Following the launch of Instagram’s new broadcast channel, Instagram DMs are about to get juicier than ever.

Instagram’s new broadcast channel will offer brands and marketers a direct line to their followers via a “one-to-many” messaging tool. And the best part about it? Nobody can spam you back!

With messaging an increasing focus for Meta, businesses should expect an escalation of both organic and paid opportunities through 2023 and ongoing.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, February 2023

“We continue to be excited about the monetization opportunity with business messaging too.

Facebook and Instagram are the first two pillars of our business, and in the next few years we hope to bring messaging online as the next pillar. One way of doing this is click-to-message ads, which is now at a $10 billion run rate.”

Businesses can use broadcast channels to share content like photos, videos, polls and voice notes with followers who’ve opted to receive them. In turn, followers can react to messages, receive notifications and vote in polls.

According to Meta, they have been developed because of a change in how people use the app to communicate.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, July 2022

“One social trend that we’re seeing is that instead of people just interacting in comments in their feeds, most people find interesting content in their feeds then they message that content to friends and interact there.

And this creates this flywheel of discovery and then social connection and then inspiring those people to create more content themselves.

In Instagram, for example, we see the Reels makes up more than half of content reshared into messages. So our strategy isn’t about public versus social content and interaction. It’s really about enabling a flywheel that compounds both.”

How do broadcast channels work?

Once you have access (whenever that may be), go to your inbox to start a Broadcast Channel.

Instagram

“Upon sending their first broadcast channel message, their followers will receive a one-time notification to join the channel. As soon as the broadcast channel is live, creators can also encourage followers to join by using the “join channel” sticker in Stories or by pinning the channel link to their profile.”

If you want your broadcast channel to be open to all followers, set your audience to “all followers”.

Another way to engage an audience

In time, there may also be the option to create a channel solely for paid subscribers, opening up new monetisation opportunities for creators – or businesses to a lesser extent. And where there’s monetisation, there’ll also be the opportunity to partner with influencers and other people to spread your message to their audience.

Otherwise, marketers who build up a large channel will have instant access to the DMs of all their followers – which could be an invaluable tool for building up hype around a new product or a great way to offer a sneaky discount to loyal customers.

You can also use it to get customer feedback. Furthermore, no social media manager will turn their nose up at new ways to engage their audience – especially with Instagram organic reach dropping elsewhere.

Broadcast channels share more than a passing similarity to Recurring Notifications on Messenger which launched in 2022.

Recurring Notifications make it easy to deliver tailored messaging at the right time to your customers, ranging from conversion-focused messages, like sales notifications, to content that drives engagement, such as newsletters.

While these are free for now, they will eventually come at a cost.

Meta Messenger Platform

“Recurring Notifications is a new, optional premium feature that we intend to charge businesses for. It is currently available to all businesses in a free trial period.

We currently charge businesses to send messages from the WhatsApp Business API and we’re listening to customer feedback to guide decisions on our pricing model. We will inform customers and partners of any changes to the free trial with ample advance notice.”

Who can create an Instagram broadcast channel?

At the moment, only selected US creators can create an Instagram broadcast channel. However, you can join a waitlist to request early access to the feature. Be aware – you must access the waitlist via a mobile device.

How do you join an Instagram broadcast channel?

It’s easy to join a broadcast channel.

• Just access the link provided by the channel creator – either via the one-time notification sent to you when the account started the channel, via a Story sticker or via the link in bio.
• Tap “Join broadcast channel.”
• After you’ve joined the channel, it will appear in the Instagram inbox next to other message threads.

Broadcast channels are subject to Instagram’s Community Guidelines and can be reported and removed if the content posted or the channel itself goes against Meta policy.