Meet InstaChamp! Official Instagram Growth Tools Have Arrived!

It’s finally here. The hottest Instagram growth tools to hit the market in years have arrived. 

Introducing InstaChamp by Customers.ai: The world’s first official tools for messaging at scale on Instagram!

InstaChamp huh? Oh yeah, you better believe it, InstaChamp. 

We’re excited, you’re excited, everyone’s excited. Totally agreed. 

So, let’s start with the short version… 

What is InstaChamp?

InstaChamp by Customers.ai is a suite of Instagram DM (direct message) automation tools.

Built for brands to provide customer service and interactions at scale, InstaChamp makes it possible for creators, influencers, and coaches to scale organic engagement and accelerate follower growth on Instagram.

What makes InstaChamp so official? It’s powered by the Facebook Messenger API, which enables new capabilities for businesses to handle messaging at scale on Instagram.

“We are thrilled that Customers.ai is launching InstaChamp messaging tools for Instagram. The Messenger API for Instagram will now enable all businesses to connect with customers on their preferred messaging channel, while integrating existing tools and data to drive business outcomes. By integrating the Messenger API for Instagram, businesses and developers can effectively scale messaging workflows to better own the customer experience and build more authentic relationships.”

Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, VP of Platform Partnerships at Messenger

What can you do with InstaChamp? 

What can you do with new Instagram growth tools from Customers.ai?

Here’s the short list:

✔️ Respond to a virtually infinite number of direct messages per day.

✔️ Instantly reply to comments on your posts.

✔️ Automatically send a ‘thank you’ to everyone that mentions you in their Instagram Story.

✔️ Create a Welcome Message for everyone that sends you a DM for the first time.

✔️ Send fully automated Instagram drip marketing campaigns by creating targeted drip sequences.

✔️ DM inbox management tools, such as chat filters to help you identify your most important conversations on Instagram.

✔️ Add multiple users to the same Instagram account.

And more.

Lastly, 100% Instagram-approved engagement and automated messaging tools are albino unicorn level rare.

Many other software developers have created bots for Instagram that cheat the system and don’t last long on the platform because they shouldn’t.

InstaChamp, on the other hand, accelerates organic engagement with your brand and your content, allowing you to scale messaging beyond anything Instagram has seen to date. 

So, now that we know our collective excitement is justified, let’s get into the details.

InstaChamp Rollout Schedule

The rollout of InstaChamp starts June 2nd, 2021.

Over the coming weeks, Instagram accounts will be granted permissions to leverage InstaChamp based on their number of followers. 

Here’s the schedule:

• June 2nd: Accounts with 10K to 100K followers.
• Early July: Accounts with 10K to 1K followers on Instagram.
• Early August: InstaChamp will be available to all of the general public.

What should you do if your account eligibility is in the future?

Already a Customers.ai user? Connect your Instagram account to Customers.ai and we will notify you when your account is eligible.

Not a Customers.ai user? Sign up for InstaChamp today and connect your Instagram account; Customers.ai will notify you as soon as the Messenger API access becomes available to you.

Believe us when we say we wish we could give you all full access, yesterday!

InstaChamp: Official Instagram Growth & DM Automation Tools

Today we’re going to cover everything you need to know about InstaChamp and how to get started using the world’s first official tools for messaging automation on Instagram.

So, let’s dive into the details as we highlight the tools and use cases made possible by new Instagram growth tools:

• Comment auto-responders: Instantly reply to comments on your posts
• Instagram story mentions: DM people who mention you in their Instagram story
• Welcome greeting messages: Automatic replies to direct messages
• Instagram DM drip marketing campaigns: Send drip sequences to different contact segments.
• DM inbox management solutions: Add multiple users and take control of your inbox
• Getting started with InstaChamp: Everything you need to know

#1. Instagram Growth Tools: Comment Auto-Responders

Instagram comment auto-responders allow you to send private automated messages to people who comment on your posts.

The message is sent to the commenter immediately after the comment is published.  

To trigger a comment auto-responder, users need to comment on a post using a specific keyword. For example, below you’ll see an Instagram post with a CTA (call-to-action) to comment with the word SATURN to enter into an Instagram giveaway. 

Comment auto-responders are extremely powerful and viral in nature because comments equal engagement. More engagement triggers Instagram’s algorithm, which results in more impressions of your post. 

Prior to the launch of this tool, we already have an all-star example of virality from Customers.ai Founder, Larry Kim. 

Larry has a large social media presence with millions of followers across the major social networks. His most successful Instagram post, by far, uses a comment auto-responder.

