The potential for expanding Instagram DMs (direct messages) and fostering more meaningful interactions with your Instagram fans is immense. This holds particularly true for mega brands, influencers, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. Bridging the gaps in Instagram’s business features and seizing these opportunities can be achieved through the use of Instagram auto-reply tools.
Consider the multitude of comments on your posts, unread DMs, or missed chances to engage with fans who are promoting your brand in their Instagram Stories.
However, there has been a persistent issue thus far—the absence of a dedicated tool within Instagram to fulfill these functions.
Nevertheless, the tide is starting to turn after Instagram’s efforts to curtail certain automation tools in order to enhance platform authenticity. This time, Instagram is taking full control over what is permissible on the platform, and more advanced automation tools tailored for Instagram are on the horizon.
In fact, some of these tools have already arrived!
For instance, there are software providers like Customers.ai that have gained 100% approval from Instagram, enabling them to enhance Instagram’s manageability and effectiveness through Instagram auto-reply tools. This brings us to the focal point of this article.
By the time you’re done reading this, you’ll have learned 5 new ways to use Instagram auto-reply tools:
- Instagram Welcome Message: Auto-Reply to First Time Engagers.
- Instagram Auto-Replies to Comments on Posts.
- Auto-Reply to Instagram Story Mentions.
- Auto-Reply to Frequently Asked Questions on Instagram.
- Send fully automated drip marketing campaigns from your Instagram DM (direct message) inbox.
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#1. Instagram Welcome Message: Auto-Reply to First Time Engagers
A major challenge for Instagram business users has been managing the Instagram inbox and your direct messages (DMs).
Customers.ai now allows you to instantly reply the first time someone sends a DM to your Instagram inbox with a welcome message.
You can set up your personalized greeting and even be transparent by letting them know that it’s a chatbot — people appreciate that sort of thing. List out chat marketing topics or provide custom options for users to better figure out what they want and how you can help them.
Here’s an example of the Customers.ai Instagram Automated Welcome Message in action:
With the Instagram Page Welcomer tool from Customers.ai, it’s incredibly easy to nurture people down your funnel and ultimately capture email addresses and other important contact information.
Test it out for yourself on the Customers.ai Instagram page by clicking the Message button, then say ”Hello” (must be done on a mobile device).
#2. Instagram Auto-Replies to Comments on Posts
Applying an Instagram Comment Autoresponder to your Instagram posts is a guaranteed way to increase engagement on Instagram.
Not to mention a tool that marketers have been dreaming of for years.
Instagram Comment Autoresponders by Customers.ai will dramatically increase the engagement and visibility of your posts because you can send a message to all users who comment on your posts.
But what has marketers really excited about Comment Autoresponders for Instagram is that you can add a link to all of your Instagram posts.
Here’s how it works: For any of your Instagram posts, simply ask your followers to comment with a specific keyword. In the example below, you can see the keyword “Instatools” being used by multiple Instagram fans on the Customers.ai Instagram page.
Then, when people comment with the keyword, it triggers a sequence that allows you to send Instagram traffic to any one of your landing pages.
Check out the Customers.ai page on Instagram and test it out on one of the posts right now!
The great thing about this tool is not only that you can send traffic to your website, but since you’re encouraging more people to comment, the visibility of your posts also increase dramatically because of all the engagement!
#3. Auto-Reply to Instagram Story Mentions
71% of US businesses are on Instagram, which is significant of course, but not on the same level as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
One of the reasons for this is the challenge to drive traffic from Instagram to your website, due to the lack of places you can share clickable links.
However, that all changed in 2021, which is why we’ve moved Customers.ai’s Instagram Stories tool to the #1 spot on this list.
The Customers.ai Instagram Story Mention tool allows you to do two things:
- Instantly reply any time you or your business are mentioned in any Instagram Story.
- Add a link to Instagram Stories.
For all you experienced Instagram marketers, the value of these two functions is jumping out at you right now. And for those not quite as experienced with Instagram marketing, you’re about to find out why.
Prior to this tool’s existence, you would have to hire a virtual assistant or you yourself would need to manually search for and individually thank or comment on any Instagram Story you were mentioned in.
Now, you only need to set up the Instagram Story Mention tool once and let Customers.ai do the rest.
After you have your reply nailed down and tested, every time someone mentions you or your brand on Instagram, you’ll be able to thank them for sharing (if that’s what you’d like to do) and drive traffic to your website by providing a link for them to click on.
