Messenger API for Instagram, just released by Facebook, is now available and ready to go. This means that you can now use the power of automation to deepen engagement with customers, fans, supporters or anyone else at this key online touchpoint!
Thanks to collaboration with Messenger, Zowie is one of the first to put the power of Instagram chatbot automation at your fingertips.
Automated responses have been a huge success on both Messenger and Whatsapp and now the same convenience is now available on Instagram! Interactions on the platform can now be easily taken to the next level in a number of ways, including those on the list we’ve put together.
Here are 11 ways to put Instagram chatbot automation to work for you!
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Fast growth is definitely one of those “good problems” to have but it still presents issues that need to be resolved. Scaling up can be slowed down if the various components of your operation can’t keep pace with the expansion.
Customer Service teams are usually the first to feel the growing pains. The volume of issues coming in, boosted by increased sales, can quickly exceed what they’re ready to handle. While recruiting and training more staff to catch up takes time, the number of customer service issues continues to climb now.
That’s where Instagram chatbot automation comes in. Automation is particularly useful and effective with the kind of simple, repetitive inquiries that are easy to answer but nonetheless take time to answer. With Instagram chatbot automation powered by Zowie, you can divert 30% of customer inquiries on day one and as much as 60% within a few weeks.
This means your CS team has the time it needs to focus on matters that require more personal involvement. Simple questions get automated answers and customers with more complex issues to solve get what they need faster. Everybody wins!
Automating responses on Instagram means your team can more easily deal with the higher volume that comes with growth.
2. Are you a top influencer on Instagram? Use automation to reply to the simple questions.
Being an influencer on Instagram is a thing. In fact, it’s a bigger part of the sales and promotional aspect of Instagram than many people know. If you’re one of those influencers or hope to be, at some point you will encounter the same issue described in the point above—more inquiries than you can (or want to) handle.
The solution is also the same—automated chatbot responses.
Fans and followers reach out with tons of different questions and comments but it’s likely that a good portion of them are essentially the same. That means they can be grouped together and assigned a reply that you create. It’s still you and it’s still your words, just supplied automatically on demand.
If you’re an influencer on Instagram, automating your replies to simple and routine messages means having more time to devote to the messages that are more important to you while making everyone happy.
Remember, the more successful you become for doing what you do on Instagram, the more engagement you will get. When that happens, do you want to spend your time on creating more and better content or manually answering a lot more routine questions?
That’s what we thought!
3. Increase sales when promoting ebooks on Instagram
Publishing is easier than ever and now within reach of anyone with a keyboard and an idea. If you’re one of the many writers taking advantage of multiple online channels to distribute your work, using Instagram chatbot automation can help you, too.
If you’re selling an ebook, Instagram is essentially your storefront. It’s also where your audience will find you, notice you and, hopefully, engage with you. This might mean a question sent to you or a comment on your page. Either way, someone is telling you that they’re interested in you or your work.
What are you going to do?
Sure, you could answer everything yourself. But what if you’re busy with other work or commitments?
Automation is the answer. With automated replies on Instagram, you can create preset answers to the questions you get most or expect to get while always having the option to personally follow up to any or all of them if you wish. Don’t make anyone wait for a reply from you—take advantage of the chance to instantly create a conversation about your ebook on Instagram!
4. Better manage communication with customers of your arts & crafts products on Instagram
Etsy isn’t the only place where hand-made arts & crafts are a big deal. Instagram users have proven to be a key audience for this huge online marketplace.
This is a product category that can involve lots of questions and back-and-forth conversations with potential customers. If you’re already an established vendor online, you know how time-consuming handling all these messages can be. For very successful artists and creators, it can be a near full-time task.
Once again, automated responses come to the rescue! Setting up automatic replies to the most common questions you get gives customers the answers they want and lets you focus on your creative work.
Also, with Messenger API for Instagram, you can integrate your interactions with customers on Messenger and Whatsapp into the same inbox—one simple interface for engagement with billions of users on three of the world’s biggest online platforms.
How’s that for convenience?
5. Boost sales on Instagram
This one’s pretty straightforward and applies to anyone conducting sales campaigns on Instagram.
In addition to the benefits we’ve already outlined above, think about the potential of adding another very effective sales technique to your sales efforts. Using the automated responses made possible by Messenger API for Instagram, you can set up your replies to include limited-time sales offers.
This allows you to take advantage of small windows of opportunity right when customers are engaged with your brand and interested in your product or service. This is when a special offer just might be the thing to close the sale now.
