Want to know the ONLY thing I changed over the last 6 months to increase my social media revenue?
Btw I did the math — it was a 340% increase…
I’ll tell ya everything.
Hey Posse, what’s up? It’s Alex.
Coming at you this week with another blog about one of my favorite tools for growing my business…
Yes, I am talking about Manychat.
Huge shout out to Manychat for sponsoring this week’s tutorial.
Listen — you guys know I don’t promote tools unless I love them and think they can seriously change your business…
And Manychat is one of those tools.
In this blog, I’m going to show you exactly how I use it to build my email list (and MASSIVELY boost my revenue) from social media…
So if you haven’t signed up for an account yet, what are you even doing?
You can give Manychat Pro a try FOR FREE for an entire month when you use my link in this blog.
Just be sure to use code “ALEX” – all caps – at checkout.
So, you’ve probably seen many online coaches and creators lately telling you that the “link in bio” is dead… including me!
lol.
But WHY is it dead?
And WHY is Manychat the tool you should be using instead?
I mean, you CAN still post a link in your Instagram bio… right? Yes.
And people DO still visit those links from time to time… ummmm, right? Yes.
BUT…
There are a few reasons why using the “Link In Bio” has become a bit problematic…
The Problem With “Link In Bio”
Nowadays, it’s pretty common to see creators use a 3rd party app – like Linktree, TapBio, or Shorby to create a list of links that looks something like this…
And, yes, I too use Linktree for my “link in bio”…
These apps were created as a solution to a BIG problem.
Instagram used to allow only ONE link in your bio — and, as you probably know, you can’t include any links in your posts or captions.
The reason they did this was because Instagram (aka Meta), naturally, wants to keep people on their platform.
So by restricting the number of links allowed, they are increasing the chances of people staying on the Instagram app longer, consuming more content, and seeing more ads…
Which is great for them…
Not so great for you – especially if you’re using Instagram the way most creatives and business owners do…
As a way to grow your business, get more leads on your email list, promote an offer, or make revenue through affiliate links.
Now, if you’re not using one of these third-party apps that allow for multiple links, then maybe you’re linking directly to your main website.
Ok cool…
But the problem with that is you have to give people some pretty specific instructions on where to navigate on your website to get what they want…
“Once you get to the website, click on offers in the upper right corner, then scroll down until you find….”
Yeah… right…
Or you could just send people to your website, give no direction, and hope they’ll stick around long enough to figure out how to find what they’re looking for on their own.
…I shouldn’t have to tell you that this is not a great marketing strategy.
And even though Instagram upped its limit from 1 link to 5 links in April of 2023…
The majority of brands and businesses out there still need to utilize Linktree or something like it because they have MANY MORE than just 5 links they want to share with their audience like I do!
Yup, these “link in bio” tools are actually super helpful!
Plot twist right?
I’m not saying you shouldn’t have SOMETHING in your link in bio for those people who know exactly what they are looking for when they come to your Instagram page.
What To Put In Your Instagram Bio
This is a great place to share everything from:
- Free resources
- Links to your favorite products
- Discount codes
- Recent videos
- Podcast episodes
Or really ANY other quick reference, resource, or link that would be helpful to your audience – as long as there aren’t too many links because it can get pretty overwhelming in there.
So let it be known once and for all – I think you SHOULD still share resources in your link in bio for the people who come looking…
But here’s the big difference… you should NOT depend on it to drive your leads and sales…
Because, let’s be honest, most people are not scouring Instagram for more email lists to join.
Which leads me to the 3 biggest problems with using your Link in bio for lead and sale generation…
Problem #1 – It’s Lacks Personalization
Even if you get the paid version of a link in bio tool, you simply cannot personalize the user experience.
Sure you can customize the branding and colors…
Or name your links something cute or catchy…
But everyone sees the exact same thing.
You can’t add any context…
And you definitely can’t build a relationship or start a conversation.
And anyone who knows anything about marketing will tell you…
Relationship building, personalization, and conversational messaging is a KEY factor in getting people to take action, stay engaged, and take the next step with you.
One of the best things about Manychat is that it’s 100% automated AND personalized.
- YOU write the sequence to say exactly what you want it to say.
- You can write it in your exact brand voice…
- You can add fun emojis, gifs, and flare…
- You can include images and other branding elements.
- You can send reminders, conduct polls and quizzes, follow up with personalized messages, and even ask for feedback.
Remember: The whole point of marketing is to get a prospect to know, like, and trust you… so that they’ll take the next step with you.
It’s pretty hard to do that by telling them to go to my “link in bio”.
Go the extra mile to connect and relate with your prospects through conversational marketing.
Sure – you could manually send out links and resources to every single person who asks for them…
This is what we did for YEARS until the sheer number of messages became too hard to keep up with.
I remember the first masterclass I ever hosted we had so many people interested in watching the replay that it literally took one of my team members FOUR HOURS to send the link to everyone.
And that was just sending those links – that doesn’t include replying to other comments, DMs, and questions.
There comes a point when manually sending out links just isn’t sustainable…
Which is why we use Manychat to automatically send out our links immediately when our followers ask for them!
