Instagram Tests WhatsApp Sticker To Facilitate DM Connection

This could be interesting.

Instagram’s close to launching a new WhatsApp sticker for Instagram Stories, which will help brands drive DM connection with users in the messaging app.

As you can see in this example, shared by Martijn Cales, the new WhatsApp Sticker will aim to help brands prompt a DM conversation. The sticker will be available to businesses that have connected their WhatsApp Business number to their IG account.

That could be valuable, because both WhatsApp and DM connection are on the rise in most regions.

WhatsApp in particular has seen a big surge in the U.S. of late, as more people look to engage within private chats, as opposed to posting their updates in public. Over time, the divisive and argumentative, and even performative nature of social media has turned more and more people off of sharing their updates with everyone, preferring instead to maintain connections with smaller groups of close friends.

That’s led to social platforms becoming more akin to discovery services, in which people find good content in-stream, then share it via DM. Indeed, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has noted several times that people now share a lot more in their DMs and Stories than they do to the main feed.

That’s been a significant paradigm shift for online interaction, and now, brands are working to find new ways to maximize connection in line with these trends.

Meta, for example, says that “Click-to-Message” ads have become a big winner, and this new WhatsApp sticker is essentially a free version of the same. You won’t get the same reach, of course, and you’ll only be connecting with your existing followers. But it’s another means to align with these trends, and meet your audience where they’re engaging.

So, it could be a good addition, and something worth testing out, if/when it becomes available.

Instagram is currently testing the new WhatsApp sticker with selected users.