- Over 1 billion people are visiting Facebook Business pages each month seeking information. (Facebook for Business)
- People prefer to communicate with friends and family via messaging. (Facebook for Business)
It is understandable that Facebook users would want to connect with businesses via messaging too.
Earlier this year Facebook announced they would be adding features to make connecting with a business easier. The changes announced included integrating a stand-alone message app into an e-commerce site and allowing users to reply to messages with apps.
Today Facebook introduced a few new communication features including allowing customers to “send private messages to businesses and new tools for Page admins to manage and respond to messages.” (Facebook for Business)
Local Awareness Ads & Private Messages
A new call-to-action button can be added to local awareness ads on Facebook. This feature allows people to contact the business privately with a message directly from the News Feed ads.
“When someone clicks on the “Send Message” button in an ad, the Facebook Messenger window opens for them to write and send messages to the business. Incoming messages to Pages include an attachment that shows which ad prompted the person to reach out, and once someone initiates a message with the business, the business can reply and follow up as necessary.” (Facebook for Business)
Advertisers can start using this new button by creating local awareness ads and selecting “Send Message” as the call-to-action button.
Reply to Page Comments with a Private Message
In the next few weeks there will be a feature added for Page Admins to contact users making a comment on their business page privately. Currently, in order to respond to users making comments on the Page Page Admins have to reply via the comment section with a public comment. The new feature allows Admins to respond to public comments with a private message.
Under the comment on the Page a Message option will be added to the Like and Reply options. “When a business responds privately to a comment, the comment shows a note that the business responded privately, so other Page visitors know that the business handled the request.” (Facebook for Business)
Identifying Responsive Business Pages
Facebook users will be able to recognize whether their comments or messages will receive a response with the new response time feature. Located on select Business Pages, users will be able to see the business’ response time to comments and messages made on the Page.
“Responsiveness ratings are dynamic and calculated based on data from the last seven days. All Page admins will now see their Page’s response rate and median response time in Page Insights, but, for now, only the Pages who meet the 90% response rate and less-than-five-minute response time will have the public badge.”
Messaging Help for Admins
Now that there are even more options for people to contact Business Pages Facebook has created a few new tools to make it easier for Page Admins to track incoming messages and respond. Admins have the option to pull up save replies and respond to them in “one tap” as well as making it easier to respond via mobile devices. Admins can also save the responses for editing later before sending.
“We’ve also updated the admin inbox to make it easier to keep track of messages. Page admins can now conduct the following actions in bulk: archive, delete, flag and mark messages as read, unread and spam.” (Facebook for Business)
As messaging is a popular form of communication Facebook’s new features will offer businesses a convenient way to contact customers and also allows businesses to interact on a more personal level with people.
For more information on these new features see Facebook for Business.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Facebook Announces Local Awareness Ads Message Feature and Other New Features
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