Here’s Larry’s post, which received over 400 comments in less than 3 weeks!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Larry Kim (@kim_larry)

If you swipe or click through the carousel, you’ll see that the CTA (call-to-action) in the captions and the last slide of the carousel is to: 

“Type “AUTODM” in the comments section below to get instant access to all 15 Instagram auto DM use cases.”

Clearly, one of the best use cases for comment auto-responders is to tease your content and then ask for a comment for access to the full article, infographic, white paper, etc.

There are multiple challenges faced by Instagram marketers addressed with this one solution: 

• Lack of locations where you can place clickable links. 
• Variety of effective CTAs marketers can place in their content.
• Getting people to comment and engage with your posts.

Think about it, where can you place links on Instagram? Most marketers ‘go-to’ call to action is, “Click my bio link for more information.”

However, you can always include a clickable link in a DM. Therefore, by sending a DM to users when they comment on your post, not only do you have an easy CTA for followers to complete, but you also have an opportunity to share a link and drive traffic to your site.

Additionally, the more comments you get on your post, the more visibility your posts will receive.

#2. Instagram Growth Tools: InstaChamp Story Mentions

The Instagram Story Mentions tool immediately caught the attention of brands with large, engaged audiences on Instagram. 

Although Story Mentions are great for companies of all sizes, you’ll soon realize why the big influencers and ecommerce brands are already in love with this new solution.

Here’s how it works: When someone shares your post or tags you in their Instagram story post, this tool will automatically send that person a DM. 

What you send is up to you, but a simple ‘thank you’ note plus an exclusive offer is a great examples, for starters.

Now let’s see a real-life example of the Instagram Story Mentions tool in action!

Below you’ll find another carousel post from @kim_larry. However, in this example the call-to-action is very different from the CTA Larry used to trigger the comment auto-responder. 

This time around, Larry’s trying to encourage his followers to create UGC (user-generated-content) and brand advocacy via word-of-mouth marketing. 

So, to encourage more shares and mentions, Larry’s CTA now is:

“In your next Instagram Story, mention @kim_larry to instantly receive a private DM with instructions on how to set up the Instagram Story Mentions tool for your own account!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Larry Kim (@kim_larry)

The most obvious use case here is to thank people for mentioning you in their Instagram story.

However, other opportunities quickly come to mind when you start thinking about it. Here are just a few to get you started:

• Get more content shares: Use it as an incentive to share your content and create more UGC (user-generated content). For example, make the CTA on your posts to share it in return for an instant reward, like access to exclusive content.
• Promotional offers: Reward people for sharing by sending a link to your latest promotional offer(s). Whether that’s a discount, coupon, or other marketing campaign, it’s a great idea.
• Promote your most important campaigns: Have a big event or new product launch coming up? Make sure your most valuable followers on Instagram know about it.

Story Mentions can be a powerful tool for admired individuals and companies on Instagram to build closer connections with their fans. 

It’s hard for the average business to convince even their most loyal followers to create content for them. 

Story Mentions is making that much easier, and they’re effective for a few key reasons: 

• Incentivizes word-of-mouth, the most powerful form of brand advocacy.
• Encourages future engagement with your content.
• Gives people a reason to mention your brand and create UGC.

#3. Instagram Growth Tools: Automatic Replies to Direct Messages

It’s nearly impossible for accounts with thousands or even millions of followers to keep up with the volume of incoming messages.

Auto-replies to incoming DMs is going to change that forever.

Take what’s commonly referred to as a welcome message or greeting message, for example. A welcome message is an automated response to someone who sends you a DM for the very first time.

Ever read a “choose your own adventure” book?

If you take a closer look at the bottom of the chat conversation above, you’ll notice multiple options for the user to choose from, which come in the form of buttons. 

InstaChamp allows you to use multiple buttons at once, which allow for multiple user journeys one could take. Naturally, depending on which button is selected, a different follow-up message is triggered.

Buttons are quick and easy for the user to navigate their way to the information they’re most interested in.

At the end of each path a prospect or customer chooses, you can add a CTA, such as a link to your most relevant landing page.

With InstaChamp DM Replies, it’s incredibly easy to nurture people down your funnel, capture email addresses, phone numbers, and other important contact information.

Test it out for yourself on the Customers.ai Instagram page by clicking the Message button, then say ”Hello”.

#4. Instagram Growth Tools: Drip Marketing Campaigns

Perhaps the most universally appreciated Instagram DM tools by Customers.ai, are drip marketing campaigns.

