How to Send Bulk Messages on Meta Business Suite
Sending the same message to a dozen, a hundred, or even more customers can be a game-changer for promotions and announcements. With Meta Business Suite, you can send these bulk messages directly to your audience’s inboxes on Messenger and Instagram. This guide will walk you through the exact steps, explain the critical rules you need to follow to stay out of trouble, and offer some proven tips for making your messages stand out.
What Are Bulk Messages in Meta Business Suite?
Often called "broadcast messages," these are messages you can send to multiple people at the same time directly from your Meta Business Suite Inbox. It’s a powerful but often overlooked tool that lets you re-engage with users who have previously messaged your Facebook Page or Instagram professional account.
This feature is different from a paid ad campaign for sponsored messages. Bulk messaging from your inbox is a free feature designed to help you maintain relationships with an already-warm audience. It’s perfect for:
Announcing a flash sale or new product drop.
Sending out a newsletter or company update.
Sharing a limited-time coupon code.
Re-engaging contacts who haven't interacted in a while.
Essentially, if you need to get a specific message in front of a group of contacts who have already shown interest in your brand, this is the tool for the job.
Understanding Meta's Rules for Bulk Messaging
Before you start sending messages, it's essential to understand the rules. Meta has strict policies to prevent spam and protect the user experience. Ignoring these can get your page's messaging capabilities restricted or even blocked. Here’s what you need to know.
The 24-Hour Messaging Window
The most important rule is the 24-hour messaging window. When a user sends your page a message, it opens a 24-hour window where you can reply with any type of content, including promotions. You can send as many messages as you need during this period.
Once that 24-hour window closes, your ability to contact them becomes very limited. Any promotional messages - like special offers, sales announcements, or coupons - are strictly forbidden outside of this window. Attempting to send promotional content after 24 hours is the fastest way to get your messaging privileges revoked.
Using Message Tags for Outside the 24-Hour Window
What if you need to contact someone after the 24-hour window for a functional reason? That’s where message tags come in. Message tags allow you to send specific types of non-promotional messages. You must choose an appropriate tag when composing your message.
Here are the common message tags available:
Confirmed Event Update: For sending reminders or updates on an event the user has registered for (e.g., "Reminder: Your webinar starts in 1 hour.")
Post-Purchase Update: To provide order confirmations, shipping status, or delivery updates (e.g., "Great news! Your order has shipped.")
Account Update: For notifying users of changes to their account status or application (e.g., "Your password has been successfully updated.")
Never try to bend the rules with these tags. Sending a message tagged as a "Post-Purchase Update" that says "Your order has shipped! By the way, everything is 20% off today!" is a violation of Meta's policy.
One-Time Notifications (OTN)
The One-Time Notification is a special exception that lets you send a single promotional follow-up. First, you must get the user’s explicit permission. For example, during a chat, you could ask, "This item is currently out of stock. Would you like us to notify you when it's back?" If they agree, you'll receive a token that allows you to send them one message about that specific topic outside the 24-hour window.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Send Bulk Messages
Ready to send your first broadcast? The process is straightforward once you know where to look.
Step 1: Navigate to Your Meta Business Suite Inbox
Log in to your Meta Business Suite account. On the left-hand navigation menu, click on "Inbox." This is where all your Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct conversations are managed.
Step 2: Access the Broadcast Messaging Tool
Inside the inbox, look for the marketing messages or broadcast icon, often represented by a megaphone. It's usually located at the top of the conversation list. This will take you to the main campaigns page where you can create and manage your broadcasts.
Step 3: Create a New Broadcast
Click the Create marketing message button or a similarly named button to get started. You'll be prompted to choose which channel you want to send on - Messenger or Instagram.
Step 4: Select Your Audience
This is where you define who will receive your message. Meta gives you a few options to segment your list:
24-hour send window: This is your safest bet for promotional messages. It automatically targets people who've messaged you in the last 24 hours.
All contacts: Selects a broader audience, which is okay for non-promotional tagged messages.
Labels: You can create labels like "New Lead," "VIP Customer," or "Followed up" and manually tag conversations. This is the best way to send highly relevant, segmented campaigns.
Step 5: Draft Your Message
Crafting the perfect message is crucial for performance.
Use personalization whenever you can. Most systems allow adding custom placeholders. You only have to type the person's name once into your business manager, and it adds it to all bulk messages from there.
Tell and sell via media files. The key to engagement is grabbing attention, particularly on Facebook! You are competing for eyeballs with their friend's recent beach days after all. Use an image of your service in action or a photo from a recent event. Adding at least one photo dramatically boosts engagement.
Make your message engaging. Your message needs to be engaging to get results. So get creative and tell a one-sentence story about how your brand improves a customer's life. Think of a common problem for your customer that your service solved well and write it out.
The key to successful messages is providing actual value. Offer something specific like a discount (e.g., 20% off!), announce a popular restocked item, or introduce a new offering. Tell your viewer how their life would improve with your product.
Write a clear call-to-action (CTA). Use a button to ask the user to claim an offer or a link to a store on your page. Remember, there is just one task you should ask your recipient to do: one CTA means they are more likely to complete it. Ask one question, point them towards a webpage, or share one discount - choose just one.
Step 6: Preview, Schedule, and Send
Before hitting 'Send', use the preview feature generously. Double-check everything - the wording, the imagery, your links, and the list you are sending it to! Finally, you have the option to schedule your messages to be sent in the future. This is a great way to line up a few campaigns in advance or send your message when your customers are most likely to see it and respond. When every detail is spot on, hit the Send button, secure in your knowledge and ability to attract even more business this month.
Best Practices for Effective Bulk Messaging
Following the rules and steps is one thing, but getting results is another. Use these best practices to improve your bulk messaging strategy.
1. Segment Your Audience With Labels
Don't send the same generic message to every single person. Create and apply labels directly within the Meta Inbox to segment your audience based on their interests, purchase history, or stage in the sales funnel. For instance, send an exclusive deal to a list of "Loyal Customers" or an introductory offer to a list of "New Inquiries."
2. Always Personalize Your Messages
Meta makes it easy to add personalization tokens like the contact’s first or last name. A message that starts with "Hey, Sarah" is far more likely to get a response than one that begins with a generic "Hello." It's a small touch that makes your communication feel less automated and more human.
3. Keep It Short and Clear
You’re not writing a letter - people scan direct messages quickly. Get to the point fast. Lead with the most important information, use simple language, and break up text with paragraphs.
4. End With a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
What’s the one action you want readers to take after reading your message? This could be tapping a button, clicking a link, or asking a question. Make it abundantly obvious and easy. Include a direct command like "Get 20% Discount" or "Shop the Sale."
5. Mind Your Timing
Your business's messaging strategy must be mindful of users' lives. Think about when your customers are active and online. Don't send important messages at odd hours like 2 AM unless absolutely necessary. Experiment, and you will find a sweet spot (e.g., lunch hours) that shows high levels of engagement.
Final Thoughts
Sending bulk messages in Meta Business Suite is a great tool to re-engage with customers. As you've seen, if you follow Meta’s rules, you'll reach your audience in the place they are most active. By using personalization and a clear call to action, you will quickly see your engagement levels rising.
Monitoring your results by manually comparing a Messenger broadcast with your latest Shopify and Google Analytics data can become messy pretty quickly. Our team developed Graphed to eliminate this challenge. A Graphed dashboard will help you create and analyze customized dashboards from different data sources, without requiring technical know-how. We can help your team focus more on what matters: creating the most engaging campaigns for your brand instead of worrying about the latest Excel formulas or API connections.