✨ Today we covered:
✅ Think of it like an open house: You set out a basket of flyers with a “take one” sign. You are not handing each person a flyer yourself, but everyone who wants one gets one. You fill the basket once, and the work keeps happening whether you are standing there or not.
✅ Why speed is the whole point: Best case, your VA replies in a few minutes. Realistically, an hour, maybe longer on a busy day. If someone comments late on a Friday night, that could be 48 hours. By then they may have found another house, or another agent.
✅ Check your account type first: ManyChat only works with a business or creator Instagram account. If yours is personal, switch it in settings. It is free and takes a minute.
✅ How an automation is built: A trigger (a comment on a post or Reel, a story reply, a direct DM, a comment during a live), then what happens next (a DM with your link, plus a public reply to their comment so they know to check their messages). Always use a specific keyword, never “any word.”
✅ The three keyword pillars: BOOK something (a call, a showing). GIVE something in exchange for an email (a guide, a checklist, a freebie). GO SEE something (a video, a listing page, a group). My own words follow all three... START for calls, PCS for my Military guide, one word per listing, one per YouTube video.
✅ The one I want you to build first: A freebie your ideal client would be thrilled to get, with a form in front of it. That is how you gather real leads from the right people, not just engagement.
✅ Where the CTA goes depends on the post: On a YouTube clip, put it up top... they just watched the preview and want the rest. On a storytelling post, it goes at the bottom, because the caption has to earn it. You build the whole thing so she reads it and thinks “that is exactly me,” and then she comments. Nobody comments because you told them to. They comment because they want what you are offering.
✅ Make the DM sound like you: They know it is an automation. It still does not have to sound like a robot. Use your words, your emojis, the voice from your captions.
✅ Do not automate everything: Listing details, yes, that rarely changes. “Would this work for my Family” needs a human. The DM opens the door... a real person has to keep the conversation going. Put a question in the DM so your VA has something to reply to, and when the lead warms up, she hands it to you.
💡 Two things that will save you a headache:
✅ The link bug. Some accounts cannot send a link in the very first DM. Test yours. If it will not go through, use a short opener message first with a button for them to click, then the link follows a second later.
✅ Testing only works once per account. ManyChat sends the DM one time per person, even if you comment the keyword again. If you need to test twice, use a different account. Nothing is broken.
💰 The free plan is genuinely enough to start.
They charge by the size of your contact list, meaning unique people who have triggered your keywords. The free plan gives you 25 contacts and covers Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook Messenger. There is an essential plan at 250 contacts, and paid tiers add WhatsApp and other features as you grow.
Start free. Upgrade when your list makes you.
🏠 Homework, build ONE automation this week:
✅ Check that your Instagram is a business or creator account
✅ Create your free ManyChat account and connect Instagram
✅ Pick one thing... either a question you get asked constantly, or a freebie worth an email
✅ Choose a keyword that actually relates to what you are sending
✅ Build it, then test it from a different account on an old post
✅ Once it works, make a new post with the CTA on the slides and in the caption
If you hit a wall, come to us. Email, or book a one-on-one. That is what we are here for 🫶🏼
