Instagram has long been a darling of digital marketers looking to get their products in front of the right audiences. But Instagram marketing has become so much more than just relying on influencers and encouraging customers to follow, and engage with your brand. It’s now where people discover new products and make purchase decisions socially every day. It’s also increasingly where people want to connect more personally with brands they love via Instagram Messaging.
Turning all that Instagram attention into sales isn’t easy though. Engaging your audience on Instagram with direct messaging offers a solution. It’s how a lot of brands are now multiplying organic engagement and turning followers into frequent buyers.
Read on to learn in this article how you can grow your Instagram Messaging audience with paid, organic, and offline entry points.
Capitalize on High Intent Moments on Instagram
Customers on Instagram now increasingly use Instagram to connect with brands. 83% discover new products while 80% make purchase decisions on the channel.
Customers want to engage with their favorite brands in a privacy-safe way via messaging on Instagram. They want to learn more about new product launches, sign up for pre sales and discounts, and conveniently get answers to their questions. All on the platform where they spend most of their time.
People on Instagram expect their questions to be answered instantly when they are in their ‘ready to buy’ moments. If you miss that, they will leave you for the competition without any hesitation.
The first step to ensuring a seamless shopping experience on Instagram is setting up an automated marketing chatbot built with a conversational commerce platform. Then, you can start sending prospects to your bot so that they can initiate a conversation with your brand via Instagram Messaging. Every conversation can be turned into declared data, allowing you to map out and build a strategically valuable and reachable messaging audience.
Instagram unlocks valuable marketing use cases for brands. You can automate your frequently asked pre purchase questions, offer guided selling with conversational AI, run live shopping events, increase engagement with giveaways or trigger private conversations from comments and story reactions.
One unique example is the Instagram story reaction use case. Encourage your audience to react to your stories and trigger a one to one conversation in Instagram Messaging from every reaction. Offer customers to enter a giveaway for engaging with your Insta story. It’s an easy way for customers to connect with your brand. Sending an emoji reaction requires minimal effort without having to submit any of their data. And you can automatically direct prospects into a private chat experience where you can later re-engage them.
But now let’s walk through the different entry points you can use to acquire more prospects and grow your audience on Instagram.
Paid entry points
Paid entry points help you direct prospects into a one to one chat experience from your paid ads on Instagram. It’s an efficient way to make your customer journey interactive right from the beginning and stand out from the crowd of impersonal social ads.
Click to Instagram Direct Ads
Click to Instagram Direct Messaging ads direct prospects into a one-to-one conversation with a business on Instagram. When a person clicks on the DM icon, a conversation with your business will immediately open in Instagram Direct Messaging.
Organic entry points
The sweetest word a marketer can hear is organic. No surprise as growing your audience organically means you’re achieving results without paying for expensive ads. That’s why organic entry points can be your secret weapon to lifting your marketing performance this year.
Instagram profile
Instagram offers several organic entry points to start a conversation with your audience. One entry point which has the maximum visibility is the Instagram profile. Your business’ profile is the first thing prospects see when they visit your page on Instagram.
Use the ‘message’ button on your Instagram business account profile to offer an easy way for your customers to start a conversation with your right on Instagram. Use it as an opportunity to guide them into a conversational commerce journey or learn more about what it is they’re looking for.
It’s a straightforward and directly visible entry point that is pinned to the top of your profile.
Instagram stories
Instagram stories are only available for 24 hours but use can use this time frame to create a clickable organic entry point for your customers. Insert a link sticker into your Instagram Stories and invite prospects to start a conversation with your brand in Instagram Direct Messaging. You can then send them offers based on their preferences and answer any questions instantly in their moment of high intent.
All without ever needing to leave Instagram. This reduces drop-offs and builds a direct audience you can re-engage on Instagram.
Instagram posts
Posts can also be easily turned into a one to one conversation on Instagram. You can provide an easy way for customers to message your business on Instagram with the DM discoverable button in Instagram posts. Once prospects click on the button, they are directed to a one-to-one conversation with your brand on Instagram Direct Messaging.
Private Replies
You can trigger Instagram Direct Messaging conversations from post comments and Instagram live comments. Once a prospect comments on a post or live event, they get automatically directed to a private conversation with your brand and you can answer their questions. It’s a great way to engage prospects as instead of just replying to their comment, you can start a one to one conversation with them in Instagram Direct Messaging.
How to Grow your Audience on Instagram with Offline Entry Points
Can you send users from offline channels into online conversations with your brand? The answer is, yes!
Offline entry points allow you to invite customers from offline channels to directly chat with you on WhatsApp. These entry points can be placed on out-of-home advertising, such as product packaging, receipts, billboards, subway signs, and more.
QR Code on Packaging
Offline entry points allow your brand to invite customers from offline channels to directly chat with you on Instagram. A QR code printed on product packaging, receipts, or other offline advertising makes it easier for people to connect with your business even when they are offline. Customers can simply scan your code to start a conversation with your business on Instagram.
The main benefit is that customers can easily scan the QR code to connect without having to enter a long product number into their device.
Outdoor Advertising
You can display QR codes on out-of-home advertising, such as billboards and subway signs to grow your audience on Instagram. The main benefit is that you can get a massive reach and exposure. This is the perfect opportunity to turn a traditionally non-active entry point (such as billboards) into an active entry point.
Connect your offline and online marketing efforts and build a direct connection with your audience even when running out-of-home campaigns.
Take Away
With 83% of Instagram users discovering new products, and 80% making purchase decisions on the app, Instagram is where your customers are.
You can use several entry points, including paid, organic, owned and offline, to grow your audience on Instagram and direct them into a one to one chat experience in Instagram. You can later monetize this audience by sending them recurring notifications.
How do you grow your audience on Instagram in 2022?
If you have a business account, one efficient way to grow your audience is by using entry points directing your prospects to Instagram.
- You can insert a link to Instagram into your Facebook profile
- You can insert a link directing prospects to Instagram in a Facebook comment
- You can trigger Instagram conversations from Private replies and Instagram Stories
- You can also use QR codes and direct customers to your Instagram channel once they scan the QR codes.
