Facebook just killed off Messenger Codes, which means that your marketing needs to change.
Here’s what you’ll get by reading this article:
- Realize precisely what just happened at 1 Hacker Way
- Understand why Facebook probably did it
- How to respond instantly without losing any marketing power
While you’re getting the details on the Messenger Code brouhaha, you’ll also want to sign up for the Marketing Agency Growth Accelerator Summit (May 16). We’re handing out free tickets right now.
The Bottom Line: The Facebook Messenger App will no longer scan Messenger Codes beginning August 15, 2019.
Here’s what the Facebook Developers website says:
Starting August 15 2019, The Messenger camera will no longer support scanning Messenger Codes. Instead, we recommend businesses take advantage of the phone’s native capabilities to scan QR codes with m.me links as a lightweight, efficient solution. See more on m.me links
Right now, your Facebook Messenger app can generate and scan Messenger Codes — a unique image that opens up a Messenger sequence.
Messenger Scan codes look like this:
If you open Messenger on your phone and scan that image, Messenger will send you a nice little message.
This is all changing.
Instead of using their proprietary Messenger Codes, Facebook is falling back on traditional (and kinda unsightly) QR codes.
Why did Facebook kill Messenger Codes?
All we can do is speculate because Facebook hasn’t come right out and explained why they made this move, but some answers seem obvious.
First, most phones automatically scan QR codes. But most phones don’t automatically detect and scan Messenger Codes.
To open the Messenger scan code reader, it requires at least four taps. Who has time for four taps?!
And, honestly, not a lot of people even know about Messenger Codes.
Facebook has its own native QR reader anyway. (Who knew?) You can open it by searching for “QR reader” in the Facebook app.
In general, this move is about ease, simplicity, and giving in to what’s already standard — QR codes.
Besides, since Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram messaging are being integrated, it makes sense to ditch a proprietary scan feature of just one of those apps.
Facebook themselves admitted, “QR codes with m.me links [are] a lightweight, efficient solution.”
In other words, QR codes are way simpler and efficient.
So, au revoir Scan codes and bonjour QR codes.
What has Facebook killed in the past?
Facebook has been killing off features like characters in Game of Thrones.
But it’s not just features they’re killing off. They’re ditching people, too! (Not killing them, of course, just firing them. Seriously.)
It was like executive suite musical chairs on “Ugly Tuesday” (March 2019) when legends like Chris Cox and Chris Daniels boxed up their family pictures and hit the door.
But features, unlike people, are morally acceptable to kill with a developer’s flip of a switch. And they have to go.
What else has Facebook thrown out the window?
- Poking
- And, OMG, super poking
- Virtual gifts
- The Wall
- [Name is…] posting style
- Facebook Camera
- Trending News, which, let’s be honest, fake news was kind of a problem
- Using “Notes” for long posts.
- “Looking for” relationship status. This isn’t Tinder.
- The Honesty Box, which was honestly kind of creepy
- Beacon, which ended up being a total holiday-gift-spoiler-alert fail
- Facebook Questions
- Peer 2 Peer payment
I’ve also shared that Facebook is going to put a fork in the News Feed.
Features come and features go.
This kind of thing happens, folks. And when it does, it’s up to ahead-of-the-curve Messenger marketers like us to decide the correct course of action.
Let me throw in my ten cents of prognostication.
Facebook is gearing up to make Messenger the star of the show.
Zuck himself said it. His vision of Facebook’s future is messaging!
And who stands to win in this Facebook plot twist? Businesses do. Business Pages can use Messenger chatbots, and that’s where scalable and ultra-powerful marketing moves are made.
So, what do we do in the case of the disappearing Messenger scan codes?
Messenger Marketing and Scan Codes: What you need to do
There’s absolutely no reason to lose it over the departure of scan codes.
We still have powerful chatbots. And we have QR codes. And by combining the two, we’re still at 100% Facebook Messenger marketing unicorn power.
Every Messenger sequence you create has a unique Messenger URL. When you send people to that URL — using a QR code of course — you can accomplish the same thing as a Messenger code.
And there’s an upside: More people are likely to scan a QR code than a Messenger code.
Let me give you an example.
The URL for Customers.ai in Messenger is this:
https://www.messenger.com/t/Customers.ai
Pro tip: The URL for any individual and Facebook Business Page is https://www.messenger.com/t/ PLUS their name or Business name followed by a forward slash
So, for me, Larry Kim, it’s https://www.messenger.com/t/mr.larry.kim
For Facebook Messenger, it’s https://www.messenger.com/t/messenger/
I can take my Messenger URL and paste it into a QR code creator. For this example, I’ll use https://www.qr-code-generator.com/
Open the QR code creator of your choice, and paste in your Messenger URL.
Next, I’ll generate the code image. I click “Create QR code” in the generator tool above, and here’s what I get:
I went ahead and scanned that code with my iPhone’s native camera. Not to go all Inception on you, but here’s what it looks like:
Since I also have Messenger installed on my phone (who doesn’t?), it gives me the option to open that Messenger link in the Messenger app.
And, when I do that, boom, the bot sequence begins.
Messenger Scan codes are dead, but who cares?
Like I mentioned, there’s zero reason for panic and hysteria in the streets.
Yes, the Messenger scan codes are about to kick the bucket, but we’re not losing marketing power.
Every Messenger sequence has its own URL, and every URL can be turned into a QR code.
As long as you’re creating chatbots, you have all you need for high-octane unicorn power marketing with Facebook Messenger.
Be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys.
Important Next Steps
Keeping the pulse on Facebook’s moves is important, but so is mastering the art of scaling your marketing agency. That’s exactly what Customers.ai and partners are teaching during the May 16 summit. Customers.ai, Agorapulse, Unbounce, Wordstream, SEMRush, and Growth Marketing Conference have teamed up for a single-day of the hottest tips, hacks, and maneuvers for growing a marketing agency.
Among other things, you’ll learn how to secure high-ticket clients, land massive retainer fees, overdeliver for your clients, and achieve results they never even dreamed of. Get your free ticket and don’t miss this fantastic event.
Also, do these three things right away:
- Sign up for Customers.ai and build your first Facebook Messenger chatbot today — for free!
- Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing tips via Facebook Messenger.
- Join Customers.ai Island and ask questions and get answers alongside 18,000 other chatbot marketers in the Facebook community.
