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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Push and pull marketing are key elements of the promotional mix strategy, yet sometimes these terms leave marketers feeling puzzled. Marketing strategy expert and author, Terence Shimp, describes push-pull marketing as "physical metaphors characterizing the promotional activities manufactures undertake to encourage trade channel members to handle/ merchandise brands and persuade consumers to purchase them.” 

If you're not too sure what’s meant by pull vs push marketing, or how these two methods work together, then you've come to the right place. Use this article to develop the foundations of your own push-pull technique!

What Are the Pros and Cons of Push Marketing?

What Are the Pros and Cons of Pull Marketing?

The synergies: How push and pull marketing work together?

A push marketing strategy, also called a push promotional strategy, is a technique used by manufacturers to “push” intermediaries (like wholesalers and resellers) to increase inventories of their brand versus competitor brands. Following this, wholesalers also often turn to push marketing in order to persuade retailers to sell the goods through a number of tactics including:

In general, companies use a push marketing strategy when launching a new product or operating in a niche market. While this strategy does have its benefits, it also has some drawbacks that must be considered before deciding if this is the best option for you. Let’s explore both sides of the coin so you can base your decision on a well-rounded view.

Let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of using a push marketing strategy:

Economies of scale are cost savings that occur as a result of making more of a product. If organizations are successful in their push strategy efforts and intermediaries put in a big enough order, companies get to benefit from larger cost-savings. 


When a push strategy is involved, demand is more forecastable and predictable as manufactures are able to produce and push as much or little as they wish. This production control has a significantly positive impact on supply chain management as technically, the demand should exceed the supply.


When using a push marketing technique, the time it takes to generate sales is often faster due to the force in which you present your products and services to the end customer. 

Since a push promotional strategy relies heavily on outbound sales, the model needs to be supported by a strong salesforce that's able to build opportunities by networking actively with retailers and distributors in the market – and this takes time.


Companies using push promotional marketing are at the mercy of the negotiating power of retailers and distributors. For example, if the product is new, it’ll likely be seen as riskier since it’s less profitable and is therefore less likely to be stoked.


Push strategies rely heavily on discounts and offering them to resellers can be expensive - so expensive that your business may struggle to recoup. Sometimes companies are even forced to sell each unit for less than their own manufacturing or acquisition cost, which makes push marketing unaffordable for some companies. Leading on from this, the longer you apply push marketing, the more difficult it becomes for you to get resellers to pay your regular prices.

Pull marketing is the polar opposite of push marketing. So what is an example of market pull? Well, it involves stimulating demand for a product or service and persuading consumers to ask for the product in retail outlets. The goal of this type of promotional marketing strategy is to “pull” customers into store or have a product “pulled” off the shelves, so to speak. Rather than trying to sell to a wholesaler, the manufacturer instead uses a market pull promotional strategy to focus its promotion on the customer and motivates them to want it. They do that using tactics such as:

It’s also worth noting that a modern-day pull marketing strategy tends to use various pull media channels, from social media to pay per click, since the modern-day customer journey is fragmented. This means companies need to be present on the various channels that the audience are using to discover and research. Want to learn more about optimizing your customer journey strategy? Take a look at our ebook, “Demystifying the B2B Online Customer Journey”.

Let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of using a pull marketing strategy:

Long term success is ultimately determined by the interest of the end buyer. Applying a pull strategy helps you to be more audience-focused and relevant. For example, unlike push marketing, pull marketing allows you to add an element of personalization to your marketing strategy. And with 80% of customers now saying they’re more likely to purchase a product or service from a company that provides personalized experiences, this is now something that is needed to survive in this day and age. Not only this, but personalization also puts you in a better placed to drive brand loyalty and brand equity, both of which are key advantages of a pull strategy.


A pull strategy model can be a powerful way of understanding how a new product is received. Say you’re a new brand and don’t yet know the scope of your audience, based on interest from customers, marketers can test and identify whether their audience has accepted a new product in the market and how large buyer pool may be.


When audiences want your goods, naturally, brands have stronger bargaining power with distributors in the market. You see, distributors don’t want to let customers go, so they’re more willing to negotiate with brands who’re benefiting from pull marketing success. 

Companies that solely focus on pull strategies often miss the market penetration trick. Since the pull marketing strategy model relies on people who already know they have a need, those that have a strictly inbound organization are losing out on market share by excluding people that aren’t yet aware of their brand. Basically, it's almost impossible to build brand awareness by only using a pull strategy as the attention is on consumers already interested in your product or service.


