Create a Topic for One-Time or Recurring Broadcasts

Sofie Bird

23 July 2021 02:51

With most Chatbot channels, you can only send a Broadcast message to users who have interacted with your Chatbot within the last 24 hours. Meta Messenger's One-Time or Recurring Broadcasts allow users to opt-in to receive messages on a specific Topic after the 24-hour messaging window has elapsed. For example, you can invite users to opt-in to receive a single reminder about an upcoming event, or weekly updates on a leaderboard.

Jump to: Create a One-Time or Recurring Broadcast Topic.

One-Time or Recurring Topics have a frequency that is defined when you create the Topic, which determines how often you can send messages, and when the user must opt-in again to receive more messages on that Topic:

Frequency	Messages can be sent	Opt-in again after
One-Time	Once only	One broadcast or One year (whichever is earlier)
Daily	Once per day, measured as 12:00am to 11:59pm.	Six months.
Weekly	Once per week, measured as 12:00am Monday to 11:59pm Sunday.	Nine months.
Monthly	Once per month, measured as 12:00am on the first day of the month to 11:59pm on the last day of the month.	Twelve months.

A special token allows One-Time and Recurring Broadcasts to be sent to the opted-in users. The message must be either a single text bubble or a button template, and not be sent more often than the frequency specified when the topic was created.

For more information on Meta Messenger's One-Time Notifications, see the Facebook help.

Plan your Broadcasts in advance

Users must opt-in to receive messages on the specific Topic before you send the Broadcast. Make sure you give yourself enough time to create and publish the chatbot content that asks users to opt-in, and receive their opt-ins, before you want to send the Broadcast.

To send a One-Time or Recurring Broadcast, you'll need to:

Create a One-Time or Recurring Broadcast Topic.
Create the passage that asks users to opt-in to the notification with a Broadcast Opt-In message type.
Create a Broadcast in the Topic.
Review and send the Broadcast.

You can also:

Create a One-Time or Recurring Broadcast Topic

To create a new Broadcast Topic:

Open the team and Chatbot you want to create the Broadcast Topic for.
Click Broadcasts.
Click + Topic.
Type a Name for your Broadcast Topic.
This name will be visible to your Chatbot users in your Broadcast opt-in message. Once you create the Topic, you can't change the name later.
Select how often you will send your Broadcasts on this Topic.
Chatbot users will be shown the frequency in your Broadcast opt-in message. You don't have to send Broadcasts as often as the frequency specifies, but you can't send Broadcasts more often than your selected frequency. Once you create the Topic, you can't change the frequency later.