We get to personalize the message, start conversations, AND we save tons of time.
It’s a win, win, win.
Alright, now the second problem with using “link in bio”…
Problem #2 – It Tanks Engagement
When you tell someone to go to the link in your bio…
If they actually do it, that means they leave your post, click on your bio, leave Instagram, and they’re gone…
Which means they’re no longer on Instagram…
OR engaging with your content.
And this is a big ol fat strike against you in the eyes of the algorithm Gods (I mean I think, who really knows).
While it may be somewhat of a mystery how the algorithm works…
Most experts universally agree that the more engagement you get on your posts, the better.
This means you want people to be: liking, sharing, and commenting on your posts as much as possible.
Or replying to your stories as much as possible…
And then, this is the real trick, you want to REPLY BACK to those comments and DMs as much as possible.
This is the kind of stuff that Instagram LOVES…
Because it shows them that people are finding your stuff valuable…
And they’re engaging more on the Instagram app instead of leaving it…
So Instagram will push that content more and show it to even more people.
And this can all be set up and automated through Manychat which is the coolest thing ever.
According to Manychat, their customers have reported an increase in engagement by 300%!
To show you how we’ve used it to increase engagement, take a look at these two posts.
Here we’re having people comment a keyword has over 800 comments. That is amazing engagement…
Compared to the one here where we tell people to go to the link in our bio…
6 comments – ha!
Now obviously these posts are years apart from one another so our audience is definitely bigger in the later example…
But the difference in engagement is very clear…
And when I look at my top-performing posts in the last 3 months?
ALL of them had a Manychat automation.
More of that, please.
Alright, now the 3rd problem with using “link in bio”…
Problem #3 – It’s Clunky
I mean have you ever visited someone’s Link In Bio?!
It’s CLUNKY, right?
Think about it…
When you ask someone to “go to the link in my bio”, it usually goes something like this…
First, they have to read your caption that tells them to go to the link in bio
Then they have to click on your profile…
Then they have to click on the link in your bio…
Then they have to scroll through a massive list of links to find THE link they’re looking for.
Only to then click the link, leave the app and wait for a clunky landing page to load…
And btw, hopefully, it actually works on mobile…
And then you have to scroll around on a website to find what you’re looking for…
AND WHO WANTS TO DO THAT?
Okay… apparently some people want to do that.
But let’s remember…
Those people are probably your super, ultra-committed, die-hard fans
Literally, when I asked my audience about this recently 2 out of hundreds of people on this post said they disagreed.
But listen – it’s not just ME saying people don’t want to visit the link in your bio based on my personal opinions…
Or the number of comments on this post…
We have DATA that backs this up.
Check this out…
Over the last month or so we got a whopping ONE NEW LEAD from our “link in bio”…
And over 400 new leads from Manychat…
This is proof that the majority of folks are too busy, too distracted, think they’ll remember to do it later, or just don’t quite care THAT much to go to all the trouble to click your link in bio.
A person has to be pretty damn committed to stop everything they’re doing, pull themselves away from a dopamine scroll, and go to YOUR link in bio to spend money to give you their email address.
And the chances are way lower if they are brand new – someone who isn’t a die-hard fan of yours…
Doesn’t know who you are…
And has no idea how you can help them or if you’re trustworthy?
Yeah, you can be pretty sure that a lot of those people will just keep on scrolling…
But when you use Manychat?
All they have to do is read your caption that tells them to comment a keyword
Then comment the keyword and hit post.
AND THAT’S IT.
It’s very low commitment, which means MORE people are likely to do it.
They don’t have to stop what they’re doing…
They don’t have to dig through links…
They don’t have to leave the app…
They just leave a comment and then go on with their day.
Manychat will automatically send them the link straight to their DMs.
They can continue browsing around on Instagram for a while or immediately go check out the link…
There is no pressure for them to do it right now and no chance that they’ll forget to do it later.
Because it’s right there waiting for them in their DMs.
Remember, the easier you can make it for someone to take action, the more likely they are to actually do it.
So regardless of WHAT action you want someone to take…
Whether it’s downloading a free lead magnet…
Or purchasing something…
Or signing up for a free masterclass…
Or ANYTHING ELSE…
If you want to do it fast and increase the likelihood of people actually following through…
Then you NEED to make it very easy for them.
And I haven’t found anything that makes it as easy – or as fast – as Manychat.
I’ve been using Manychat for a few YEARS now and it’s made such a big difference in my business…
Once you get started and set up your first flow, everything is 100% automated.
I pointed out earlier in this video that using Manychat has given us a 340% increase in direct revenue from social media…
But what’s even cooler than that is that we’ve been able to engage over 32,000 leads through our Manychat account alone!
If you want to learn exactly how we use Manychat and social media to grow our email list, grab my FREE Email Building Guide.
And if you want to learn more about how Manychat works, I have another in-depth tutorial where I show you how to get started, how to set up your first flow, and how the automation process works – start to finish.
And if you’re ready to give Manychat a try, make sure to sign up using the code: “ALEX” at checkout for your first month free!
You’ll find all those links in the description box below.
Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now.
