← Call Her Creator with Katelyn Rhoades
Call Her Creator with Katelyn Rhoades
145. How to Use Instagram DM Automation to Grow Your Audience + Sales (Beginner to Advanced ManyChat Strategy)
00:40:57
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- [00:00]
A
This episode is sponsored by Shopify and Rella. Shopify gives you the tools to build, market and scale your store all in one place and Rella, a project management platform built specifically for social media teams where you can plan content, collaborate, get approvals, and manage everything all in one place. If you're serious about building a real business this year, not just posting content, these are the tools behind the scenes. Launch with shopify shopify shopify.com CHC and get 10% off your first three months or annual plan@getrella.com using the code CHC. Today's show is sponsored by Strawberry Me. Are you actually where you want to be in your career right now? Or do you wake up most days feeling like you're capable of more? You're just not sure how to get there? I have been in your shoes, but here's the truth. Success doesn't just magically happen. Y' the people you see doing incredible things in their careers, they have guidance, they have mentors, they have coaches and people helping them think bigger and move faster. And that's exactly why I love Strawberry Me. Career Coaching Career coaching gives you the clarity, the strategy and the accountability you need to turn your goals into reality. Instead of guessing your next move, you're working with an expert who helps you identify what's holding you back. Build a step by step plan, and then you take action with confidence. Because sometimes the difference between staying stuck and making real progress is simply having the right person in your corner. If you want to try it for yourself, go to Strawberry Me CHC and get 50% off your first coaching session. Strawberry Mech. It's like therapy for your career. Hello everybody. Welcome back to Call Her Creator Podcast. Today's episode is going to be a really fun episode because we're talking about something that a lot of creators, a lot of business owners, they hear about it, but most people still aren't fully using to their advantage. And that is Instagram Automation or DM Automation. If you've ever commented a word on someone's post and then suddenly you get this DM that shows up in your inbox with a link or a freebie or some type of resource, there's a good chance that manychat is the one that's working behind the scenes on that. And when used the right way, it can completely change how you grow your audience, how you capture leads, how you sell your offers online without you manually answering hundreds of messages. Now, before we jump in, I do want to talk about something that pairs really well with DM automation And that's Stanley AI. I've got the wonderful Heston here that's going to tell us all about DM automation and how to set it up for success for your business. But there might be a part of you that's like, wait, I'm still trying to figure out what to even post. And that's where Stanley AI comes in. So Stanley's like having your own head of content just sitting next to you, helping you brainstorm better ideas, write captions and turn one piece of content into multiple posts that actually perform. So instead of staring at your computer, staring at your phone, Stanley will help you refine your voice and stay consistent. He scrapes whatever social media content you've already posted and tells you what will work for your next post. So I will link that in the show notes for you. But for today, our guest is someone who lives and breathes the automation side of the Internet, Heston Roberts. He is a 20 year IT professional in web development and today he's the founder of the social media marketing agency Social Varsity and the Community Manychat School where he teaches creators and businesses how to build smart automation systems that help them work smarter, not harder. So Hestan, go ahead and say hi because I feel like I'm talking too much. Hello.
- [03:51]
B
Not at all. Hello. How you doing? Thank you so much for having me once again on your podcast. Cause I, I enjoyed it the first time so much. I and I knew we were going to have another conversation about this. So I'm really excited to get into all of the DM automation and ManyChat and all of it. There's so much to discuss.
- [04:08]
A
I am, I am so excited. I also did not know that you worked in it for 20 years.
- [04:16]
B
Yes, yes, I did web development and web design for 20 years. I, you can say I was, I found myself in, in it because of MySpace. REM days of MySpace.
- [04:30]
A
Yes. No, I love that. Were you working for corporate or did you have your own IT business?
- [04:37]
B
I was working for multiple different companies from public education. At one point I actually was working with Vibe magazine, the hip hop magazine in New York City. I've worked with multiple different companies over the years for over 20 years, since my young days as a teenager when everybody used to ask me could I hook up their MySpace page? And that just fell into this, this love of web development.