Creating high demand using a pull technique can be difficult in a competitive market. Interest doesn’t just appear, any marketer will tell you that a lot of time and effort goes into generating content that facilitates it.


Expanding on the point above, pull marketing strategy efforts can also be difficult to measure. While quantifying marketing ROI has come a long way in recent years, it still has some way to go, especially when it comes to attributing acquisitions.

Now we understand the benefits and drawbacks of solely using a push or pull strategy, let’s take a look at the synergies between them. 

There are a number of elements at play that influence decision-making around whether a marketer leans more on a pull or push marketing strategy, including goals/ objectives/ KPIs, the type of product/ service they offer (industrial or consumer?), type of buying situation and more. Having said that, blending elements of push-pull marketing together is where the sweet spot is at, after all, push and pull models naturally align. Here's an example of how push and pull marketing work together: 

In order to boost sales of a newly launched product, a manufacturer decides to promote to the end consumer (pull). Knowing the importance of balancing promotion with intermediaries too, they decide to simultaneously offer trade discounts (push) in order to 'move' their products through distribution channels.

As marketing professionals, we need to create market demand (awareness) and then help develop the lead pipeline (sales). Initially push marketing helps generate the need and a pull marketing strategy offers a way for users to satisfy that need. Because of this, companies rarely exclusively use either approach at a given time, instead, they integrate push-pull marketing so they can benefit from the advantages and limit the drawbacks of each push and pull technique.  

An integrated marketing communication strategy (ICM) refers to the process of creating a unified and seamless experience for customers. The model attempts to meld all aspects of marketing communication, such as advertising, promotions, direct sales, public relations, social media, etc., so that all align in harmony as a unified force. While a push marketing strategy deals with resellers, the resellers ultimately interact with consumers on the brand's behalf, so it’s important that marketing professionals cultivate seamless experiences with both intermediaries and the end customer. This is when integrated push and pull marketing become paramount. 

For integrated marketing communications to be successful, the marketer must ensure push and pull strategy messages communicated across all push and pull channels are aligned. As mentioned, when all channels work in synergy, it manifests a unified force – one not to be reckoned with! The most common disconnect between a push and pull strategy occurs between personal selling and other elements of the promotional mix, so pay close attention to breaking down the silos and creating sales enablement material that can support integrated communications. If sales and marketing are singing from different hymn sheets, it's easy for the message to become blurred and confusing for the consumer.

So there we have it, how to identify the difference between a push and pull strategy, why both models are needed if you’re to successfully balance the process of creating market demand and sales and how to integrate your push pull technique. If you’re in the process of launching a new product, consider the points given in this article before deciding on the best push-pull model and approach to take. We're always here for a chat, so if you'd like to learn more about creating a push pull model that works for your business, fill out the form below and we'll be in touch! 

Push and Pull Marketing: Differences and Synergies

While it seems that every company understands the importance of social media in today’s world, few B2B companies use their social media accounts on a regular basis. In fact, while 95% of B2B marketers have created corporate social media accounts, half of them aren’t active on social media. 

Social media isn’t just a powerful outreach and engagement tool — it is also at the forefront of product research, peer recommendations, and brand discovery for B2B decision-makers. As such, it is imperative that B2B marketers get cracking on their social media strategies. However, that too can seem like a daunting task.

In this post, we break down the essentials of B2B social media marketing, showing you how you can utilize your social media accounts to their fullest potential.

Getting on the right social media platforms for your business

Optimizing your advertising budget for social media

1. Choosing the right platforms for your brand

If you’re not already on social media, the first step that you should take is to decide which platforms to use. There are loads of social media platforms for you to choose from.

Top tip: Find the balance between being present on several social media networks without spreading yourself too thin.

As a starting point, get yourself on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

LinkedIn is the most popular network among B2B marketers and is a great way to generate leads. LinkedIn B2B marketing helps you to target professionals within your industry as well as potential prospects and customers outside your industry. However, social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are also beneficial because they help build brand awareness and allow you to direct traffic to your website. Most B2B companies are on 4 or 5 different networks.

Top social media platforms used by B2B marketers

One way to decide which social networks to use is to have a look at the social pages of the competitors in your industry. Never assume that a certain platform won’t work for you just because your competitors may not be on it. Have a look at your target audience and decide if your content can be reworked to reach out to new bases on these platforms.

IBM uses its Twitter page to highlight its research efforts and product offerings, while its Instagram page highlights its stance on social issues and focuses on more visual content

Tip: Learn how to use Instagram for Business and take a look at the best B2B Instagram profiles.

