Facebook is rolling out some updates now and in the near future that could be huge boosts for business owners and marketers. With just a few new features, Facebook is going to give a big leg up to small and medium sized businesses who rely on Facebook's platforms to reach their customer base. Both free and paid features.
Below we'll give you a quick overview into some of these new features.
Click-to-message ads are getting an update which will hopefully encourage users to directly connect with businesses through IG DM's, Messenger, or WhatsApp and potentially other third party communication apps.
Facebook hasn't provided a list yet, but we're assuming they will soon.
Their wording implies that there will be some "smart" selection of which messaging app will open once a customer clicks on one of these ads.
Businesses should now have the ability to add a click-to-chat button that will open WhatsApp on their Instagram profiles.
A useful feature for anyone who prefers WhatsApp, due to being able to use it on desktop, to answering questions via Instagram direct messages*.
Wanted to give a customer a quote directly in chat? Now you can.
With a customized form of up to 5 questions, you can qualify leads to give an accurate quote of services/products.
Currently in testing with select advertisers.
Ever wanted to use the lead gen capture ads that are prevalent on Facebook, on Instagram? Well, now you'll be able to. Facebook is introducing these lead gen ads for paid Instagram advertising, opening a whole new avenue to qualify and prospect leads on Instagram.
Gotten tired of seeing the latest conspiracy theory from your distant cousin?
Facebook is finally giving thought to business only accounts.
What's this mean for you? Not much, unless your one of millions who's wanted to delete their personal Facebook accounts in order to run their business pages and access Facebook Business Suite.
They also seem to be tinkering with the idea of businesses themselves to be able to create and manage these accounts for employees. This is likely to make setting up SSO (single sign-on) for internal applications a bit easier.
Facebook seems to be testing these accounts through the remainder of the year with a small group set, then potentially releasing these accounts to a broader spectrum sometime in 2022.
The Business Suite is an essential piece of Facebook's business offerings. It allows businesses to manage everything from paid advertising to scheduling posts for both Facebook Pages and Instagram business pages. A definite source of frustration for many users – so hopefully, these in test features will alleviate some of that frustration.
* TopOut Group offers full lifecycle management of client social media profiles. We respond to comments made on posts and advertisements across every channel. Want to learn more? Head to our Social Media Management service page for more information.
