Instagram Chatbots are becoming the need of the hour and having a good command over conversational AI on social media is a must and nowadays many leading brands are migrating the majority of their customer service efforts to Instagram.
The channel has already skyrocketed the fame of influencers and attracting new users each passing day for becoming the one.
The impact of Instagram, along with other social channels such as YouTube, can be understood via the fact that 1 in 5 British children seeing becoming an influencer as an attractive career choice.
Now we’re seeing nearly 85% of users rely on Instagram before making a purchase (source).
Therefore, Instagram chatbots are going to play a vital role, and mastering conversational AI can be turned out beneficial for your business on this channel.
Know Why Should You Use an Instagram Chatbots
Instagram has blown up and is showing no signs of slowing down.
As of 2021, Instagram now supports chatbots – a welcome wave of relief for many customer service departments.
As the world of business moves to automate their DMs, it’s likely there’ll be a few bad chatbots along the way.
Here we discuss how you can create an Instagram chatbot to be proud of (not yet up to speed on the use cases and features of Instagram chatbots? There’s more information here).
The type of chatbot that pleases users, makes life easier for its brand and stands out from the competition.
All you need is an understanding of your target market, a keen eye for social media, and a bit of creativity.
Instagram Overcoming the Challenges of a Fast Channel
Instagram is, by nature, a fast-moving platform.
Trends take the world by storm and then fade into the realm of forgotten memes over the space of a couple of weeks.
An Instagram chatbot has to be able to operate above the trends and movements of Instagram, remaining relevant and helpful for all users.
If you create a chatbot based on a trend taking place in August of 2021, your chatbot risks becoming outdated in May of 2022.
This being said, failing to include any Instagram trend within your chatbots repertoire is a wasted opportunity.
Also Read: Benefit Pool of AI Chatbots You Surely Don’t Wanna Miss in 2021
The Foundation and the Flexible
The best Instagram chatbots are those that provide the following types of interactions:
- Foundation conversations.
- Flexible conversations.
Foundation conversations are the premise of your Instagram chatbot, they will always be relevant and applicable. Foundation conversations are essentially the chatbot’s use case. They are how the chatbot saves time or creates value.
Foundation conversations don’t try to fit in with the latest trend or jump on any viral ideas. They simply help the user get what they need.
For the marketers amongst us, think of your Instagram chatbot’s foundation conversations as you would evergreen content on your website.
Flexible conversations are those that can be tweaked to pay reference towards rising trends. They’re your way of helping a brand remain relevant and speak to its target market through automated messages.
Continuing our customer service chatbot example, flexible conversations could be welcome messages that are regularly updated to reflect trending hashtags.
Simple conversations and FAQs are perfect targets for flexible conversations as they can be updated at a moment’s notice without impacting the efficiency of your chatbot.
Combined, foundation and flexible conversations help create a chatbot that:
- Provides valuable and helpful information without feeling out of date.
- Taps into the virality of Instagram to maximize brand-building opportunities and provide a memorable user experience.
Read More: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Everything You Need to Know
Instagram Chatbot: Robotics the Repetitive, Humanise the Brand
One of the main attractions of an Instagram chatbot is the efficiency they provide. Every copy-paste of an FAQ a human agent has to send in their DMs is time they could have spent on high-value activities.
Naturally, automating repetitive and mundane tasks is a chatbot’s bread and butter. Complex processes can be replicated within a conversation builder and FAQs can be automated with immediate response times.
But, we’re not interested in creating a forgettable Instagram chatbot.
We’re creating a chatbot that dissociates itself from its peers, emerging top of the competition.
So, once you’ve improved efficiency through automation, what’s next?
You review your chatbot’s responses and conversations, looking for opportunities to build your brand.
Important note: It should be clear that the user is engaging with a chatbot. You don’t want a user mistaking your chatbot for a human agent.
Tweak occasional FAQ responses to include elements that match your tone of voice, such as including quirky responses or re-iterating a commitment to professionalism.
Keep in mind the chatbot’s primary purpose. Don’t let any tweaks you make get in the way of helping your user base.
You want a branded chatbot that appeals to users while efficiently assisting them.
The following flow helps you refine a chatbot’s conversations without bloating them:
- If I tweak this, does it take any longer for the user to reach their desired goal?
- Does this make engaging with the chatbot more complex/confusing for non-tech savvy users?
If the answer to both these questions is no, you’re likely good to go.
Know More: Social Media Facts That Will Surprise Us
Getting More Value from Instagram Features
An Instagram chatbot can help a brand take its Insta presence to new heights by adding value to existing Instagram features.
Let’s look at Instagram stories.
500 million Instagram stories are viewed every day, with ⅓ of these being business page stories (source).
Stories can be used in tandem with an Instagram chatbot to create memorable brand experiences. A story can encourage users to message a brand with specific phrases or on specific dates.
Once messaged, the chatbot can provide a contextual and personalized conversation. Rather than promoting products via stories, a brand can create a conversation that explains the product’s benefits.
Improving Ad Conversion Rates
The same story functionality can be applied to ads.
Rather than requesting the user visit a static landing page, why not encourage them to engage in conversation from the offset?
Don’t risk your message appealing to the user, only to be forgotten once they put their phone down. Use a chatbot to provide value and entertain the user, helping improve brand and product recall.
When creating ad follow-up conversations, it’s important to provide some flexibility for the user.
The benefit is letting the user guide their own journey when discovering your brand. Create a conversation with multiple paths, all leading towards a further personalized experience for the user.
The end result is rather than blindly promoting a service, you’ve promoted service to a relevant user while talking to them in a voice they’d understand and listen to.
Also Know: Why Social Media Should Be an Important Part of Your Digital Marketing Strategy?
A Handy Checklist for Any Great Instagram Chatbot
Acting as a set of guidelines, here are a few key elements you should consider when creating an Instagram chatbot. Just have a look!
- Foundation conversations that solve the target market’s pain points.
- Flexible conversations that reinforce brand image and values.
- Personalized content triggered by story and ad engagement.
- Easy methods to fall back to a human.
The last point there applies to pretty much any chatbot, regardless of channel, but is always worth mentioning.
Don’t lock your users out of reaching human assistance. There will occasionally be times when a user has a deeply personal or complex query that’s best handled by a human.
Include methods, such as taking a message, to let the user reach out to a human agent with ease.
Conclusion
As a whole, chatbots and Instagram go hand in hand. The channel presents a wide variety of opportunities for teams to drive their business forward bt the help of Instagram Chatbots.