18 Instagram Tools for Marketers, Sales, Customer Support Chat, Influencers & More
Instagram user statistics are staggering. As of 2021, Instagram has more than 1 billion active users, and 71% of US businesses now use Instagram. Professional Instagram tools for business have been long overdue.
None more so than a powerful Instagram bot platform.
However, now that Instagram tools have arrived, it’s time for marketers, sales professionals, customer support reps, and Instagram influencers to put them to use and take Instagram tools for business mainstream.
Find the Instagram tools best suited for your business!
- Instagram Auto Reply Bot
- Instagram Bot Builder
- Instagram Comment Bot
- Instagram Story Auto Reply to Mentions
- Instagram Automated Welcome Message
- Chat Marketing Opt-In Tools
- Instagram Support Chat (Instagram Live Chat)
- Automated FAQs for Instagram
- Instagram Click-to-Messenger Ads
- Instagram Influencer Marketing Tools
- Instagram Email Capture
- Get SMS Marketing Permissions
- Instagram Direct Message Online
- Menu-Based Chatbot for Instagram
- Alerts & Notification Triggers
- Instagram Analytics and Reporting
To get started with 100% Instagram-approved chatbot automation tools:
Instagram Tools #1: Instagram Auto Reply Bot
How many Instagram DMs do you reply to per day, if at all? Likely not many, because the native Instagram inbox is more or less ancient in design.
One of the top trending searches related to Instagram marketing tools in 2021 is “how to send automated messages to new followers on Instagram.”
There are many reasons for this:
- Marketing automation tools for Instagram have always been popular, but get shut down frequently for violating Facebook policy and rules. But don’t worry, Customers.ai is a preferred partner of Facebook and Instagram, so having your Instagram account shutdown should be the least of your worries.
- Instagram has benefited majorly from the new Clubhouse app. Marketers and influencers everywhere are desperately trying to build Clubhouse lead generation funnels that run straight through Instagram.
- But most of all, nobody has the time to reply to hundreds of Instagram messages?
Here’s an example of a Customers.ai Instagram auto-reply bot in action:
Test it out for yourself on the Customers.ai Instagram page by clicking the Message button, then type “Start” (must be done on mobile device).
Save yourself hours of time every day with Instagram auto-reply bots and turn your Instagram DM inbox into your latest lead generation tool!
Instagram Tools #2: Instagram Bot Builder
Customers.ai is a chat marketing platform that lets marketers create and launch multi-channel chatbot campaigns in Messenger for Instagram and Facebook, SMS, WhatsApp*, live chat, and more.
Use the Customers.ai code-free chatbot builder and marketing automation tools for Instagram to instantly connect your business with customers and prospects in order to generate leads, re-engage customers, and offer real-time support.
Each of the Customers.ai Instagram tools — from email list growth tools to segmenting an audience or sending Instagram bulk message blasts — not one Instagram tool in Customers.ai requires any advanced programming knowledge (other than the Customers.ai API)
Use buttons, images, notifications, Zapier connections, and much more to automate your Instagram chatbot dialogue.
From Customers.ai’s chat marketing dashboard, navigate to every Instagram marketing tool a marketer needs in a user-friendly visual interface, including:
- Inbox: View SMS conversations
- SMS Keywords: Create keyword-based opt-in for SMS subscribers
- Marketing Automation: Send text messages to SMS contacts
- Leads: View your SMS contacts’ customer profiles
👉 Learn how to make an Instagram bot.
Instagram Tools #3: Instagram Comment Bot
Applying an Instagram comment bot (also known as autoresponders or comment guards) to your Instagram posts is another Instagram tool that marketers have been dreaming of for years.
Instagram autoresponders will dramatically increase the engagement and visibility of your posts.
With Instagram Comment Bots, you can send a message to all users who comment on your posts.
Not only that, with Comment Bots, you can add a link to your Instagram posts after people comment. This allows marketers to send Instagram engaged audiences straight into their marketing funnels — automatically.
Instagram comment bots can be applied to and customized to specific posts. Furthermore, Instagram comment bots can recognize keywords or keyphrases, such as, “
Note that as of late February, 2021, you can only set up Comment Bots for all Instagram posts. However, soon you’ll be able to respond only to comments that contain certain keywords or phrases.
Here’s an example of how to use Instagram Comments Bots for business. The first image is how we built the Comment Bot in the Customers.ai chatbot builder.
