Facebook or Instagram? That is the question! The company’s presence on social media has become a necessity. Recommendations as to which medium to choose, however, change over the years. And although Facebook still has the most users, the growth rate of IG is faster. The growing interest in Instagram encourages the development of more and more new functions, e.g. chatbots. What do we like Instagram for the most? In what direction are the changes in functionality going? What are the benefits of Insta chatbots?
The number of IG users has already exceeded 1 billion per month. It is used by approx. 500 million users, and the engagement is several dozen times greater than in the case of Facebook. What does this mean in practice? That such a chance cannot be wasted! Both IG developers and tech vendors see this potential and are taking action to keep the app on a growth path.
Instagram’s secret of popularity
While Facebook no longer impresses with anything, IG is teeming with fresh energy. It is no longer seen only as an application with photos.
Instagram stories are short-lived, but very intense. They have become the main source of reporting on events, informing about promotions and sharing experiences.
IG also increased its popularity thanks to DMs. Enrichment with the functionality of the mailbox – private messages one-on-one or in groups, made it an attractive alternative to Messenger.
In order to engage fans, polls, quizzes and challenges are often used. They are associated with fun, but in practice it is a very effective marketing tool. It allows you to easily and quickly examine customer needs, estimate demand, and obtain information helpful in making business decisions.
What’s next? IG is following in Messenger’s footsteps and providing its API for connecting bots, and this generates a number of new opportunities. And so, feature by feature, popularity grows, and IG itself begins to play a strategic role in generating sales.
Chatbot: new functionality, new opportunity
It is already standard that the company has an Instagram account. 80% of users make a decision about buying a given product or service here. Providing API for connecting bots can take IG to an even higher level in the sales process and maximize the business effect.
An Instagram chatbot is an automated chatting partner. It helps to provide customers with a personalized experience and service. It allows you to respond immediately and increase customer engagement. Here are its possibilities:
- Flow wizard – the ability to customize the appearance of the chat to your liking without writing any code
- Keywords – launching messages or conversations based on the keywords received from the user
- Automatic replies to a comment under a post
- Instagram Mention Trigger – Ability to give an immediate reply to anyone who gives their account name
- Conversation initiation – Pre-filled buttons for customers when they send a message on a specific topic to a corporate account.
Chatbot on IG also allows you to capture information about the user, conduct live chat and automate answers to frequently asked questions.
A must have in the world of e-commerce
At a time when trading has moved to the internet and the fight for customers has become even more difficult, investing in a chatbot on IG may turn out to be a gold mine. The main advantage of such a solution is the shortening of the purchasing path and the introduction of customer service to a higher level. This functionality will have a positive impact on the customer’s experience, leading them through the various levels of the sales funnel. Chatbot can work, among others with the following actions:
- checking the order status
- providing information on product availability
- informing about promotions, events, benefits of loyalty programs
- personalized customer service
- collecting opinions about products
- replying to comments on posts (based on keywords)
- sending discount codes, e.g. as a thank you for mentioning the brand in Instastory
- tracking the performance of advertising campaigns.
With the chatbot, all these tasks are performed automatically, without the need for staff.
A sea of benefits
Introducing chatbot functionality on IG brings the same benefits for both the brand and its customers. It is primarily greater sales, better effectiveness of advertising campaigns, effective lead generation, improved user experience, communication automation, saving time, human resources and costs related to customer service, advertising campaigns and social media support.
This solution allows you to be closer to the customer 24 hours a day (even on weekends!). It facilitates reaching a large audience and optimizes the ability to build a community. Immediate response to customer questions affects the building of commitment and makes the customer spontaneously become a brand ambassador.
An extremely important benefit is also the ability to scale without fear of overloading employees to handle inquiries coming from new market segments. Instead of manually answering each question, the chatbot will do it automatically.
The perfect solution for your company
At the moment, not everyone can use the chatbot on IG, but only accounts with 10,000 – 100,000 followers. From August 2021 everyone will have this opportunity. It is worth getting interested in the topic now and planning the implementation.
As Finderstand, we have 12 years of experience in combining the area of customer service with new technologies. Thanks to our programming and sales competences, we offer tailor-made solutions, including chatbots dedicated to customer service, marketing and sales. If you want to take advantage of the opportunity that an IG chatbot can bring to your business, please contact us. We are happy to tell you about our implementations and plan activities tailored to your needs.