Make sure that your social media profiles are consistent with your brand. This involves using the same profile image (preferably your logo), a straightforward username, and strong bio copy. This means defining your brand’s values and mission in a way that portrays the right message for your target audience! 

Content, the key to a successful marketing strategy

Two common misconceptions held by B2B businesses include: 

The idea that social networks are just an opportunity to generate more leads

The idea that B2B sectors are too boring for social media

However, a company that only posts promotional publications with a call-to-action (CTA) may soon find itself talking in a vacuum. As for being “too boring” for social media, check out our last post, where we dispel this myth for good.

Just like B2C marketing, great content lies at the heart of B2B social media marketing. Great social accounts rely on quality content that is of interest to their target audience. This content can include relevant graphics that provide audiences with top tips or articles that help them address common pain points.

Here are some great content ideas for your social posts:

Video clips and live quotes from your own or industry events

Brand announcements (partnerships, acquisitions, new releases …)

Behind the scenes of your company: photos of your employees, life in the office

Many brands strike a chord with their audiences by being funny online. This can help to humanize your brand and help your audience move away from the idea that B2B social media accounts are way too serious.

Be sure to establish clear guidelines for the use of humor on social media. There is a fine line between the humor that will please your audience and that which may offend.

The time that you choose to post on social media can affect how successful your content is. There are numerous studies on when users should publish their content. 

Don’t assume that these timings will work for your brand. The key to success is to test your posts during various time periods and observe where you obtain the most engagement.

When we spoke to Twitter expert Samantha Kelly, her advice was to use your social accounts when your audience is most active, which is often outside of the usual work hours (9 p.m.-11 p.m.).

We have published a very specific blog about when to post on social media. Read it to get more useful information on this topic!

One of the common social media mistakes that B2B marketers make is to post too much content, too often. You’ve probably experienced this frustration yourself — everyone has that one friend on Facebook who posts photos of his dog five times a day. 

Brands that post too often or include too many promotional messages and irrelevant content find themselves the culprits of bad B2B social media etiquette. In fact, those are the top three reasons why users unfollow a brand.

Beware! The reverse may also be dangerous — brands that almost never post on social media tire their audiences out. 

The golden rule for posting on social media: 

Read our blog about how often to post on social media for more insights.

In order to gain followers, B2B social media accounts should aim to increase post engagement, retain their following, and ensure that they're part of the conversation around your brand:

Reply to all comments and messages you receive, regardless of whether they are positive or negative

Use a Social Listening Tool to Monitor posts about the products and services you offer to identify opportunities for further discussion. Look out for posts asking for recommendations or complaints about your competitors via competitor monitoring.

Often, dissatisfied customers will take to social media to complain. Since your social media accounts are public, complaints can often damage your reputation if they are not handled correctly.  

Here are three things you should always strive to do:

Acknowledge their dissatisfaction and find a solution

Publicly accuse the client of lying or being wrong

Chances are, you’ll want to grow your audience. Whilst having a high audience reach is important, you should aim to reach the right people, not lots of people.

One approach that B2B marketers can take is by identifying relevant influencers in your industry. These are users with a large, engaged community of followers. You can build relationships with influencers and interact with their community to help grow your base, and further position yourself as an expert in your field. In addition, follow users who follow these influencers as well as your competitors. Chances are, these people will be the right target audience for your brand.

Be careful not to get yourself into a “follow-unfollow” strategy — i.e. following users to have them follow you back, only to unfollow them the next day. This will come across as spam and simply annoy your audience.

Every B2B marketer should be equipped with the right tools to support their strategy. These tools include:

An editorial calendar: This helps you to keep track of your posts across platforms on a longer-term basis.

A social media scheduling tool: This allows you to plan and publish your content ahead of time so that you’re free to interact with your community.

A content creation tool: This allows you to create beautiful content with ease — try tools such as Visme, Canva, Mojo and Adobe Spark.

A social media management tool: Meltwater Engage allows you to centralize all your social media profiles, analyze how they perform, adapt your editorial line and compare your performance with that of your competitors — all in one place!

Understanding the top-down social media spending approach: TOFU to BOFU

Every B2B marketer should be familiar with the marketing funnel:

Consideration: Middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU)

A Beginner's Guide to Social Media for B2B

Is there room for eSports to grow in the Middle East? That’s the question that gamers and digital sports players in the region are asking themselves who want to make it in the industry. What began as a simple hobby in countries like the United Kingdom has now become a global phenomenon and avid gamers in the Middle East are catching up to it. 

