Instagram recently published an information page about Instagram Direct, a feature that allows businesses to connect with customers and followers through direct messaging.
A user must be registered as a business account to access Instagram Direct. The platform recommends businesses add the send message button to their profile, enabling other users to contact them directly, whether through Stories, posts, or Instagram shop. A separate link outside the app (an IG.me link) can be placed on a brand’s website and in its marketing emails and in-app advertising to drive customers straight to Instagram Direct.
Why would a brand use Instagram Direct? It offers a catered, intimate opportunity for brands to communicate with (potential) customers—a white-glove approach to customer service.
From the new info page, you can click on case studies (currently there’s only one, a story about Starbucks Indonesia’s successful use of Instagram Direct) and, after clicking on “Get Started,” access a course offered by parent company Meta on how to reach new customers using hashtags and Instagram messaging.
Instagram’s apparent push for businesses to utilize a tool like Instagram Direct signals that more brands should seek ways to engage with their followers on a one-to-one basis whenever possible.
A word to the wise, though: It’s best to let the customers do the introductory messaging, as opposed to infiltrating their message inboxes uninvited. Many made their thoughts on receiving text messages from companies known when Diamonds in the Library‘s Becky Stone posed a recent query based on her own unpleasant experience with the practice. Based on the comments on her post, most people really don’t like getting texts from businesses—they find it personally invasive. Customers might have a similar distaste for unsolicited direct messages on social media.
Visit the Instagram Direct info page here.
(Photo: Instagram)
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