Free shipping or a discount if you buy in the next thirty minutes, a discount code to share with a friend if you buy now—the possibilities are endless and completely up to you. Use the ability to react in real time to create limited-time offers and apply the proven sales technique of creating a sense of urgency to close the sale and drive conversions on Instagram.
6. Faster answers to customer questions
Instagram, insta-answers. That’s what customers expect today. No one has the patience to wait for an answer to simple questions before they move on from your brand.
Messenger API for Instagram and Zowie put the power to reply literally instantly at your fingertips. You can set up automatic replies for as many scenarios as you think you need based on your own experience with the kinds of questions your customers ask.
Instant replies show customers that you’re oriented towards their convenience and making getting answers as easy as possible. Don’t interrupt their progress through a sales funnel by making them wait for simple answers to simple questions (or any other kind of question). Help them take the next step instead with automated chatbot replies on Instagram!
7. The perfect tool for marketing agencies
It’s increasingly common for brands to outsource the management of their Instagram accounts to specialized marketing agencies. If you’re part of such an agency, Messenger API for Instagram can make your work easier and more effective!
This is about more than the benefits we’ve already listed, like instant replies to repetitive questions and the chance for real-time responses to customers ready to buy.
It’s all about convenience. Using Zowie, you can manage three of the most important online spaces for any brand—Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp—from a unified inbox. Lots of clients? No problem, changing accounts is easy!
8. Faster, more effective crisis management
They used to say “all publicity is good publicity”, but in the age of social media we all know that’s simply not true. In this age when everyone has a digital platform and access to an audience of billions, damaging news about your brand (whether accurate or not) can go from a small incident to millions of screens in minutes.
The pace of crisis management has had to catch up and that means constant monitoring of conversations around your brand. Messenger API for Instagram delivers this through notifications about comments and mentions on the platform.
When customers are unhappy, misinformation starts to spread or anything potentially damaging appears, Messenger API for Instagram on Zowie gives you a chance to get involved in the conversation at an early stage and solve problems, correct errors or anything you need to do to resolve the issue.
Don’t let a simple misunderstanding or a lack of communication turn into something bigger. Supplement your crisis management plans with a great side benefit of chatbot automation—24/7 notifications about Instagram users who are talking about you.
9. Round-the-clock customer support
Speaking of 24/7, that’s when Messenger API for Instagram works. If your live, in-person customer service is limited to working hours, your automated responses are still at full strength all day, every day.
Now, with the exception of issues that require personal attention, there’s no more reason to tell customers that you’ll get back to them the next day or ask them to please get in touch later.
Ecommerce doesn’t have a time zone, customers shop at any hour they want and they expect everything to work at all times. Don’t disappoint them or make them wait for you—use Messenger API for Instagram and Zowie to meet those expectations and keep customers engaged and thinking about you when shopping on Instagram.
10. Get insights into what’s important to your customers
When setting up automated replies to customers on Instagram, many will be easy because you already know them from experience (“What are your opening hours?”, “What is my order status?”, “What is your return policy?”, etc.). Those are simple and predictable, but how do you really know what else your customers are interested in?
Using Messenger API for Instagram through Zowie will provide you with detailed information about exactly what your customers want to know. You’ll see every question and comment, giving you a direct channel to what’s on their minds and the kinds of things they ask about.
It’s the perfect way to see your Instagram page and business from their point of view. This fresh perspective can help you when making decisions about content on your page or website and even inspire you with new ideas about products and services that will better match what customers are looking for.
Markets change, customer preferences evolve and ecommerce continues to rush forward faster than ever before. Keep up with the changes by monitoring what your customers are talking about via the questions they ask you on Instagram!
11. Meet the demands of your core audience, make their experience with you on Instagram the best it can be
Your target audience is where you will create your most loyal customers. These are the people who will become brand ambassadors, evangelists and your biggest online cheerleaders. Instagram is a crucial online touch point for engaging with them because the demographics of this platform are ideal for ecommerce.
In other words, Instagram really matters when it comes to sales opportunities.
Giving your presence on Instagram top priority means creating the best possible experience there and that means providing every convenience you can. Automating your replies there is a basic part of this because:
- Customers, followers and fans never have to wait for an answer
- The instant answers they get are supplied by you, with all the details you decide are important
- They get instant answers any time, day or night, wherever they are
- Instant responses keep conversations going
- You can use automation to deliver unique experiences aimed at driving conversions
- Automation allows you to focus on creating the great content that attracted supporters to you in the first place
Ready to add all this and more to your Instagram presence? Want to know more about what chatbot automation can do to boost your customer engagement? Just click here and set up a demo with Zowie and get all your questions answered while discovering a new world of opportunities!
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