- [05:01]
A
So yeah, I love that. I'm so excited for today's conversation. So today we're going to break down what ManyChat actually is. How does DM automation even work? How are creators using it today. Maybe Huston will show us some of the easiest automations that beginners can set up and then some advanced strategies too. Because I know there's people on here that, you know, they've been using manychat, but maybe they're not using it the right way, which I'm pointing at myself. Um, I literally have the most basic ManyChat automation set up with a keyword, and that's about it. Um, I had told Hestan the first time we talked. I'm like, I want you to just do all this for me. So we need to revisit. But Hestan, before we get into that automation wizardry, how does someone become a mini chat mogul? Like, how did you get into the world of all of this?
- [05:52]
B
Well, you're being very modest with that word mogul. I don't know if I would classify myself as that just yet, but I remember when, around the time of the pandemic, when everybody was being pretty much sent home and they had to work from home. And as I said, I've been doing web development and web design for years, and I was at a company where I was honestly starting to lose interest in it. But I've always had a love and passion for social media. I was handling it for some of my friends on Instagram, trying to get their strategy together back in the days when Instagram was easy, much easier to grow. It was chronological. Remember back in those days?
- [06:31]
A
Kind of. No, I'm just kidding. Yes.
- [06:33]
B
Well, around that same time, I used to see a lot of content from different big Instagram profiles and accounts where people would say, comment X and comment Y. I mean, comment X and you'll receive Y. And I was like, okay, yeah, sure, I'll comment the word. If you want to waste your time and respond to everybody that you have to manually. Dm and I tested it on somebody's account, and I didn't think I was gonna get a response at least that soon. And I remember getting it, like, within seconds. And I was like, is this person waiting for DMs to respond to? Like, how are they doing this? So I asked them the question and they said, oh, it's this little tool called manychat. It just opened on Instagram. It's been available for Facebook and a few other platforms, and now it's on Instagram. And I went down a rabbit hole, Caitlin, of figuring out what this was, how to use it. And honestly, it wasn't. I didn't want to. I didn't consider the idea of creating a Business around it. I just wanted to use it for myself. But with my background in web development, I started to put two and two together and I was like, okay, they built it simple, but I could take it to the next level and help others utilize it in much more advanced ways.
- [07:46]
A
Yes, yes, and advanced you are for someone. Let's. Let's pretend like there's some people on here that maybe they've never used it before. They've heard of it, but they've never used it. So tell us, what exactly is manychat and what problem does it solve for creators and business owners?
- [08:03]
B
Absolutely. And it's funny you asked me that, because I get that question pretty much daily. They don't know what ManyChat is. In our realm, we hear it all the time, but to the outside world, most people have no idea of what this is. So manychat is an automation tool that it sends messages on your behalf. So, for example, if you come across a post and they are offering you a freebie, or they want to send you a link to somewhere, they would generally say in the caption, comment X whatever. The X could be a keyword. Let's just say you came across a travel post and they want to send you a trip to Disney, which I would love to come across. They say, comment the word Disney. So you comment that manychat in the background knows that you've just commented that on behalf for this creator. And for the creator, it will send an automated DM that they programmed and it would answer however the creator wants it to, including sending a link, which we know we still don't have that option on Instagram. We can't just easily put a URL anywhere and have people click it. I don't think that'll ever happen. But there are other options where you could use a link sticker. You could tell them to go to the link in bio, but when you do that, you're telling people to literally leave your content and go somewhere else. Whereas with manychat, you're telling people to engage via comment. And then there's more engagement in the DMs, so it automates that entire process for you. And what it helps you do as a creator is save time. You don't have to be in a DM spending your time responding to all of those DMs or messages you're receiving. And sometimes we get the same questions day after day. Why spend so much time answering these same popular questions? We get all the time and just have your chatbot respond to it. So that, in a NutShell, is what ManyChat is, but there is a lot more of what it can do.
- [09:46]
A
Oh, and there is. And I just. I don't even know where to start when it comes to asking you. So I guess what we'll do is we'll kind of break this up into, like, beginners and then, like, intermediate. Okay, so let's say that I came to you and I was like, a new creator. I had some. Okay, wait, here's. Here's my first question for you. At what point do you say, hey, Caitlin, it's time for you to get many chat? Do I need to have a certain amount of followers?
