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On a scale of 1 to What in the fresh hell is this? How much do you love or hate social media? Hit reply and let me know what you think.

This edition is in partnership with Ready to Record.​

How to Make Social Media Your B*tch and Bring You New Customers

You’ve likely seen social posts saying, “Comment ‘Potato,’ and I’ll send you my guide on making the best hash browns ever.” Or something similar: once you comment, you’ll get a DM with a link to guide you to the promised thing.

Surprise! It’s not the user replying to everyone with a DM with those links, but an automation tool that helps them deliver. I’ve used this technique in the post below, which has helped me bring in 27 new subscribers.

Twenty-seven may not seem significant, but that’s the most I’ve gained from a single Instagram post ever, and I haven’t tried again since. Still, after that successful experiment, I plan on forging a full-scale automation attack on unsuspecting audiences.

The automation app I used is ManyChat [partner]. This chatbot allows Instagram, Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp to deliver unique content to interested audience members, and in a world where nobody is going to your profile anymore to click your link, ManyChat is an easy way to stay connected with people.

Maybe you’ve seen it where you share that you have some new work for sale, and despite having had the same URL in your bio for years, people still ask in your comments where to find the link to that new work.

News Flash! The audience does not want to work for whatever you’re selling. They want it easily presented and clickable in an instant. Since URLs don’t work within Instagram posts, it’s impossible to instantly deliver clickability in that post, and that’s where ManyChat comes in.

By setting up automation with ManyChat, you can instantly send customized links to interested audience members. Not only does that help eliminate the work for audiences, but it also allows you to deliver unique links that may differ from your main profile URL. Multiple landing page options also help you better identify which products or services you offer that people resonate with the most.

You can also offer different lead magnets to get people interested, whether that’s a special newcomer discount, valuable guides, cheat sheets, or whatever thing you want to provide.

Now, I’m not a ManyChat power user yet, but these are some tips to help make the process easier.

1. Make sure you understand who your ideal customer is first because that’s who you will be targeting with your promotions.
2. Created a lead magnet that serves that customer. What problem can you help them solve—get creative with your thinking on this one.
3. Before you start an automation process within ManyChat, make sure you know exactly what you want the result to be for the customer, whether that’s to join your email list, make a purchase, see a specific area of your website, or a combination of some or all of those things.
4. Keep the automation as simple as possible. There is a lot of functionality within ManyChat, but the best option initially is simplicity for you and your audience.
5. When you create a post to use on IG or Facebook, remember to ask yourself the most important question ever about your audience. What’s in it for them? Start with a trustworthy presentation of your offer while using Intrigue, surprise, and delight to get them to take action.

Everything should be done with the end result in mind, and ultimately, that’s a satisfied customer or subscriber who craves more of you and your work.

Other apps offer the same tools as ManyChat but don’t offer a free option. Starting for free is a great way to experience the basic tools of ManyChat while seeing how powerful it is for driving customers to your site. Eventually, you may be like me and upgrade to the extended capabilities and increased sales.

I plan to make a YouTube video soon showing how I use ManyChat to bring in new subscribers. If you didn’t know I had a YouTube channel, keep reading.

I Planned to Do More But Then Didn't

Do you know what sucks? Resistance—the invisible force that tells you it's okay not to do the thing you want or something new because it's scary, dull, or will take too long, and I have too many videos about orcas to watch.

Do you know what's awesome? FOCUS!

This week, I posted my first YouTube video in nearly three months, and though I had some legitimate reasons for waiting, I held myself back way too long for many unnecessary reasons.

But now I'm in a new era, and it was time to get my butt off the bench and into the studio, where I sweated my way through what I hope will be an insightful video about the best thing anyone can do to win with their creative business.

​It's good advice, but you may not love it.​

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Small Bites

🎥 - Making videos can be scary. Sharing not just your thoughts but also your face on camera 😱 😱 😱? Not only can Zach from Ready to Record help you make the process less scary and more fun, but he may even throw in some Dungeons and Dragons references just for kicks. Check out the Making Mini Art Videos program for more. [Partner]

💡 - If you're like me, you have too many great ideas and not enough time. Keeping those ideas from overwhelming your brain can be a monumental chore, and Nathan Barry shares three tips to help quell the storm of creative indulgence.

🍏 - Maybe you know that anytime an app or service uses Apple's app store to sell their service, they must pay a 30% commission to Apple for the privilege. One app that has somehow avoided that fee is Patreon… until now. I'll give you one guess of who will end up paying that commission fee (HINT: It's not Patreon).

🧵 - I don't spend crazy amounts of time on Threads. I enjoy it more than other social platforms for its simplicity. I love it more when it allows me to do my job better.

🪧 - You would look fabulous right here. ​Advertise with The Hungry​ for the rest of August for only $25!