Facebook has been tireless in their efforts to push their 2B+ monthly active users to download their messaging app – Messenger. They’ve seen some success in user numbers recently; with now over 1.2B active monthly users, Facebook is ready to attempt another monetization tactic, hoping that advertisers see this user number as an opportunity to capitalize on.
So how do Messenger ads work?
Your ads will appear on users’ main page under the “Messages” tab. When a user scrolls through messages a “sponsored” message will appear, and when they tap on the ad it will direct them to your chosen destination–your website, a landing page, a messenger conversation, etc. You will need to be creative here to really catch the attention of users.
Advertisers can create and manage Messenger ads in Ads Manager and Power Editor along with all of Facebook’s and Messenger’s already existing solutions.
For those thinking about creating Messenger ads with a CTA re-directing users to a Messenger conversation, remember that click to Messenger ads are available on Instagram as well as Facebook. Advertisers have a few options to chose from here.
We’ve seen Facebook attempt to establish Messenger as a variety of different tools (a mobile payments app, chatbots, etc) with no real success. Marketing Dive believes that “globally rolling out more traditional digital ads for Messenger is perhaps a sort of acknowledgment that some of its initial ambitions and monetization strategies haven’t really played out as expected”. We will just have to wait and see if Messenger ads and Messenger bots take off.