- [10:15]
B
I. I wouldn't say you need a certain amount of followers. And I say that because you never know when that one post that you share really takes off. And I think that's something that we have to kind of be prepared for. I've had a lot of people come to me after their post has hit, and they're like, listen, I need my manychat set up now because I've lost opportunity on this previous post where it might have got hundreds of comments and they can't respond to it at all, because if they respond manually, you may get action blocked. But if you use DM automation, they bypass that because with ManyChat, it's an official meta business partner. So I would say as soon as you're able to. Why not? Manychat does have a free account that if you use that account up until a thousand contacts, each person that you engage with is a contact, you could use it up until a thousand contacts. So I would say go ahead and use it for free until you get to that point where you feel like, okay, now it's time for me to step it up and move up a level to the paid plan. To the paid plan, and then you get more features that way.
- [11:23]
A
Okay, now going back just a minute, you said that when you're responding to a bunch of comments, there was a limit, but manychat can bypass that. So do you know what the limit is as far as, like, how much you can engage before you get flagged by Instagram?
- [11:41]
B
I don't know the number. From my understanding, that number is not specific. I think it changes based on your account. You know, if somebody else has X amount of followers, they might have a little bit more leeway.
- [11:54]
A
Okay, okay. But many chat, so I didn't even know this. So if many chats responding, you should get around that. Like, you won't get flagged or anything is like, spammy by responding?
- [12:04]
B
Yes, because Instagram is aware that you're using a chatbot, so as long as it's in the DMs and you're responding in the DMs and it's is doing this thing and it's responding fast, they won't have a problem with that.
- [12:16]
A
Do you tell people to respond to the comment as well when they're setting up that DM automation, or are you just more focused on the dm? Starting something new can feel terrifying. I remember when I first launched my podcast and my business constantly asking myself, what if no one listens? What if no one buys what if this just doesn't work. But choosing to take that leap was one of the best decisions I've ever made. And having the right tools makes all the difference. That's why so many entrepreneurs trust Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses worldwide, empowers 10% of all e commerce in the U.S. it helps you build a beautiful online store with ready to use templates, create email and social media campaigns to reach customers, and manage everything from inventory to analytics all in one place. It's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify Today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.comchc go to shopify.comchc that's shopify.comch okay, I'm gonna be real with you for a minute. Working in social media, my life Basically looks like 47 tabs open Slack messages, a Google Doc with captions, a notes app with ideas and I' still like wait, where did that post go again? If you can relate then I want to tell you about Rella. RELA is not just another scheduling tool. It's a full project management platform built specifically for social media teams. Instead of jumping between five different tools, RELA is where you plan your content, collaborate with clients, get approvals, and actually get the work done all in one place. And this is my favorite part. Your clients can improve content through a public link, no login required. Plus they have Ella, which is their AI creative assistant. It literally learns your brand new, builds your content calendar, identifies trends, and even writes scripts and captions based on what will actually perform. It's used by thousands of social media managers, agencies and teams, and once you start using it, you're going to realize how much time you are wasting between everything else. So if you're ready to get your life together, go to getrella.com and use code CHC for 10% off your first three months or annual plan that's G E T R e l l a dot com to start your free 14 day trial and use code CHC for 10% off and see why social media teams are ditching the tool. Chaos.
- [14:46]
B
I'm more focused on a dm, but I don't think that the comment reply is a bad thing unless you're a very large account. And I say that because of the way that Instagram works. It's not really manychat's fault, it's more Instagram where Instagram is pretty much, they love you engaging in the DMs as much as often as possible. They don't care if it's fast. Hence automation is very easy to work there. But when it comes to the comments which is public facing, they're very, very strict with that. So if you have a piece of content that really takes off and is getting hundreds of comments possibly in like, you know, every 10, 20 minutes, they're going to look at that and say there's something going on. Even if it's DM automation that's approved, they don't like the fact that it's, it kind of comes off spammy. So with a large account or a piece of content that you know is really going to take off, I would say you possibly may want to take, take that feature off, at least just for then.
- [15:48]
A
Okay.
- [15:48]
B
And you know, and just by now most people know that if you comment a keyword it's going to the DMs, so you don't need the comment reply. But it does help. It's an extra boost of engagement. You know, for every one comment you receive, you send out another comment that's technically two.