Here’s an example of what it looks like after I mentioned @Customers.ai.ai in one of my own Instagram Story posts:
In the first image, you see a thank you message drop down from the top of the screen. The drop-down is coming from Messenger for Instagram, which is triggered the moment I mention Customers.ai in my Instagram Story.
In the second image, you see what happens when I click on the thank you message. It shows me my Instagram Story post where I mentioned Customers.ai, and then asks me if I’d like to learn more, and provides a link.
This all happens automatically, and it’s just a matter of optimizing your message and providing an enticing offer for people to click on.
To learn more and to see what the Instagram Story tool looks like in the wild, check out the tutorial in this article on how to add a link to Instagram Stories!
#4. Auto-Reply to Frequently Asked Questions on Instagram
We’ve already established that you should be using Instagram Direct Messages to engage with customers or followers.
But the majority of companies and influencers do not have the time to keep up with their Instagram DM inbox. So, many businesses outsource this job to multiple VAs (virtual assistants).
Instead of having multiple VAs stumble over one another and fail to answer questions in a timely manner, you can use Instagram Quick Replies or Customers.ai to save time spent answering the same questions over and over.
Instagram Quick Replies
Let’s start out with Instagram’s native tool for FAQs, Quick Replies.
Instagram quick replies are responses that you set up in advance to answer frequently asked questions you receive via Instagram DMs. Once you’ve set up a quick reply, you can automatically insert it into a DM to quickly respond to a question.
Quick Replies work great for common questions such as your hours of operation, commonly asked questions, directions, rates you offer for different services, or even contact information.
However, Quick Replies are available only to Instagram business profiles. Personal profiles and creator profiles don’t have this functionality.
Customers.ai Auto-Replies to FAQs
With Customers.ai, you can build a chatbot based interactive question answering system for Instagram using keyword-based Q&A triggers and NLP (natural language processing) technology.
Using chatbots to answer FAQs is an easy set of dialogues to build in a visual chatbot builder.
Add “icebreakers” or FAQs to your Instagram account to help ease customers into a conversion.
Customers.ai even tells you what visitors to your Instagram pages are asking, so you can program instant answers for all your FAQs.
But with Customers.ai you can take the conversation a step even further.
In this Instagram automated messages example, you’ll see what’s known as a menu-based chatbot, which is like a mini-website built into your Instagram DM inbox.
Menu-based chatbots allow you to guide a conversation, kind of like a phone tree, which can branch off in many different directions, based on the interests of the prospect or customer.
Not only that, this will allow you to stop hiring VAs that stumble over one another trying to keep up manually with all the DMs coming to your inbox.
Additionally, the Customers.ai OmniChatⓇ inbox allows you to perform customer support chat on Instagram, at scale.
Finally, you can manage, send, and reply to all of your DMs from a desktop computer.
Save yourself hours of time every day with Instagram auto-reply bots and turn your Instagram DM inbox into your latest lead generation tool!
#5. Send Automated Drip Marketing Campaigns from your Instagram DM Inbox
Perhaps the most universally appreciated Instagram DM tools by Customers.ai, are drip marketing campaigns.
Drip campaigns have been available to Customers.ai users on Facebook for some time now. Not surprisingly, drip campaigns are popular among Customers.ai users because they’re extremely effective in both increasing engagement on Instagram, as well as working Facebook leads down your marketing funnels.
Want a live demo on how Instagram DM drip campaigns work?
Check out Larry Kim’s Instagram page and click on the “Message” button.
Then, send Larry a direct message using the word “DRIP” to trigger the drip sequence! You’ll receive 5 helpful messages over the course of 5 minutes.
Want to learn more about Instagram direct message marketing campaigns, such as drip sequences?
Here’s how to create Instagram DM drip campaigns, step-by-step!
Get Started with Instagram Auto-Reply Tools
Organic engagement on Instagram has taken off with the expansion of Instagram Stories as well as the introduction of new features, such as Stickers and Instagram Reels.
But don’t take my word for it alone. Here’s what Gary Vaynerchuk had to say about Instagram DMs:
“Instagram DM (Direct Message) is the single biggest networking or business development opportunity of this decade.”
Gary Vaynerchuck | VaynerMedia
That’s a lot of conversations to manage and even more conversations to start as long as you have the tools to scale your operations on Instagram.
