previous icon Back to blog
May 19, 2023
4 minutes read

Introducing Instagram Marketing Messages

Today, more and more customer engagement happens on social media. And with good reason. Personalized messages on the favorite messaging apps of your customers can truly benefit your brand awareness. Instagram's new Marketing Messages feature offers a great marketing tool to be visible where your customers are and re-engage them to boost those conversion rates.

Communication on the right channels is important when it comes to customer engagement. It's important to be visible where your customers are: on their favorite app that they already know and use. Because nobody wants to download another app.

Instagram Messaging, with its younger following, is great for targeting Millennials and Gen Z customers. These generations favor Instagram and are known to build communities associated with retail or leisure brands they love. In fact, 90% of Instagram users follow one or more business accounts, and two out of three people surveyed stated that Instagram enables them to interact with brands on a more meaningful level. Long story short: this means that your Instagram audience is open to engaging with your brand. This an excellent opportunity to connect with these customers and boost those conversion rates!

The image- and video-oriented platform of Instagram Messaging allows you to showcase products, services, and your corporate personality with the added value that you can offer personal customer interaction via Direct Messages.

Previously, businesses were only allowed to respond to Direct Messages. When a customer sends a DM to a business (opt-in), a 24-hour window opens in which the business is allowed to send non-promotional messages to that customer. Outside that 24-hour window, no proactive messaging was allowed. This changed with the introduction of Marketing Messages.

Now, there's way to easily send customers regular updates on promotions, deals, and other topics they could be interested in, outside that 24-hour window!

Marketing Messages on Instagram Messaging

Marketing Messages are the newest feature addition to Instagram Messaging. This feature allows you to send daily regular messages or notifications to opted-in users, outside of the previously mentioned 24-hour window! Ideal for sending interested customers the latest deals and promotions to drive re-engagement!

Want to stay up to date about our new product launches? Get daily messages now to never miss out on our great offers!

These ongoing messages can be initiated anywhere in the customer (buying) journey and can include a wide range of topics to aid in boosting conversion. So make sure that the messages you send are relevant to the customer you're targeting.

Unpersonalized or irrelevant messages will start to feel 'spammy' real quick, and customers will not hesitate to unsubscribe from them, effectively closing your window of opportunity.

The Benefits of Marketing Messages

There are many benefits of this new Instagram Messaging feature. Let's have a look at some advantages of Marketing Messages!

  • You'll be able to meet your customers where they are: on their phones and on their favorite channel. This will boost conversion rates more effectively than standard channels

  • It's personal and instant: Have one-on-one conversations that resonate with your customers to deepen customer relationships

  • It's mobile-friendly and privacy-friendly

  • It'll allow you to create additional touchpoints to speed up the customer (buying) journey. By initiating conversations with interested customers - at any point in the journey- you'll be able to accelerate sales, deepen engagement or even generate new leads.

How to Get Opt-ins for Marketing Messages

As mentioned before, you can only send Marketing Messages via Instagram Messaging if you have received an opt-in from your customers. In fact, these opt-ins can also expire after six months that your customer has opted in.

After six months, just before the Marketing Messages opt-in is about to expire, your customers will receive a re-opt-in request. They will then have the choice of whether or not to continue receiving the Marketing Messages.

But before worrying about expired opt-ins, you have to make sure to get that original opt-in from your customers. Don't worry, there are several ways to get opt-ins, and we'll highlight them below.

Ig.me Links

These shortened URLs will redirect your customers to Instagram Messages to start a conversation. ig.me Links can be included in websites, emails, and social media posts.

Instagram Advertisements

You can use Instagram advertisements that Click to Instagram Direct Messages to run campaigns. The opt-in request is sent to your customer once they click on the ad.

Instagram Story Replies

Use Story Replies to run campaigns. The opt-in request is sent to your customer once they comment or react to an Instagram story.

Instagram Messaging via CM.com

Instagram Messaging is a perfect tool for a personalized customer experience while building meaningful relationships with your customers. Strengthen the bond with existing customers and connect with new ones by optimizing engagement through a platform that your customers are already familiar with.

Make sure that you re-engage interested customers to drive conversion! Send them product- or back-in-stock-updates, discounts, and personal offers via personalized messages on Instagram Messaging to create those additional touchpoints in the customer journey.

Interested in using Instagram Messaging to give your business a boost? We have all the tools available to set up your first campaign with our Mobile Marketing Cloud, chatbot solution, or via our Business Messaging API. Don’t hesitate to contact us!