- [16:04]
A
So that helps, right? I know from personal experience and I don't know if this is the right way because like I said, I'm not an expert when it comes to manychat, but if I do have a post that goes viral and I had the DM set up plus a comment reply like thank you, I just sent it to your dm. I noticed that my account was kind of getting flagged and at one point I did get a warning like, hey, you've got to take some time before you respond again. So I've started. Just so you guys know, this is probably for someone that's a little more advanced with this feature. I would probably just, you know, don't, don't reply to the comment. I'll go in and manually reply to some.
- [16:40]
B
Okay.
- [16:41]
A
Just to. Yeah, I'm like, hey, I am here, but I'll keep that. Like there's a post that's going viral right now and I'm like, I went, I made sure to go into mini chat and turn off my comment just so I don't get flags. Because, you know, Instagram, many chat, they're all using AI now to kind of flag weird behavior and you don't want to get flagged for something like that. Cool. So, all right, so we talked about a beginner strategy. You're saying you don't really need, you don't need a certain amount of followers, it's free to start. Why not? What do you, how do you, what do you tell them to start with first? Should they start with like, do you, do you suggest starting with like, hey, if you're going to start DM automation, maybe offer a freebie at first? Or what are you, what are you thinking if someone was new to this and wanted to give it a try today?
- [17:35]
B
Well, if they want to start out, I will say try to get used to the idea of what DM automation does. So initially I think you should start doing DMs manually yourself. Get an idea of how people communicate in the DMs, what people expect from you as you know, you know your business well. So you would have a better idea whether you want to do that for a few weeks. You get an idea of how people responding to your DMs. At that point, you kind of build an idea of how I would want to automate this process. So probably the first automation I would suggest to do is maybe a very simple one that just sends a link to what people are expecting in a feed post. Set up the comment to be, you know, whatever the keyword is, and then create an automation, very simple automation that responds to the person immediately with that link. That's what they're expecting. You want to get it to them as soon as possible. And then as people respond to that, you'll start to figure out, okay, there's other features that ManyChat can do. Take it a little bit more advanced. You might want to do a follow up. You might want to have a reminder if the person didn't click on the link. You'll start to learn these things along the way, but simple first. And then you can kind of elevate your strategy as you're learning more about the platform.
- [18:48]
A
That's another thing I don't have set up. So right now, now for those of you listening that haven't used ManyChat, when you sign up for ManyChat, there is like A simple little template. Like, maybe you're very new to this. You can totally use their template to set up your first one. It's super easy. It's more so like, it's kind of like step by step, fill in the blank. Here you go. But that is like the bare minimum that you should be doing. And that's what I do. Heston can come in and like, hey, Caitlin, you're doing DM automation, but maybe you make them follow you first before you send the link. Like, there's some really fun stuff you can get into when it comes to DM automation. What's one of your top ways to use ManyChat that a lot of people don't seem to know about? Could you share some of your insider tricks with us?
- [19:35]
B
Oh, I love this one. Because there's one particular automation that I think a lot of people, they might know it, but they don't know exactly how to do it. And I think you're quite aware of this concept that, you know, we're on Instagram, we're on WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, we're building these followers. But we don't own this list of followers, unfortunately. So the popular concept is we renting our followers on Instagram. But if you were to grow a mailing list, you own that list. Once you get it, you could import it, you could export it. I'm actually literally writing a my content right now for a post tomorrow about this very idea. So you want to grow your mailing list. And one of the best ways I think you could do this is with manychat. And I don't mean to just take, you know, send them a link and they go to a landing page to fill out the form. I mean, collect everything in the DMs, get their name, get their email address, do it all in the DMs, because the conversion rate is so much higher when it's done in the DMs, it's about 85 to 90% compared to you take them to a landing page and it's. It almost drops almost three times. It's nearly 30 to 35% of the conversion rate. And it's, it's crazy, but it's, it makes sense because when you click that link, Instagram opens up the browser, the in app browser. And it's kind of confuses people at first because you're no longer on Instagram. And then there's like, how many fields do I have to fill out compared to if you just were just chatting in the DM'S and somebody says, or your chatbot says, hey, by the way, if you want this newsletter sign up, what's your email address? One, what's your name done? In literally 10 seconds, you could have it all done. And the person didn't even know that you just sent that information to your email service provider, no matter who it may be. But they know that they wanted to sign up to a newsletter and they did it during the conversation.
