Why Your Business Must Pay Attention to Instagram Automation Right Now

Angela Allan
Chatbots Life
Published in
6 min readJul 29, 2021

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You’ve probably experienced this before…

You open Instagram, and you get that little red notification in the corner.

There’s a new message!

Could it be someone asking about a product in your online store?

Is there a question about colours or sizing?

Or maybe they want to know your opening hours…

You feel that rush of potentially landing a new sale.

So you search through your IG inboxes and find a message from someone named Vivivantsplolenta…

Ugh. Another spam message from a bot.

Now, this is what has given Instagram Automation, or chatbots, a bad name.

Along with this…

Click here to watch this video — Medium won’t let me embed it!

These spammy message are likely from a bot account, which is spewing out thousands of messages to accounts directing them to another account, to effectively, “buy their sh**”.

OK, but why should I care about Instagram? Isn’t it just for booty pics?

Firstly, yes… and no. Instagram is more than just booty pics! 🍑

Instagram is an important business platform, with more than 1 billion monthly active users. Many of its users are spending 30 minutes per day (over average) on the app.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said that the platform is no longer just a “square photo-sharing app” but is making moves to become an entertainment app, focusing on video content with IGTV, Reels, messaging, and Stories.

With this is mind, let’s take a look at how automation fits in.

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What is Instagram Automation?

But let’s talk about Instagram Automation for a moment and what that can help your business with.

Instagram Automation can save you hundreds of hours each week through automated replies to potential customers who message you on Instagram.

And so we are on the same page, we’ll use “Instagram Automation”, “chatbot”, and “bot” interchangeably. The only thing you gotta remember is they’re one in the same, and it just means you’ll be automating responses on Instagram.

Now, before you shout, “but Instagram doesn’t allow that! It will get my account banned!”

Instagram Automation, by companies like ManyChat, is 100% backed by Facebook. They are a Facebook-approved developer.

There are rules to its use of course, such as you only have a 24-hour window to respond to customers within Live Chat on ManyChat, and you must obtain proper consent to get customers’ details, such as their phone number or email address for marketing purposes.

But all in all, Instagram Automation will help you:

👉 get more clients
👉 convert more leads into customers
👉 smash your sales goals
👉 and grow your Instagram

What Instagram Automaton features should you be excited about?

There are many Instagram Automation features that will help you save time answering the same FAQs over and over, and help customers get what they want.

A little word to the wise: these features are not natively available in Instagram. You will need a platform like ManyChat to set these up.

Now onto the good stuff! The features business owners will fall in love with are:

1. Instagram comments (aka comment automation).

When someone comments on a post, your Instagram chatbot will be able to respond in their DMs, giving them a free guide or more information related to the post’s content.

2. Quick replies and buttons.

So people can tap an answer instead of type, and buttons can open a website URL so your customers can go directly from a DM conversation, tap a button, and open your website natively in Instagram DMs to buy a product!

3. User inputs.

This is just a fancy way of saying “capture customer data”, like their email address or phone number, and store in ManyChat to market to them via email or SMS.

4. Default reply.

This is a standard reply that fires off when someone types random nonsense in your bot, or a phrase or question your bot doesn’t understand.

5. Keyword trigger.

So you can send an instant message based on a keyword someone types.

👉 Psst… Want to test this out? DM me the word GUIDE on Instagram here, and I’ll send you my free Marketing Master Plan guide!

6. Story automation.

Add an automation trigger to your story, so someone can reply and receive a freebie or offer from your story directly in their DMs. Note: This is also great for Instagram Story Ads!

7. Conversation starters.

A screen that shows customers the 4 burning questions that they can tap on, and receive an answer to instantly.

8. Story mention reply.

You can automate a reply to a story, like “Thanks for the mention! You’re awesome.”

9. Story ‘quick reaction’ replies.

When someone sends a quick reaction, which is one of the emojis as a response to your Instagram Story, you can send an automated response instantly.

10. Showcase new products.

You can also have a gallery of products with images, and direct customers to them on your website, with buttons opening to the direct page on your website to purchase!

Plus, all of your subscribers are added to your ManyChat account and you can market to them from there too! 🤑

OK, I’m in. How can I get started?

Pick one of the options below.

👉If you like to do this yourself:

ManyChat has a free Instagram Automation course for beginners here

👉If you’d like to test out how automation works:

DM me the word GUIDE on Instagram here, and I’ll send you my free Marketing Master Plan guide, which covers 5 things you should be doing to get ahead of your competitors! (Or tap the related Conversations Starter on my Instagram account.)

👉Not sure how to get any of this done?

DM me your questions!

Don’t forget to give us your 👏 !

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Queen of Giving Good Copy 👑 | Award-Winning Digital Marketer | Journalist | Speaker | Instagram: @misssoot