How To Use Facebook Messenger To Grow Your Business

I want to talk to you about how to use Facebook Messenger for your business development and sales strategies.

If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner, realtor, or mortgage broker, how do you use Facebook Messenger to get more engagement, generate more leads and interest in what you're doing as a brand?

In my book, Power Branding Secrets, I discuss strategies that you can use in regards to Facebook, social media, YouTube, email marketing, and other digital platforms. But today, I want to share with you a little insight that I've gathered myself from my own experiment in using Facebook Messenger.

Facebook Messenger Is A Powerful App

Facebook Messenger is one of the most open apps in all of the world. I'm finding that it's a great way to engage people who have engaged your with content.

The first action that you will need to take to successfully use Facebook Messenger is you have to first put out content. That content may just be a simple written post on Facebook or a Facebook Live session. Or maybe you share your most recent blog post or YouTube video.

Step 1: Publish Content

But without something to engage with first on Facebook, it will be challenging to see who to use Facebook Messenger with for business development purposes. So the first step is make sure you have good content that you're creating, or curating, meaning pulling from another source, and you're sharing it either on your personal Facebook page, or you're sharing it on your business page.

Now if you're sharing this content on your business/fan page, I strongly urge you that you boost the post. If you have a business page or a fan page, you'll see a little button called "boost." Now if you've got a lot of followers, you've got to use boost because studies have shown that your content, even though you have many followers, Facebook's is going restrict it to about 3% of your audience.

So if you have 1,000 fans or followers, about 30 people are going to see it. So, you want to boost it to make sure that that content gets in front of more people. I spent $5 on boosting a post to just try this out on various posts, and I had 130 views. I did another one where I boosted it for $30 and I had almost 1,000 people watch my video. It's pretty cheap to boost your post.

Step 2: Message Those Who Engage Your Content

Whether you boost the post or not, people, hopefully if your content is good and poignant and targeted and engaging or funny, are going to engage with your content.

As people engage with your content, you want to take that person's name and now move the conversation individually over to Facebook Messenger. You want to send them some type of invitation-type communication, such as, "Hello. I'm reaching out to all my friends and just would like to know if I could share with you some additional content?"

Again, you must ask a permission type question to share content. Because if you go straight to Facebook Messenger and start pinging them with more content that they haven't requested, it will come across as spam.

So, gthe very first communication on Facebook Messenger should be some type of tickler, some type of tease with asking the question, "I have some also amazing content. Can I share it with you?" If they say yes, then you can go ahead and share your link, your YouTube video, your offering, your affiliate page, whatever it is.

What's happening is you're now finding those on Facebook who are engaging with your content to now turn those engagements into individual conversations to share even deeper or more targeted content. In particular, content that you want to engage so as to either buy your book, sign up for your paid offer, or maybe just take you up on your coupon.

Some Examples

So let's take a small business, for example. We have a coffee shop and they posted a photograph of some really good food and coffee that they we offering, and 14 people like that photo. They could now reach out to those 14 people and go, "Hello, we're offering a discount, a coupon. Is it okay if I send it to you?" And if they say, "Yes," you go ahead and send it."

Now you have their permission and guess what? The coffee shop is actually engaging individually those who engage with their content publicly on their Facebook page.

For a realtor, they may post a home that's for sale. They find out that five people like it. You could say, "Hello, I'd like to show you the home, but I just want to make sure I have your permission first that I can engage you about showing you this home that you commented or liked. Would that be okay?" They say, "Yes." Now the realtor can send an invitation, maybe a landing page where they could fill out, and actually schedule time. Or, maybe they could just share with them the open house.

There's a lot of creative ideas that you can do with this strategy.

My point is this, is that number one, you want to post engaging content so that you get the original engagement. Number two, take those individuals, ask them some type of permission question to engage with them further, and only when they say yes. Now send them further content, particularly content that engages with your brand, whether it's a coupon, an offering, a sale or something of that nature.

My Results Have Been Phenomenal

I've been doing this for the last couple days, and the engagement has been phenomenal. I've had people that have engaged my post. I now move it into Facebook Messenger for my business, ask their permission. About 70% of the people are saying, "Yes." I send them the link, and guess what? I'm actually getting people who want to now do business with me. This is a great, simple way.

Now I know there's Facebook bots, that's a whole other technology. We'll talk about that again in the future, but right now I wanted to share you a real quick, easy, growth-hacking tactic that you could use with Facebook Messenger to grow your business and gain more engagement with, particularly leads and customers.

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Edwin Dearborn is the CEO of Premiere Lead Systems