Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing app. Today, it is actively used to discover new brands, products, services and trends that influence our day-to-day purchase preferences.

According to Sprout Social, 70% of shoppers look to the platform for their next purchase.

But the only way to get someone from browsing through content on the platform to engaging with your business and making the purchase, is to engage them in a timely manner.

This is where Instagram DM automation comes in and in this post, we’re going to share the different ways in which it can be used to boost engagement.

Why Instagram DMs Are Crucial for Engagement

Unlike public posts and comments, Instagram DMs:

 

1. Offer instant support – DMs allow businesses to address customer queries, complaints, and feedback quickly. This helps make customers feel valued. 

2. Build meaningful relations – Brands can foster deeper customer relationships by engaging them in one-on-one conversations. Customers appreciate brands that personalize interactions. 

3. Drive conversions – Whether answering product inquiries, sharing exclusive deals and offers, or sending purchase links, DMs can guide customers through the buying journey. 

4. Increase engagement – Getting a direct response from the brand encourages more interactions in the future. This helps the brand boost engagement metrics like retention, loyalty, and customer lifetime value.

 

But as your business grows on the platform, managing conversations in DMs can become overwhelming. That’s where Instagram DM automation becomes a must!

Ways to Use Instagram DM Automation for Engagement

There are several ways to use Instagram DM automation. But here are some that will boost your engagement rate:

1. Automate welcome messages

Set up automated welcome messages to greet new followers or customers when they drop a comment or send you a DM. This message can include a friendly greeting, a brief introduction to the brand, a first-purchase discount, an exclusive offer, or an inquiry prompt to get the conversation going.

2. Set up FAQs

Use Instagram DM automation to address common customer queries instantly. This could include questions about products, pricing, delivery time, shipping, or the services you provide.  Automation can help reduce response time and boost customer engagement.

3. Send exclusive deals

Engage customers or new followers with automated messages offering exclusive discounts, deals, promotions, or even early access to products. This strategy can encourage customers to actively engage with your business on DMs, leading to higher conversion rates from the platform.

4. Respond to Story and post engagement

Use automation to follow up with those who interact with your Instagram Stories, posts, or ads. For example, when someone comments on a post asking the price of a product/ service, you can send them the details on Instagram DM.

5. Automate lead generation

Set up Instagram DM automation to send lead magnets to those who comment on your posts or ads with a specific keyword. For example, following up with a post that offers a free ebook with a download link in the DMs.

6. Follow-ups

One-time messages may not be enough to engage your audience. Automate sending follow-up reminders to those who haven’t replied to your DM or completed an action after the details were shared. For example, sending a reminder to instill urgency to someone who asked for the product price.

7. Re-engage inactive followers

You can use DM automation to also reconnect with followers who haven’t engaged with your brand recently. The campaign can be used to send them updates, new product launches, or personalized messages. For example, a simple ‘miss you’ discount deal to initiate the conversation again.

8. Post-purchase support

Ask for feedback, share usage tips, or offer product recommendations. With an Instagram DM automation tool like Interakt, you can set up post-purchase support workflows to keep the engagement going and offer additional assistance.

Tools for Instagram DM Automation

Several tools can help you set up Instagram DM automation. Here are some of the best ones:

1. Interakt

Interakt is one of the most popular Instagram DM automation tools. From responding to customer inquiries around the clock to turning every comment on posts and ads into a lead, the tool lets you set up advanced automation workflows to nurture Instagram followers into customers.

 

The tool also offers a unified inbox to manage your Instagram conversations along with channels like WhatsApp. This helps respond to story mentions, reactions, DMs, and comments without missing a beat and collaborate easily with the team to scale the engagement strategy.

2. ManyChat

ManyChat is an automation tool that simply helps set up Instagram DMs. While it lets you automate welcome messages, FAQs, and other campaigns, the workflows are pretty limited when it comes to multi-step engagement. 

3. MobileMonkey

Another similar solution that helps automate messages on Instagram is MobileMonkey. It can help you set up lead generation and follow-up messages but is limited to messages and keyword-based comment engagement only.

4. Hootsuite Inbox

Since Hootsuite is majorly a social media scheduling and analytics tool, it does come with a message automation feature. But the automations are limited to FAQs which can be centralized for streamlined management in a shared inbox.

5. Chatfuel

Another tool that can simplify DM automation is Chatfuel. It comes with a chatbot builder and pre-built templates for FAQs and engagement campaigns, letting you get started on the platform faster.

Conclusion

Instagram DM automation is a game-changer for businesses looking to boost engagement on the platform and drive more conversions from campaigns.

It doesn’t just help automate repetitive tasks like welcome messages, FAQs, and follow-ups on queries, but also nurtures the audience’s interest and nudges them towards making a purchase.

But the only way to make Instagram DM automation work is to choose a tool that enables you to create custom workflows, and responses and monitor the performance for optimizing your approach proactively.

If you’ve been looking for the best Instagram DM automation tool, book a demo of Interakt today.

Book Demo With Interakt Today