Instagram for Customer Service: Best Practices and Use Cases

Around 150 million people come into contact with companies and brands on Instagram every month. Looking at the numbers, it's logical to think that this social network is extremely important for meeting, finding and retaining customers. 

Customer service is essential for any business, and in the digital age, this service has also moved to social media. Understanding how to use it to your advantage to interact and create valuable connections that can translate into conversions is vital if you want your brand to remain competitive in the market. Benefits of using Instagram for customer service There are many, that is why it is important to know and analyze them.

Interaction through Instagram allows you to offer your products and services from a modern perspective, in which you are not only selling merchandise, but also offering experiences and solutions. The cornerstone of this social network, like any other, is the possibility of immediacy.

Nowadays, one of the key elements to ensure that your customers feel they are being well attended to is response time: the faster the response, the better their rating will be. If you take too long, you will probably lose the sale, and the customer as well. But in addition to immediacy, customers want to receive a personalized experience, to feel that they are considered and valued by the brand.

Working on customer service strategies on social media to improve the service provided will make your buyers loyal to the brand, recommend the business and, therefore, increase sales.

Instagram Customer Service Best Practices

In short, to improve customer service you must give your strategy an approach that humanizes your brand. What does this mean? That customers feel like they are interacting with someone who listens and is willing to address their needs, even when they know that the messages they receive are automated.

With this in mind, all companies must find a balance between Automatic responses through chatbots and personalized attention that users search for on social networks. To meet this objective, there are a series of tips that you can implement:

1. Respond quickly and to everyone 

Each concern should be answered as quickly as possible, even if there is no immediate solution. The main thing is to reassure the customer that their concern has been received and that you are working to provide a response as soon as possible.

To achieve this, it is advisable to train your support agents to have pre-designed responses to the most frequently asked questions. Another thing you can implement is quick responses that will allow you to select a previously written response instead of wasting time rewriting it.

2. Constantly monitor 

It is important to know what your customers say about your brand. This will allow you to discover annoyances or complaints that, if detected in time, can help you retain a customer. ideal client and boost your presence on social media. For this reason, regularly monitor and analyse information about the profile of your current and potential clients in order to develop a customer service strategy tailored to their expectations. 

A solid strategy can attract customers, but to keep them you will need to get used to always keeping an eye on what is happening on your Instagram account. Data such as peak times of visits and volume of questions and comments are some of the elements that will allow you to devise a competitive customer service plan.

3. Do not argue in the comments

If a customer leaves you a review in a post, avoid arguing with them in that way. Customer comments should not affect the service you provide. Texts are emotionless, so they can be easily misinterpreted. The golden rule? Always try to be polite and direct the conversation to a private channel. 

Doing so publicly will not look good in the eyes of other customers. Learning how to handle complaints on Instagram can prevent you from causing damage to your brand's reputation.

Instagram Features for Customer Service

There are several features within the application that will help you optimize the customer service process. The main ones are:

Interactive messaging and polling functionality

On Instagram, you can send stories with some native tools such as polls or questions. This feature serves to capture the attention of your customers and generate a conversation with them that can provide you with relevant information.

Comments and reactions

Comments can also let your customers know that you are interested and aware of what they post. If you want to know how to manage comments on Instagram, there are several basic tips. One of the main ones is to respond or react to everything your audience writes. 

Direct messages

Direct messages are the key channel to talk to your customers. Through them you can carry out support tasks, sales, customer service and more. If you are thinking about how to use DMs on Instagram for customer service, you can basically use them for everything. The key will be to respond as soon as you can and show a genuine interest in what your audience has to say.

Connection to other social networks

Instagram can connect to other social networks, allowing everything you post to be “copied” directly to the other connected networks. This strategy will help you reach a larger audience.

API Connection

Instagram has the ability to make a connection by API with external tools. This technology facilitates the possibility of using the social network for work teams where several agents can support clients from a single place. In addition, it will be possible to view statistics and metrics, assign clients, and many more functions that will help optimize the communication process.
Now, imagine that these benefits that Instagram offers you can be done with any social network. Simpletech We offer a variety of interaction management suites to facilitate your multi-channel communication process. We automate your communication with chatbots, monitor conversations, and provide support in data analysis so you can offer the best customer service.