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Facebook Messenger Ads: What's New

By Tinuiti Team

Advertisers are constantly looking for new and unique ways to reach users, but the ability for Messenger Ads to become a ubiquitous placement in the advertising world is solely contingent upon the success that this placement brings. As of now, it seems as though Messenger Ads provide a new and relevant channel for advertisers to reach consumers within their target audiences. We all know that real-estate on the Facebook platform is limited, as there are only so many ad slots to give to advertisers without compromising the integrity of the platform itself – and with 1.2 billion monthly users in the Messenger app, it’s not a bad place to expand.

What Are Facebook Messenger Ads?

The media giant first experimented with Messenger Ads in a test run beta within the Australian and Thailand markets before realizing the success a full roll-out could potentially provide in reaching and re-engaging audiences. The expansion offers the same level targeting options (except Sponsored Messages) and allow advertisers to target based on what people write in their profiles, such as:

You can build out different targeted audiences based on where those audiences sit in the sales funnel. Just like Facebook Ads, Facebook Messenger Ads let you reach targeted groups of people who align with your brand.

Types of Messenger Ads

As of now, there are 3 different types of Messenger Ad capabilities: Messenger Destination, Messenger Home Placement, and Sponsored Messages – all of which contain their own allure of offerings and shortcomings.

Messenger Destination Ads are excellent for advertisers that need to connect with prospects about products or services that require extensive explanation to nurture the prospect and answer common questions. You can also use Messenger Destination Ads to provide custom quotes based on what information the prospect provides.

This is not a placement, but a type of landing page that should contribute to your conversion and traffic objectives. You’ll include an image or video, a compelling headline, and text designed to convert the prospect. The Messenger Destination serves as the landing page for this type of ad. The ability to set up messages gives brands the ability to answer common consumer questions about your product offering.

Another option is the Messenger Home Placement ad. It also allows all of the same targeting abilities that you’ve grown accustomed to using to segment your audiences in Facebook Ads. The ads do not show up in the messaging thread but instead appear on the messenger home screen. You can use Messenger Home Placement ads within automatic placements.

It’s an excellent option when you want to drive conversions with a coupon or other promotion. You can also use it to advertise a lead magnet for prospects at the top of your funnel and ultimately serves as an extension of the various placements that Facebook offers.

The third Facebook Messenger Ads option is Sponsored Messages. These appear within the prospect’s thread, but you only have access to prospects who have sent messages to your page previously. If you’re building custom audiences, you can select “Facebook Page” and filter the people who have looked at your page by your desired look back window.

In the ad set, select your Facebook page and select sponsored messages as your placement. This will automatically turn off all other placement options. Continue to refine your sponsored message by targeting prospects by location, age, gender, language, interests, connections, and other desired filters. Sponsored messages allow only one image.

Since Facebook Messenger Ads are relatively new, they’re difficult to gauge in terms of ROI and the potential impact of new placement abilities. However, we advocate for testing different ad placement options to figure out what works best for your business.

You now have more options when it comes to your advertising spend, and you might discover that Facebook Messenger Ads offer the best ROI. Diversifying your advertising strategy can yield new data, and as Facebook releases new metrics and offers new targeting options, you might get even more options for refining your campaign.

To learn more about Facebook advertising and how this can help obtain your marketing goals, check out our case study on testing Facebook ads to sell out arenas

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