How To DM On Instagram From Your PC To Better Manage Your Profile

Pretty much anybody who knows how to use a social media platform knows what it means to ‘slide into the DMs’. Direct messaging on online platforms has become a convenient and nifty way of communicating. And when you have lots of DMs to respond to, sometimes it’s just easier to reply from your computer where you can type away at your keyboard instead of your phone screen.

In early 2020, Instagram brought its direct messaging feature to the web version so that you can do just that! So, without further ado, here’s how to DM on Instagram on a PC.

How To DM On Instagram On Your PC

The feature to DM from a PC was made available for all users and accounts in April 2020 – making DM management easier for brands and businesses.

Follow these four steps to learn how to DM on Instagram on your PC:

Sign in to your account through your browser. You can use any browser to do this on the Instagram website.
Tap on the paper plane symbol at the top right corner of the page. This takes you to Instagram Direct.
On your Instagram Direct, you’ll be able to see all your private messages, with your unopened messages at the top of the list. Tap on the ‘Send Message’ icon to start a new DM.
Insert the handle of the user you want to communicate with. You’re able to send a message to any account you follow. You can select multiple handles to create a group chat via your Instagram DMs.
Or, select an existing chat or unopened message to carry on the conversation or respond to a message.

You can also share interesting content with other users via DM directly from your feed.

Go to the feed post, Story, or IGTV post you want to share.
Click on the paper plane at the bottom of the post.
Select ‘Share to Direct’ and enter the handle you want to share the content to.

What Can You Use Your DMs For?

Instagram direct messages are private chat texts you can send to another Instagram account. These stick around in a chain or chat that you can access from your account. You can also use Instagram DMs to send messages to a group chat or a group of Instagram users.

Instagram Direct shows you all your active chats as you would see them on other communication platforms like Skype, Whatsapp, or even your email account. From Instagram Direct, you can start new chats and create new group chats.

Most people know all the basics of accessing Instagram Direct and sending messages, but it’s amazing how much these simple features can do for your brand or business communication. You can:

Provide accessible customer support (like a chatbot system)
Engage with other users’ Stories
Respond to your account’s Story comments and replies
Address issues directly and instantly
Share graphics and business updates
Create DM group chats for group surveys and feedback

Woman working on laptop in a coffee shop

Tips to Manage your Instagram DMs

Knowing how to DM on Instagram on your PC is only one part of managing your Instagram DMs effectively. To make sure you can get the best out of this Instagram communication and engagement feature, you should keep these pointers in mind.

Remember your brand personality

Everything on your social media – from feed posts, right down to your Instagram username – is a reflection of your brand and your business’s style and identity.

How you communicate and write your messages also forms a part of your Instagram branding and brand personality. Make sure to keep this in mind for all your DMs. It may even be a good idea to have message templates available in your branding style guide.

Set up your Instagram DM notifications

You never want to keep customers waiting for you – or even potential customers for that matter… and on Instagram, all users can become potential clients or collaborators.

To make sure you don’t miss any important comms, you should enable push notifications from everyone. That way, you know exactly when you have messages and can respond timeously.

Respond!

Now… don’t just glance at notifications and mutter, “I will look at them later.”

Any social media expert knows that social media is all about immediacy and convenience. 42% of customers that raise an issue via social media expect that the business will respond in an hour or less. So, you have to respond to those messages, and you have to do it as quickly as you see them!

Use Instagram’s Quick Replies

To make giving good responses simpler, you can use Instagram’s Quick Reply option. This is like an automated message that you can set up in advance and use to respond to similar messages.

Quick Reply is one of many fantastic features that brands can use from Instagram’s Creator Studio to manage their DMs.

Improve your follow-up game

Following up is basic business etiquette that builds customer loyalty and retention and helps move sales along the way. Instead of just forgetting about a customer after responding to them, make sure to get in touch soon after your conversation.

This helps you retain interest and show them that your DMs are always open for them to hit you up.

Filter your inbox

Just like your email inbox, things can get messy and mixed up on Instagram Direct. To help you organize your DMs, Instagram has a filter tool that can help you sort your read and unread DMs.

You can also flag messages for urgent attention which can later be separated using the flagged filter option.

Edit your message

Of course, your DMs are a lot more casual than a professional email, but you still want to make a good impression.

Check your grammar and spelling, and do a quick read-through for typos. Also, keep the message length short and sweet. This is a social media DM, not a graduate thesis.