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LogoutDo people DM your business on Instagram? Wish you could automate your responses to your followers and customers?
In this article, you’ll learn how to use Instagram direct messaging automation to streamline business communications on Instagram.
1: Instagram DM Automation vs. Messenger Bots
For starters, the audience on Instagram is half a billion people smaller than the Messenger audience. Additionally, the message formats on Instagram are much simpler. With Messenger, you can create a gallery (which looks similar to a carousel on an Instagram post), share GIFs, and do all sorts of sophisticated integrations. A lot of that complexity hasn’t yet been introduced to Instagram automation.
Another difference is how people can opt in. Because Messenger is its own platform, you have a unique link that somebody can visit on desktop or mobile that sends them to a chat with your Facebook page. That’s not the case with Instagram. People have to start a DM conversation by saying they want to message you, either from your Instagram profile or a story.
2: Get Started With Instagram DM Automation
If you’re interested in pursuing Instagram DM automation for your business, the first thing you need to do is make sure you have access to it. If you don’t, at least plan what you’re going to do as soon as you get it.
The best way to find out is to sign up for a tool like ManyChat, Chatfuel, or MobileMonkey. All three allow you to build Messenger bots and now Instagram DM automation as well.
Once you have access to Instagram automation, there are a few things you’ll want to set up right away to start to test it.
First, run a simple story test to a keyword for either lead gen or direct sales. A story is the best way to run it because 50% of Instagram DMs start from a story.
Second, you can use icebreakers—the little bubbles that show up when you first message a business—to start automating the responses that come in. Your icebreakers will prompt the user with common questions people might ask your business.
In the same way we talked about focusing on marketing, sales, and support, you could have three relevant buttons appear when somebody is going to start an Instagram DM conversation with you. One might say something like, “Here’s a free lead magnet.” For sales, another one could say, “Here’s a discount code” or “Book an appointment with us.” This will allow you to see what people are clicking on and how they’re behaving in the channel.
To explore some different applications for how marketers can use Instagram DM automation, we’re going to look at three areas of a business: marketing, sales, and support.
3: Instagram DM Automation for Lead Gen
Instagram DM automation for lead gen is the easiest way to generate ROI immediately.
To understand how this can work, let’s say the user journey starts with someone seeing your [Instagram story] In that story, you use the [poll feature]to ask your audience if they’re experiencing any challenges or problems for which you provide a solution. Your question should put the user in the right mindset for then taking advantage of something you’re about to offer them.
The last story in this sequence is where you include the call to action. But instead of telling people to swipe up to get your download, podcast, or discount code, you tell them to DM you with a specific trigger word. For example, if you’re an eCommerce store offering a discount code for a Mother’s Day promo, you could say, “If you want to get a 15% discount code, message us the word ‘mother’ or ‘mom’.”
4: Instagram DM Automation for Selling
For business models that jump right into the sales process—such as info commerce, software, services, and real estate and insurance agents—you can offer anything from a free quote to a product quiz that ends with a discount code (after you recommend your best product). You’d start the conversation by qualifying them from the beginning, especially if this person is already aware of the solution you offer.You can ask them for as much information as you want up front to accomplish two things.
First, you might need information from them to be able to provide a free quote or something of that sort. You could ask them to answer questions by choosing prefilled buttons or by typing in their information.Or you could just make it super-quick by asking for their email and then giving them the discount code. With lower-ticket items, that’s the best approach—just give them the information they need to make a purchase. Then during that 24-hour period, you can set some follow-up messages to trigger.
But if it’s a high-ticket sale or requires a human to come in and close, you can create a handoff system. Your Instagram bot could qualify somebody by asking a few questions. Then when it gets to the point of the sale, you could have your sales or support team jump in to finish off the conversation. The chatbot automation will be paused at this point. It’ll just be the human on the business side talking to the other human—the lead—to close the sale.
Then after the sale is complete, the chatbot can take over again so if the customer messages you again in the future, the chatbot will pick up.You can set this all up within one tool. For example, ManyChat can accomplish all of these use cases and track everything. It will allow you to create some sort of high-ticket or handoff sales system and act as a CRM. Or if you want to ping a channel like Slack when a lead needs help, you can create that integration pretty easily as well with a third-party tool like Zapier.
5: Instagram DM Automation for Customer Support
The third use case for Instagram DM automation is support messages.
Because many businesses can only allocate a few people and hours a day to respond to their Instagram DMs, people might have to wait up to 23 hours for a response. With Instagram DM automation, however, you can give somebody a response instantly—and elevate any conversations that aren’t automated.
So guys these were some quick tips that will help you out and how you guys can practically practice it for your brand or profile hope you all guys love this topic and will keep on learning and practicing it let see you all on my next topic.