✅ Get started with Instagram auto-reply messages today!
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Important Next Steps
Important Next Steps
- Upgrade your Instagram and Facebook with 100% Meta-approved comment and DM automation to grow your audience, engagement and sales. InstaChamp is free for Creators this week!
- Join the Customers.ai Facebook group to get and give help on chatbot marketing. We have over 40,000 members and counting.
- Do yourself a favor by signing up for Customers.ai blog updates. We only send the most actionable and high-impact marketing tactics to your inbox.
Frequently asked questions about Instagram auto-reply tools
Q: Is there a way to automate messages in Instagram?
Getting Instagram automation tools that don’t run afoul of Instagram terms of service has been difficult. In fact, marketers and businesses often ask Google, “Is Instagram automation dead?” It’s quite the opposite actually. Using Instagram automated messages has just gotten easier and more effective, all while !
- With the Instagram Comment Bot, you can automatically reply to comments on posts.
Your posts will be more visible and engaging thanks to Instagram autoresponders.
All users who comment on your posts can receive a message from Instagram Comment Bots.
- Reply to Instagram DMs automatically (direct messages).
Save yourself time and money with automated replies.
- Automate your welcome message on Instagram.
People who message an Instagram account directly receive automated welcome messages from Instagram.
First-time users will always receive an automated welcome message. As soon as the first message is sent, Customers.ai supports automatic replies using Q&A (question and answer) keyword triggers.
- FAQs for Instagram can be generated automatically.
A bot on Instagram is also the best way to assist customers via instant messaging 24/7.
Using keyword-based Q&A triggers and natural language processing, build web chat tools for answering frequently asked questions.
- Auto-reply to mentions on Instagram Stories.
If someone mentions you in their Instagram Story, Customers.ai’s Instagram Story Mention tool will automatically respond.
According to Google, one of the most searched marketing terms is “how to add a link to Instagram Stories”.
The process is also fully automated. Take advantage of this opportunity! Here’s how it works:
- Customers.ai enables you to build a chatbot dialogue that works for your business goals.
- Instagram bots automatically reply with your chat dialogue when someone mentions you or your brand.
- Offer a link to one of your marketing funnels if a person wants to learn more or is interested in your offer.
- You can automate drip marketing campaigns from your Instagram DMs.
Q: How can I manage Instagram DMs with auto-reply tools?
A: OmniChat is the answer!
OmniChat lets you manage Instagram direct messages and perform customer support chat on Instagram, at scale – finally! And it can be done in one place right from your desktop rather than jumping to multiple apps.
Q: How does OmniChat work with Instagram auto-replies?
Customers.ai OmniChat enables real-time customer communication across a variety of messaging applications. The business can be contacted and customers can opt in to receive automated updates through Facebook Messenger, native website chat, and SMS.
Messages in OmniChat consolidated into one inbox messages from Instagram as well as Facebook, web chat and SMS. Use OmniChat’s inbox to filter conversations by messaging channel, assign conversations to agents, and follow up with customers.
No experience is necessary to design and launch messaging campaigns using drag-and-drop editors.
Here are some ways that marketers, sales teams, and customer support teams can utilize OmniChatⓇ
Marketers:
- Lead generation
- Ads on Facebook can be interactive
- Expand your list
- Offer coupons
- Engage in more conversations
- Start a conversation again
Sales teams:
- Increase the number of meetings scheduled
- Recover carts abandoned by customers
- Hot leads should be notified to teams
Customer Support teams:
- Automate answers to FAQs
- Get customers in touch with the right agent
- Get in touch with us any time using live chat
Q: Why and how should I use auto-reply tools for Instagram?
A: Let’s discuss a few scenarios where auto-reply would benefit your business.
1. A brief introduction or greeting
Regardless of your profession, whether you’re a consultant, freelancer, marketer or other professional, you should promote your business and brand to others. Providing a brief video about your services or products is another great option.
2. How would you prefer to be contacted
The away message in Instagram is a great option if you don’t have time to read your DMs and you manage your account yourself.
You may include your business hours, other ways to get in touch, such as messenger or email, and the preferred way to get in touch, all with a promise of an immediate reply.
3. Status and payment information for orders
One of the most frequently asked questions in your Instagram DM if you run an Instagram eCommerce business is about order status and payment methods.
Explain how the delivery works in an instant reply if that’s the case.