Drip campaigns have been available to Customers.ai users on Facebook for some time now. Not surprisingly, drip campaigns are popular among Customers.ai users because they’re extremely effective in both increasing engagement on Instagram, as well as working Facebook leads down your marketing funnels.

Want a live demo on how Instagram DM drip campaigns work? 

Check out Larry Kim’s Instagram page and click on the “Message” button.

Then, send Larry a direct message using the word “DRIP” to trigger the drip sequence! You’ll receive 5 helpful messages over the course of 5 minutes.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Larry Kim (@kim_larry)

Want to learn more about Instagram direct message marketing campaigns, such as drip sequences?

Here’s how to create Instagram DM drip campaigns, step-by-step!

#5. Instagram Growth Tools: Filter Instagram DMs & Find Your Most Important Messages

InstaChamp isn’t the only Instagram tool making a big splash as the Messenger API rolls out Instagram support.

Customers.ai’s OmniChat® messaging platform is now boasting some sweet Instagram DM upgrades.

Check it out: Connect your Instagram account to Customers.ai and turn the Customers.ai inbox into a trackable, searchable, collaborative central hub for all your Instagram communications. 

From Customers.ai’s inbox, you have many tools at your disposal: 

• See everyone that has interacted with your InstaChamp tools over time.
• Review all conversations.
• Build rich-data customer profiles over time to provide great support and offer the right deals at the right time.  

And for those with super high message volume, Customers.ai makes sorting through your conversations and data easy with multiple custom filters.

For example, let’s say you’re using Customers.ai to qualify leads and one of the questions you ask is budget related.

Use the Customers.ai inbox filters to identify all of the leads within a certain range, with real-time alerts, lead routing, and notification tools.

#6. Instagram Growth Tools: Add Multiple Users to Your Instagram Inbox

For the influencers, creators, and brands out there with a large volume of incoming messages per day, you’ve likely had your fair share of frustrations with Instagram’s inbox management features. 

Even if you hire multiple VAs (virtual assistants) to manage your inbox, they end up tripping over one another, logging each other out, and are only able to reply to so many messages per day. 

Here comes Customers.ai multi-user support to the rescue! 

Take full control over your Instagram inbox with multi-user inbox management solutions.

Customers.ai allows you to scale message volume and even increase your send limits per day.

With Customers.ai, you can transform the Instagram DM inbox into a suite of customer support chat tools, which you can use to:

• Answer complicated questions.
• Build data-rich user profiles.
• Alert sales team with notifications of hot leads.

It’s simple to add multiple users to your Instagram inbox to handle even the largest message volumes.

How to filter Instagram conversations and surface opportunities in the Customers.ai inbox

And for those with super high message volume, who wish to conduct customer support via Instagram messaging, you can filter conversations by status, lead assignments, and more, in the Customers.ai inbox.

Here’s an example of how to filter conversations by status, such as:

• Follow Up
• Pending
• Resolved

Then, here’s an example of how to assign a conversation to a sales rep.

People turn to Instagram to stay in touch with the people, products, and services they admire.

Be there for your audience 24/7 and launch an answering service to sell, support, and engage your audience with efficiency and authenticity!

Getting Started with InstaChamp: Official Instagram Growth Tools

Hopefully, by now you’ve had a few lightbulbs go off and you’re starting to think of some possibilities for InstaChamp messaging campaigns for your own brand.

InstaChamp is rolling out now and it’s here to deliver:

• More engagement with your Instagram content.
• The ability to manage and reply to nearly any direct message that lands in your inbox.
• Provide 24/7 support to your followers and customers on Instagram.
• Conduct dozens or even thousands of conversations that otherwise never would have taken place. 

For those of you with a constant overflow of incoming messages on Instagram, there’s a lot to  look forward to. Too many brands and influencers never get a chance to thank their followers or capitalize on all of the organic engagement their brands generate.

As for the SMBs and micro-influencers looking for Instagram growth tools that don’t overinflate your follower count with fake profiles or risk having your account suspended or banned, InstaChamp the answer to accelerate your growth organically.

Instagram’s decision to unleash solutions that scale organic engagement and manage even the fullest of inboxes will fundamentally change how marketing, sales, and customer support professionals use the platform.

We truly believe that InstaChamp’s automated messaging features are going to fundamentally change how businesses use Instagram.

Customers.ai is excited to deliver InstaChamp to users everywhere and proud to be the world’s first official tools for scaling messaging engagement on Instagram!

✅ Get started by signing-up for InstaChamp today!