4 Ways to Send a Direct Message (DM) as a Business Owner on Instagram
Talking to potential clients in their direct messages is one of the most powerful parts of Instagram if you are a business owner. It's a way to start a one-on-one conversation that lets you get to know your audience and build trust. A lot of business owners actually take advantage of direct messaging by using it to grow their email list and sell their services. Today I'm going to walk you through four different ways to DM a potential client through Instagram. The last one I'm going through is my favorite way to do this so make sure to stay until the end. My name is Megan and I help business owners go from confused to confident on social media. I help you create a loyal community, get quality clients, and build a more profitable business.
So the first way you can direct message someone is the most obvious way. When you're on your homepage of Instagram, in the top right hand corner you will see an icon you'll click that and this will be where you can see all of the previous conversations you've had and how you can search for someone that you are following and start a conversation there. This is going to be the quickest way to access your direct messages and start a new conversation, especially if you know who you're going to be talking with already.
The second way I'm going to walk you through sending a direct message is from the home feed, the explore page, or the search feature. So if you're on your home feed you will be scrolling through other people's posts and if you want to direct message someone from their post you simply click on their username, go to their profile, press the message button, and send them a direct message from there. If you're on your explore page and you're scrolling through other people's content that you aren't following, the same thing applies. You'll click on their username, go to their profile, and send a message. Something to consider here is that if you guys are not following each other, they might not receive this message. It might go to their requests folder and depending on how often they check that, they might not see it for a while or ever. So what you'd want to do here if you really want to contact this person is make sure to follow them maybe like some of their posts and hopefully they follow you back which will automatically send your message to their regular folder. And again, the same thing applies if you are searching for someone on Instagram. You will search for their username, find their profile, and send them a message from there.
The third way to send a direct message to someone is through their stories. So when someone else posts a story, you can respond directly to that story with a message. You would view the story by tapping on their profile picture at the top of your home feed and then from there you'll either be able to swipe up to send a message or you can select the 'send message' bar at the bottom of the story and send it. That way when they receive that direct message they will see it as a response to their story so they will know what you're referring to when you send that message. Instead of typing out a message, you can also send a simple emoji response if you just want to send a reaction. This is a great way to keep up with people because stories are only 24 hours if you're sending reactions and your own opinion to their stories it's a quick way to kind of stay top of mind and show that you're paying attention to what they're doing in their lives. I know that when someone responds to my story with a direct message that they're taking the time and effort to keep up with me. To me, that's more impactful than someone just simply liking one of my posts. Responding to a story is also just a great way to start a conversation without "cold dming" someone.
Okay, the fourth way to send a direct message to a potential client, and this is my favorite way because it's a great way to start not only a conversation with this person but an intentional conversation about a specific topic. And this is through Story stickers. So let me walk you through it. If you post a story on your own account with either a poll sticker, a quiz sticker, or a question sticker, this is inviting someone to respond with their own opinion about a specific question you asked. So you're going to want to choose one of the three stickers and make sure to ask a question that relates to your ideal client's pain point so that way someone who can relate to what you're saying will most likely be responding. For example, a personal stylist could post a poll sticker and they could be asking 'how long does it take you to come up with an outfit for the day?' and the options could be 5 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, 2 hours. Or they could post a quiz sticker with a fun fact saying 'guess how long it takes the average person to come up with an outfit?' and let's say the real answer is 7 minutes and they guessed incorrectly maybe way over that, then that shows that person that they probably need this personal stylist's help. Or they could post a question sticker saying 'how long does it take you to come up with an outfit?' and then someone will type in their own personalized response to that question. Then based on those results, the personal stylist will take the answers that were longer than normal to come up with outfits and directly message those people who responded. They're using these stickers as a tool to call out those people who take longer to come up with outfits. What's great about this is you're not only encouraging engagement on your stories, but you're weeding out the people who are more ideal clients for you. If someone responds that only takes them 5 minutes to come up with an outfit, don't message them because they're not a good client for you, but if someone's taking an hour and a half to come up with an outfit then that's a great client for you to reach out as a lead and tell them about what you do and how you can help them. This is also a great way to start a conversation without it being a cold direct message just like the last way we went over.
I challenge you to use this fourth way of direct messaging someone this week in your content. And you might be thinking, "Megan I don't even know who my ideal client is!" Well that's okay I have a 'Know your ideal client' worksheet that is completely free. Once you fill out the worksheet and answer all the questions, this will pinpoint who your ideal client is and then you can use that information to create content that will call out their pain points. And as always, if you feel like you need a little bit more guidance, then use this link to talk directly with me so I can get to know your business and your goals so I can tell you how I can further support you from there.
