A great way to promote your Messenger channel is to set up a basic Facebook ad which drives traffic to your Messenger
Once your bot is fully functional and set up the way you like it, you may want to try out using Facebook ads to help promote your Messenger. It's one of the most powerful tools to get your channel out there and grow your subscriber count.
Step 1
Go to Facebook Business.
If you haven't already set up an ad account with Facebook, follow the steps Facebook Business guides you through.
Step 2
Next up is navigating to Ads manager, where you're able to create ads.
Switch over to the Campaigns tab to start creating your ad.
Step 3
Select the correct marketing objective.
Since you are promoting Messenger, choose Messages found under 'Consideration'.
Give your campaign a name and hit 'Set Up Ad Account' to continue.
Step 4
Check your settings
Verify your account country, currency, and timezone to make sure Facebook reports it correctly to you.
Step 5
Set your audience, budget, schedule.
Make sure you select Click to Messenger as the ad type and define your audience, placements, and budget & schedule.
Step 6
Creating the ad.
Make sure to select the correct Facebook page you want to promote.
You can use different formats for your ad, a Single Image is the simplest one, this guide will follow that format as an example. Other formats work in a similar fashion.
Upload images or videos in the recommend size by Facebook and head over to Ad Setup.
Step 7
Finalizing your ad.
Set your text to go along with your ad, create your headline and set a call to action to match.
An important setting is to make sure you set: 'Use your bot's "Get Started" screen' to onboard users with your ad. This way users get the Get Started screen and hit your introduction as soon as they open your Messenger coming from the ad.
Finalize all your settings and you'll end up with an ad looking somewhat like this:
Note: please be aware that, when you write a general post on your Facebook page instead, and you select the "Get messages" option, the "Send Message" link also redirects to your Messenger channel. This does not, however, instigate your bot's "Get Started" screen or your intro flow.
Instead, people will simply be shown a copy of the original Facebook post, in Messenger. This also means they are not subscribed to your Messenger channel until they actually interact with your bot, by, for instance, typing a message that triggers a reply or clicking on a button in your persistent menu.
Step 8
Testing your ad.
Before you confirm your ad, make sure to test it first! There's a small button that allows you to test your ad.
The small button allows you to preview your ad.
Are you happy with the preview? Hit the Review button at the bottom of the page and hit Confirm if you're happy to publish the ad.