Turn Likes Into Loyalty

Can you have meaningful conversations and build deeper experiences with customers just by using social media? Yes! Specifically, with Instagram. By utilizing a few tools available to Instagram Business accounts, you can create new avenues for your most enthusiastic customers and engage them to buy even more from you.

Work With The Science

We’ve heard social media is addicting. Just review the screentime reports on your phone. If you have Apple, open “Settings,” then “Screen Time.” The numbers may shock you. (On that same screen, scroll down to the “pickup” number, which tells you how many times you picked up your phone so far today. Yikes.)

Because so many of us are addicted to our phones, mainly due to the dopamine hit we get from it, our brain is constantly seeking new rewards. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good, and our brain naturally seeks it out. Research has told us one of other reasons we can’t stop picking up our phones is because it delivers one of our most basic needs — human connection.¹

Knowing people are looking at Instagram to seek out dopamine and/or a human connection, is it any wonder the following tools will help you connect with your customers on a deeper lever?

Link In Bio Is Out, Or Not?

Some marketers will tell you verbalizing or typing the words “Link in Bio” will prompt Instagram to “degrade” your post. It’s simply not true. This rumor may have started as there is research to support Facebook dislikes links and will suppress any post with a link in it. But not so for Instagram. 

However, this rumor hasn’t stopped marketers from pushing the use of chatbots, such as ManyChat, to engage on a deeper level with followers. Here’s how it works:

1. In your Instagram post or Reel, tell customers to type in the comments with “Guide” or “Story” or “Sale” — literally any single word — to get what you are selling/promoting/sharing. 

2. The bot will reply to their comment with a version of “Thanks! Check your DMs.” 

3. The bot sends the user who commented a DM (Direct Message) with the guide or link you were promoting. 

Most chatbots aren’t free. However, you can do this for yourself for free. Still tell followers to comment with a single word, and then physically go through the comments and DM them the link. It’s more time consuming, yes, but free. 

The best part about using a chatbot is the extra “boost” your post will get from all the comments on it. The Instagram algorithm is seeing all the extra activity on the post and may push it out to more users. 

Additionally, you have permission and a direct link to the customer for future conversations. 

If You Build It, They Will Come

In 2023, Instagram started allowing Broadcast Channels, which gives accounts a direct line to engage with followers and build community at scale. Currently, Broadcast Channels are allegedly available to Professional (Business) accounts with 10,000 followers or more. How to know if you have a Professional account? 

Open Instagram and choose Settings and Privacy. Scroll down a bit and there you’ll see an option “For professionals.” If you see the words “Business tools and controls” it means you have a Business account, and if you see “Creator tools and insights” you have a Creator account. Allegedly, Broadcast Channels is available to both types of Professional accounts, but some accounts with more than 10,000 followers still don’t have access to it yet.

Why start a Broadcast Channel? It is a quick, casual way to connect directly with your followers. However, it’s a one-way conversation. Meaning, only you, as the account and channel owner, can comment and share links. Followers in the channel can use a limited set of emojis to give a reaction to your broadcast channel posts. 

Ways to use Broadcast Channels: 

• Share authentic content and behind-the-scenes moments via text or video and voice. Example posts: Today’s sale item (can link off Instagram), reminder of upcoming events, share moments in your business, giveaways.

• Engage your fans through polls and question prompts to crowdsource feedback or ideas. I’ve seen this tactic work especially well. People enjoy giving their opinion. 

Starting A Broadcast Channel

It only takes three steps to get your broadcast channel up and running:

1. From your Instagram inbox, click on the little pencil in the upper right corner.

2. “Create a broadcast channel” should be listed. 

3. Your followers will receive a one-time notification to join the channel. Only followers who join will receive subsequent notifications for new updates. You can also encourage followers to join by using the “join channel” sticker in Stories or by pinning the channel link to your profile.

A key feature to Broadcast Channels is once followers join, any notification from the channel shows up in their inbox, right next to their other messages. Personal experience has told me I must click on the Broadcast Channel to read the notification or else my inbox will always show there’s a message. With that said, you don’t want to be annoying, so limit posting on this channel to around once or twice a week. 

