This post covers:

• The best way to use Messenger to increase covers.
• How to troubleshoot problems with poor ROI from Facebook.
• Great tools to help improve your facebook performance.
• AND some awesome videos to inspire you

Every restaurant owner wants a place full of happy diners who visit often.

But running a restaurant can be tough and competition for new covers is always cutthroat.

So, how do you get people to notice that your restaurant is the best thing since sliced bread without handing out flyers or coming up with expensive, time-consuming ideas to outshine the competition?

The simple solution? Use Messenger marketing!

Quick example......

Lets say you have 5,000 Facebook page likes on your main brand page, imagine for a second, if you had the birthday details of every FB Follower and you could send out a “personalised” value based Message straight to their Messenger inbox 2 weeks before their birthday?

Something like “We know your birthday is fast approaching, so here’s a little gift on us, bring 4  full paying guests and get your main meal free on us”.

Let's take this one stage further.

Imagine if you knew this particular customer had a preference for barbecue ribs and you could personalise the birthday message to include a special offer specifically for ribs on autopilot?

Mouth-watering 🙂

Can you see how this would open up a huge revenue stream?

It's this level of personalisation that makes the difference.

Second example, it’s 4.00 pm on a Friday, the big sales office in town is planning their weekly drinks outing.

How can you directly influence them to choose your venue in real-time?

Again Messenger holds the solution and  is the only platform RIGHT NOW that can proactively message potential customers in real time using an advanced level of personalisation that’s previously not existed before.

Big groups already using Messenger TGI Fridays are seeing significant improvements in frequency and party size and it's understandable. 

As in just 2 ½ years, Facebook Messenger has eclipsed 2.3 BILLION active users.

Not app downloads. Not idle accounts that are hardly ever used.

We're talking about active users who have adopted Messenger as a primary communication channel.

The Most Profitable Skill In Marketing’s New Frontier

This new marketing channel is growing rapidly and completely changing the way customers interact with brands.

Sherif Mityas, TGI Fridays’ chief experience officer,  "Upgrading our digital presence allows for greater personalisation in how we reach our guests, and what offers we give customers....

And we like to think that we aren’t talking to all guests at once through digital, but rather offering tailored interactions for each individual guest"

But it isn’t as simple as just blasting your audience with promos and content like you would with email…

To succeed with marketing on Facebook Messenger, you shouldn’t approach the platform from a marketing perspective alone.

If you want people to engage with your messages and click on your ads, you need to figure out what your potential customers are struggling with or what they’re trying to accomplish…

Figure out creative ways to engage with them…

Focus on your audience and what’s important to them…

Try to drive relationships as well as engagement.

Private auto responders are powerful bots that you can set up on your organic & paid Facebook posts.

When a warm lead comments on your post, they will instantly receive a targeted Facebook message from you.

I mean anyone that comments on a post, even leads that don’t like your page yet can be added.

You can think of it as a Facebook post autoresponder.

Even better they are now added to your Messenger contact list so you can contact them at later point

 You have all their contact information and permission to send them messages.

There are three reasons that smart marketers & business owners are head over heels with comment guard.

• You are not charged for the leads. With Click to Messenger ads, you are paying per lead but not with autoresponders.
• Autoresponders are a list building tactic. Anyone who comments and then engages the Messenger bot automatically adds themselves to your list.
• Autoresponders are blessed by Facebook. Facebook’s algorithm rewards engagement.

BONUS TIP…….If you have a HOT organic post and it’s getting comments, Facebook will prioritise that post in the newsfeed, giving you even more engagement.

Remember, your goal with comment guards is engagement…..

Chat blasting is simple: It’s sending a Messenger chat to everyone on your list.

Chat blasting is a lot like email blasting (except more powerful).

Why?

It’s as obvious: UP TO 80% open rates in less than an 1 hour!

Compare that to email marketing—5% open rates— so by incorporating Facebook Chat blasts into your marketing strategy is a game-changer.

Before you can use chat blasting, you have to get in Facebook’s good graces by applying for subscription messaging.

Don’t worry. This is easier than it sounds.

From your Facebook page, go to Settings → Messenger Platform, then scroll down to “Advanced Messaging Features.” Click on “Request.”

The submissions are handled manually by Facebook, so the review process can take from a few days to a couple of weeks.

The main thing to keep in mind here is that you can’t send promotional content.

It might be tempting to blast your list with a “BUY OUR PRODUCT, STOCKS RUNNING OUT” ETC.

That’s not going to work here.

Facebook requires you to confirm this statement: “I confirm this Page won't use subscription messaging to send advertisements or promotional messages and will follow Messenger policies and Facebook community standards.”

Keep in mind that anyone who receives a blast must first opt-in.

Your goal is to reduce friction, make their opt-in smooth, simple, and delightful.

Using chat blasting is a powerful way to do the following:

• Maintain a high degree of engagement with your most devoted fans.
• Allow your audience segment themselves with a chatbot sequence.
• Automate drip sequences for even greater levels of engagement.

As you gain experience with chat blasting you’ll want to dig into your data to see what works and what doesn’t.

Virtual advisors especially appeal to the young, digitally-engaged, frequent  purchasers that brands want to reach the most as part of their digital strategies.

A Messenger chat widget is a button on your website that allows visitors to message you.

You’ve probably seen these before.

Once that simple click or tap takes place, you’ve scored a valuable lead.

Messenger chat works with your existing infrastructure.

• Messenger chat widgets run on bots—totally automated and virtually free.
• Messenger chatbots are available 24/7 and work alongside live chat.
• Messenger chat widgets add the person as a contact in Messenger, which is a permanent lead. 

Nurture your leads in Messenger using chat blasts and drip campaigns.

Remember, once someone starts a conversation from your website chat widget, they’ve entered your contact list for future retargeting.

Summary

Every new Messenger contact is a lead for life that you can send messages to on autopilot direct via Messenger. 
You get detailed intel on each lead that you capture like their birthday 
My personal favourite is the ability to turn every commenter in to a new Messenger lead, this is by far the most powerful feature if used correctly 
✔️ And so much more....

In the near future, we’ll look back and feel that conversational AI, Messenger Marketing and eventually voice were inevitable – and to a certain degree that will be true.

What will also be true (but most people will forget) is that technology developments will largely be what sets the example for other industries.

Like has been the case over the last year, these developments will happen with little fanfare and not a lot of people noticing at first.

And then the future will hit us all at once and it will all seem so obvious.

We’ve already hit the tipping point.

The only question for brands and companies is whether they want to get on board now and still have a chance to build competitive advantage or let others pass them by and at best reach parity later.

If you would like to learn more lets jump on a quick 15 minute call  and I'll get you up to speed on the latest Messenger Features.

Book a calendar slot below.