Here’s the Customers.ai Comment Guard Bot working its magic on an Instagram post where the call to action is “Who are the best digital marketers to follow in 2021? Comment “Marketer” and we’ll send you the link 💫”
As you’ll see, by replying “Marketer”, I get taken to a new page that includes a preview for an article with a clickable link. I click on the link and I’ve arrived at the article on Best Digital Marketers to Follow in 2021 article.
As simple as this sounds, it’s actually a huge deal for Instagram marketing. Sending traffic to your website from anywhere on Instagram, other than your Instagram profile page has never been easy — until now 
Instagram Tools #4: Instagram Story Auto Reply to Mentions
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could automatically send a thank you note to anyone who mentions you in their Instagram Story?
Well, now you can!
With Customers.ai Instagram Story Auto Replies to Mentions, you can automatically message anyone who mentions your brand in their Instagram story.
This allows you to seize the opportunity to start a chat conversation, add a link where people can find your product or service, and at the very least, say thanks for the mention!
Here’s what an Instagram Story Auto Reply to Mentions might look like:
Instagram Tools #5: Instagram Automated Welcome Message
Instagram automated welcome messages respond to people who message an Instagram account directly. Note that there is no get started button on IG, so Q&As can kick in right away.
Automated welcome messages will always launch for first-time users. After the first message, Customers.ai supports automatic replies using Q&A (question and answer) keyword triggers.
Need some good ideas for an automatic greeting message for Instagram? Here’s how to create a great welcome message for business on Instagram, Facebook, SMS, and website chatbots!
Here’s an example of the Customers.ai Instagram Automated Welcome Message in action:
Instagram Tools #6: Chat Marketing Opt-In Tools
Leads engaging with your Instagram DM inbox are warm prospects.
So it makes sense to invite them to sign up for marketing updates via SMS, Facebook Messenger, email and more, during a chat conversation.
Customers.ai has multiple chat widgets to get user opt-ins, as well as lead forms and lead generation tools:
Use the automated opt-in widget in a web chat to grow the marketing leads while serving customers at the same time.
Instagram Tools #7: Instagram Support Chat (Instagram Live Chat)
Leverage full-service customer support features of Customers.ai web chat tools including:
- Customer support chatbot
- Live agent takeover
- Automatic notifications of conversations requiring follow-up
- Support agent assignments and team management tools
- Autoresponder for business off-hours
- Rich customer profiles for saving chat history and customer preferences
- Advanced automation options including follow-up surveys
Instagram Tools #8: Automated FAQs for Instagram
An Instagram bot is also the best way to serve 24/7 instant answers to customers.
Program web chat tools to answer frequently asked questions using keyword-based Q&A triggers and natural language processing.
Chatbots to answer FAQs are easy 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.
Instagram Tools #9: Instagram Click-to-Messenger Ads
Did you know that you can run ads on Instagram and Facebook that link to Messenger?
There are two types of Messenger ads you can run on Instagram:
- Click-to-Messenger ads: Ads that click to Messenger work with three objectives: Messages, Traffic, and Conversions. During ad creation, you’ll create both the ad and the welcome message people see in Messenger after they click on your ad.
- Sponsored Message ads: Messenger Sponsored Messages could also be referred to as Facebook paid messages. In the simplest of terms, Facebook sponsored message ads are a great way to send a mass message to all your Facebook Messenger contacts at the same time.
Instagram Tools #10: Instagram Influencer Marketing Tools
People have been using live video on Facebook’s apps to showcase products for years, from shoe stores announcing new sneakers to beauty influencers trying on different lipsticks. Now, Facebook is making it easier to shop for products in real-time.
Soon, sellers, brands, and creators will be able to tag products from their Facebook Shop or catalog before going live and those products will be shown at the bottom of the video so people can easily tap to learn more and purchase.
Facebook has starting to test this with businesses on Facebook and Instagram, and it will be rolled out more broadly in the coming months.
This means you can go on Instagram or Facebook Live and the products you’re discussing will actually show up at the bottom of the screen for people to engage with a click or tap.
Instagram Shops are likely to make a large impact on the number of ecommerce companies that will utilize Facebook Live or Instagram Live as a channel for making sales in real-time.
Very few marketers and ecommerce brands have ever considered selling their products via live stream. This is especially true in the US, however, many Eastern countries like China and Japan have seen an uptick in ecommerce sales via live stream.