News media outlets within countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are also taking note of the rise of eSports within the region, as over 4000 news articles have mentioned ‘eSports’ so far in 2020, a total media exposure increase of 107% compared to 2019. What does this mean? That this niche form of entertainment is becoming more popular, and as individual gamers across the globe are making a mark in this phenomenon, can the same happen in the Middle East? 

The Current State of Gaming in the Middle East

Since January 2020, 'eSports' has been a keyword that consistently gets more than 100 000 mentions on social media in the Middle East, indicating how much interest there is in esports and continued efforts to sponsor upcoming gamers in esports tournaments both locally and abroad, as mentioned in the ESI Regional Esports Market Report for the Middle Eastern region. 

In February 2020, Forbes revealed ﻿that the creator of 'League of Legends', Riot Games made waves in 2019 for their 10 year anniversary as they revealed a new first-person game called 'Project A'. This announcement not only received high interest from the global gaming community but impacted eSports conversations within the Middle East. With just over 10 Million social media mentions on 'eSports' alone in the region during the month, gaming and digital sports presents itself as an opportunity to be leveraged not only as a hobby but as a competitive sport that has the potential to reach global standards yet still be highly valued within the digital entertainment industry. 

According to Statista, the shared revenue of the video gaming industry in the Middle East was evaluated to be at around $3 billion in 2017, with the biggest markets including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. While this region may still considered a young market in the gaming industry, it also holds a lot of potential.

News coverage on gaming within the twelve MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries has also been overwhelming positive throughout the course of 2020. From Acer seeing growth in the Middle Eastern market due to its gaming models, to Saudi Arabia launching a $10 Million esports charity tournament in an effort to combat COVID-19, it is clear that this industry is one that is on the rise and with a market that is ready to see it succeed. 

So, what potential do esports events and tournaments have to rise beyond MENA? 

The Future of eSports is Brighter Than Ever﻿

Prince Faisal bin Bandar of Saudi Arabia, a passionate gamer himself and president of the Saudi Arabian Federation for Intellectual and Electronic Sports, has put the gaming industry on a podium with hopes to take digital sports as far as the Olympics. “eSports professionals are the top one to two percent; they are absolutely athletes,” Prince Faisal notes in the Wired article. “I believe esports should be part of the Olympic movement. This really is the sport of the next generation.”

A player to look out for in the region are Mosaad "Msdossary" Al-Dossary, a 19 year old Saudi Arabian FIFA esports player who forms part of Shaun 'Jay-Z' Carter's Roc Nation Sports. Msdossary is the second player from Saudi Arabia to win the FIFA eWorld Cup and was named the eSports Player of the Year - both in 2018. 

Fifa eWorld Cup Final Highlights MoAuba vs Msdossary | ESPN Esports

Much like any other region, young people in the Middle East have a growing fascination and interest in video games. Some of the top video games that have been mentioned along with 'eSports' in MENA countries include League of Legends, Fortnite, DOTA 2, Counter-Strike and FIFA. But one of the negative perceptions around 'eSports' in MENA that adds to the negative sentiment in the above graph is questioning the role of the youth in eSports and seeing the industry as more of a simple game instead of being taken so seriously as the video gaming industry could be. 

As mentioned by Hossam Al-Salti, board member of recently formed Syrian eSports Association, most people consider eSports to be child-orientated entertainment even though professional players are above the age of 18 years and have similar mindsets to other athletes. Although this perception exists, it hasn't stopped players and officials from showcasing the gaming industry to the rest of the region in an effort to eventually take it to the world. 

Although it has been slow, eSports in the Middle East is moving closer toward a global stage. Tencent's League of Legends championship, which was viewed by having 60 million viewers, proved massive potential for eSports on a global market. ﻿In MENA, the same can be said for its potential to grow both in the number of players involved and tournaments. 

With the backing of Prince Faisal bin Bandar from Saudia Arabia, one can only hope to see more steps taken to build and ensure a future for esports in the region that is brighter than ever before and transforms the dream of seeing the gaming community in the Middle East on a global stage into a reality.

Here you can find more information about our Media Monitoring Solution in Arabic.

A Data-Driven Analysis: The Future of eSports in the Middle East

There’s no denying that Facebook Messenger marketing is gaining a measurable edge over more traditional communication methods and that it should be a part of your social media marketing strategy. The public’s expectations for communicating with each other fundamentally transform the way they expect to communicate with businesses. When we consider the fact that a staggering 20 billion messages are sent between people and companies every month, it’s not surprising that so many organizations are flocking to chatbots. 

