Instagram DM: Tips and Tools for Managing Your Inbox

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Every Instagram user wants more followers. But with more followers comes more engagement and more Instagram DMs.

If you’re a busy entrepreneur, influencer, or marketing professional, then managing so many messages from your followers is a time-consuming task.

Thankfully, there are quite a few tools that can help you stay on top of your Instagram inbox.

In this post, we’ll go over some of the best ways to use your Instagram DMs to interact with your audience. We’ll also be looking at a few tools that will make managing these messages easier. 

What is DM on Instagram?

Direct Message (DM) on Instagram is a feature that allows you to have private conversations with another user. With an Instagram DM you can send:

  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Profiles
  • Locations and so on

Why Do Instagram DMs Matter for Your Brand?

Your Instagram DM inbox offers one of the best ways to build one-on-one connections with your audience.

Instagram users appreciate brands that take the time to respond quickly to their questions and concerns. 

Staying on top of your messages on Instagram is also important if you don’t want to miss out on new opportunities.

Since Instagram is the most popular social media platform at the moment, it’s not uncommon for potential clients, influencers, and other collaborators to reach out via DM instead of email. If you let your inbox overflow, then you risk missing out on important business connections.

Your brand’s Instagram DM inbox is also a great place to generate new leads. You can use your DMs to send welcome messages to your newest followers or inform past and current customers about special offers. 

Although Instagram messenger wasn’t intended for business use, it’s a great way to reach out and establish personal relationships with your audience. This gives your Instagram persona a human touch and encourages more of your audience to engage and interact with you. Over time, this translates to brand loyalty and increased sales.

Tips for Managing Your Instagram DM Inbox

To really make the most of the benefits that using Instagram messenger can provide, it’s important to manage your inbox wisely. The last thing you want to do is lose your audience’s interest or damage your brand’s reputation by taking weeks to reply to your DMs.

Here are a few tips for making this task easier:

1. Create Templates for DMs and Replies

Creating response templates are a great way to streamline the process of managing your Instagram DM inbox.

If there are questions and comments that you see often in your Instagram DM inbox, you can create reply templates that you can copy and paste to respond to your audience.

You can also create templates for welcome messages, replies to customer complaints, and quirky sayings that your brand uses.

2. Enlist the Help of Your Team

If you have more than one person on your marketing team, it’s a good idea to share your inbox management responsibilities.

You can assign each member of your team certain days or hours in which they’re responsible for providing your audience with thorough, speedy replies to their messages.

This way, no one gets stuck with the overwhelming responsibility of keeping an eye on your brand’s messages inbox 24/7. 

3. Use A Tool to Automate the Process

There are quite a few online tools that you can use to manage your Instagram DM inbox. This is a great option if you don’t have a team to help out.

Here are some of the best Instagram direct message management tools that I’ve tested out:

Tool for Managing Instagram DM Inbox #1. Sprout Social

Sprout Social offers many social media management tools for businesses. Their Smart Inbox is a great solution if you’re currently overwhelmed by an overflowing inbox.

With this tool, you can monitor and manage your Instagram account’s messages and comments so you’ll never miss out on a chance to connect with your audience.

Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox allows you to monitor all of your Instagram DMs from one convenient location.

Additionally, the company offers training and customer support to help you onboard their services effortlessly. 

This tool is great for increasing your social media team’s productivity. Instead of spending hours sorting out your brand’s Instagram DM inbox, you can dedicate your time to creating content and meeting your other business goals.

With Sprout Social, it’s easy to delegate tasks and create content collaboratively. When you sign up for Sprout Social’s engagement tools, you’ll gain access to a variety of features including:

  • Message spike alerts
  • Review management
  • Bot builder
  • Task assignment
  • Message tagging
  • Social CRM
  • Team reports
  • Help desk support

One thing to consider before checking out Sprout Social is your budget.

Even though this is an awesome tool, it’s quite an investment. I suggest testing out their free trial before committing to a subscription.

Here’s an overview of their subscription offerings:

  • The Standard Plan

This plan is available for $99 per month per user. On the Standard Plan, you can connect up to five social profiles.

This Plan gives you access to Sprout Social’s all-in-one inbox and other helpful social media marketing tools like post scheduling and content calendars.

  • The Professional Plan

For the Professional Plan, you’ll pay $149 per month per user. With this plan, you can access all of the standard features and extra features to help with managing your Instagram DM inbox including:

  • Incoming and outgoing message content tagging
  • Scheduling for optimal send times 
  • Response rate and time analysis reports
  • The Advanced Plan

For $249 per month per user, you can sign up for Sprout Social’s Advanced Plan. This plan comes with even more cool messenger tools like:

  • Saved and suggested replies
  • Chatbots with automation tools
  • Inbox rule builder for automated actions
  • The Enterprise Plan

This plan is completely customizable, so the price per month varies depending on which features you add.

You can choose a variety of features to make managing your Instagram DM inbox a breeze! Some of the premium options you can choose from include expert onboarding and consulting services and advanced analytics tools.

