Live Chat

• Allows you to manage all your messages across platforms (Messenger, Instagram, SMS) in a single dashboard
• Enables features like reacting to messages with emojis, tagging conversations, and easily handing off conversations to your sales or customer service team

Comment Growth Tool

• Automatically sends a message reply when someone comments on a specific post
• Allows you to capture user information like email and phone number through the message flow

Conversation Starters

• Pre-built message flows that are triggered when someone taps on a specific call-to-action in your Instagram story
• Great for e-commerce, restaurants, and other businesses to provide information or enable actions like placing orders

Keywords

• Triggers an automated message when someone sends you a specific keyword in a direct message or your Instagram story
• Versatile for lead generation, customer support, and more

Story Mentions

• Automatically sends a message when someone mentions your account in their Instagram story
• Allows you to quickly thank and engage with users

User Inputs

• Capture information like email, phone number, and other data points through automated message flows
• Integrates seamlessly with other features like the Comment Growth Tool

Story Ads & Message Template Ads

• Leverage Instagram story ads and feed ads with the ability to trigger automated message flows
• Seamlessly transition conversations from ads to your sales or support team

Rules & Compliance

• 24-hour window to message a user after they initiate an interaction
• Require an opt-in before starting an automated conversation
• Can manually respond to users outside the 24-hour window using the native Instagram inbox

Overall, these new Instagram automation features provide businesses of all sizes powerful tools to streamline lead generation, customer engagement, and sales processes on the platform. By leveraging these capabilities, you can save time, improve efficiency, and drive better results from your Instagram marketing efforts.

The live chat feature in Instagram automations allows you to manage all your messages across platforms in a single dashboard. This is a powerful tool that provides several benefits:

1. Unified Inbox: With live chat, you can view and respond to messages from Instagram, Messenger, and even SMS (if using a platform like ManyChat) in one centralized location. This streamlines your workflow and ensures you don't miss any important conversations.

2. Tagging and Filtering: You can tag contacts and filter conversations by tags. This makes it easy for your sales, customer service, or other teams to quickly identify and take over relevant discussions.

3. Reactions: You can react to messages with emojis, just like you would in the native Instagram interface. This adds a personal touch to your interactions.

4. Efficiency: By consolidating all your messaging into one dashboard, you can respond to inquiries more quickly and provide a better overall customer experience.

Live chat is a game-changer for businesses and marketers who want to optimize their Instagram engagement and communication. It saves time, improves organization, and ensures no message falls through the cracks.

The comment growth tool is a powerful feature of the new Instagram automations. It allows you to automatically respond to users who comment on your Instagram posts, opening up a conversation and providing an opportunity for lead generation.

Here's how it works:

1. Set up the comment growth tool: Within your Instagram automation platform (e.g. ManyChat, Chatfuel, etc.), you can configure the comment growth tool on specific Instagram posts. This involves creating a message template that will be sent to users who comment.

2. Capture user information: The message you send can include a call-to-action that prompts the user to provide information, such as their email address or phone number. This allows you to capture valuable lead data directly from the Instagram interaction.

3. Seamless lead handoff: Once the user responds with their information, you can set up your automation to seamlessly pass the lead to your sales team or integrate it with your CRM for further nurturing.

The key benefits of the comment growth tool include:

• Automated lead generation: Turn Instagram comments into qualified leads without manual effort.
• Valuable user data: Collect email addresses, phone numbers, and other information to build your marketing lists.
• Streamlined lead management: Easily pass leads to your sales team or integrate with your existing systems.

To get started, make sure you have an Instagram business account and the necessary access to the new automation features. Then, start experimenting with the comment growth tool on your top-performing Instagram posts. This powerful feature can help you turn your social media engagement into tangible business results.

The new Instagram automations feature includes a powerful tool called "Conversation Starters". This allows you to set up pre-defined messages that users can trigger by interacting with your content.

