Brands and creators work hard to stand out on Instagram and build their follower count. Even then, it can be a struggle to compete with the algorithm and make sure that your followers are actually seeing the content you post.
Instagram Broadcast Channels are an easy solution, allowing brands and creators to carve out a dedicated space where they can share messages and updates to their most engaged followers.
This post covers all the things you need to know about Instagram Broadcast Channels:
Let's get started with some quick takeaways about how Broadcast Channels work.
Instagram Broadcast Channels are a public, one-to-many messaging tool designed to engage directly your followers. In Instagram’s words, they're a great way "to share messages like announcements, behind-the-scenes content and event details, or upcoming collaborations with others on Instagram."
Unlike Instagram Notes, which is more of a personal tool for interacting with friends and connections, Broadcast Channels were designed specifically with creators in mind — but that doesn’t mean the tool isn’t valuable for brands and organizations as well.
To get you quickly up to speed, here are the most important things to know about Instagram Broadcast Channels:
Your account’s followers will receive a one-time notification inviting them to join the channel. Only those who do join the channel will receive notifications for new messages, but all users (not just those who are invited) can view your channel’s content even without joining.
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri has said over and over again that a bulk of engagement on Instagram is happening inside of Messenger — Instagram's direct messaging feature. But brands have a hard time learning from and leveraging this engagement because it's happening behind closed doors. It's dark social.
Enter Broadcast Channels — aka how brands can slide into their followers' DMs.
Adoption is growing now that the feature is expanding to to Instagram business accounts. Here’s how some brands are using Broadcast Channels in their social media marketing strategy:
Not all of your followers will join your channel, but those that do are likely highly engaged. This lets you identify your mega-fans — the people who are more likely to purchase and repurchase from your brand.
There is so much to learn from this super-community, and if you reward them via your channel you can build major brand loyalty points.
Polls are a core feature of Broadcast Channels, and they can act as so much more than engagement tools. With them you can survey your audience to learn more about their wants and needs, how they interact with your content, how they interact with your product and service, and more.
This is a fast and easy way to generate feedback and insights that you can integrate into your content strategy and product development.
Email is a crowded space, and open rates can plunge quickly during high-competition times like Black Friday or Cyber Monday. That means your customers might be missing out on promotions.
Because Instagram DMs are such a popular messaging tool, Broadcast Channels help you promote sales, deals, and launches to a less saturated channel.
The direct nature of Broadcast Channels lets you test and validate tactics in your social media strategy, like new content types or campaigns. You can get a read on audience approval before spending time and money on a big rollout.
Once you’ve created your Broadcast Channel, you can leverage dedicated strategies to keep your subscribers engaged. Let’s look at the best strategies to help brands get the most out of this feature.
If you want people to stick around and stay excited about your channel, give them something special! Share exclusive content that they can't find anywhere else, like bonus tips, early access to sales, or sneak peeks of what’s coming next. You can also run giveaways or offer discounts just for them.
The idea is to make your subscribers feel like VIPs who get extra value from being part of your channel — it’s a great way to keep them engaged and coming back for more. Plus, more people are likely to join your channel if there’s a clear benefit.
Even though Broadcast Channels are a one-way messaging tool, there’s still plenty of room for interaction! Polls and question stickers are an easy way to get your audience involved. Not only does it make things more fun for them, but you can also use these tools to learn what they’re into, get feedback, and find out what they want to see from you.
It’s a win-win: they get to share their thoughts, and you get valuable insights. Plus, it helps build a sense of community and makes everyone feel more connected.
Don’t just use your channel as a place to repost the same stuff you’re sharing on your feed.
While it’s a great idea to share your existing content to maximize its reach, make sure to add a little something extra that keeps your subscribers feeling engaged. That could mean expanding on a topic with more tips, sharing behind-the-scenes moments, or even creating content based on specific questions or requests from your followers.
The goal is to make your channel feel like a special space where people can get even more value than they would just scrolling through your feed.
You can add a custom theme to your channel — a great opportunity to match the channel to your brand identity. Changing the background to something on-brand helps your followers recognize your channel and makes the experience a little memorable.
You can also customize the pre-set emojis that subscribers can react to content with.
Channel creators can share photos, text-based messages, audio notes, and polls and question cards, shared posts, along with sharing Instagram posts and Reels or external links.
Only channel creators can post in broadcast channels. Members can read content shared by the creator, and they can react to individual messages. However, the channel creator can select collaborators to add content and moderate the channel.
Users may be invited to join broadcast channels; they can also search for different broadcast channels to join, as they’re all public. Once you join, the broadcast channel will be added to your Instagram inbox, and you’ll see when new updates are shared. You can react, reply to polls, and share replies to response stickers. Other users may be able to see that you’ve joined the channel, even if they aren’t members.