How to set up Facebook Messenger Ads

Have you thought about making ads for Facebook Messenger as well as traditional Facebook ads?

Why should you have ads in a messaging app?

Before setting up your ads, you need to know why you should even bother having ads in a messaging app in the first place.

Messaging apps are continuing to rise in popularity. In fact, so many people are now using messaging apps that they are overtaking social networks themselves. Messaging apps attract hundreds of millions of monthly active users.

Types of ads

There are a few different ways you can have ads on messaging apps.

Types of ads include:

Sponsored Ads: This allows businesses to directly liaise with customers. However, people must have previously started a conversation with the brand

Messenger Ads: These are located in the home tab of Messenger. These are available to be seen by everyone, not just those who have previously had conversations with the brand. When people tap on the ad, they will be redirected to either your website or a Messenger conversation.

Click To Messenger Ads: If people interact with an ad on Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram, businesses will be able to drive personalised messages with their potential customers.

In June 2017, Facebook introduced the global expansion of the Messenger ads.

How do you set up Facebook Messenger ads?

Now you know what Facebook Messenger ads are and why you should have them, the next step is knowing how to set up Facebook Messenger ads.

• Step One: Choose a campaign objective

  The first thing you’ll need to is to decide on an objective for your campaign. To do this, simply open the Facebook Ads Manager and navigate to “Campaign: choose your objective.”

  There are three categories you can choose for your marketing objective - Awareness, Consideration and Conversions. These are presented in three columns.
  Beneath Awareness, you can choose between Brand Awareness and Reach.

  Consideration includes Traffic, Engagement, App Installs, Video Views and Lead Generation.
  Facebook Messenger Home Screen ads are created with the "Traffic" objective. For the Conversions objective, you can select from Conversions, Product Catalogue Sales and Store Visits.

• Step Two: Choose a Target Audience

  Thanks to Messenger home screen ads, you have more options with target audiences. While you previously were not able to save targeted audiences, you now can do just that.

  You can create a new audience altogether, select an audience you have previously saved, target a lookalike audience, and can exclude these previously saved audiences if you’re wanting to target a brand new audience.

• Step Three: Select Ad Placement

  The ad placement is regarding where the audience will see your ad. This can either be done automatically, or you can manually choose the ad placement.

  You can choose whether you want your ads to be displayed on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger. Facebook allows you to choose between feeds, instant articles, in-stream videos, right column and suggested videos. Messenger has home and sponsored messages, while Instagram has feed, stories, and audience network.

  If you’re wanting to have an ad in Facebook Messenger, you’ll have to make sure you select the Messenger “home” option. If you wish, you can also select the Feed options for both Facebook and Instagram. However, if you choose any of the other options, you will receive an error message, so make sure to keep these options unchecked.

• Step Four: Choose Your Budget

  Once you’ve selected the placement, the next step is to choose the budget for your Facebook Messenger ad campaign. There are two budget options for Facebook ads. You can choose an amount per day, or select a lifetime budget.

  It’s a good idea to split test your ads to see which budget option you are getting the best ROI on. This will also help you figure out how much you want to spend per ad, as you’ll be able to get an idea of how they perform.

• Step Five: Make Your Ad

  Once you’ve set up, it’s time to create your ad! There are a few steps you need to follow to set this up.

  These include:
  - Select which Facebook page your ad will be displayed on.
  - Choose your ad format - carousel, single image, single video, or slideshow.
  - Select your destination option. This will be:
  - Website URL - which will require you to submit your landing page URL where people are directed to.
  - Messenger - which will start a conversation inside Messenger.

• Step Six: Create Ad Text

  Now you will have to fill out the Headline, Text, and News Feed Link Description. This is the text that is seen when the ad is displayed.

  Messenger ads will also require you to select Set Up Messenger Content. You will need to create a message which will be shown within the messenger app when people click on your ad. Make sure your Messenger content uses the same text as the news feed. Also consider using a greeting, as this is a private message, rather than an ad.

Once you have done this, you will be ready to go live with your Facebook Messenger ad.