Some key benefits of using Conversation Starters:

• Engage Users: Provide an easy way for users to start a conversation with you, whether it's about your products, services, or just to learn more.
• Deliver Value: Use Conversation Starters to share helpful resources, information, or offers that are relevant to your audience.
• Qualify Leads: Gather important information from users, like email addresses or phone numbers, to help nurture them through your sales funnel.
• Save Time: Automate common inquiries and interactions so you can focus on more high-value tasks.

To set up Conversation Starters, you'll need to connect your Instagram account to a third-party tool like ManyChat. From there, you can customize the trigger messages and the responses you want to send.

For example, you could have a Conversation Starter that says "Learn more about our products" which then sends the user to a product information flow. Or "What's your biggest marketing challenge?" which captures their response and sends them relevant content.

The key is to think about the most common questions, interests or pain points your audience has, and create Conversation Starters that provide them value while also qualifying them as potential leads. Test different options and monitor engagement to optimize your strategy over time.

Conversation Starters are a simple but powerful way to drive more meaningful interactions on Instagram. By making it easy for users to engage with you, you can build stronger relationships and generate better business results.

One of the powerful features of the new Instagram automations is the ability to use keywords to trigger automated responses. This allows you to create engaging interactions with your audience and capture valuable information like email addresses or phone numbers.

Here's how it works:

1. Set up Keyword Triggers: Within your automation platform (e.g. ManyChat, Chatfuel, etc.), you can configure specific keywords that will trigger an automated response. For example, you could set up a keyword like "instacool" that, when sent to you, would trigger a message with a link to your Instagram automation tutorial playlist.

2. Promote Keyword Triggers: You can promote your keyword triggers in various ways, such as:

   • Mentioning them in your Instagram stories and asking followers to send you a message with the keyword
   • Including the keyword in your Instagram bio or post captions, inviting people to interact
   • Running ads that prompt users to send a message with the keyword

3. Capture User Input: When someone sends you a message with your keyword, you can then use "user input" features to capture additional information from them, such as their email address or phone number. This allows you to build your email list or connect with leads directly through Instagram.

4. Automate Responses: Based on the user input you collect, you can then automate personalized responses, such as sending a lead magnet, scheduling a call, or nurturing the relationship further.

The beauty of this approach is that it allows you to create seamless, automated experiences for your Instagram audience, while also gathering valuable data to support your marketing and sales efforts. By leveraging keywords and user input, you can turn casual Instagram interactions into actionable business opportunities.

Remember to always follow Instagram's policies and provide value to your audience. Used responsibly, these Instagram automation features can be a game-changer for growing your business.

The story mentions feature in Instagram automations is a powerful tool that allows you to turn engagement into meaningful connections. Here's how it works:

• When someone mentions you in their Instagram story, you can automatically send them a message thanking them and providing additional value.
• This opens up a 24-hour window where you can continue the conversation and potentially convert them into a lead or customer.
• To set this up, you simply need to turn on the "story mention" automation in your third-party tool like ManyChat.
• When someone tags you in their story, they'll receive an instant message from you - you can customize this message to fit your brand and goals.
• Story mentions are a great way to foster relationships, provide customer service, and drive traffic to your content or offers.
• The key is to make the interaction personalized and helpful, not salesy. Use this as an opportunity to start a genuine conversation.

Overall, story mentions are an underutilized but highly effective Instagram automation that can help you turn casual engagement into meaningful connections. Give it a try and see the impact it can have on your business!

User inputs are a powerful feature of the new Instagram automations. This tool allows you to easily capture valuable information from your audience, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and other data points.

Here's how it works:

• You can set up a user input question within your automation, such as "What's your email address?"
• When a user interacts with your automation, they will be prompted to provide the requested information.
• The user's response is then automatically captured and stored, making it easy to build your email list, create a waitlist, or gather other important data.

The beauty of user inputs is the seamless integration with your automation flows. You can trigger user inputs at various stages, whether it's after a comment, a story mention, or a keyword interaction. This allows you to strategically collect information and nurture your audience.