Q: What is the best Instagram auto-reply tool?
The first Instagram-approved direct messaging and engagement tool software is Customers.ai.
Businesses can:
- Use Instagram messaging automation to help increase engagement with followers and convert them into customers.
- Create brand loyalty by using auto-responders to create instant gratification for fans
- Automate your response to customer inquiries and sales questions to save your team time and give you the opportunity to jump into the conversation at the right time
- Incentivize comments and stories about your brand on Instagram with tools that encourage engagement!
- With instant engagement around the clock, you can upgrade your Facebook and Instagram Business or Creator accounts!
- Instantly respond to all direct messages: Businesses responding to inquiries on Instagram can reply to every message immediately to save your team’s time and make sure customers receive answers fast.
- Use Instagram to drive traffic to your sales funnels. You can automatically send links through DMs to “Swipe Up” and “Link in Bio” links in Instagram.
- If fans comment on your posts, you can DM them. You can use automated follow-up messages to thank commenters, offer them rewards, or enter them into a contest.
- In case of Stories mentions, DM the fans who mentioned you. By sending automatic DMs, you can encourage story mentions. The more fans mention your brand on their Stories, the more reach your brand will have!
Q: How can I set up an auto-reply in Instagram Stories?
A: Did you know that 71% of US businesses are on Instagram? That’s significant, but not as much as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
You can use the Customers.ai Instagram Story Mention tool to:
- Respond to every Instagram Story in which you or your business is mentioned.
- Include a link to Instagram Stories.
It should come as no surprise that these two functionalities are of value to Instagram marketers. In case you’re not as familiar with Instagram marketing, you’re about to learn why.
It used to be that you had to hire a virtual assistant or you yourself would have to search for and thank or comment on every Instagram Story where you were mentioned.
The Instagram Story Mention tool is now only configured once and Customers.ai takes care of the rest.
Q: Can I create an FAQ for Instagram auto-reply?
A: You can build an Instagram chatbot-based interactive question-answer system using Customers.ai’s keyword-based Q&A triggers and NLP (natural language processing) technology.
A visual chatbot builder makes it easy to create dialogues for answering FAQs.
It’s also possible to create menu-based chatbots that act as mini websites in your Instagram DMs through Customers.ai as well.
With menu-based chatbots, you can guide a conversation in many different directions, based on the interests of your prospects or customers.
Q: What are some creative ways to use automation on Instagram?
A: Customers.ai’s drip campaigns have been available on Facebook for a long time. Among Customers.ai users, drip campaigns are highly popular because they’re effective at both increasing Instagram engagement and working Facebook leads down your marketing funnel.
To create a drip campaign, we’ll guide you through the process using Customers.ai.
Step 1: The first step to drip marketing is to determine its purpose. It can be used to welcome subscribers, nurture leads, onboard clients, and recapture abandoned carts.
Step 2: Determine who your drip campaign’s audience is.
Step 3: Decide which form of communication you will use for your drip campaign – email, chat messaging, such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, or SMS.
Step 4: Connect the marketing automation platform to the audience data source for the campaign.
Step 5: Develop a campaign message.
Step 6: Define the triggers, audience segments, and schedules for the messages.
Step 7: Launch your drip marketing campaign.
Step 8: Examine campaign performance, including open rate, engagement rate, and how well the campaign is achieving its goals.
Marketers and businesses can use drip campaigns to build relationships with customers and leads.
Another creative way is giveaways and contests.
We’ve touched on incentivizing followers with giveaways and contests, but let’s dive into it a little deeper.
Giveaways on Instagram are always accompanied by tons of direct messages in the inbox! Thus, you can utilize an auto-reply tool to deal with the flood of direct messages.
Q: Is Instagram automation safe?
The answer might not be the same for every Instagram automation tool. In other words, it highly depends on the tool you choose. You should find an Instagram management service that works based on the Instagram algorithm and terms; then, you can feel free to add your Instagram account to its dashboard and use it forever!
The answer might not be the same for every Instagram automation tool. I suppose it depends on the tool you decide to use.
You should find an Instagram management service that is compatible with the Instagram algorithm and terms, like Customers.ai.
Instagram Auto-Reply: Important Next Steps
Adding Messenger to Instagram will create a 3.3 billion user network. Between Facebook Messenger users and Instagram Messenger users, that’s roughly 43% of the world’s population on one chat platform.