Are you looking for new Instagram features to communicate directly with other Instagrammers, even if they are not your followers? Read on, and you will discover Instagram Direct, a feature still practically unknown to most, useful for enriching your Instagram strategy!
In fact, in recent days all Instagram users and pages have received a message from Instagram itself, a message that relaunches the use of Instagram Direct .
What is it about?
This message, received in private mail, is a video tutorial: it explains how to use the new functionality of the platform, which thus adds an additional tool within your company's Instagram marketing strategy.
Instagram Direct gives you the ability to create groups of “friends” with whom you can directly share photos and videos, a bit like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, thus sending direct group messages to your followers.
Below are some screenshots of the message received from Instagram:
How do you create group conversations on Instagram Direct?
Creating a new group conversation (with two or more people) is simple:
Tap at the top right of your feed.
Tap "New Message" at the bottom of the screen.
Select two or more people you want to send the content to, then tap Next.
Type a message, select a photo or video from your library, or tap to capture new content.
Add effects, filters, and a caption (optional).
Tap Send.
Ok, but can this new feature be useful for business use of Instagram?
The answer is yes: this feature allows you to select content to send to a specific target, a fundamental requirement for a strategy not only of Instagram marketing, but also of social media marketing that really works.
It involves dividing your audience (those you follow) into many small groups of potential customers, who are similar to each other (in terms of age, gender, behavior, interests, etc.), on which to base a targeted social media marketing strategy.
Once we have defined the personas (homogeneous groups of users who have common models, behaviors, objectives, skills and attitudes) we can then address targeted content such as:
videos and photos can be related to a new service or product
a special promotion they might be interested in
the link to our latest blog post
and much more :-)
Instant feedback from people
Users will be able to get involved and interact with Instagram chat, ask questions, request clarifications, always stay in touch with the company and therefore feel part of a community.
The advantages of this new feature are therefore direct communication with potential customers, completely free of charge and not subject to algorithms.
But, unlike WhatsApp's list feature, Instagram's messages are not one to one, so be careful that the group doesn't become a noisy square with a thousand notifications per hour, with off-topic interactions!
From our experience as a web agency in Bergamo, this feature is currently underestimated by many companies, but it is time for it to find its rightful place in web marketing and social media strategies.
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