If you run an online store on Facebook and are keen to optimize the Page's reach, there's some good news for you. Facebook now enables business owners to send across private messages to their customers.
On Wednesday, Aug. 5, Facebook pushed out the new communication feature for Pages—letting users start a private conversation with business pages that show up in News Feed ads—by way of a "Send Message" button.
"Over a billion people visit Pages every month looking for more information from businesses. Today we're introducing new communication features for Pages, including more ways for customers to send private messages to businesses and new tools for Page admins to manage and respond to messages," announced Facebook in a blog post.
The new feature will give users a more personalized way of connecting with business Pages. If a user posts a public comment on the business' page, then the business can message the individual privately. This was not possible before.
Here's how the updated feature will work.
The new "Send Message" button will be visible in the ad's bottom right side. When a user clicks on this button, the user will be redirected to the window for Facebook Messenger. Users can then type their message to the business and send it across. It's that simple.
The Page admin of the said business will get the message, along with the ad, which prompted the exchange, in the form of an attachment. The exchange can then be followed up by the business.
Users who would not like to get private messages from the business also have the choice of blocking them.
Advertisers who would like to use the feature can deploy the "Send Message" button to create a new ad campaign. They need to select the "Send Message" option in the "Call to Action" area.
Facebook will also be tracking the responsiveness of the business Pages and admins will be able to check their response time and rate in the Page Insights field. Pages that have a bare minimal 90 percent rate of response in less than five minutes (an important criterion) will get a public badge that reads "Very responsive to messages."
The latest update is part of the social networking site's constant efforts to make its Messenger service a standalone feature, as well as persuade both small and medium businesses in emerging markets to promote their products via Facebook.
The site has over 40 million active business pages, both small and medium-sized, which get over a billion page visits per month.