This is something to start planning for now and giving a shot because if conversion rates turn out to be high, the implications for your business could be massive.
Why Instagram Shops are a huge win for IG Influencers
Adding sales capabilities to live streaming on Facebook and Instagram Shops is also a major win for influencers that can sell companies products in real-time.
Not only does it give influencers a new channel to sell products in real-time, but there’s also the added benefit of direct attribution of sales.
This eliminates much of the complexities associated with properly attributing sales to influencers and affiliates who deserve to get paid.
Instagram Tools #11: Instagram Email Capture
One of many lead generation tools available on Instagram from Customers.ai worth highlighting is the email capture tool.
In the Customers.ai chatbot builder, specify that the user should reply with an email address.
Fill it out with some catchy copy, and then select EMAIL as the user’s input type and the “EMAIL” attribute to save the input value to the user’s lead profile.
Using the email input type is crucial here.
When you use email as input type, Customers.ai will automatically capture the email address associated with the person’s Instagram account.
Here’s what that looks like on your mobile device:
Instagram Tools #12: Get SMS Marketing Permissions
The other lead capture tool worth highlighting for Instagram power users, is the SMS opt-in widget.
When leads and customers are chatting on your chatbot for Instagram, invite them to connect via SMS to stay in touch.
Available using Customers.ai Instagram tools as well as Customers.ai Facebook Messenger chat.
Invite them to provide their phone number to get updates, or as a method of follow-up in case, they’re disconnected.
Just add the SMS opt-in widget in Customers.ai to a conversation.
Instagram Tools #13: Instagram Direct Message Online
Instagram customer support chat is a rough task from a mobile application. In fact, the majority of businesses don’t manage Instagram DMs whatsoever.
Want to know how to direct message on Instagram online? Customers.ai has you covered.
In addition to the other chat support tools for Instagram, you can send Instagram DMs to individual contacts from the Customers.ai chat platform.
Instagram Tools #14: Menu-Based Chatbot for Instagram
f you’ve never seen a menu-based chatbot, it’s like a mini-website built into your website chat widget.
They allow you to guide a conversation in many different directions. In fact, you should have seen it pop-up in your browser by now. It looks like this if you’d like to test out for yourself:
Although the menu-based chatbot will not look the same on Instagram, its functionality and effectiveness are the same.
Here’s how we built the Instagram bot that you’ll find on the Customers.ai Instagram page (mentioned earlier in this article).
Instagram Tools #15: Alerts & Notification Triggers
Have live agents on staff? Live agents can jump into the conversation at the right time thanks to easy-to-setup automated lead notifications.
Notify the right person on your sales or customer support team via push notification, email, or mark a lead to follow-up with.
Then select who should be notified. It’s that simple.
Instagram Tools #16: Instagram Analytics and Reporting
Customers.ai chat software serves up a wealth of chatbot analytics to give businesses data for understanding the effectiveness of web chat installations and campaigns.
View visual reports of new leads captured from Instagram, chatbot conversion form completions, and much more.
How to Get Started with Instagram Marketing Automation Tools for Business
To get started with Instagram bot automation tools:
Additional Resources and Tools for Instagram
Additional resources to master Instagram marketing for brands, influencers, D2C, Instagram creators, and more :
- The Best Instagram Bot in 2021
- Tools for Instagram Influencers
- Instagram Follower Bot
- 20 Instagram Story Hacks
- How to Sell Products on Instagram
- Hashtag Marketing Best Practices
- How to Drive Organic Instagram Growth
- How to Do a Giveaway On Instagram
- Instagram Auto-Reply Tools
- How to Increase Engagement on Instagram
- 10 Instagram Growth Hacks by Larry Kim
- How to Add a Link to Instagram Stories
- Instagram Automated Messages
- How to Get Instagram Leads from Clubhouse
- Instagram Marketing Tips
- Instagram Statistics 2021
- 12 Best Instagram Marketing Tools
- Best Instagram Business Accounts
- Instagram for Business
- How to Schedule a Post on Instagram
- Messenger Chatbot for Instagram
- Instagram Hacks to Get Followers
Important Next Steps:
- Create an Instagram automation today with the limited time InstaChamp Free VIP Special Edition.
- Talk and learn about chatbots with other enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
- Advance your marketing performance with Chatbot University, a free chatbot tutorial and training area for chat marketers.