3 Strategies to Make Money with Instagram DMs

"Make money on Instagram" is a search result with a 20k monthly search minimum on Google.

This is not a surprise.

Everyone wants to figure out different ways to earn money online through social media platforms, especially businesses worldwide.

The traditional route to making money on Instagram is always available.

In the past, having a dedicated Instagram page that showcases their products, uses paid advertising, and includes links to their own website in their Instagram bio has worked for smaller and larger businesses alike.

Instagram and Facebook are great places to start making money, but there's a catch that's increasingly affecting pages of all sizes.

It is getting harder and harder by the minute to stand out and keep making that bank.

It takes a large customer service team working day and night to take care of the endless inquiries that arise with the social media territory.

Not to mention that they become crucial to keeping a loyal customer base happy and coming back for more.

What these businesses don't know is that they're playing at a college football level when they could be shooting at the major leagues.

As a business owner myself, I decided to go pro by creating proprietary software that would help me be in control of my own audience, reach a bigger demographic, and, above all, increase my sales.

I soon discovered the gold mine that are chatbots and DM automation for businesses on social media, and now I want to share it with the world.

Thanks to the level of personalization I've created within my proprietary software, it can help all manner of E-commerce businesses, from fashion to course creators.

But why should you believe me?

If we haven’t met, I’m Liz.

Since 2019, I’ve been running a DFY AI chatbot agency on a mission to change how online brands monetize their Instagram and Facebook channels, one conversation at a time. 

In this blog, I will break down three strategies I deployed for completely different businesses to start moving their Facebook and Instagram followers from a rented audience (Zuck’s) to an owned audience: their email and SMS lists, all automated, using DM marketing.

In the last four years, I have sent over 50,000,000 automated DMs for a variety of creators and e-commerce brands, making between $50k/mo and $10M/mo.

I'll also share strategies that currently help my clients increase revenue and engagement on Meta platforms using MY proprietary technology and a done-for-you chat system.

Still don't believe me?

Sounds too good to be true?

Not to worry; keep reading, and you'll see the facts speak for themselves.

Building The Foundation to an Improved "Instagram Shop"

Any professional football player needs to understand the team's plays before they go into the field.

So, before we discuss these three strategies, let me take a step back and explain the basics of this software.

Thanks to this, you'll be able to make money substantially quicker on Instagram without having to hire a customer service team the size of a football team.

And since we're in the big leagues, we'll be talking about fully automated social chat funnels.

A chat funnel is an automated back-and-forth conversation between your business and a Facebook or Instagram user (who doesn't need to be following you).

Here, the automated chatbot we developed for you can:

• Drive more sales
• Capture new leads (email, SMS subscribers, or DM list subscribers)
• Automate 90%+ of your DM conversations.

At this point, you may be thinking, "How is this not going to get my account blocked?"

Not to worry—this is 100% Meta-compliant.

Let me give you some backstory.

Between 2020 and 2023, I was in three of Meta’s closed beta programs, testing out DM lists and Instagram DM automation before they were rolled out to the public.

This means I've tested all the strategies to ensure the safety of your quarterback: your Instagram and Facebook accounts, and they are safe and sound with us.

Now that we've got some basics out of the way, let's get to the fun stuff.

A Unique Strategy for Each Unique Facebook and Instagram Business Account

Every business is different, and there are different avenues we can use to get Instagram users to engage with our clients.

The SECRET is giving people a good reason to engage with your organic or paid content and to WANT to hear from you.

There are nine ways to capture people in your DM ecosystem.

For now, I’ll break down three of them with some examples:

1. The Facebook post
2. The Instagram reel
3. The Instagram story

Here we have the artist,

the fitness brand,

and the clothing brand.

They all have one thing in common: a 90%+ SMS capture rate in their DMs, thanks to the personalized chatbot DM automation system my team and I built for them.

So the team is on the field; they have the ball, and all they need to do is run the play.

Breaking Down the Strategy

Time to really get down to the nitty-gritty details of the different strategies

Example 1:

This clothing brand uploaded a Facebook post asking people to comment with the word "MYSTERY" to claim a special offer.

When people commented, they got an auto-DM that captured people’s emails and sent it to their email service provider.

At the time they were working with an influencer.

Through a video the influencer created in the DMs, they were able to funnel hundreds of phone numbers, creating a list of contacts purely owned by them.

Afterward, the chatbot asked 3-4 questions to personalize their experience and understand their likes and dislikes.

These responses synced with their other tools, like email and SMS marketing software, creating a seamless omnichannel experience.

And finally, people were asked to opt into the brand’s DM list in preparation for Black Friday.

The DM list is like your email or SMS list but in the DMs.

This is Meta’s initiative to allow businesses to send out free push notifications promoting anything they want through DMs.

If a purchase wasn’t made, the chatbot would start new value-driven conversations over the following days, weeks, or months to continue educating, answer FAQs, and lead the user to checkout.

The client set this to keep users happy and prevent them from feeling "spammy."

The result?

A 23% purchase rate from this campaign, all through DM automation.

Example 2:

This artist put up a reel on their Instagram business account promoting an upcoming month-long challenge that would only run through DMs. 

People had to comment the word CHALLENGE in order to register and then check their DMs.

In the DMs, he chose to lead by capturing them on his DM list first, then his email list, and finally, his SMS list. 

At the end of the registration, he posted a video of himself congratulating and hyping people for the upcoming challenge, AND he sent them a free ebook. 

The challenge only ran via DMs over the following month, and the prompts were broadcast to registrants daily through DMs.

Within 24 hours of this challenge, they collected over 1,000 emails, leading to an increased revenue of $22,212 in just ONE month.

Example 3:

For this fitness brand, we built a calorie calculator. 

They put up Instagram stories telling people to reply with the word CALORIES to take the free calculator.

When they did, a personalized conversation started, asking them questions about their eating habits and workout routine to calculate their calories.

After eight back-and-forth dialogues, we captured their email and phone numbers towards the end of the conversation. 

Because the conversation was so valuable, 92% of people opted for both the email list (to receive their personalized calories) AND the SMS list (to receive their personalized fat loss plan).

The Takeaway:

Conversations go nowhere unless the consumer perceives them as useful, and meaningful conversations are the new backbone of any exceptional marketing effort.

In a conversational scenario, speed to answer is NOT the only brand value that matters, despite most online brands hiring an army of customer support agents to answer DMs around the clock.

The customer’s satisfaction, genuine interest, and time spent on them are equally important.

More and more brands are taking this step: engineering their conversational interfaces to be as fast, interesting, and useful as possible.

Shoppers want to complete tasks easily and efficiently and feel confident and valued by doing so.

Brands join GROW AI looking for a new personalized Facebook and Instagram marketing strategy, and they leave with a custom-built DM automation system that's helped them hit 20, 30, and even 40% purchase rates.

If you liked this blog and you want this done for you, click this link to schedule a call with my team.

Don't forget to check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.

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