Daytime social media surfing is usually done during breaks from work, in a relaxed state of mind more open to exploring. Who doesn’t love waking up their phone to find fresh notifications galore before having to head back to endless work emails and Zoom meetings? We all – brands and people alike – get excited by the little dot-dot-dot of a message waiting to be sent to us.

Direct Messages (DMs) are then viable nurturing tactics for digital marketing. Their intent is not to offer hard-selling pitches, however. DMs should show respect and concern for customers by sending product/service follow-ups, promotions, review requests, product/service suggestions, initiating contact with professionals whose services might be helpful…any type of creative message your digital marketing team can dream up. The goal is to both aid the customer and promote sales. 

Why DM Your Customers

Considerate communication creates a unique customer experience. Well-thought-out contacts can result in meaningful business relationships. The most popular social media sites to utilize direct messaging on are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Primary goals of direct messaging:

• Gain new followers.

• Gather customer opinions about products or experiences.

• Address complaints privately rather than in the public feed.

• Send specific messages to certain targeted followers.

• Request content from users for social media feeds.

• Connect with new followers and point them to helpful content or a product on your website.

• Create brand loyalty.

Before You Slide Into Your Customers’ DMs 

Here are a few basic actions that can help you become acquainted enough with a targeted customer to approach via direct messaging without coming off as presumptuous or invasive. 

• Comment on an Instagram photo by someone in your business’s locale.

• Retweet a Twitter post by a person posting in your industry’s hashtags.

• Leave an insightful comment on a LinkedIn post of a user who engaged with the same third-party post as you.

• Share Facebook posts positively reviewing your product or service to your Page and Story.

Example: 

Someone posts an exciting unboxing video of your company’s product on their Instagram. You comment your appreciation on the original post and share the post to your Story and/or repost it. Then, DM them to ask if you can use the video on your website as a testimonial. 

How To Compose Customer DMs

Making better use of direct messaging is essential these days. Here are some tips to get you started composing messages that get noticed and bring results.

• Originality is, above all, essential when composing a direct message. You don’t want your comment to seem auto-generated.

• It should be complimentary to the recipient, in some way – offer gratitude for past patronage, respect by asking for feedback on a purchase, acknowledgment of skill or artistry regarding what someone has posted, et cetera.

• Messages containing offers that include a reward for the message recipient can magnify the effect of a single message.

How NOT To DM Your Customers

DON’T: Message before initially becoming publicly acquainted. Connect with customers on a personal basis publicly before sliding into their message box. Doing so too soon will turn them off to your efforts, coming off as invasive or spammy. 

DON’T: Flood them with too much information. A short message about a special offer or an interesting snippet of industry news periodically is one thing. Spamming customers with messages daily is overwhelming – not to mention annoying.

DON’T: Send messages that are obviously written by robots. Sending out a mass message that was automatically generated gives a negative impression – it resembles spam. People need to feel like a message was composed specifically for them. It should address a need or issue that directly concerns the specific recipient when possible. 

Direct messaging is the way of the future for market research and for growing your business. Keep up on the latest in social media technologies to utilize their updated messaging tools to your advantage. But most of all, always use courtesy and respect when sliding into customer’s DMs. If you are still uncertain about how to proceed after reading these suggestions, remember I am here to help answer your questions. Please feel free to contact me or register for my online training!