Lovelies, the future is now! If you haven’t leapt into the business-expanding world of Facebook Messenger chatbots, the question is, Why not?
These customer-communication tools use artificial intelligence (AI) to help you drive awareness, develop leads, and reach subscriber and sales goals … all while saving you and your team time and money.
Concerned that bots are just too impersonal?
Here is the Big Reason you need to overcome those qualms: the most important thing in your business development plan is creating a large customer base.
That means reaching as wide an audience as possible, and pulling your subscribers and followers in close. Bots allow you to do that with minimal work, and can be customized to use your brand voice.
Not only that, Facebook Messenger currently has 7 billion active users! Your target market is on Facebook Messenger right now.
You need to reach them. And Facebook chatbots can help you do that.
How Do I Get Started Using Facebook Chatbots?
Creating the bot itself can easily be outsourced to your savvy virtual assistant. Ask her to explore the range of tools and software (MobileMonkey, ManyChat, ChatFuel, etc.) that can assist in this task, and choose the one that best suits your specific needs.
With clear direction and input from you, your VA or team member can get a bot ready to be tested in a day or so. (She doesn’t need to be a coding genius to build and connect a bot! It’s crazy easy.)
But first, you need to have a clear goal for your bot!
I suggest starting with a single goal if this is your first bot experience. If your goal is well-defined, it will make the process of customizing and testing your bot SO much easier.
A great place to start is increasing your subscriber and client base. Automating your marketing and client-connection efforts with bots is a surefire way to boost your subscriber numbers.
Why?
Because people are 3.5 times more likely to open a Facebook Message than they are a marketing email, according to Headliner Labs, a digital marketer in the bot world.
Studies have also shown that people largely prefer live chat over voice or email support. A huge percentage of chat topics can be addressed with AI and automation.
And the real benefit is location, location, location: When an intelligent chatbot pops up, and points a visitor to an updated offer, answers a question, or reminds them of a previous transaction or purchase, the client is already there.
Follow-through is easy and quick, since there’s no redirect to a web page or other sales source. What could be easier?
You can also increase efficiency on your CRM, client retention, and even woo back “lost” clients using bots!
Convinced? Great! Here are three easy steps to get started with Facebook chatbots:
Choose the Lead Magnet You’ll Promote with Your Chatbot
To send your bot zooming off in the right direction, you need to identify your lead magnet. What offer will you use to pull in the client?
Think of it as a “sign-up freebie,” a way of getting a new customer to opt-in to what you have to offer.
The more immediate the prize, the more effective your lead magnet will be.
If a new client signs up and then has to wait 14 days for a course to begin, or for something to arrive (digitally or IRL), that won’t give them a sense of immediate gratification and excitement.
Give them something they can use right now!
Connect Your Chatbot Tool to Your Facebook Business Account
Once you’ve got your bot built and assigned it a task, it’s time to connect it to your Facebook business account.
Luckily, most bot-builder tools require the creator to sign into Facebook, where the bot is actually built.
Your software will also walk you through the process of activating your bot so it can communicate with visitors to your business page.
This is where your lead magnet is key.
You want to engage those visitors right away. Visualize what you hope they’ll do after they arrive at your FB page, and are welcomed by the chatbot.
You want them to sign up for your list, of course!
Your irresistible offer should convince them to hand over their email address.
Create Your Desired Chatbot Sequences
“Sequences” are a series of lures or interactions that are spaced out over time, and they’re designed to respond to the new client depending on their reactions.
You or a team member will need to write these in a voice that matches your brand and overall tone so your bot sounds as much “like you” as possible.
Sequences can cover everything from signing up for your newsletter to completing a sale or transaction.
When created carefully, these sequenced messages will walk a new client through onboarding, through a sale, right on through to your most premium offer—again, depending on how they respond to each previous sequence.
Your software will explain this in more detail, but understanding how sequencing works is important for you, the entrepreneur, who is surveying the landscape ahead.
Understanding the various components of your bot-making software will enable you to give clear guidance to your VA as she puts the pieces together.
Need help writing your sequences? Check out my project kit, Create More High-end Sales With Facebook Messenger Bot!
Your Next Step: Driving Traffic With Your Chatbot
Your Facebook chatbot will have its own URL, which means you can connect it to your social media (right next to your Twitter handle!), your blog, and your YouTube channel.
You can even use it in your email marketing efforts and include it in your business email signature.
Use buttons and links that read “To Messenger” wherever you have a presence.
In terms of directing traffic that’s already on Facebook to your bot, you can create ads that are delivered directly to Messenger users (“Click-to-Messenger” ads).
Be careful about what kind of content and how often you do it, to avoid “spam” labeling and punishment!
Your top posts, those golden unicorns, are what you want to put out there. Focus on promos where you see incredible response and traction.
When you build and customize a Facebook Messenger chatbot, you’re not only “driving traffic” and increasing your subscriber base, you are creating valuable engagement and letting your new clients know exactly what they can expect from you.
And each step they take to engage further, each “sequence” that replies to their specific needs, will leave them wanting a little bit more!
xoxo
Melissa
PS. I Can’t Make Your To-Do List Go Away…But My Business Templates Library Will Help You Avoid Project Overwhelm So You Can Build Your Business, Free Up Your Time, and Put More Money in Your Pocket!
