Slide into their DMs

Hello Sellouts

For years, Facebook Ads have excelled at putting your ads in front of the right audience and getting them to checkout on your website.

Yet, while meta ads still do well, their effectiveness has worn off, especially as more brands are turning their attention to new – often younger – audiences on other platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Facebook’s younger sister, Instagram.

Given the addictive nature of these platforms, it’s never been harder to get a user to exit the platform to scroll your ecomm website.

That’s why commerce now needs to live within the app themselves.

Today, let's talk about ManyChat, a tool that helps you convert Instagram followers to sales on autopilot.

I covered this sales tactic in a previous edition, but today we’re going deeper into specific use cases you can implement today.

THIS WEEK IN NEWS:

• SOCIAL: Instagram launches DM Updates

  • Instagram now allows scheduling DMs for future delivery

  • A new message translation feature enables seamless communication with international customers and markets

  • Easily expand group chats by sharing a unique QR code (great for brand community building)

• MARKETING: Google enhances Display Ads with expanded inventory and AI-powered creative tools 

  • New third-party Connected TV inventory added across news, sports, social and gaming categories

  • Display ads now available in Demand Gen campaigns, showing 16% lift in conversions during testing

  • Upgraded Imagen 3 AI model for better image generation plus new creative templates and collaboration tools

  • For marketers, this means broader reach across platforms while maintaining creative quality and brand standards, with easier asset creation and collaboration

Getting Followers with Automatic Replies

Before you can convert followers to buyers, you actually need followers.

ManyChat can help with that in a bunch of ways, by automating responses to new comments on your posts.

This will automatically respond to anyone who comments with your keyword.

You could use this to:

• Thank users for looking at your content and make a personal connection

• Prompt users to DMs for signup links or special coupons

• Create an opt-in button for users to sign up for alerts if you have a sale

• … and tons of other creative applications

💡Pro Tip: Personalize messages with smart fields by clicking the {.} icon next to the emoji button. This lets you autofill somebody’s first name, adjust for time zone, or even switch languages for the other user.

Finding Mentions in the Wild

You don’t have to wait for potential customers to stumble on your account, you can actually go to them.

What if your Instagram automatically responded anytime somebody tagged your brand, even if it wasn’t on your feed?

ManyChat can do that.

1. Go to settings.

2. Click on “Instagram” under "Channels” in the left-hand navigation menu

3. Scroll down to “Story-Mention Reply”

4. Click “Create new reply”

5. Create a flow just like you did in the comment reply automation section!

This is perfect for if you want to increase engagement with fans who already love your brand:

• Send discounts

• Drive affiliate signups

• Ask if they want to be featured by your site

• Thank them for being in your community

• Ask them for their ideas to build rapport

• Ask what they like most to generate organic reviews

Slide Into Their DMs

You can even automate a DM conversations that customers start with you.

This is perfect for brands or influencers with a “free trial” system, e-books, guides or other exclusive content for signed-up users.

First, use the comment-reply automation we discussed to drive users to your DM then:

1. Create a “user sends a message” trigger to respond to DMs

2. Click Instagram > Send Message to reply back

3. Add a quick reply button with a clear CTA ("Yes, send me info" or "Learn more")

4. If you want, use “Data Collection” widget to ask the user for info like their name, email or other piece of info

5. Deliver your lead magnet, coupon, or product info

This kind of DM architecture is also perfect for customer support automation directly on Instagram.

💡Pro Tip: Always give users a text option to continue the flow (like "type info") since quick reply buttons don't always display on all devices.

Segment and Follow Up

The real power comes from what happens after the initial conversation:

1. Use tags to segment users based on their interests or actions

2. Create follow-up sequences that deliver additional value

3. Set up automated abandoned conversations to re-engage people who drop off

4. Integrate with your email marketing platform to continue the relationship

With ManyChat's Pro plan ($15/month), you can create complex flows that personalize the experience based on user responses to your initial outreach.

Imagine you have two verticals, one for winter hats and one for summer hats. Somebody responds to one of your posts, “Great hat!”

With just a few ManyChat automations, you could:

1. Build rapport with them by automatically responding

2. Invite them to DM you for a hat coupon

3. Collect information about their location in the DM flow

4. Provide customer support if they make a purchase

5. Re-engage them with winter hat updates when it gets cold in their area

6. Re-engage them with summer hat updates when it isn’t

And we’re just scratching the surface.

 The Sellout Takeaway

There’s a lot more you can do with ManyChat, but the top three things are:

1. Identify what draws people to your brand.

2. Highlight those aspects with automatic replies.

3. Monitor your analytics to refine and improve over time

This is a wonderful tool not only for maximizing marketing results, but also just helping build your organic community by engaging the people who love your brand.

I'm curious to hear your results and ideas! Hit reply and let me know how it's working for you, or if you have any questions about implementing ManyChat with your Instagram DM Funnel.

Until next time, keep selling out (in the best way possible). If you found this interesting, please share it with a friend and hit reply. I'd love to hear your thoughts on building community vs focusing purely on sales.

Until next week,
Luke

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