Chatbots: Your Secret Weapon for engagement and Business Growth

Your Dream Business

In today's episode I chatted with chatbot expert Mel about the ease and accessibility of setting up chat funnels on Instagram and Facebook for small businesses. Mel shares valuable hacks, tips, and strategies for improving engagement, building email lists, and integrating chat funnels into your marketing plan. The discussion emphasizes the affordability and low barrier to entry for businesses of any size and highlights the importance of personalizing customer journeys via DMs. Tune in to learn how chatbots can enhance your online presence and convert followers into leads.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

1. Chatbots are accessible and affordable: Small businesses can easily implement chatbots on platforms like Instagram and Facebook to automate interactions and save time.
2. Chatbots can improve engagement: By providing instant responses and personalized recommendations, chatbots can enhance customer engagement and build relationships.
3. Chatbots can drive conversions: Integrating chatbots into your marketing strategy can help generate leads, capture email addresses, and ultimately drive sales.

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE

Connect with Mel on Website, Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Email: [e-mail] Connect with Teresa on Website, The Club, Sign up to Teresa's email list, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter

Transcript

Teresa: If you've ever seen any of the big names in the online industry using chatbots, you know, where they post something and say, comment this or DM me this, and you thought, oh man, that must be really big and complicated and expensive to set up, then you definitely want to listen to this episode today. In today's episode, I chat with the amazing Mel who is a chatbot expert, and she shares with us how easy and accessible it is for small businesses of any size to set up a chat funnel on Instagram or Facebook. She talks about some of the amazing hacks and tips that you can use, and also some genius ways in which you can help improve engagement. And get people on your email list. Like I said, this is not a trend that is just happening and people should jump on. This is a really cool [00:01:00] strategic thing that you can do for your business. So today's episode is not to be missed. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. I hope you are good. This week we have a really cool interview. [00:02:00] I have been doing some serious interviewing, batching of interviews. And it's like, you know, when you record a load of interviews and you're like, I just can't wait for them to come out, but they're going to have to take the time to come out, but I'm super glad that we're bringing this one out pretty soon after recording, because I feel like this is something you need to hear. Now, if you know me, you know, I don't jump on the latest thing. I have a long history in marketing and therefore when a platform comes out and loads of people jump on it, I often, I can kind of like behind a little bit because I'm like, let's just really see what it can do for us before it takes time out of my day. And I spend too much time working on something that might not actually do anything for my business. So. I didn't jump on threads. I'm still not on it. I never went on Snapchat. I'm not on TikTok. Like, and I'm not saying that they can't all do amazing things for our businesses. I'm sure they can, but for me, I didn't feel the need to add something else. However, this thing I do want you to jump [00:03:00] on and it's not even that new. Today. We are talking about chatbots and chat funnels and basically how you can comment a word in a DM and or in a cap, comment. And then get an automation sent to you. So we're talking about that today and it's actually not new. I talk about the fact that years and years ago, about eight years ago, I did a speaking thing in America and many chat were there. And then they kind of disappeared for a bit and then they came back again. So it's not that this is a brand new thing to do, but actually I have seen the increase in this massively over the last six months. I've seen some of the really biggest names in the industry using it. And therefore I really think. That you should have a look at it. Also, it's a low barrier to entry from a knowledge point of view and a money point of view. So it's really one of these things that actually, once you learn the basics of it, then it's a rinse and repeat thing. So for me, this is really, really important episode. It's also lovely to have [00:04:00] on the podcast, someone who I'm working with in my accelerator program. Although we don't talk about that at all, because. The aim of having her on is nothing to do with selling my program, but she just happens to be one of my accelerator people, which is awesome. And I'm currently working with her on her launch, which is going really well, which is also awesome. So the lovely Mel is a conversational marketer and a many chat agency partner with a long career spanning B2B publishing, social media, paid ads, and chat funnels. She combines the power of conversation with strategy to help brands get more sales, more leads from their marketing. This stuff is so cool and so smart. And like I said, the barrier to entry is low. So if you are an business owner of any type and you are on social media, Instagram or Facebook, then this is definitely, definitely an episode you're going to want to listen to and something that you're going to want to check out and you're going to want to check Mel out. So without further ado, here is the awesome Mel. [00:05:00] Mel, welcome