Interested in using Instagram Messaging to give your business a boost?

Was this article interesting?
Share it!
Christel Brouwers
Copywriter at CM.com. Passionate about language and getting CM.com’s message out there. Shares content about CPaaS, Payments and more.

Latest Articles

sms-vs-mms-vs-rcs
Feb 08, 2024 • SMS

SMS vs MMS - What is the Difference?

There are many different ways to send text messages, and the various names and acronyms may start to feel daunting. In this blog, we'll tell you everything about SMS and MMS.

sms-in-ecommerce
Feb 07, 2024 • SMS

SMS for eCommerce - Create a Successful eCommerce Strategy With SMS

Want to grow your business? Then customer contact is key. Now that everybody and everything is connected to each other via those powerful little computers in our hands, the way you communicate with customers is becoming increasingly important for your succes. Read all about how you can use SMS to elevate your customer contact, drive sales and create that loyal customer base.

how-popular-is-sms
Feb 07, 2024 • SMS

How Popular Is SMS in 2024 and What Is Its Added Value for Business?

SMS is one of the oldest text messaging services, and the rise of instant messaging apps definitely made a dent in SMS traffic. Contrary to the newer apps with their rich features, SMS is quite basic in its features- plain text messages, not fluff, and a character limit of 160. Regardless, SMS is still one of the most impactful communication channels today. Read all about SMS statistics and its continued value to modern business communication.

drive-engagement-and-convert-your-conversations-with-whatsapp-carousel
Feb 01, 2024 • WhatsApp

Drive Engagement and Convert Your Conversations With WhatsApp Carousel

Are you already talking to your customers on WhatsApp? You really should! WhatsApp Business Platform, the business communication platform of one of the most popular messaging channels in the world today, has a wide selection of powerful engagement tools to enhance customer communication and boost sales. And they've added another innovative feature under their belt: WhatsApp Carousel.

WhatsApp vs Facebook Messenger
Jan 17, 2024 • Instant Messaging

WhatsApp vs Facebook Messenger: Which Messaging Channel is Best for What?

WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are both established messaging channels for customer engagement. But what are the differences? Which advantages does each channel have for what business use case? Let's dive into the details

Ads That Click to WhatsApp
Jan 17, 2024 • Marketing

Ads That Click to WhatsApp: What Are They and What Are the Benefits?

Successful marketing means creating personal and conversational experiences for your customers. And what better place to meaningfully connect to your customers than on their favorite social media platforms and channels such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp? With ads that click to WhatsApp, aka click-to-chat WhatsApp ads, you can offer your customers the direct and personal engagement that they crave. Read all about it!

live-meta
Oct 31, 2023 • SMS

Why SMS Remains as Essential as Ever for Black Friday

One might assume that SMS has lost relevance in an era dominated by popular messaging channels such as WhatsApp and Instagram. However, when it comes to Black Friday, one of the most anticipated shopping events of the year, SMS remains as important as ever. While consumers are bombarded with emails, push notifications, and social media advertisements, the humble SMS message, with its 98% open rate, often cuts through the noise and connects businesses with eager shoppers.

black-friday-channels
Oct 31, 2023 • Messaging

Boost Black Friday Sales with WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook

Black Friday stands out as one of the most anticipated shopping events of the year, with online sales growing 3.5% to $65.3 billion globally in 2022. With this, big and small businesses will strive for maximum exposure. Yet, this task is far from straightforward. Retailers must compete to be visible, overcome high advertising costs, and meet escalating customer expectations to cut through the noise and drive conversion. Moreover, every touchpoint in the customer journey represents a make-or-break opportunity to form relationships and drive transactions, or risk losing a consumer’s interest and trust.

messaging-fraud-and-prevention-for-businesses
Sep 25, 2023 • Security

Combat SMS Pumping (AIT) Fraud Effectively With CM.com

In this digital era, providing the optimal customer experience means connecting and engaging with your customers online on their favorite platforms and channels. Online (automated) customer engagement and A2P (application-to-person) messaging is bigger than ever, which unfortunately also means that messaging fraud is on the rise. Artificially Inflated Traffic (AIT) fraud has become an alarming issue in the telecommunications industry, but worry not! CM.com has built the perfect safeguard feature to protect your business endeavors from AIT fraud.

Is this region a better fit for you?
Go
close icon