As you can see, Sprout Social is a great option but it’s pretty pricey.

However, if you’re just interested in the Instagram DM inbox management features, there’s a more affordable option–IG:dm. 

Tool for Managing Instagram DM Inbox #3. IG:dm

IG:dm lets you manage your Instagram direct messages from both your phone and your desktop. Sending Instagram DM’s via your desktop is more convenient for sending mass messages and copying and pasting your brand’s reply templates.

ig:dm-tool-for-managing-instagram-dm-inbox
Photo Courtesy of IG:dm.

Check out some of this tool’s top features:

  • Manage Users

It’s easy to keep track of your audience using IG:dm. With this tool, you can search for users and start conversations. Sometimes messages get lost in your inbox. This feature helps you to weed through the spam and find the users you need to reach. 

IG:dm also helps you keep track of your following. With this tool, you can view a list of all the users who aren’t following you back.

This function is an added bonus for those who like to monitor their following to follower ratio.

  • Chat With Ease

IG:dm features a variety of chat functions. You can quote chat messages and view chat images directly from your desktop. 

  • Flexible

IG:dm is a very flexible tool that you can use with just about any operating system including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

  • Affordable

If IG:dm’s basic features meet your needs, you can use it for free for as long as you want. But, if you want additional features, you can upgrade to IG:dm Pro.

With the upgraded version of IG:dm, you can log in to multiple accounts to manage your direct messages and load up to 100 conversations at once.

This version also includes a Slack-styled emoji search function, quick replies, and the option to select a dark theme.

With IG:dm Pro, you can also delete conversations and unsend messages from your desktop.

Tool for Managing Instagram DM Inbox #4. Windows 10 Instagram App

If you have a desktop computer that runs on the Windows 10 operating system, then you can download the Instagram app from the Microsoft Store.

This is the official Instagram app for Windows and it supports direct messaging. It’s easy to manage your Instagram DM inbox using this tool.

Here’s how it works:

  • Step 1

The first step to managing your Instagram DM inbox with the Windows 10 Instagram app is to download the app from the Microsoft Store.

When you visit the store and search for Instagram, it should be the first option you see. Once you’ve found it, click Get and it will begin downloading.

When it’s finished downloading, click Launch to start using it!

instagram-dm-windows-10-app

  • Step 2

Once the Windows 10 Instagram App has been downloaded and launched, you’ll need to enter your username and password to log in.

This is the official Instagram app for Windows, so you don’t have to worry about your credentials being misused.

  • Step 3

After logging in, click the Instagram Direct icon in the upper right corner. You should see an icon that looks like a paper airplane.

With this function, you can view all of your existing direct messages, search for specific messages, and send new messages with ease!

Tool for Managing Instagram DM Inbox #5. Android Emulator

If you don’t have a computer that operates using Windows 10, there’s still a way to manage your Instagram DM inbox from your desktop.

You can use a tool called an Android emulator to install the Instagram app on your computer. This tool allows you to use the Android operating system on your PC.

There are quite a few Android emulators to choose from. Some of the best ones are Android Studio’s emulator, Droid4X, and Bluestacks.

Here’s how you can use an Android emulator to manage your Instagram DM inbox from your desktop:

  • Step 1

The first step is to select an Android emulator. There are a ton of options out there, but they all pretty much work the same. Just be sure to choose one with good reviews!

  • Step 2

Once you install and launch the Android emulator of your choice, you’ll be asked to sign in with your Google account.

Some Android emulators will also require you to verify your phone number for added security. 

  • Step 3

After logging in to your Google account, click on the icon for the Google Play Store to launch it. Then, search for the Instagram app and download and install it.

Once it’s installed, you’ll need to log in to your Instagram account just like you would if you were downloading the Instagram app to use on your smartphone.

From there, you can manage your Instagram direct messages just like you would on your phone.

Tool for Managing Instagram DM Inbox #6. Instagram Direct

Instagram recently made updates to its messaging function. Formally known as Instagram Direct, this feature lets you chat with one or more users.

You can create engaging direct messages using this tool. Not only can you send plain text messages, but you can also share photos and videos from your device and Instagram profiles and posts from other users.

Instagram Direct is perfect for sending group messages to certain members of your audience. You can also use it to send personalized messages and provide assistance to your customers.

With Instagram Direct, accounts that you aren’t following have to request to message you. This keeps the number of spam messages to a minimum, so your important messages won’t get lost in the crowd. You can choose to decline or allow messages from accounts you don’t follow. 

If you have a ton of message requests that you don’t want to sift through, you can tap ‘Decline All’ at the bottom of the screen to ignore all of them at once.

When you accept a message from an account you don’t follow, all future messages from them will go straight to your inbox.

This helps you to keep track of your audience’s messages without necessarily needing to follow them back. This is perfect for accounts with thousands of followers because you can’t follow them all.

In Conclusion

Hopefully, after reading this post, you have a better understanding of how to manage your Instagram DM inbox.

Many of the suggestions I mentioned are free to test out, so give them all a try to figure what works best for you!

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