to the podcast. Mel: Thank you for having me. Teresa: I'm excited to have this conversation because I think this, I'm such a geek, right? I'm not sure I come across as a geek, but I am an absolute geek around tech, funnels, all of this sort of stuff. And this is the conversation we're having today, which I'm so excited about. So we're going to dive straight in and I'm going to get you just to explain. What is a chat funnel? Mel: So a chat funnel is essentially a, a new way of marketing your business that can compliment what you do already. So for a lot of businesses, their marketing will comprise doing their social media posts. They'll be sending people to landing pages. Those landing pages will build their email list. Now, nothing wrong with that, but chat funnels enables brands now to personalize that customer journey and actually get them from the social [00:06:00] channels into the email list through the DMs. And I'm talking specifically here about really Facebook and Instagram. And Instagram is where I love doing most of my work and where a lot of the clients that I work with actually get the traction. And so for chat funnels with regards to Instagram, You are getting them to comment on your post, which is playing into the algorithm for engagement and comments and reach. And you're giving them a keyword that's bringing them into the DMs. You're taking them through a really short marketing journey, which is normally, this is what we've got. The, this is our offer. Would you like it? This is your name. Please give me your name and your email. And that pings it straight into the, the brands CRM email system, which delivers the thing, the PDF, the checklist, what it is they've signed up for. So chat funnels essentially is about personalizing that marketing journey through the DMs. And it's for the consumer, it's one to one. So they are [00:07:00] feeling like it's a one to one journey, but yet still for the brand, because it's automated, it still has that one to many outlook. So they are not, individually talking to everybody that is automated, but the automation is providing that personalization of the customer journey. And it's all really super exciting. Teresa: It is. And I was telling Mel that one of the first speaking gigs or the first speaking gig I did out of the country or in the States was for Leadpages, which For those of you who don't know who Leadpages are, they basically do landing pages for list building. And they also owned a company at the time called Drip, which was their CRM on the back end. Anyway, I went out, like I learned about this stuff a really long time ago, and ManyChat, who is the company. So there's obviously the chat funnel, but the company that the system is called ManyChat that most people use in other systems other than ManyChat. Mel: There are, there are, yeah, there are other chats, there are other platforms that you can use. [00:08:00] I, a lot of people, myself and a lot of people I know, use ManyChat. Quite simply, from the other ones that I've looked at, is because it's actually quite simple. Once you've learned how to use it, it's a no code interface, so you don't need to have vast amounts of technical knowledge in order to be able to use it. So that, yes, there are other platforms out there, but Many chat, specifically is the one that I use. Yeah. It's one of the biggest ones out there. Yeah. Teresa: And, and they were one of the speakers and this was literally like eight years ago and they were like chat funnels, chat bots. This is going to be the next big thing. And it was huge. And I remember like, you know, seeing the stats of open rate and click rates and thinking, this is amazing. And then it disappeared. , and you and I have talked about this as to why it disappeared and changes to the API and all tech stuff that is really beyond me. Yeah. Essentially as well. Yeah. So then it stopped and now it's back and [00:09:00] all the big people are using it. Mel: They are. Yeah. Teresa: So. Let's just because I touched on that, have you got some stats and I appreciate I am literally just throwing questions at you. So have you got some stats in your head about the kind of conversions that people can expect through this kind of stuff? Mel: So essentially from what I see and from the flows that I build for clients and from myself and just in the wider industry as well, you can expect to open rates and click through rates of between 60 to 80%. Teresa: I mean, that's wild. Mel: But generally, you don't get that on a landing page or an email. It's not to say it's impossible, but generally, it's actually because no one really ignores a message from a brand in their DMs. And if that marketing journey is relatively short, as I believe it should be, and it's personalized, You know that and the ability to bring them straight from that social media channel into the CRM without having to be taken off platform is what gives it that kind of unique [00:10:00] touch in getting those higher open rates and those higher click through rates. So, yes, in essence, that is kind of the stats that we are looking at. They open rates and click through rates are much, much higher. Teresa: So, which is amazing because that is the aim of everything we're doing. So one of the things I know about you is that obviously you also do Facebook ads and you started in the ad space. What made you decide to go over into offering this as well? Mel: So I essentially, I wanted to add another string to my bow apart from just doing and doing Facebook ads, which I still love, still do that. And my background years and years ago, long time ago now, for your children, is in print publishing. So I've worked in journalism and editing