Page messaging helps businesses conveniently connect with people for everything from customer service requests to questions about their product, service, and business. We recently launched new features for Pages messaging, including private and saved responses. As Page admins consider enabling messaging for their Page or utilizing new messaging features, you may be wondering how best to use messaging as a business communication channel.
“Sending messages from my company page would be very convenient.”
Anyone who has a business page or fan page on Facebook has the ability to send updates and correspondence to those who interact with them directly from the page itself. However, before it was much simpler than today. Once upon a time, business pages came with a Send a message link that the owner could click on, directly from the home screen of the page. Facebook decided to update the process, forcing anyone who wanted to continue messaging this way to dig a little deeper.
“Well, that’s annoying.”
Tell me about it. It takes a few extra steps than before, but the process is still simple. To access the fan page message system, you must be an administrator of the page that will send the message. This is important since only an administrator will have permissions to enable messaging on the Settings.
Sending messages from a Facebook fan/business page
Page Messaging is a feature that allows Page administrators to communicate directly with their most vocal followers. Once the Page’s messaging feature has been activated, people who currently follow the Page will expect all messages to have a reply attached. Therefore, it would be wise to enable the feature only when you have time available to respond to incoming messages.
Responding in a timely manner – something like 90% of all messages receive a response within a five-minute period – will reward your Page with a “Very Responsive to Messages” badge. This badge will let visitors know that you can be contacted effectively through messages, as doing so will likely get you a response.
Although not all business pages are expected to meet this threshold, a quick response is highly recommended to establish rapport and trust with visitors and potential customers. Just remember that only messages you reply to will count towards your total response rate.
By performing the steps below, you, as a Page administrator, will be able to send and receive private messages from “fans” who have posted or messaged your Page. These particular messages can be found in the page’s inbox. Private messages are also enabled to respond to comments made on a page post. You cannot message any user directly unless they have contacted you first. This even includes those who liked your page but didn’t leave a post.
Once you’re ready to open communications between your company and your customers, you can follow these steps:
- Log in to your Facebook account and go to the business page where you want to enable/disable messaging.
- Click Settings, which can be found at the top of your page.
- On the “General” tab, click Messages.
- You can now check or uncheck the box next to “Allow people to contact my Page privately by showing the Message button.”
- Finish this by clicking Save Changes.
Although you can send messages to users who have already corresponded with your Page, you cannot send messages from one Page to another. If your page has already been blocked by a user, you will not be able to send them a message either.
Setting a business schedule for your page will likely help with your response time rate. By turning off messaging during your company’s off-hours, you can control the influx of messages to ensure your visitors’ messages are responded to in a timely manner. This will give your site a nifty little responsive badge.
If you receive messages while you’re away, you can always set up an automatic reply. A popular feature for Facebook business pages, it allows you to inform a potential client that you are currently away, but you will respond as soon as you can.
Automatic response
To set up an automatic reply:
- Click ‘Inbox’ located in the top left corner of your business page.
- Click the “Automated Messages” icon in the lower left corner.
- Activate ‘Instant Reply’.
You can personalize your message by clicking the ‘Edit’ button.
Messaging Tips for Page Administrators
It’s worth maintaining a friendly and respectful tone when using the messaging feature on your company page. Messaging is a direct and personal communication channel, so write to your customers the same way you would talk to them in person. It’s also important to think about the context before responding with a message. Since most messages can be interruptive, it may be best to use the messaging feature only for matters that require immediate attention.
Clear, concise and pleasant
Although Facebook messages do not have a character limit, it is recommended that all correspondence be short, simple, and to the point. Make sure the message you want to convey is clear and that the questions being answered are obvious and easy to understand. Provide step-by-step instructions on your recommended plan of action so as not to confuse customers. The less reason the customer has to respond longer, the better your business will appear in their minds.
When finishing your response, leaving just the company name at the end of the message is too impersonal. Instead, you should consider providing your signature to close your response. This is a great way to personalize the message and will also help build trust and rapport with customers.
Quick response feature
As a company, you are likely to be asked the same questions more than once. Facebook provides a Saved Replies feature that can help Page administrators with quick responses to high volumes of messages asking similar questions. This gives you the opportunity to save answers to frequently asked questions and use them to respond without the need to type them each time.
Please note that this feature is only recommended for answering frequently asked questions messages. For any specific question a customer may ask, a personal response is the best way to go.
Private correspondence
Facebook allows business/fan page administrators to respond privately to posts left on their page. This can help page administrators respond more effectively to personal requests made by customers, as well as handle specific customer information.
This is especially useful for obtaining more private information, such as billing questions, sensitive customer complaints, status of orders placed, and any other queries that include a customer’s personal information. For broader questions that pertain to the general public and are likely to help other site visitors, you should continue to post this information publicly.
Edit page notification settings for received messages
When you don’t turn off messages on the page, you may receive messages at different times of the day. Chances are you’re not sitting in front of your computer staring at your Facebook page waiting for every question to come.
This is where page notification settings can come in handy. By enabling them, you can receive a notification every time your page receives a new message. This is very useful for those administrators who want to stay on top of things like fast response times and customer engagement.
Editing page notification settings not only provides message notifications, but can also give you:
- Facebook notifications every time there is activity on the page, or every 12 to 24 hours for all activity.
- The type of activity you want to receive notifications about.
- An email or text message every time there is activity on your page.
- The ability to turn off all notifications.
Please understand that when you decide to edit any of the notification settings for a Page you help manage, none of the other administrators who also help manage the Page will be affected. This means that each page admin has access to their own notification settings. All other Page admins working on the same Page will only receive notifications about the Page based on the settings they have chosen.
To change notification settings for a business/fan page:
- Click Settings at the top of your page.
- Click Notifications in the left column.
- Edit your notification settings.
All your notifications can be viewed by clicking Notifications lying at the top of your page. From here, you can mark all notifications as read by clicking Mark all as read. In the unlikely scenario where you enable notifications but still don’t receive them, you may have inadvertently disabled them on your mobile device.
To correct this:
try to touch Settings > Notifications on your mobile device and make sure your Facebook notifications are set to In.
You should also receive email notifications as long as you have them enabled. This is just an extra feature added to ensure you never miss out on customer queries and feedback.