For example, you could set up a comment growth tool that prompts users to enter their email when they comment on a post. Or you could have a story mention automation that asks for a phone number to sign up for a special offer.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to leveraging user inputs to grow your business. By capturing valuable data directly within your Instagram automations, you can streamline your lead generation and customer engagement efforts.

Remember, the key is to make the user input process simple and straightforward. Use clear call-to-actions and ensure the requested information is relevant and valuable to your audience.

Get started with user inputs today and unlock the power of data-driven marketing on Instagram!

Story ads on Instagram have been around for over 4 years, with over 4 billion businesses utilizing them. The new Instagram automations now allow you to take your story ads to the next level by combining visuals with powerful automation features.

Some key benefits of using story ads with Instagram automations:

1. Keyword Triggers: You can set up keyword triggers that allow users to interact with your ad by sending a specific keyword. This triggers an automated response, allowing you to capture information like email addresses or phone numbers.

2. User Inputs: Along with keyword triggers, you can use the user input feature to directly ask users for information like email, phone number, etc. This data can then be used for lead generation and nurturing.

3. Seamless Handoff: The live chat functionality allows you to seamlessly transfer conversations from the automated flow to a sales or support team, ensuring a smooth customer experience.

4. Message Template Ads: You can now create story ads that open directly into an Instagram message, allowing you to guide users through an automated flow right from the ad.

5. Increased Engagement: By making your story ads more interactive and conversational, you can drive significantly higher engagement compared to traditional static story ads.

To get started, you'll need to have a business account with at least 10,000 followers (for now). Then, you can leverage a third-party tool like ManyChat to build out your automated story ad flows. Be sure to follow Instagram's policies and the 24-hour messaging window rule.

With the power of visuals combined with intelligent automation, story ads on Instagram are poised to become an incredibly effective marketing channel for businesses of all sizes.

The new Instagram automations feature allows businesses to create message template ads. These ads can be set up to open directly into the Instagram messaging platform, enabling seamless handoffs to sales teams.

Some key benefits of message template ads include:

1. Capturing User Information: The ads can be integrated with user input features to capture valuable data like email addresses and phone numbers, helping to build your lead generation efforts.

2. Automated Greetings: The automation can be set up to greet users who click on the ad, providing a personalized and efficient initial interaction.

3. Sales Team Handoffs: Once the initial automation is complete, the conversation can be seamlessly transferred to a sales representative for further engagement and nurturing.

4. Leveraging Existing Ad Campaigns: Message template ads allow you to extend the power of your existing Instagram ad campaigns by driving users directly into a messaging experience.

Overall, the message template ad feature is a powerful tool that enables businesses to create more personalized and effective Instagram ad experiences that drive real results. By combining the reach of ads with the engagement of messaging, companies can optimize their sales and lead generation efforts on the platform.

In this episode, we covered the exciting new features of Instagram Automations, which have recently been released by Facebook. These powerful tools can help businesses and marketers streamline their Instagram engagement and lead generation efforts.

Key features we discussed include:

1. Live Chat: Manage all your messages across platforms (Instagram, Messenger, SMS) in one dashboard.

2. Comment Growth Tool: Automatically respond to comments on your posts with customized messages.

3. Conversation Starters: Set up pre-built messages that users can trigger by tapping a button in your Stories.

4. Keywords: Allow users to trigger automated responses by sending you specific keywords in DMs or Stories.

5. Story Mentions: Automatically respond when users mention you in their Stories.

6. User Inputs: Capture lead information like email and phone number through automated conversations.

7. Story Ads: Integrate keyword-triggered automations with your Instagram Story ads.

We also covered the key rules and guidelines around using these new Instagram Automation features, including the 24-hour messaging window and the requirement for clear opt-in flows.

Overall, these tools present a huge opportunity for businesses and marketers to streamline their Instagram engagement and lead generation efforts. I encourage you to start experimenting with them, especially if you have 10,000+ followers. And be sure to check out the resources I mentioned, including the playlist of tutorial videos on my YouTube channel.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions! I'm excited to see how you all put these new Instagram Automations to use.