Savvy business owners use DM marketing to engage with customers, nurture leads, and build customer loyalty.
Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn like DMs because they keep users on their platforms longer. Your audience loves them because they can send quick questions and get personal responses. You will love it because it helps you increase brand awareness, convert interested customers into purchasers, and build long term relationships with your customers.
DM Marketing – Instagram and Facebook
Build brand awareness
Expand your reach by encouraging followers to send your posts
Every time a member of your audience shares one of your posts via DM (using the conveniently located paper plane icon) it tells the platform your content is valuable, and it should share it further. Encouraging customers to ‘send this to someone who needs it’ gives people more privacy than a public tag or reshare and still boosts your reach.
DID YOU KNOW? Every time someone shares your post via DM with the easy-click paper plane icon – it counts as engagement, signally to the platform that your content was useful and is worth showing to more accounts. Don’t underestimate how many people now use this feature!
Build trust
Personal communication and connection
Inviting potential customers to ‘message now’ or ‘DM me’ invites a personal touchpoint that builds trust. You can do this in your ads by selecting ‘message now’ as your call to action or in your posts by encouraging contact via messaging.
For example, ‘Comment RECIPE, and I’ll DM you the recipe,’ or keep it more subtle and start a conversation by inviting followers to ‘DM us if you have any questions.’
Once invited into your potential clients’ DMs, you can build trust by following through on your offer, replying to any questions, asking what they thought, and even inviting them to take another step on your customer journey by joining your mailing list or buying a small irresistible offer.
Reply to messages promptly
Whether you encourage messages or not, people will message your business pages. It boosts your reputation in the algorithm and builds consumer trust if you reply within a few hours to all messages. If you aren’t online that often, you can use Messenger for Business to send an automatic response, setting expectations so customers know when they will hear from you.
For example, ‘Thank you so much for your message. I’m busy offline working on custom orders right now, but I’ll get back to you within 48 hours.’
Reward and keep loyal customers (and build your community)
Send a message of thanks
This may seem obvious, but it’s easy to get caught up in life, so I’m going to remind you anyway. When someone tags your business on their user-generated content (aka their fabulous photos of your product in use), remember to send a DM saying thank you. Who knows where that may lead!?
Personalised offers to highly engaged community members
Whilst there are some third-party apps that claim to get around Instagrams DM rules, which prevent messages to all your followers at once, I don’t recommend them. Instead, keep it personal. If you want to reach out with an exclusive offer, send a personalised message to a select few who are highly engaged with your page, thanking them for their support and offering them a discount code or similar.
DM Marketing – LinkedIn
LinkedIn is particularly beneficial for small business owners looking to build strategic networks. These networks can become collaboration partners, advocates of your brand, or even friends.
LinkedIn DMs are technically similar to Instagram and Facebook, but the platform vibe and audience are a little different. Of course, you should still encourage messages, use them to build trust, reply promptly, and thank others for sharing or creating helpful content for you. However, etiquette on LinkedIn dictates that it’s even more important to maintain professionalism, respect boundaries, and focus on relationship over sales.
A cold call sales pitch on first contact is like a marriage proposal on a first date. Would your ideal customer really say yes to that?
Susie Basiaco, The Social Nest
Build trust by showing an interest
LinkedIn is a personal platform for professional connections. If you want to start a conversation to build strategic new connections, behave as you would if you met in real life!
For example, ‘Hi Susie, I really enjoyed reading your post about how to use LinkedIn DMs.’ Or ‘Hi Daniel, I saw your TEDx talk last week and wanted to let you know I found it really inspiring, especially the bit about xx.’
Follow up warm leads, and introduce others to each other
If you have been talking to someone at a networking event and realise afterwards that you know the perfect person to introduce them to, send a message via LinkedIn DM and ask if they would like an introduction. Explain why and introduce via DM too. Introductions this way give each person easily accessible background information via profile pages while keeping it professional.
Similarly, if someone mentions a friend who might need your services, LinkedIn is the place to reach out, just keep it friendly like you might in person.
For example, ‘Hi Clare, I was chatting with Susie last night at networking drinks and she mentioned you were looking for a reliable dog walker. Susie thought I might be the perfect fit for you, so I thought I’d reach out and see if you are still looking for someone?
Remember, the goal is to forge genuine connections
It’s true that there are many reasons to use LinkedIn and that, for many, the end goal is to make sales. However, I think before we get there, the end goal is to connect personally in some way. I often reach out on LinkedIn to fellow business owners who look interesting to see if they are available for a Zoom or in-person cuppa.
If you are interested in more customised ways to integrate direct messages into your marketing strategy, why not DM me on LinkedIn or Instagram to find out more about the ways we can work together?
