Latest / Social Media Marketing with Fexingo: Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Platform Strategy / How Brands Use Direct Messages for Private Social Communities
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to talk about a space that every brand has access to but most treat like a glorified customer service line. Direct messages. Luna: You mean the little inbox icon that's sitting there with a bunch of unread messages? Lucas: Exactly. And I'm not talking about chatbots or automated responses. I mean brands using DMs as a deliberate community space — sharing exclusive content, running product drops, even building what are essentially private clubs inside Instagram or TikTok. Luna: That's interesting because the usual instinct is to go public — get as many eyes as possible. Why would a brand choose to hide its best content behind a DM? Lucas: There's a powerful psychological principle at work here called the scarcity effect. When something feels exclusive — like it's not available to everyone — people value it more. And DMs, by their nature, feel one-on-one, even if you're sending the same message to a thousand people. Luna: So it's not really one-to-one, it's one-to-many, but it feels personal. Lucas: Right. And the data backs this up. A skincare brand called Dieux, which makes moisturizers and eye masks, experimented with this last year. They announced a new product exclusively through their Instagram Stories — but to get the purchasing link, you had to DM them a specific keyword. They didn't post the link anywhere else. Luna: So you had to initiate contact. That's a higher friction point than just clicking a link in bio. Lucas: Much higher. But that friction also acts as a filter. Only the most interested people go through the trouble. Dieux reported that the conversion rate on that dm driven launch was around 40 percent. For context, a typical Instagram ad conversion rate is maybe 2 to 5 percent. Luna: Forty percent. That's not a typo. But I imagine that's also because the people who DM'd were already warm — they were following the brand, they watched the Story, they cared enough to type. Lucas: Exactly. It's a self-selecting group of superfans. And the beauty of the DM approach is that it doesn't require a massive budget. You don't need a paid ad campaign or an influencer. You just need a clear call to action and a team that can respond to those DMs in a timely way. Luna: Which brings up the scalability question. If your brand has 50,000 followers and even 1 percent DMs you, that's 500 people. Can you really maintain a personal conversation with each one? Lucas: That's the challenge, and it's where a lot of brands stumble. The solution isn't to have a human type every response. It's to use saved replies and quick responses — tools that Instagram and TikTok both offer — so you can send a personalized-looking message quickly. But you need to monitor the tone. If it feels robotic, you lose the magic. Luna: So the bar is: make it feel human, even if it's templated. I've seen some brands take it further, creating dm only loyalty tiers. Like, if you DM a certain phrase, you get early access to sales or a members-only Story highlight. Lucas: That's the next level. It's essentially a private community living inside the public platform. No separate app, no email list — just the DM thread. And the best part? The platform's algorithm often rewards this behavior. When someone DMs a brand, Instagram sees that as a signal of strong interest and may show the brand's future content more prominently to that user. Luna: So it's a virtuous cycle: the more you engage in DMs, the more you see the brand's public content, which leads to more DMs. I want to ask about a specific use case — product testing. Could a brand recruit testers through DMs? Lucas: Absolutely. In fact, some food and beverage brands do exactly this. They'll post on Stories asking for volunteers to try a new flavor, and the only way to apply is to DM them. Then they pick a handful of respondents, send them samples, and ask for feedback — again via DM. It's cheap, fast, and the people who respond are already your target audience. Luna: And you get qualitative data that you'd never get from a survey. Real conversations. That's valuable. Lucas: It's gold. And this is where I want to pivot for a second. Because making this kind of content — deep, thoughtful, research-backed — takes time and resources. And on this show, we've always been able to explore these strategies without worrying about ad breaks or sponsorships. Luna: Yeah, and that's something I think about a lot. People ask us how we keep the podcast going, especially since we don't run commercials. Lucas: The honest answer is that a small group of listeners — people who find value in these conversations — chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. And that's literally what funds making this many episodes. Luna: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own work, that's the kind of support that keeps it ad-free and sustainable. No pressure, just a heads up. Lucas: Exactly. And now back to DMs — because there's another angle I want to explore. What about using DMs for customer support in a way that builds community, not just resolves issues? Luna: You mean going beyond 'your order shipped' and actually using the conversation to learn about the customer? Lucas: Yeah. A brand called Brooklinen, which sells bedding, has a reputation for this. Their support team doesn't just solve problems — they ask follow-up questions. 'What kind of sleeper are you?' 'Do you run hot or cold?' They're collecting data, but it feels like a chat with a knowledgeable friend. Luna: And then they can use that data to recommend specific products, which increases average order value. But it also makes the customer feel seen. Lucas: That emotional connection is the real ROI. A customer who has a positive DM interaction is more likely to become a repeat buyer and even an advocate. And they'll tell their friends about the brand, not just the product. Luna: So the DM strategy isn't just about sales in the moment. It's about long-term relationship building. But I'm thinking about the dark side — what about brands that abuse DMs, sending unwanted messages or spamming? Lucas: That's a real risk, and it's why the approach has to be permission-based. You can't just DM someone out of the blue. The best practice is to only DM users who have initiated contact — either by replying to a Story or by sending you a message first. If you break that trust, you'll get muted or blocked, and you lose the channel. Luna: So it's about inviting, not invading. That's a good rule for any marketing, honestly. Lucas: It is. And it's why the brands that do this well treat DMs as a premium space. They don't put everything in DMs — just the special stuff. The early access, the behind the scenes, the honest conversations. Luna: I want to bring up a concrete example that I think illustrates this perfectly. The coffee brand Cometeer, which makes frozen coffee concentrate, has a dm only loyalty program they call the 'Inner Circle.' To join, you have to DM them a code from your most recent order. Once you're in, you get first dibs on new flavors and limited releases. Lucas: That's smart because it ties online behavior to offline purchase. You have to buy the product first, then engage. It creates a feedback loop where the DM channel becomes a reward for being a customer. Luna: And it's trackable. They know exactly how many people joined, how many purchased, what the conversion rate is. It's not a vanity metric. Lucas: That's the beauty of dm based communities. Everything is measurable. You know who opened your message, who clicked, who replied. Compare that to a public post where you only see likes and comments — much less direct. Luna: So for marketers listening, what's the one thing they should try this week? Lucas: Pick one product or piece of content that you'd normally post publicly. Instead, tease it on Stories and ask people to DM you a keyword to get the link. Track the conversion rate. See what happens. It might be smaller in volume, but the quality of engagement will be significantly higher. Luna: Start small, test, and then scale. That's a good takeaway. I think the DM space is only going to become more important as algorithms make organic reach harder and harder. Lucas: Agreed. The public feed is a crowded mall. The DM inbox is a private fitting room. More and more brands are realizing that's where the real decisions happen.