and page design. But essentially, you know, the theme through all of that is, is conversational. It's, you know, editorial, it's about getting the message across through, well back then, through the print media, and I came across ManyChat now four years ago, [00:11:00] I think, and I think it's because I commented on someone's post on Facebook, and then this automation popped up, and I was like, wow, that's amazing, and then, and then I kind of delved a little bit deeper, and then I found ManyChat, and then I just went down this whole rabbit hole for weeks and weeks on end, and it totally played to what I was looking for. In, you know, adding an extra stream to my business that is conversational and it's personalized because it's, it's what I've done for years in my previous career. And the fact that it kind of links into Facebook as well meant it kind of married up very well with what I was doing existingly in Facebook ads as well. So it's, it's kind of, you know, my love of the written language and being able to communicate with people through a chatbot, which is more. It's a much more casual way of talking to people as well. And we use emojis and it's, and it's quick and it's conversational and it's personalized. [00:12:00] And I love it. And so then as soon as I found that, I was like, right, I'll have to go and learn this. And I did. That's exactly what I did do. Teresa: But like you said, this is so freaking clever for so many reasons. One, like you said, we all know engagement on posts is key to get anything to actually have any traction. So the fact that you the whole way this starts is by commenting on a post or sending a DM or whatever. But if it's a comment on a post, that action alone is going to start kicking off that algorithm in terms of like showing other people the fact that it's done in app. making it hopefully as seamlessly as possible for the person who's going through it. Because I remember like, I think I must've talked about chatbots a really long time ago, but I remember saying to people like, imagine when you're, you know, saying to someone and before you could put the link in a story or something, [00:13:00] you're going to say to, okay, go to the link in my bio and you click the link in the bio and then they head over to wherever that is and they do the thing. Like there's too many points. And when I talk about a funnel, I talk about at any single point, someone could fall out the funnel. And we've got to make that as seamless and as easy as anything, so that people don't fall out or don't think, oh, this feels a bit disjointed. I don't want to do this. So the fact that this is done seamlessly within it is brilliant. One thing I want to address, because I am guessing If people are listening to this podcast, they've probably seen that like, we can name some big names that have done it. Like Amy Porterfield, Jenna Kutcher, Michael Hyatt uses it. Like lots of huge names are using chatbots all the time in their marketing. So instantly people are going to think I can't do it. Right. Like they've got a team, they've got this, the like, how do I get the chatbot to talk to my CRM system? Like, can we just allay some [00:14:00] fears in terms of, is it, well, maybe we won't allay fears. Maybe we'll go, yes, you're right. You can't do it. Mel: No, not, it's certainly not just for those who have the huge, the huge accounts. Yes, you do need to have, an engaged, instead of talking specifically about Instagram, an engaged Instagram account. Now people will be seeing possibly at the moment, there is a little bit of concern that people aren't getting comments on posts, but The chat funnels, the, and Manychat can connect into more than just the post. It can also, is the posts, the reels, the stories, the DMs, the Instagram lives, when people mention you in their story, when you use a reveal sticker and someone has to type a word in order to reveal the image, there are various different ways in which you can trigger those conversations. It doesn't just have to be on a post. So, you know, but essentially if you, you know, Think about, do I need to have a big account to use this? No, [00:15:00] you certainly don't, you need an engaged audience and that also, but that also comes down to your organic strategy as well, but, you know, separately to chat funnels, you need to have an Instagram, you know, strategy for putting out, you know, engaging Instagram content that you ordinarily you want people to to watch and engage with regardless of whether you have a chat funnel attached or not. And, and if you've got that by having a chat funnel attached to that to give away your, you know, your freebies, your offers, build your list, whatever you need it for, that will just amplify your existing engagement and your reach. So, you know, by getting to people comment on the posts or to send you into the, send them into the DMS or reply to a story, your content is, is instantly being, being magnified in that way because it is playing to the algorithm. The follower numbers, Well, excuse me, are not important. It's actually more to do with your content and how you're utilizing that content to maximize your reach [00:16:00] and reach your potential followers and customers. Teresa: And also taking something off your plate, which is business owners. That is so flipping key that we are able to bring things in that will help engagement and help sales and help conversions without you having to actually do the thing yourself in real time, because that is hard. Okay, so talk to me about the, so I've been in many chats, I've had to look around you, I've done work with you on it, and you're right, it's really lovely to look at and really like, I, things...