While people power some messenger marketing strategies, others are driven by bots — but most are likely a combination of both. Regardless of how you fuel your campaign or whether you use Facebook Messenger marketing, Instagram Direct or WhatsApp, all messaging apps have the means of creating powerful connections with audiences in the moments that matter. If you’re interested in learning more about how companies are using Facebook Messenger for business, read on as we’re about to spill the tea!

What are the business benefits of messenger marketing?

How can marketers use Facebook Messenger for business?

Facebook Messenger, commonly known as Messenger, is a free instant messaging platform that lets users exchange photos, videos, audio, files, start group chats, interact with bots and more. The platform has come a long way since its launch back in 2008 and currently ranks as the second most downloaded app globally, just behind the main Facebook app, with over 1.3 billion monthly active users.

There’s a ton of reasons why so many companies are leveraging Facebook Messenger marketing, including benefiting from:

Tip: Learn how to use chatbots to improve your sales

Before exploring Facebook Messenger for business, we’d recommend creating a Facebook business page. Not sure how? Our Complete Beginners Guide to Creating a Facebook Page for Your Business will help. OK, now back to the creative ways that brands are thinking innovatively about messaging to build rewarding conversations with their communities...

1. Solve customer service queries and issues

Airline carrier, KLM, naturally gets a never-ending stream of customer service-related queries. So, to improve response efficiency and make it easier for their customers to chat with agents, they were keen to expand their social media services with Facebook Messenger for business. The airline knew that its audience spent a lot of time on social media, making Facebook the ideal communication platform to test. However, they also understood that people didn’t want to share sensitive travel information on a public Facebook Page. To overcome this, KLM included a “Send Message” chat widget button to its main business page, allowing audiences to ask questions. 

Since going live with their Facebook chatbot, 15% of all online boarding passes are sent via Messenger! Customers seem more than happy with this communication channel, considering KLM saw a 5-point higher average Net Promoter Score (NPS) on Messenger compared to other channels!

A Facebook study found that 59% of people who message businesses say that doing so provides faster response time than more traditional channels. Another benefit of automation is there's less need for costly human involvement. Instead, marketing teams can focus on improving critical focus areas.

Expanding on the KLM example above, when their staff receives a question via the bot, they’re automatically given a proposed answer through AI. Since the bot is trained using AI, it can learn based on the agent's action and become smarter and more efficient in real-time. The agent then decides whether the answer is correct, makes any necessary adjustments, and replies via the chat platform.

HelloFresh is another brand using Facebook Messenger for its business that has benefited from faster response times after implementing their chatbot. A high volume of incoming messages meant they desperately needed to automate the follow-up of replies since customer-service agents were required to monitor incoming Facebook messages round the clock, to keep up. To put things into perspective, it took their support team between six and twelve hours to get through all the necessary steps to resolve a customer issue from just one of these messages. In 2018, HelloFresh’s average response time to customer inquiries was five hours. Fast forward to 2019, and one rolled out messenger marketing strategy later, it’s dropped dramatically to one hour and 11 minutes. That’s a 76% decrease in response times, even though they now get 47% more messages on the platform overall!

Then we have the legendary Danish toy company LEGO, which leveraged Messenger to increase sales conversions through Facebook Messenger ads and streamlined shopping experiences. Leaning on the chatbot they playfully named Ralph, LEGO aimed to enhance the customer experience by removing customer journey friction. They did this by guiding audiences through the company's vast e-commerce catalog and offered users gift suggestions during the festive period. This was a perfect way for their marketing team to convert more potential customers on social media, simply by speaking with them at their moment of highest intent. 

Thanks to Ralph, the virtual assistant, LEGO saw an x3.4 return on Facebook Messenger ad spend, 71% lower cost per purchase for Messenger than their website and 1.9% higher value for website purchases made from click to Facebook Messenger ads! LEGO was so happy with Ralph that it implemented it again during Easter and is also now considering making Ralph a permanent feature of the brand's Facebook experience.

Every great relationship starts with a great conversation. Unlike traditional marketing, which is pretty much a one-way sales pitch, chatbots encourage two-way engagement. They’re a form of conversational marketing that allows brands to speak with their target audience and not at them. By doing so, marketers can optimize conversations by building more meaningful customer profiles and then use this additional data to create personalized drip campaigns. 