Instagram Subscriptions

Instagram Subscriptions uses more marketing tricks to encourage followers to interact and stay on the platform longer and engage with you — so use this to your advantage. 

With Subscriptions, subscribers pay a monthly fee to see exclusive content highlighted with a unique purple ring on your account. They are “in the club” so to speak, even though the user must pay for this special access. They also get a subscriber badge next to their name so they can stand out in the comments and DMs. Another way to show how they are special! 

How much you charge for Subscriptions is up to you. You could see it as a way to generate cash flow, but my recommendation is to use it to find those die-hard customers and reward them. 

Subscriptions offers exclusive lives, stories and even an exclusive chat — all for subscribers (or, “subbies,” as they’re called). 

Most creators use Subscriptions to cultivate their most engaged fans into one area. These fans feed off one another in the Subscriber chats — mostly because it is a “safe space” with “like-minded” people. Typically, these Subscription chats go over very well. In Subscription chats I’ve been a part of, I’ve seen fellow subbies buy coffee gift cards for others in the chat or send flowers to another subbie who lost a loved one. The groups tend to connect with one another on a deeper level.

The chats also send out push notifications to all in the chat space. Subscribers can opt out of the notifications, but it’s just one more way for people to pick up their phone and see what’s going on in the chats. 

As the content creator, use Subscriptions to: 

• Host Subscriber Lives: These are live streams that drive more engagement with audiences.

• Post Subscriber Stories: Produce stories just for your subscribers. Additionally, you can use interactive story stickers with top followers.

• Use Subscriber Badges: These appear next to subscribers’ comments and messages so creators can quickly identify these people. It makes it easy to engage with them personally with thanks, shoutouts or other recognition.

• Use Subscriber Posts & Reels: These are posts and Reels only subscribers can access.

• Engage in Subscriber Chats: You can establish multiple exclusive channels for subscribers with a limit of 250 participants.

How Do Subscriptions Work?

Make sure you provide value: Decide what you can offer to your subscribers so it’s clear why they want to pay for it. 

This could be early access to new content or products, behind-the-scenes clips, extended video cuts, interacting with you more regularly through exclusive chats or something else that showcases your brand/product/talent.

I’ve seen channels offer direct phone numbers to text the creators, another exclusive option.

Some Subscriptions have offered free two-day shipping or free upgraded shipping on orders. They don’t have to buy through Instagram to get this, they just note on the order they are a subbie. Or you can give subbies special codes to use at checkout.

Maintain a successful Subscription by feeding the beast — and this is the perfect avenue to go deeper with your most engaged, most influential followers. If the chats are quiet, create a poll or ask a question of the community. 

A Customer Input Goldmine

Review the chats to source material for new Reels or posts — there’s a goldmine of information by your best customers in there. If you see a pain point, address it. If you see an opportunity for a new product, stock it.

People enjoy being recognized (again, dopamine hit) — so do something special for subbies by giving shoutouts and making them feel like VIPs when you respond in comments or chats.

The craziest things I’ve seen in Subscriber chats is when a person asks if they should buy something from the creator. (Of course, you should buy the thing from the creator!)

Subconsciously, we know asking a group dedicated to a page if they should buy from the page, is a silly thing. And yet we do it anyway because we love the recognition and cheers from the group chat. Its dopamine feeding other dopamine hits. 

I get a dopamine hit just from telling you to buy something. It’s a conspiracy we are all aware of happening. The point is — it all benefits you, the creator and owner of the Subscription.

Again, Instagram Subscriptions is not available to all accounts, even those with more than 10,000 followers. You still have to meet Instagram’s Partner Monetization Policies and Content Monetization Policies.

To know if you can access it, go to your “Professional Dashboard” and tap “Your Tools” then hit “Subscriptions” and “Get Started.” 

Instagram offers a rich tapestry of tools such as chatbots, Broadcast Channels and Subscriptions that can significantly deepen your engagement with customers. By understanding and leveraging the role of the innate desire for human connection, you can transform social interactions into meaningful relationships that not only captivate but also convert. These tools provide a dynamic platform for personalized communication and community building, making it easier than ever to nurture loyalty and encourage active participation. 

Footnotes
1. lemonade.com/blog/psychology-behind-phone-addiction

Read More of Shooting Industry’s January 2025 Issue Now