Small businesses are getting the attention they deserve from Facebook parent company Meta.
During National Small Business Week, Meta announced new ways for SMBs to take advantage of lead generation and share content.
The new tools are aimed at helping businesses drive higher quality leads by identifying new ways they can connect with customers.
Messaging And Conversation Features
Meta recently identified over 70% of people want to be able to communicate with businesses in a similar way as friends and family: through messaging.
In fact, businesses are also realizing the value of messaging customers. They’ve found the ad format that opens a WhatsApp chat is a great way for new customers to discover them and have a conversation.
With this new insight, Meta is creating ads for Facebook and Instagram that can be made directly from their WhatsApp Business app. An example of the new experience is below.
Image credit: Facebook.com, May 2022The second messaging update is to the inbox itself . Meta is streamlining business communications by having all messaging tools in one inbox.
Your business’s inbox already contains messages from Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct. Going forward it will contain messages from WhatsApp as well.
This integration can save you and your team time, money, and efficiency.
The last messaging update allows you to send promotional message ads to customers who opt into communication, directly through the Meta Business Suite.
This update is a result of direct feedback from SMBs, noting a need to respond more efficiently to customer questions.
The marketing messages within the Meta Business Suite can help you drive more sales and long-term customers, all without having to use additional tools.
Image credit: Facebook.com, May 2022New Lead Generation and Customer Acquisition Tools
Meta is launching a myriad of new tools to help businesses capture and manage leads through the platform. These features include:
- Quote Requests in Instagram
- Lead filtering with Instant Forms
- Creative flexibility
- Gated content
- Partner integrations
The Quote Request is currently being tested with selected businesses on Instagram. Essentially, it allows companies to add a “Get Quote” button on their Instagram profile and stickers in their Stories.
In the near future, lead filtering will be available for businesses. This will work by reviewing the responses to a multiple-choice question.
Meta is also testing its Instant Form for more personalization. Selected businesses are able to test adding visuals and content to their Instant Form, giving users more visual information.
Gated content will soon be available for companies to use. By creating gated content, SMBs can provide leads with resources after they fill out the Lead Ad form. This allows the user to stay directly on the platform.
Summary
If you’ve had trouble leveraging Facebook or Instagram in the past for your small business, these tools are for you.
While these items are all in testing at the moment, Meta is hosting a conference called Conversations on May 19th to discuss these further. Once registered, you’ll be able to receive more information on the above tools and features.
Source: Meta
Featured Image: Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock
