More Blog Posts
How to Mass Message All of Your Instagram Followers at Once
Learn how to message your entire Instagram audience in just a few easy steps.
Learn how to message your entire Instagram audience in just a few easy steps.
Businesses on Instagram want to boost brand loyalty, share content, and connect with their audience. Staying connected can be challenging. Instagram’s algorithm changes often and people aren’t always scrolling. As a result, your followers may miss important updates or announcements.
Instagram doesn’t make communicating with your audience easy. There’s currently no simple way to send a message to all your followers from Instagram’s platform.
Instagram’s algorithm is famously unpredictable. It’s also subject to frequent changes. Your followers may miss important announcements or updates if you only rely on in-app messaging.
This is made worse by the fact that there’s currently no (convenient) way to send a mass message to all your followers from Instagram’s platform.
You can reach all your Instagram followers using outside software. Here’s a step-by-step way to get started, ensuring every subscriber actually sees your message.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The closest thing you can get to a mass message on Instagram itself is a group conversation. However, once you start a group message between multiple people, everyone in the group has access to all replies.
This can be really inconvenient if you’re messaging a large number of customers and don’t want them to see each other’s responses. It also clutters the conversation and reduces privacy.
If you want to start promoting content or sharing exclusive offers with your followers, you need to look for an alternative platform.
There are, without a doubt, platforms that can facilitate sending mass DMs through Instagram. When looking into Instagram bulk messaging platforms for this article, though, I found a couple of red flags.
First, Instagram may actually ban any user who sends a mass DM to all of their followers on the platform to cut down on spam or bots, so use these services with caution (and a few mass messenger websites even state this openly).
According to Meta’s engineering blog, mass DM tools violate Section III of the Platform Policy.
Second, some of these messenger services have been shut down themselves for violating Instagram’s rules. Proceed at your own risk.
In fact, I had planned to add a section to this guide outlining the best Instagram DM services out there, but after looking through the options, I found there weren’t any I could recommend in good conscience.
Recap: Bulk DM apps for Instagram carry risks, including potential account bans and platform violations, so use caution.
You can’t send a group message to all your followers on Instagram without facing restrictions. Messaging your followers using another platform can make a difference for your brand.
The answer is yes. Here’s why using an alternative platform is helpful:
You build stronger connections with your audience.
Your followers likely follow hundreds, if not thousands, of people—making it easy for your posts to get lost in the noise. By directly messaging your audience, you not only boost engagement but also foster a sense of connection and loyalty. When people receive your updates or exclusive offers via SMS, they feel more valued and are more likely to interact with your content and remain engaged with your brand.
For this reason, it’s likely that a percentage of your audience occasionally misses out on your posts, whether it’s the algorithm or just bad timing.
As your views increase, so should your engagement. That engagement has a direct impact on your searchability on Instagram and tells the Instagram algorithm that people are enjoying your content. The more people engage with your content, the more Instagram publicizes your profile.
Sending a message to your followers to alert them to new posts (and including the link) helps boost engagement. It can also foster stronger relationships, ensuring your audience never misses important updates.
In March 2024, Instagram experienced a brief but significant outage, as documented on Downdetector . It was a stark reminder that diversifying your communication channels can protect you from platform downtime.
There were a lot of lessons learned from the outage, but arguably the biggest takeaway was how important it is to not be fully reliant on one marketing channel.
Thousands of brands and Instagram influencers around the world were unable to work during the outage. Their audience, their work, and their content were out of action for hours: Anyone who posted just before the outage lost out on thousands of likes and comments.
In the hours that the platforms were down, people began creating contingency plans once they recognized the financial impact of a world in which Instagram and Facebook didn’t come back online.
To avoid this issue, you need a separate channel to reach out to followers. If an incident like the outage ever happens again, you can rest easy knowing your whole life isn’t riding on a famously opaque company.
We’ve already mentioned how you’re not the only person your followers…well, follow. This makes building a unique connection with them even more important.
If you want higher engagement and strong follower loyalty, you need to give something back.
Offering your followers the chance to message you directly and stay in the loop is a great way to make them feel more connected to you and increase their loyalty.
It’s why more brands and influencers focus on collecting phone numbers (for texting purposes) and emails. According to research, SMS open rates can exceed 90%, and the 2021 Facebook Outage serves as a reminder of why alternative communication channels can be vital.
SMS is a safe and secure way to reach your followers, and a growing number of brands and influencers are turning to it. Just look at how Reese Witherspoon asks her followers to text her.
One top-ranking source points out that you can “segment your audience based on limitless data points,” ensuring each message resonates with its intended audience.
In the example I mentioned earlier, Reese isn’t giving out her actual phone number. Instead, she’s partnering with SimpleTexting, a U.S.-based SMS marketing platform, to handle incoming texts and subscriber engagement.
And Witherspoon is not the only one. Lacey Keigley of So Every Day also uses text messaging to maintain a direct channel with her readers.
Want to move your Instagram following to your text list? Start with these steps:
Provide a clear call to action in your bio.
Keywords are memorable, short words or phrases that contacts can text to your number to sign up for your text messages. They’re also the most convenient way to gather contact information and build out a contact list.
When your audience hits send, they’ll receive a confirmation text and you can start sending or scheduling messages when you want to reach them.
To get started with keywords, watch this short video or follow the steps below.
Your keyword should be relevant to you and your brand. We recommend using your Instagram handle or something similar to make it easy to remember.
Once you’ve named your keyword, write out a short introductory text to your SMS contacts.
This will automatically be sent whenever somebody texts in the keyword.
Your followers need to know about your new platform, so start spreading the word by advertising your keyword.
On Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube, share your keyword across videos, captions, and photos to make sure the message is loud and clear.
Whether you want to keep your followers updated on new content, share an exclusive brand deal, or send a quick life update, using an SMS platform is the most effective alternative to Instagram itself.
Remember to keep your sending schedule consistent and intentional (and always make sure what you’re sending is valuable to your list).
Before starting any SMS campaign, be sure to review our compliance resources for guidelines on consent and opt-out requirements.
There are many reasons Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, but the messaging features aren’t one of them.
Your followers already use their phones to engage with your content. By adding SMS to your strategy, you create an instant, consistent way to stay in touch, regardless of social media algorithm changes.
Alice is a copywriter at SimpleTexting. When not teaching the world about the benefits of business texting, you can find her feeding family, friends and strangers with her latest baking experiment.
More Posts from Alice DoddCompetition is fierce in the solar energy world. Want to stand out? Use these 5 marketing strategies for your solar energy company.
ReadHere we discuss why so many companies are hiring SMS marketersーand make the case for why you should too.
Read
Start a text marketing campaign or have a 1-on-1 conversation today. It's risk free. Sign up for a free 14-day trial today to see SimpleTexting in action.
No credit card required