Running a small business today comes with its fair share of challenges. Many owners struggle with limited budgets, stiff competition, and the need to stand out in an increasingly crowded digital space. Additionally, they may lack the time or technical expertise to manage complex marketing strategies effectively. One of the biggest hurdles is building a personal connection with customers in a way that feels genuine and scalable. This is where Facebook Ads, particularly those with the Messages objective, come in handy.
Using the Messages objective allows small businesses to break through the noise by initiating real-time conversations directly with potential customers. Imagine being able to answer queries, guide prospects through your products, or even close sales—all in one chat window. Whether someone has a question about pricing or wants more details about your service, Facebook Messenger ads make it easy to engage users in a quick, convenient, and personal way.
For business owners, this form of advertising offers several clear advantages:
- Build trust quickly: By interacting directly with potential customers through Messenger, you can provide personalized service, answer queries immediately, and nurture relationships that build trust.
- Higher engagement rates: People are more likely to interact with an ad that leads to a conversation rather than a simple landing page or generic website visit.
- Cost-effective customer support: Messenger ads not only promote your product or service but can also function as a tool for customer support. This can save time and resources, especially for small businesses without dedicated support teams.
Below is a step-by-step guide to setting up a Facebook Ads campaign using the Messages objective, designed specifically for beginners and small business owners.
Step 1: Set Up Facebook Ads Manager
First, head over to Facebook Ads Manager. If you’re not already using it, this is Facebook’s comprehensive tool for creating, managing, and analyzing your ads. Click on the green “Create” button to start your campaign.
Step 2: Select the Engagement Objective
The next screen will prompt you to choose your objective. Since the goal here is to open conversations with potential customers, select the Engagement objective. This objective is designed to drive users to engage with your ad through likes, comments, video views, or conversations with your business, allowing you to respond to questions, provide product information, or guide them through a purchase.
You will choose between the Tailored Messages Campaign which is a more simplified setup process with the preset broad audience and automatic placement or the Manual Engagement Campaign which gives you full control of the setup process. In this case, select the Manual Engagement Campaign.
Step 3: Name Your Campaign
It’s good practice to give your campaign a specific, memorable name. If you plan to run several campaigns at the same time, this will help you stay organized. After naming your campaign, leave all other settings the same and click on the ‘Next’ button.
Step 4: Set a Budget and Schedule
Here, you’ll decide how much to spend. You can either choose a daily budget (the amount spent per day) or a lifetime budget (the total amount over the duration of the campaign). For those just starting out, it’s often a good idea to begin with a small daily budget, like N3,000, and see how your audience responds before scaling up.
You will also need to select the conversion location for the campaign which is ‘Messaging Apps’ and in the ‘Performance goal’ section, select ‘Maximise number of conversations’
Step 5: Define Your Audience
This is a critical step in reaching the right people. Use the Audience section to define who you want to see your ad. Facebook’s targeting allows you to narrow down your audience by factors like age, gender, location, and interests. If you’re not sure who to target, you can use Advantage+ Audience, where Facebook will find people likely to engage based on the chosen objective.
Step 6: Select Placements
Placements determine where your ads will appear. Facebook will recommend Automatic Placements, which show your ads in various places such as the news feed, Stories, and Messenger. However, if you specifically want your ads to show in Instagram Stories, Reels, and other placements, you can manually select these placements.
Step 7: Design Your Ad
Once your audience and placements are set, it’s time to create the ad itself. Choose from different formats like a single image, video, or carousel (multiple images). Keep your design simple and ensure your message is clear. Facebook recommends keeping the primary text to around 125 characters and including a clear call to action (CTA) like “Send us a message!”.
Step 8: Set Up Your Message Flow
This is where you determine how your conversation will begin once someone clicks on your ad. Facebook provides several message templates to streamline this process. You can start with something as simple as a few conversation prompts like, “How can we assist you today?” or set up an automated chat flow to gather lead information if you’re looking to save time.
Step 9: Preview Your Ad
Before you launch, use the Preview function to make sure everything looks good and works as intended. You can even send a preview to your own Messenger to check how the conversation flow feels.
Step 10: Track and Optimize
After publishing your ad, it’s crucial to keep an eye on performance. Ads Manager allows you to track important metrics like message volume and cost per message. This helps you fine-tune your campaign over time to ensure you’re getting the most out of your budget.
For small businesses, Messenger ads are a fantastic way to build a direct line of communication with customers. They provide a platform for personal interaction, allow for faster lead generation, and ultimately help create meaningful relationships. Whether you’re answering questions or guiding users through the buying process, Messenger ads make it easy to deliver top-notch customer service in real-time.
With this step-by-step guide, you can confidently set up your first Messages ad campaign and start engaging with customers on a more personal level.