- [21:34]
A
Wow, okay. Last time me and you talked manychat collecting emails, I. I don't think there was a way for them to export the emails. I think we were having to like, do it manually. Do you still have to copy those addresses from ManyChat manually? Or can you set something up to where it could go into a CSV for you to download?
- [21:55]
B
You can definitely set it up into a CSV. I normally would do that for my clients for a Google Sheets. Go straight into Google Sheets as soon as they sign up. And it's really interesting. It's cool because you'll see the Google Sheets open and as people are filling it out, you literally see the data being added to the sheet. You could definitely do that. If you have an email service provider, I would advise doing that because they'll go straight to like, if it's mailchimp, I use flodesk. There are a few others that they have a direct integration, so they make it so much easier.
- [22:28]
A
I did not know this. Is this new? Is this newer? Or has it always been?
- [22:32]
B
Or are you talking about just in general for flodesk? You said you use Flow Desk, like
- [22:36]
A
many chat addresses to your flodesk. Was that always an option to integrate
- [22:41]
B
that flodesk own is, I would say, somewhat new. I want to say maybe five, five months maybe. But the idea, the integrations, they've always had different ones. I think mailchimp might have been one of the first ones, and I was on that previously. But it makes it so much simpler because you just send that data straight to them. It goes straight. Like when I do it on flodesk, it goes straight to whichever segment that I want, even multiple segments. And I have some really advanced stuff coming out with flodesk and manychat in probably a couple of months. That is going to blow some people's minds on how you can easily grow your mailing list.
- [23:18]
A
Wow. Okay. I love this. I love this. What about. Are there any ways to use ManyChat to grow your following?
- [23:25]
B
You kind of actually hinted at one during our introduction in regards to asking if somebody should follow before you send them the deliverable. Now that's a brand new feature that ManyChat introduced where you could see if the person is following you, if they're currently following you, you proceed and send them whatever deliverable that it is that you promised them. But if, depending on what the deliverable is like, I wouldn't send them, I wouldn't tell them to follow me for, you know, the menu to Cheesec Factory, they can get that, that's not that valuable. You want to send them something really worth it for them, maybe like a special sweepstakes or giveaway and you say, well, you got, you have to follow first. I would check to see if they're a follower first and if they aren't, you just send them another message, say, hey, this is exclusive for my followers only. To access this, just follow. And until they become a follower, they won't be able to access whatever link of other deliverable that you promised them. So that's a really great way to grow followers naturally because they're getting something of value and you're getting their, you're getting their attention, you're getting their presence as a follower as well. And if it's something of value that they're going to deem that they want more from you, they're going to stay a follower. They're not going to do that simple follow now and then, you know, unfollow later. If they like your content and what you promised them is valuable, they're going to stick around.
- [24:49]
A
I love that. I can personally say since I started incorporating Manychat into my DMs on my own profile, the Caitlin Rhodes. But then we also just did it for the agency Influence Studio. I'm seeing more DMs and I'm seeing more conversions on our products. And so it truly has been a game changer. I used to be like, oh, you don't need it. But now I'm like, no, you really should, like, why not? Have you, Heston, seen like an increase in your revenue from using manychat like Truly? And could you give us any like, examples? Well, of what you've seen?
- [25:24]
B
I will speak more on some of the clients that I've worked with because more of what I sell is more like memberships and things of that sort. And I could get into that later. But I would say from some of my clients, absolutely. From some of the features that ManyChat has, like their new one where you could send a DM to new followers. I've had clients that have begun selling and Growing their subscribers immediately after the person has followed them. Now, you have to do this the right way. You don't just want to be pushy, you don't want to be salesy. It depends on the brand, the content, and obviously you as a creator. But I've seen so many. I've had one client that had a hard time growing his email list. Um, I want to say when they started with me, they were probably getting maybe 80amonth. They're getting about a hundred a day now.
- [26:13]
A
What niche is the client?
- [26:17]
B
Videography.
- [26:18]
A
Oh, my goodness.
- [26:20]
B
Yeah.
- [26:21]
A
Do you work with a lot of creators?