Having the ability to chat in real-time also helps position brands as being accessible, a welcomed characteristic that reinforces a positive image. Speaking of brand image, chatbots can also drive brand affinity by aligning the bot’s personality with your brand’s identity. RuPaul’s Drag Race is a great example of this. 

Their marketing team used a Facebook Messenger appropriately named “Siss that Bot,” which lets fans browse GIF summaries of each episode across the seasons, share exclusive content and play fun RuPaul games. The bot feels like being inside the show and has lots of Drag Race attitude with links and responses written in the show’s and/or drag’s tone of voice. This is just one example of how bots can help brands build stronger relationships with their audiences through more human-like dialogue.

RuPaul's Drag Race Messenger Bot Case Study

6. Help audiences find relevant content and streamline experiences

Sometimes it’s difficult to find what you need on a website due to the sheer amount of content and pages present. And this can provide a noisy and frustrating landscape for audiences to navigate. Chatbots improve the experience by reducing noise and quickly finding answers to questions, so audiences needn’t go through the uphill battle of finding the content. In turn, responsiveness helps create positive and meaningful messaging experiences.

Whole Foods uses Facebook Messenger marketing to helps customers find recipes for their next shopping trip without perusing the entire website. For example, users can search for recipes, products and food inspiration. You can even send an emoji, like a strawberry or pepper, and Messenger will reply with a recipe that includes that product! This is a prime example of how messaging provides the concierge-like experience that customers expect from brands today.

Facebook research finds that over 55% of people feel more personally connected to brands using messenger marketing and over 68% believe messaging will create better customer experiences.

To raise awareness of mental health, help people approach difficult conversations and ease some of the anxiety felt when discussing such topics, Time to Change (a campaign run by UK mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness) used Facebook Messenger marketing. Many people still feel uncomfortable opening up about our mental health, and when asked how they are, often say, “I’m fine” when we’re not. The “Ask Twice” campaign encourages people to question ‘I’m fine’ type of responses if their friend or relative is acting differently by asking how they’re doing more than once, giving them a second chance to open up.

The campaign, which was promoted via video click to messenger Instagram and Facebook ads, used Messenger to offer advice and helpful resources. In doing so, it reached more than 2.6 million people and resulted in 4,064 Messenger conversations — 26% of which pledged to help a friend in the real world.

Jo Loughran, Time to Change's Director, commented: "The Ask Twice campaign has successfully encouraged people to 'ask twice' as a way of showing genuine interest and support for someone who might be struggling with their mental health. The experience we developed gave us a way to encourage those who might be nervous, dispel common misconceptions and give small but powerful tips in an efficient and interesting way."

If your mate's acting differently, #AskTwice

Do you need to rebuild your marketing database post GDPR? Has your email marketing open rate taken a dive? Are you a small business just starting out? Messenger can help get your brand in the inbox. Brands are using this savvy bot to super-charge their contact list growth by attracting those that like their Facebook business page and turning them into subscribers. One of the ways they’re doing this is through competitions.

Messenger has the functionality to gather emails, choose a winner, and let the winner know how to redeem their prize. What’s more, it's more effective at collecting email subscribers than traditional landing page-based giveaways since Messenger can pre-populate the email address associated with a user’s account. This means it’s easier for them to opt-in and you also reduce the chance of acquiring false emails or addresses with errors.

To help increase sales in Egypt, 7Up, the Pepsi Co-owned lemon and lime sparkling drink, looked to Messenger to help position the beverage as something that could be enjoyed over a meal. To do this, they created engaging Instagram and Facebook Messenger ads that featured catchy images and jingles and launched them over the Ramadan period. Each Facebook Messenger ad contained information on how to claim a 75% discount on delivery from one of the region's leading digital food delivery platforms when 7Up was included as part of a meal. The discount code promoted in the ad was then sent by Messenger to all those that enquired...and this clever mix of Facebook Messenger ads paid off! Despite the brand planning to have the promotion run for two weeks, all 500,000 coupons were redeemed within 3 days! 

Online food ordering company, Uber Eats UAE, also saw success from using a similar Facebook Messenger ad tactic. 

To help increase first-time orders, they opted for a split test using two different campaigns. One was a control campaign using link ads and the other was a test campaign using click-to-Messenger ads. Both Facebook ads featured identical creatives, but the control campaign let people click through to the Uber Eats app and the test campaign directly to the chat. The result? The messenger marketing tactic proved more powerful, delivering 6x more first orders compared to ads that clicked to the app!

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