It’s no secret Instagram is used by brands in a variety of ways beyond just sharing photos. Customer service is one of those; while Instagram may not be your platform of choice to address your customers’ concerns, it’s a channel that should remain open to your audience. The idea of “Instagram Customer Service” regularly impacts marketers who use it for advertising and community-building, but also receive feedback from consumers. Today we’re going to discuss how to make Instagram Customer Service work.
What Is Instagram Customer Service?
The concept of Instagram Customer Service doesn’t stand alone unless we’re talking about technical support for the app itself. However, as part of an advanced, effective marketing strategy, you can view Instagram Customer Service as a well-established pillar in your consumer engagement strategy. Essentially, providing Instagram Customer Service to your community means being willing and available to address their questions and concerns within the app.
Even if you choose to later transfer the customer service concern to your preferred channel, addressing inquiries as they arise can be critical to building trust and transparency with your following. Ultimately, creating a dialogue with your customers and followers (a necessary part of building engaged communities) will result in the occasional concern and feedback.
So how should you approach Instagram customer service as a brand? Here are some tips to uplevel your brand’s Instagram customer service presence.
Building a Customer Service Presence on Instagram
Use Buttons Properly
Instagram provides a convenient and easy way to use your account for business. The first thing visitors see is your profile information. Place contacts for your brand and a link to your ecommerce website in your Instagram bio. Add action buttons to your profile so that users can easily contact you. These buttons appear right below the bio section.
If you’d prefer customer service inquiries for your brand be handled outside of the app, make sure that’s clearly stated on your profile, or provide a link for support.
Resource Your Social Media Manager Appropriately
If your social media manager is expected to provide customer service, or even just point followers to another avenue to receive support, make sure that person is equipped to answer questions, direct users to the resources they need, manage conflicts, and track mentions. It’s also helpful to compile a quick guide to the most frequently asked questions; prepared answers to routine questions will free up managers’ time for more complex customer service tasks.
Create Navigation
Help your customers quickly navigate your account. If your goal is to provide customer service, then put the information your customers need in your account’s story highlights. Provide clear paths for customers to read reviews and testimonials, view product pricing, see products in action through user-generated content, or even shop from your profile. In addition to taking advantage of Instagram’s marketplace feature, brands using Pixlee TurnTo can create Shoppable Instagram widgets on their ecommerce websites to tie social proof and shopping together.
Use Direct Messaging for Specific Issues
Transferring communication from comments to direct message (DMs) is beneficial for your profile stats, promotion, personalized service, and protection of your customer’s data. Additionally, it’s easier to take concerns off of the Instagram app and escalate them within your customer service system of choice by connecting in DMs first.
Revel Nail uses Pixlee TurnTo to manage content from its community, and takes opportunities both in comments and DMs to answer frequently asked questions. In this post, the brand provides a helpful blurb for all followers in response to a user’s question.
Track Mentions
You’ve probably noticed that many users may not necessarily follow a brand’s profile if they want to leave a review about it. Many social media users may post their own UGC about your brand or product instead of commenting on your posts, through static posts, stories, or text. Using a social listening tool will help you identify all opportunities to resolve negative customer experiences or celebrate fans who love your products. Pixlee TurnTo also allows brands to automatically collect this content to reuse on other marketing channels beyond social media. Switch on Notifications
A quick response is a key to good customer service. Enable all possible profile notifications to provide support on time. Nowadays, nobody waits 24 hours for technical support to process a request. If a client doesn’t receive an answer quickly, they might be tempted to opt for your competitor. You can also turn on notifications for other accounts, allowing you to know immediately when your brand advocates, ambassadors, or influencers are posting.
Project Nursery uses Pixlee TurnTo to collect and reshare customer content as it’s posted on Instagram, like this nursery setup from a follower.
Сustomers love and appreciate quick feedback. With Instagram, you can quickly respond to customer inquiries and communicate with prospective clients, get their opinions on your product, direct them to the right resources and channels, and attract a larger audience.
To do this, you need to work thoroughly on every detail of your page and content to provide visitors with valuable information and support.
