INTRODUCTION
According to surveys from Facebook, 69% of users in the United States communicate with businesses through messaging apps like Facebook Messenger. What’s more, the majority of respondents say being able to message a business helps them feel more confident about the brand.
Additional insights from Facebook Messenger show that “local entertainment” is among the top industries that use the platform to connect with their customer base. If your entertainment venue isn’t using Facebook Messenger, it should be–especially since your competition is.
Following are some ways you can make Facebook Messenger work for your entertainment venue.
HOW TO USE FACEBOOK MESSENGER FOR ENTERTAINMENT VENUES
When used appropriately, Facebook Messenger (or Messenger) can help your business acquire new customers, establish trust with new or existing customers, provide quality customer service and boost sales or attendance. Your Messenger account should have automatically been enabled when you created your Facebook Business page, and you can access the Messenger Inbox from Facebook Business Suite.
Here are eight tips on how your entertainment venue can use Facebook Messenger to connect with customers.
Set up a greeting
Set up a custom greeting to set the tone for the conversation before it even gets started. For instance, your greeting could thank the person for reaching out to you and invite them to ask questions. Think of it as a welcome message, similar to how you’d greet people in person or when answering the phone. You also can add personalization, like their name, or helpful resources, like a link to your website.
Go to the messaging tab in your Facebook page settings to enable this feature. You will have the option to use default text created by Facebook or change it to be more specific to your business. In most cases, you should do the latter. Once you turn the greeting on, it will appear in the chat window immediately after someone clicks to message your page for the first time. In other words, they will see it before they even send their first message.
Add responses for frequently asked questions
Enable frequently asked questions to help guide the conversation. For instance, you could include questions related to private parties, upcoming events or refund policies for ticketed events. If you’re looking for inspiration, reference past conversations to see what people typically ask or get input from your staff about the types of questions they usually encounter.
You also can add preset responses that automatically appear when someone clicks “Ask.” That will help you provide helpful information upfront without overloading your inbox with common inquiries that need your immediate attention–of course, you should follow up if further customer service measures are needed.
To set up FAQs, go to your inbox in Business Suite and click “Automated Responses” (located in the top right corner on a desktop). Then click on “Frequently Asked Questions” under the “Share and Get Information” menu. Add the most popular questions to the top of the list, as the first four will appear at the beginning of a conversation. You also can add up to five questions to a menu that will be visible throughout the conversation.
You have up to 80 characters for each question and 500 characters per response. Enhance your response with image or video attachments (up to 25 MB) or call-to-action buttons that route to specific pages of your website that offer additional information. For example, a music venue could include a link to its events page as a resource for people asking about upcoming shows.
As you may already know, customers will often reach out to you for information that is already listed on your website and/or Facebook page. Use the other features in the “Share and Get Information” section to set up autoresponders for people asking for common things like your contact information, location or hours.
Use Instant Replies and Away Messages
While it’s often not realistic for businesses to monitor Facebook at all hours of the day, your customers expect a speedy response. In fact, close to 40% of social media users expect a response within the hour. That can be a challenge, especially during peak hours or if you are short-staffed.
That’s where custom automated messages, like instant replies and away messages, come in. Use them to set expectations about when you will respond (e.g. “we typically reply within the hour”) or provide instructions on how to reach you for urgent requests. Make sure to use language that aligns with your brand’s personality to make your message feel authentic and welcoming. You also should personalize the message (e.g., insert the person’s name) and add information like your website URL or phone number.
While they may seem similar, there are some key differences between the two autoresponders. For example, instant replies are automatically sent in response to the first message someone sends to your page when your status is marked as “available.” Use them as a way to acknowledge receipt of messages during times when customers expect you to be responsive (e.g., during normal business hours). You should then personally respond to their question as soon as possible.
Away messages, on the other hand, become active when you mark your status as “away.” Enable them when you are truly unavailable (e.g., outside of business hours). You can do this manually or schedule away messages to appear at specific times each week. Messages received while you’re away won’t trigger a notification and won’t affect your page’s response rate. That’s not the case with instant replies.
To access either feature, go to the “Automated Responses” section of your Inbox and select the appropriate autoresponder from the “Greet People” section. Limit your message to 500 characters for both types of automated responses.
Enable Messenger alerts
As mentioned above, it can be difficult to regularly monitor your Facebook Messenger inbox for new conversations. Thankfully, Messenger provides tools to draw your attention to new messages and help you maintain a good response rate.
Turn Messenger notifications on to receive real-time alerts when someone messages your page. Go to your page settings and select notifications from the menu. Then make sure “receive notifications for New Messages” is turned on. You also can select email notifications, SMS notifications or both under the “Allow notifications” section. These are in addition to the alert you receive in the notifications section (e.g., bell icon) on Facebook.
It is important to note that individual page managers can adjust their own settings. If multiple people are managing your messages, ask them to go to their personal notifications settings to ensure they are receiving alerts.
Use the message management features
Similar to email, Facebook Messenger has various features that can help you organize your communications. For instance, you can mark messages as unread, move them to spam or delete conversations. You also can flag messages for follow-up or move completed conversations to a “done” folder. You are then able to filter messages based on their status, which can save you time.
If multiple people monitor your page for direct messages, you can use the “assign conversations” feature to direct the inquiry to the correct person. For example, assign ticket-related conversations to your customer service staff or private event inquiries to your event coordinator or sales team, assuming they have access to your venue’s Messenger account.
Reference the contact card to learn more about whom you’re interacting with (e.g., see where they’re located) or to add labels (e.g.,”new customer”) or notes for future conversations.
Add a Send Message button to your page
If you are serious about using Facebook Messenger to help grow your business, you should consider adding a “Send Message” call-to-action button to your page. That will encourage people to reach out to you within the platform instead of using an external method, like phone or email. You should only select this option if you plan to be very responsive to messages; otherwise, you might be better off with a different call-to-action, like “Call Now” or “Learn More.”
Create Messenger posts, boosts and ads
Encourage private conversations in posts, boosts and ads by adding a “Send Message” button to that content. This feature is particularly useful for content that will likely generate questions, like posts promoting memberships or private events. In those situations, a personalized one-on-one interaction could help finalize a sale, or at the very least, nurture a lead.
To create Messenger posts, compose your post as usual and click the “Get Messages” option (or the lightning bolt symbol). If you are using Facebook Business Suite, you can enable the “Get Messages” feature under “Call to action.” When you publish your post a “Send Message” button will appear in the bottom right corner, which will route to a private message when people click. You can then boost the post to reach more people.
Facebook also has two types of message ads you can leverage for your business–click to message or sponsored message. Click to message ads resemble other types of media-focused Facebook ads and can be used to reach new prospects. They appear in the Facebook News Feed, Messenger Inbox and Instagram Feed and route to a private Messenger conversation.
Sponsored message ads, on the other hand, can be used to reengage existing connections. They appear in the Messenger Inbox and expand when clicked. Use text-only or text and image ads to convey your message and add call-to-action buttons as needed. For instance, you can send out special offers or promotions with a link to a signup page with more information.
Use the ads in combination to build your contact list and remarket to existing customers or leads.
Set up your chat plugin
Take the Messenger experience to the next level by adding a live chat feature to your website. This allows you to provide support as people browse your website. Plus, you can easily continue the conversation in Messenger after they navigate away from your site.
To install the plugin, go to the Inbox within Facebook Business Suite and click “Chat plugin.” Then click “Set Up” to receive a snippet of code to add to your website. You also can customize the alignment and location of your chatbox.