- [26:22]
B
I work with a few creators. People in specific niches, not even just. I'm in the US right now, some as far as Australia and New Zealand. And it's really interesting to see how people utilize DMs in different areas. But at the end of the day, that's what's growing on Instagram. These DMs is the biggest thing growing on Instagram. It's not, you know, I love reels, I love carousels, I love IG stories. But Adam Mosserrier, who I know that you speak a lot about often, he's always going on about the fact that DMs are the fastest growing surface on Instagram.
- [26:58]
A
Oh, they 100% are. And week after week, I do updates on what's trending algorithm changes. Every Thursday, every single week, I read something about Adam Talking about the DMs and how did you. Wait, are you laughing? Are you giggling? Did you see my AI of Adam?
- [27:15]
B
Yeah, I. Yeah, I saw that recently, this week.
- [27:19]
A
So when he commented at first I was like, oh my God, am I in trouble? Because it's like your teacher, like drawing a picture of your teacher and then your teacher seeing it.
- [27:26]
B
And I think he has a good personality, that he would take that in stride, I think.
- [27:30]
A
So he said, oh my God. I was like, like, I don't want to steal your photos. But it's so weird. I don't know if, like using. It's such a weird line, like if you can use AI photos of people or not. But I'm just glad you saw it. But again, I was like, scared. Like, I hope Adam's not mad at me, like he even cares or knows my name, you know, I was sorry, but I'm just laughing because I saw you giggle. One thing I've noticed, which I actually personally like, and this is something I need to hire you for. I'm telling you, I'm and message you after all this, when I follow someone and they send me a DM saying like, hey, thanks for the follow. I actually appreciate those. I know in the back of my mind that it's probably manychat, because I work in this, but it still means something to me that they reached out.
- [28:18]
B
I think we miss that, honestly. Like, it's either you follow somebody and you never hear from them. It's either you follow somebody and you yourself don't DM them, or this new option where you follow somebody and there's an opportunity for a conversation to start. And I love that, honestly. I do it myself, and I'm playing around with different options right now. But the strategy that worked best for me so far, I just send them a message and I literally tell them, hey, thank you so much for following me. I definitely appreciate it. Just to let you know, this is an automated message, but if you have any questions about ManyChat, DM automation, or Instagram, the next message you get will be from me directly, and it might even be a voice message. So what I'm doing is I'm being upfront and honest. I let them know it's automation, which most people have an idea that it is. And I don't send it immediately. I send it, like, maybe 10 minutes after they follow. So I put some space in between, But I'm almost daring them to engage. I'm like, you got a question for me? Go ahead and see if I won't respond. And we've opened up some great conversations that way. And sometimes it has nothing to do with what I suggested. It might be about the weather, or sometimes they might have seen me on a podcast and they'll bring that up. It just opens the door for a conversation, and I think that's something we need to focus on a little bit more nowadays.
- [29:43]
A
Oh, 100%. And speaking of, you said you wait a little minute. Um, let's talk about that for a second. When you're replying, is there strategy behind how long it takes you to reply or what you're setting up these DM automations to reply? What's the strategy behind that?
- [30:00]
B
There's definitely a little bit of strategy I like to practice. It depends on where the person has initiated the automation. For instance, I just said with if they became a new follower, I put maybe 10, 15 minutes in between when they actually hit the button, then when they get the message. Because imagine, Caitlin, if you hit the follow button and immediately you get a message at the top that says this person sent your dm, that'll turn you off. Even if you know, it's automation or not, it'll turn you off. So I put some time in between one. Okay, the area that people might have a disagreement with me on. And I want to hear your thoughts in regards to this. When people comment the keyword, I put a 10 second delay and I do it purposely because I've had interactions with people who have had automation set up and as soon as I hit the submit button for a comment, I get that pop up and I'm like, I know it's an automation, but I feel away about it. There's nothing wrong with putting a couple seconds in between. And even with the IG stories, because if you send them an ig, if you send them a DM and they're scrolling on your IG story and they get it too quickly and they tap the dm, they now left the rest of your IG stories, which shows as an exit signal to Instagram's algorithm. So I put a little bit of time in between. So most likely to get past my IG stories, they go somewhere else and then they get the dm.
