If you’re getting hit with a barrage of notifications every time you open the Instagram app, it might be time to call reinforcements. Sure, you can hire someone, but bots are another more affordable option that provides around-the-clock communication management.
For some, “bot” may feel like a dirty word. We get that, but bots do have their time and place. When used correctly, Instagram bots can help you engage with your audience — and, hopefully, turn that engagement into sales.
What is an Instagram DM bot?
An Instagram DM bot (or Instagram chatbot) is a third-party app designed to interact with users. Businesses, influencers, and creators can integrate a bot with Instagram API so that messages from followers don’t go unanswered while they’re away or working on other things.
Other common uses for Instagram DM bots include:
- Sending welcome messages to new followers
- Promoting live events or sales
- Running polls, surveys, or giveaways
- Answering frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- Updating followers on the status of their orders
Why use an Instagram bot?
We chatted with Jon Morgan, CEO, and editor-in-chief at Venture Smarter, to better understand why businesses and creators use Instagram bots. Morgan’s team started using Manychat to automate communication because they found it too taxing to reply to hundreds of DMs per day.
“One particular day, we had a flash sale, and messages arrived quicker than we could respond — it was anarchy. Manychat made sure consumers got quick responses and [were] steered in the correct route, helping us give the craziness structure,” says Morgan.
Being able to offload the responsibility of replying to messages is the most obvious benefit of using an Instagram bot to automate DMs, but there are more, including:
- Extended customer service: Even the most committed social media managers aren’t available around the clock to monitor communications (we all must sleep). Instagram bots can answer questions 24/7. That ability is something Morgan can back up; before using Manychat, Venture Smarter’s average response time for a DM was about three hours.
“Currently, most questions require less than five minutes. Knowing they won’t be left waiting for responses has raised client confidence,” he says.
You can set up your bot to recognize specific keywords (triggers) and respond with relevant information. For example, if a user sends an Instagram DM asking about your business’s return policy, the bot will pick up on the word “return” and respond with steps the user can take to initiate a return.
- Boosted conversions: Turning Instagram engagement (likes, shares, comments, etc.) into sales is one of the main reasons why creators and businesses use bots. Let’s say a follower mentions your account in their story; you can make it so your bot automatically responds with an expression of gratitude, followed by a discount code. Ideally, this interaction will encourage them to shop for your products, services, or subscriptions. Morgan uses this strategy to nudge shoppers who abandon their carts.
“Reminding clients who add items to their cart but do not check out is one function I truly value; it feels less intrusive and more useful,” he says.
- More personalized messaging: Research from consulting firm McKinsey shows that 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. However, it’s impossible to remember every interaction you’ve had with every Instagram follower — unless you’re a bot. While some aspects of personalized marketing are best left to a real-life professional, you can use dynamic message templates to have your bot deliver customized communication.
Of course, the idea here isn’t to fool followers into believing that a bot is a real person; most bots respond to messages in milliseconds, which is a dead giveaway. But, you can use dynamic message templates to incorporate users’ names, locations, or references to previous interactions into DMs. Just remember there’s a balance to strike — a point Morgan made during our conversation.
“The secret has been combining automation with personal touches. We leap in personally if someone has a specific or detailed problem. It seems to be the ideal fusion of sincerity and speed,” Morgan says.
Bookmark for later: Create an Instagram Bot for Digital Marketing
How to automate DMs with an Instagram bot
Want to start reaping some of those benefits we’ve mentioned? Yeah, we thought so. Now, let’s talk about how to get started.
Create an Instagram professional account
First, you need a professional Instagram account — business or creator — for DM automation. While not required, you might want to connect your Instagram to a Facebook Page for future marketing efforts (for example, if you want to automate Messenger responses).
Choose a chatbot tool
Instagram doesn’t have a built-in chatbot, so you need to choose a third-party tool. We’re obviously biased, but Manychat for Instagram is a great option — especially because you can get started for free. Alternatives include Tidio, Chatfuel, and MailChimp.
Before we continue, a note about chatbot compliance
Meta has policies in place to make sure that bots aren’t misused. This rule is a good thing — no one wants to be spammed or have their data leaked.
One notable policy is that bots can’t collect or store user data without explicit consent; they must adhere to relevant data protection regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Bots also can’t take actions that violate Instagram’s Community Guidelines or Advertising Standards. Plus, it should always be clear to users that they are interacting with a bot, not a person.
Now, for the good news: Most top-rated chatbots know these rules and won’t allow you to use their software in a way that violates them. For example, Manychat is an official Meta Business Partner (yeah, it’s a pretty big deal) designed to comply with the company’s security requirements. So, unless you’re using an unauthorized bot, you probably won’t get in trouble.
Connect the tool to your Instagram account
Once you’ve chosen a chatbot and signed up for a plan, you can connect it to your Instagram account. With Manychat, it’s as easy as entering your Instagram username and password.
Build your automations
Finally, the juicy part: setting up automations. The process for doing this differs depending on the tool, but in Manychat, you can use the Ready-to-Go templates or create automations from scratch.
A few of Manychat’s Ready-to-Go Templates
When creating custom automations, observe how followers typically interact with your page. Do users ask the same questions over and over again? Are Story mentions coming in at the speed of light?
Identifying the most common ways followers interact with your Instagram page will help you know what custom automations will have the most impact. Then, you can get started configuring triggers and follow-up actions. Check out How to Get Started with Instagram DM Automation for more in-depth instructions on how to use Manychat.
Test your automations
Once you’ve set up one or two automation flows, you must test them to ensure they work correctly. Manychat has a “Preview” button; other tools like Tidio also offer this option.
A preview (left) of a Manychat automation
Preview your automation. If you’re satisfied with how it looks, send it live. And because we’re thorough, we suggest testing it once more by having someone you know send a message with applicable trigger words to your Instagram account.
Launch your chatbot and measure the impact
At this point, it’s just a matter of sending those automations live and seeing what happens — well, sort of.
To know whether your automation strategy is working, you should track relevant metrics such as how many users trigger your automations, open rates for links, uses of discount codes, purchases, and sign-ups. Over time, whether your automations improve engagement (and, ultimately, sales) will become clear. Then, you can adjust and add new automations as needed.
A final word on using DM automation to support your Instagram strategy
Whether you’re an influencer trying to engage with followers or a business owner looking to upgrade the support you offer through socials, automating your DMs with a bot can help. While it does require some initial setup to get started, it’s a relatively low-effort way to save time and improve your customer experience. Just make sure you’re:
1) Tailoring automations to match your brand voice (generic bots = gross)
2) Providing personal, human-to-human interactions where necessary
At the end of the day, though, Morgan puts it best:
“For us, automating DMs has been rather relieving. We have established a balance that works by automating where it makes sense and intervening when needed.”
And that’s a wrap, folks.
For this step, anyway — there’s more to learn because you’ve just scratched the surface of what’s possible in the world of Instagram automation. Make The Ultimate Guide for Instagram Comment Automation your next read.
