Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms to exist, with over 1 billion users around the world. Its popularity encourages a number of businesses to utilise Instagram as part of their digital marketing strategy.

Instagram’s ‘Business Account’ was introduced so that brands could easily communicate with customers via a number of tools, such as displaying contact information and a call-to-action button. Although there are now millions of brands that market themselves on Instagram, many are missing the most important factor when connecting with both new and existing customers online; they are not providing a sufficient level of customer service through the app.

Feedalpha are here to give you some top tips on how you can boost your level of customer service on Instagram!

 

Why is Customer Service so Important?

No matter which marketing goals a business is working towards, customer service should always be a priority, especially in the present day where people can find answers and get help in a matter of minutes!

Firstly, a good level of customer service can increase loyalty; if an existing customer is happy with the service they have received they are most likely to use your brand again. Secondly, in terms of new customers, the quicker someone can contact your business and get answers, the more chance there is that the customer will be happy to put their trust in you to provide them with a quality product or service.

If Instagram users struggle to contact a brand or can’t find the information they need in a reasonable time, they will find another business that can actually give them what they are looking for. Additionally, a lack of customer service can easily damage the brand’s reputation if an unhappy customer leaves a bad review online and/or advises friends and family to avoid your business. Luckily, there are a range of ways that you can ensure a great level of customer service on both Instagram and other social media platforms.

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How Can I Use Instagram to Provide Excellent Customer Service?

If you are using social media to market your brand, you should ensure you have thought about the appropriate steps to provide a good level of customer service. Social media offers an additional way for people to contact you, on top of the usual email, phone and online web chat features many businesses use.

 

Ensure All Messages are Being Monitored

Many brands fail to regularly monitor incoming Instagram messages, especially messages that get sent to ‘requests’. The best way to ensure messages are being monitored and replied to is to assign a team member to check Instagram messages at least once per day.

If you are a small business and do not have any staff members, ensure you turn on Instagram notifications so that you can see when people have messaged the business, and try to check the messages once per day. Instagram marketing can be highly effective, but if messages aren’t being seen and get ignored, it can only damage your business rather than help!

 

Use Instagram Features such as Story Highlights and IGTV for FAQs

One of the best ways to ensure there is a great level of customer service on Instagram is to provide information that will give users the answers they want to know, without them having to go out of their way to contact you.

Including frequently asked questions on your Instagram profile will allow people to find the answers they are looking for immediately, which will encourage them to find out more about the brand and even make a purchase. A great and effective way to do this is to create a story highlight that includes a number of popular questions and answers. This way, people can click on the FAQ story highlight and hopefully find the answer they are looking for within seconds.

 

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Utilise Business Profile Tools

An Instagram business profile offers extra tools that can be useful to brands wanting to connect with new and existing customers.

On the ‘Edit Profile’ button, Instagram allows businesses to add information such as the best contact options, whether contact information will be displayed on the profile, and even give users the option of adding an ‘action’ button, which is a great way to encourage people to actually take action after viewing your profile. Ensure all of these tools are optimised and contact information is clearly displayed on the business profile.

 

Add Information About Customer Service in Your Bio

Even though a business profile on Instagram allows you to add contact information to the profile, addressing customer service in your bio will only leave a good impression on people that come across your business.

A great way to do this is by inputting a call-to-action statement (CTA) that encourages people to contact the business and also informs them of the best way to do so. If you would rather enquiries come through email, state so in the bio! If you would like people to DM you, rather than call, ask them for a DM!

 

Use Social Listening to Track and Reply to Comments

Social listening is extremely important for any business and involves the monitoring of comments about a brand, that may not have been sent to the business directly.

On Instagram, this would involve tracking any hashtags or mentions of your business, as well as reading all comments on your Instagram posts and replying, where necessary. If you ever find that someone leaves a bad comment on your profile, you should always address them with an apology and ask them to contact you with more details so that you can resolve any issues they had.

 

Schedule Your Social Posts and Content with Feedalpha

Feedalpha is not only a great tool for scheduling content for Instagram, as well as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We provide a range of resources to help with content because we know how difficult it can be to create engaging content that is targeted specifically at your audience. We can create tailored content to save you time and help increase your engagement online. Find out more here (www.feedalpha.com) and start your free trial today!

 

Gary Evans

Gary Evans

Gary is the Founder of Feedalpha. He has a background in AI, Data Analytics, SEO, Digital Strategy and Web Design.