For the longest time it seemed that nobody knew exactly how to use Instagram’s direct messaging feature to their greatest advantage. From spamming and attempts at match-making to countless unsuccessful sales pitches, the potential provided by this personal line of connection was being wasted away by most users on the platform.
Thankfully businesses are starting to pick up on the value of relationship building through direct messaging and the impact it has on their brand’s following, growth, and overall sustainability.
Follow up with your followers
The most successful brands on Instagram are those that are doing the best job at consistently following up with new followers to their accounts. Sending a direct message to users after they have chosen to follow your Instagram feed lets them know you appreciate your social community and their connection with your brand.
There are a few tools and services available that can help you stay on top of messaging every new follower you gain. However, you definitely want to do your research as some of them can be scams or services run by bots that could wind up doing more harm than good to your account.
Take the time to make it personal
In contrast to a post caption or comment thread conversation, direct messaging offers significantly more of an opportunity to personally connect and learn from each person who becomes a part of your Instagram network.
The language you use in your messages should be comfortable and similar to how you might text someone in your group of friends. Using first names and emojis are good ways to express an authentic brand personality and pique genuine interest in engagement with your direct messages. If you have a little extra time, creating a personalized message mentioning a post you really like on someone’s feed can make even more of an impression on them and their relationship with your brand.
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Start wisely and generate interest
The first few words in your direct message is the text that will appear next to your name in the recipient’s “Message Request” tab. Those first 4 to 6 words are your opportunity to captivate the users interest and inspire some sort of reaction, a like, and ideally a written response.
People are receiving messages from other users on Instagram all the time. That’s why it’s important to make sure the messages you are sending to your followers and potential influencers don’t get overlooked for being too boring or looking spammy. Spammy messages are often times impersonal and easy to spot based on the fact that these messages offer no value and are typically just asking for engagement to boost their following.
This is where those first names and post mentions come into play. You can significantly increase your open rates by including a user’s first name and mentioning their content or something of value within the first sentence of your message.
Using direct messaging to maintain steady follower growth
One of the primary benefits to direct messaging on Instagram is the ability to connect with and strengthen community through group messages. Group messaging is perfect for communicating with multiple influencers or brand ambassadors about exciting opportunities your business is offering. Now you can coordinate, cross promote, and co-create with other users significantly easier and more effectively than before.
Being able to message groups is also a great feature for responding to related inquiries about your brand, product, or service to multiple users at the same time.
6 Tips for Direct Messaging on Instagram
- Keep your messages short, about 2 to 3 sentences, people tend to ignore messages longer than that.
- Do not include a signature in your messages, treat them like a messenger chat not an email.
- Keep the message as personal as possible and talk about things they have done or posted.
- Do not include links in your messages, they are hard to copy and paste into Instagram and do not direct the user anywhere, including links in Instagram messages is almost pointless.
- Do not include discount codes in your DM, the objective is to start a conversation, not push a product or service they know very little about.
- Always end with a call to action or a question that encourages them to respond, people very rarely respond to messages with only a statement.
