ManyChat, the #1 Chat Marketing platform that helps almost 2 million businesses across 190 countries engage and support billions of their customers in real-time and at scale, announced today that it will begin rolling out Messenger API support for Instagram to the general public.

The announcement was made during F8 Refresh, Facebook’s annual developer conference.

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The opening of the Messenger for Instagram API to platforms is a watershed moment for brands, allowing them to access new functionality on Instagram (IG) for the first time on ManyChat. Instagram Automation allows brands to supercharge their Instagram marketing activities and engage its one billion-plus users for maximum business impact.

Instagram Automation by ManyChat also helps brands address the massive volume of customer-to-business messaging that exists on the platform; 400 million customer inquiries flow to businesses on Instagram daily. Automation will enable brands to automate their existing messaging efforts, saving time and human resources, while maximizing customer service, sales, and ad outcomes.

“Instagram Automation by ManyChat is the easiest solution to automate Instagram Messages and Instagram marketing,” said Mike Yan, CEO of ManyChat. “Brands choose ManyChat because it’s the quickest and most cost-effective tool to drive product sales, generate qualified leads, automate FAQs, and boost Instagram engagement.”

Some of the key features of IG Automation by ManyChat are as follows:

• Flow Builder. Brands can customize text, media, and destinations (such as a website) and instantly launch chat experiences, all without writing any code.
• Keywords. Trigger messages, entire conversations, and business automations if an IG user messages you with a specific, pre-determined keyword or phrase.
• Comments Automation. Also known as Comments Growth Tool (CGT). Brands can trigger three distinct automations at once in order to reply to a user’s Instagram Post Comment via a comment, like or “heart” a user’s comment, and send the user who commented a message.
• Story Mentions Trigger. Brands can instantly reply to everyone who mentions their handle/account name in a Story.
• Conversation Starter. These are pre-filled buttons presented to new customers when they message a business account to kick-start a discussion about that topic.

Other features include the ability to capture user information, live chat, and automated replies.

“We are pleased that ManyChat is launching Messenger API support for Instagram, which will now be available for all developers who make it possible for brands to improve and enhance messaging experiences with customers,” said Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, VP of Platform Partnerships at Messenger by Facebook. “By integrating the Messenger API support for Instagram, businesses and developers can effectively scale messaging workflows to better own the customer experience and build more authentic relationships.”

Previously, Instagram Automation by ManyChat was only available to a small number of select beta testers.

One of the first beneficiaries of ManyChat’s support for Messenger API for Instagram in beta was Gold’s Gym in Costa Rica. During the pandemic, younger clients began to request booking links on Instagram, which required the gym’s community manager to reply manually to each person on Instagram Messenger.

TBS Marketing, a Chat Marketing agency, had access to ManyChat’s support of the Messenger API for Instagram in the beta and knew their client, Gold’s Gym, should try it out.

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With support from TBS Marketing, Gold’s Gym built an interactive class scheduling system through Instagram, tailoring its Instagram Messenger experience to accommodate the younger members on the platform. Using the Messenger API for Instagram on ManyChat, the brand saw a 9X increase in bookings through Instagram and a 99% decrease in agent support response time.

“Instagram Automation by ManyChat will help you interact faster with your audiences, scale giveaways, and optimize your community-building skills,” said Trilce Jirón Garro, CEO, TBS Marketing in Costa Rica.

ManyChat is the #1 Chat Marketing platform and the undisputed leader in the Chat Marketing category. ManyChat works with the largest number of businesses globally, powers the highest volume of communications, and supports all of the critical consumer communication channels.

ManyChat powers 8.5 million active conversations per day on Messenger. ManyChat is the only Chat Marketing platform that supports Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and email and SMS. Brands choose ManyChat over competitors because it is user-friendly (its drag-and-drop feature means no coding is required), supports numerous channels, and because of its ability to help customers scale their Chat Marketing initiatives. ManyChat also has a supportive community of 100k+ on Facebook for Chat Marketing professionals.

ManyChat’s integrations and features make it easy for brands to reach large audiences quickly. To date, ManyChat users have generated 101M contacts via click-to-Messenger ads. Using ManyChat features that make it easy for consumers to start a conversation with a business, like a QR code that opens a Messenger conversation, brands have started conversations with over 41M contacts.