjoy this intro lesson!
Although it goes by different names, these automated bots are used to build up a list of contacts that you can communicate directly with via Facebook Messenger. They give you the ability to automate the conversation with your audience, similar to when you call a customer service line of a business and based on your response to the questions, you’ll get routed to the right department.
It’s important to note that this is a tool to get into the minds (and pockets!) of your customer, but we don’t use it to replace email marketing. It does, however, create a new point of contact, and at the moment, marketers are loving the extremely high clickthrough and open rates they are getting!
You don’t own the Messenger list, but rather it’s an accumulation of data which is housed in Facebook. There are also rules associated with bots that don’t exist with email marketing, and you do need to receive permission from the user to reach out using this technology.
I recommend ManyChat if you’re looking to use this type of automation, as it only costs $10 per month and offers many features for you to analyze performance and different ways to integrate the bots into your own business.
You need to consider if your business is ready to use bots, in terms of the time commitment they require. People want a response, so whenever we send out a Messenger broadcast we have a steady influx of replies for the next one to two hours that need to be answered.
Bots are a way to start the conversation and push people to the best place to engage with you. They’re automating the touch point in building a relationship. Even though it’s Artificial Intelligence, we gave our bot and name and face – Dr. Hustle!
We do make sure to let people know how they can get in touch with us but also how they can stop getting messages, and it may not be as apparent as unsubscribing from an email list.
Automation is about opening a direct line of communication with your audience and treating it as sacred! This technology is changing the game and dynamics of online marketing, which is making connecting with your potential customers more effective. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week when I’ll share how you can start implementing the strategies of Facebook Messenger Bots!
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