- [31:28]
A
I'm writing this down. You know, one other one that I'm. I actually need to change this and I keep forgetting to. When someone mentions me in a story, I had set up like an automation where it was like, thanks so much for mentioning me. But now I'm just feel like that's very one that's unauthentic to some people that share my stuff. It's like a, it's like a podcast shout out or something. I don't want to just say, hey, thanks for mentioning me. Like, you know what I mean? So I know my personal self is going to go back in there and rearrange what that says. I'm not sure how. I'm not sure what I want to say. Do you have any DM automation set up for when someone mentions you in a story?
- [32:07]
B
I set them up occasionally. Sometimes I might do it as a contest or a giveaway. I'll say, all right, if you guys, you know, I think I did it last week where I said, okay. And I did it only to my email subscribers, so they were the only ones aware. But I said, I'm posting this tomorrow. Whoever, whoever shares it and mentions me. You guys would get. I forgot what the giveaway was, but you guys will get that. So it helps increase engagement that way. Even if you're selective to a group or you want to open it up to everybody. But generally I don't have it on all the time. I Kind of put it on and off in waves, depending on what campaign or post that I usually have running. But if you do want to keep it on, I have a few people that have kept it on all the time. And they'll send a very simple message and it'll say thank you for the shout out. And I feel like that's enough to, you know, it might get ignored or the person might respond, and then next thing you know, another conversation started. I mean, at the end of the day, that's what ManyChat is. It's a conversation starter, right? You know, whether the entire conversation is automated or you jump in at a certain point and take it over manually, that's what we want more of. Because without ManyChat, most people nowadays aren't really in the DMs unless it's with people they know specifically that they're sending, like, reels back and forth. I do that with my wife. Like, I'm sending her reels back and forth all the time. I'm sure, like most married couples now, you'll sit in the same room with each other and still send each other reels. But if it's somebody else that we follow, like a business or a celebrity, we don't DM them, we don't message them. It's very unlikely. So this opens that door up for more conversations.
- [33:44]
A
I love this. This is so good. This is so good. Um, okay. Gosh, you've gotten kind of into what a beginner could do, what an intermediate person could do. What. I mean, is there anything else we should. People should know about automation that they might not know?
- [34:03]
B
Well, I'm. I'm so glad that you asked this question because it leads in, it leads into a freebie that I actually just put out there a few weeks back. It's called the 12 Ways to Use ManyChat. And I say 12 ways because most people know 10 ways. They generally know. You comment a keyword, you comment a keyword. And then Manychat was sending automation. Another one is if somebody DMs you a keyword or they share it in IG story and sends them a keyword. But there's 10 other ways to actually trigger the keyword. Whether it's. You've mentioned one just now where you share a post. Well, you mention a post and a trigger, automation would go off. But there's a few other ways. I'll share my favorite one. I generally don't talk about this one too much. I try to use this one to lead people to the guide. But this is one of my favorites.
- [34:56]
A
Okay.
- [34:56]
B
It's called the Ref.
- [34:57]
A
I'll link his guide into the show.
- [35:01]
B
It's called the ref URL. It sounds complicated, but at the end of the day, it's just a link. So your automation can generate a link and you could take this link and put it anywhere. So I've actually used this link and I've put it on YouTube. I've put it in threads, and when people click on it, if they, for example, if they're on threads, it'll open up their Instagram app and go straight to the DMs and start the automation as if they were on Instagram and commented the keyword.
- [35:31]
A
Oh, wow. Okay, so give me an example. Give me like a real example here.
- [35:36]
B
All right, well, let's. I'll use YouTube for an example. If I'm on YouTube and I want to get them, maybe that same freebie that I'm talking about, that's actually what I do now. I'm talking about a freebie. How to get 1212 ways. Use ManyChat. I could probably keep this exclusive for my Instagram followers. Right. But to do that, they have to go on Instagram. So I put the Link in the YouTube description. So when they click it, it opens up the Instagram app and then it'll lead them through that entire automation. If they're a follower, great. It'll give it to them easy, no problem. If they're not, I might have had that Instagram set up where it says, hey, this is only for my followers. You have to follow first. So it depends on what I want set up.
- [36:21]
A
When it opens up, is it writing the keyword down for them? Like, is it, you know. Oh, so how is. I guess this is a magic link.
- [36:30]
B
Yes.
