Facebook Messenger for Local News with Private Replies

We're using Messenger to strengthen the connection between local newsrooms and the communities they cover with personalized quick replies triggered when a user comments on a story in News Feed.

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Inspiration

We want to find a way to help local newsrooms grow Messenger subscribers with a personalized, private experience on Facebook.

What it does

Local Newsrooms can now turn on Private Messenger Replies for their Page – they can turn it on for all, or just some posts. When a user comments on a local newsroom's story that they see in News Feed, they will automatically receive a Message from that Page into his/her own Messenger Inbox. The message allows them to handpick topics of interest for future news updates that will be delivered directly through Messenger.

How we built it

We created a way to toggle on/off at the Messenger settings level within our platform. If "Messenger Replies" is ON, anyone who comments on any post made by that Page and/or anyone who posts onto the page's timeline they will automatically receive a message asking if they want to receive more local news in the future. They can decide what types of stories they want to receive.

The local newsroom can turn it off when they do not want comments to trigger messages.

Challenges we ran into

Pretty challenge free! We didn't encounter any major technical roadblocks.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the idea that our team had to bolster local newsrooms in a way that helps them build their Messenger subscribers. Really proud of how quickly we turned it around.

What we learned

In order to test this project, we had to ask Local Newsrooms to turn it on because we needed an active page. Our clients begged us to leave it on. Love at first sight! We learned this is something 'they' never knew they needed.

What's next for Facebook Messenger Replies for Local News

Since this feature is a smash hit with local newsrooms that are looking for more touch points with their audience, we need to spread the word among our clients and show them how to use this to advance their goals and to help train them on Best Practices in regards to this feature. They have an excellent opportunity to further engage an audience that's already engaged in their local news updates.

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