- [36:31]
A
That many. Okay. I'm like, how are they knowing if there's not a keyword?
- [36:37]
B
It basically triggers the automation, as if the keyword was entered. So that's just one way. But there's a few other ways that you use manychat that some are brand new. Some people have heard of a few, and then there's others that aren't used as much. But it really depends on what you're expecting and what you want from the audience.
- [36:57]
A
Okay, I love this. Yes. I'm going to link this in the show. Notes for us. What about Heston? Do you have some YouTube videos for people like that? Show them any, like, how to's or anything or how do. How can people work with you?
- [37:12]
B
Um, several ways to work with me. I try to make Myself very, very to get out there and, and help as many people as possible. So if you're looking for like one on one help where I could actually go over your shoulder or build the automation for you yourself, we could definitely do that. Um, you could contact me directly on Instagram, slide into the DMs. It won't be just my chatbot responding, it will be me. I'll send you a voice message to confirm. But if you wanted to work one on one that way, that's one of the best ways to do it. I do have YouTube and I have a few videos. I've actually shifted Gears on my YouTube channel recently where I'm hosting mostly ManyChat and DM automation related videos. So you'll get a lot of that as well if you want to learn it yourself. But if you kind of want the best of both worlds where I'm there with you and you're learning at your own pace, I opened up my manychat school unschool.com where I've been able to share templates if you want to do something fast and just install right away. I have manychat templates if you want to go through the course. I have a course. I'm actually revamping the course right now. You'll like this part too. I'm revamping the course to include videos in both English and Spanish. And I do not speak Spanish, but I'm using AI. I tested it the other day. You would think I've mastered Duolingo.
- [38:35]
A
That is amazing, Heston.
- [38:37]
B
So I want to have that offer. I would have video and audio in Spanish and English for those that want to, you know, if you want to follow along at your own pace. And then we have a community where I'm in it all the time. I'm sharing posts about DM automation strategies and tips a lot that we just discussed here. I share that pretty much daily and there's a community that's also sharing as well. So you have a support system along with other people that are whether that's your level or maybe a little bit above. And then I'm always there also. So you have multiple ways to get in contact with me to work.
- [39:09]
A
I love that. Before closing out, I want to talk to you real quick about when I log into manychat and the analytics side of it. So if you click on any automation, you can kind of see like your click through rate and all that stuff. Is that something that people should be paying attention to on a weekly basis or eyeing every now and then do you pay any attention to that stuff?
- [39:30]
B
I definitely do. And let me first off say I'm very glad that you even know that there's an analytics section, because a lot of people that I speak to, they don't even know that that's there. I think they call it insights.
- [39:40]
A
Yep.
- [39:40]
B
It's kind of like with Instagram. So yeah, so kudos to you on that. A lot of people aren't paying attention to these metrics, but I definitely do pay attention to it as I especially when I'm working with clients because it gives you an idea of how people are engaging with your automation and where can things be improved. Like if certain Messages have high CTRs and others don't, maybe there's an opportunity to change the messaging. That's usually what the problem is. Sometimes simpler is just better. I don't know about you, Caitlin. I'm long winded, especially when I write and I'm always like, okay, when I write it down and I look at it, this is too much. You got to break it down to pretty much that they're able to read it within, I would say, five seconds and know what to do next. So yeah, those insights and analytics is pretty key. It lets you know if your chatbot is working or not.
- [40:35]
A
That is really good insight. So he's also saying too, guys, when you set up your DM automation to reply to them, keep it short and sweet, easy to read and just get to the point there because I agree with you. I'm not trying to read a whole essay paragraph. Just get me what I need.
- [40:49]
B
Yeah.
- [40:50]
A
So I appreciate that, Heston. This was so helpful. Guys, I would love for you to first follow him on Instagram, go to his YouTube channel. He is so smart about all of this and he's so helpful. Huston, thank you so much for coming on. Call her creator today.
- [41:06]
B
Thank you so much for having me a guest. I hope that you guys are enjoying the life that manychat Automation could provide for you, which means saving you time away from the DMs. As you said earlier, we're working smarter, not harder. So let's use those automations to our ability.
- [41:23]
A
Amen. All right, I will link all of his goodies into the show notes for us, but for now, that is all we have for you. Thank you so much and we'll see you next week.