October 16, 2025 • 12 mins
If you’ve ever seen posts that say “Comment GUIDE” or comment a specific word, and wondered how they do that… this episode is for you.
ManyChat is behind this and is one of the biggest growth hacks creators are using on Instagram right now! (because it really works!).
In this step-by-step episode, I’m showing you how creators are using DM automations to grow faster by boosting engagement, generating follows, driving website clicks, and even increasing affiliate sales. And yes — I’ll walk you through exactly how to set up your first Instagram automation using the free version of ManyChat 🙌
Whether you're trying to grow your audience, boost engagement, or finally convert link clicks into sales, this is your starter guide to using automation like a creator who means business.
💻 Free Brand Deals Training: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/brand-deals-training/
🤩 Ready To Level Up? Speak with Our Success Manager: https://calendly.com/sidewalkerdailyteam/discovery
👉 Book A Call: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/coaching-influencers-creators/
🌟 Best-Selling Pitching to Brands Mastercourse: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/ptbm/
🎁 Free Gift For Influencers & Creators: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/influencer-business-resources/
🛒 Shop our Amazon Store 🛒: https://www.amazon.com/shop/sidewalkerdaily
This episode can also been seen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/I7r3SyGHMk0
ManyChat is behind this and is one of the biggest growth hacks creators are using on Instagram right now! (because it really works!).
In this step-by-step episode, I’m showing you how creators are using DM automations to grow faster by boosting engagement, generating follows, driving website clicks, and even increasing affiliate sales. And yes — I’ll walk you through exactly how to set up your first Instagram automation using the free version of ManyChat 🙌
Whether you're trying to grow your audience, boost engagement, or finally convert link clicks into sales, this is your starter guide to using automation like a creator who means business.
💻 Free Brand Deals Training: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/brand-deals-training/
🤩 Ready To Level Up? Speak with Our Success Manager: https://calendly.com/sidewalkerdailyteam/discovery
👉 Book A Call: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/coaching-influencers-creators/
🌟 Best-Selling Pitching to Brands Mastercourse: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/ptbm/
🎁 Free Gift For Influencers & Creators: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/influencer-business-resources/
🛒 Shop our Amazon Store 🛒: https://www.amazon.com/shop/sidewalkerdaily
This episode can also been seen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/I7r3SyGHMk0
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
in this influencer industry and see behind the curtain? Well,
let's jump in. This creator has comment Amsterdam to get
(00:24):
my Google Maps lists with ten plus more incredible playgrounds
in the city. This is an example of a many
chat automation that allows this creator to send that Google
Maps list to her community and give them the value
they are searching. So many of us on Instagram are
seeing comment this for that, whether it be a link
or PDF or some sort of freebee. We have all
(00:47):
seen this being done and so many people are curious,
what is this, how do I do it, what's the
benefit and is it going to really help me grow?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I recently interviewed this creator on our podcast and she
shared with us how many Child actually helped her grow
over one hundred thousand followers in a year using automation
in a really smart and strategic way. So what I
want to do is first of all, talk about menichat
screen Share a tutorial so that you can actually leave
today's video setting up your first automation using their free version.
(01:19):
Because what I want to see for you is growth engagement,
and this tutorial is going to help you do it. Now,
before we get into the tutorial, I do just want
to start off with a brief definition about many chat
and talk about some key benefits and features that you
could use as a creator. And then we're going to
dive in to the screen share where we're going to
set up your first automation. So definition. Manichat is a
(01:40):
marketing automation platform that helps businesses and creators connect with
their audiences through chatbots and automated messaging. It works across
channels like Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS, and it
allows creators to automate conversations. So what does that mean?
Someone DMS you on Instagram and you are able to
imediately start the sort of chatbot conversation, Hi, how can
(02:03):
I help you today and set up different sort of
scenarios or your follower can get their question answered right
away in DM without you having to be the one
to sit there and answer them right. We see a
lot of creators using this functionality to automate conversations and
then give the person what they're looking for. So let's
just say you're a travel influencer and people are always
asking you about a specific guide or a specific something.
(02:24):
You could automate that conversation so that you're not constantly
copying and pasting in your DMS the same thing. This
works really well if you get ask something all the time. Obviously,
it's a big engagement tool because if you're telling your
audience to comment X for why, you're getting them to engage.
So it really does a number on engagement. And oftentimes
you'll see a lot of creators say things like make
(02:45):
sure to follow me so I can deliver this freebie
to you. We are seeing big time audience increases using
many chat to automate this process. Oftentimes we're seeing big,
big audience growth because we see say things like follow
me in order to get this freebie, so people are
clicking followed to get the freebie. And of course drive
(03:06):
sales if you have affiliates. If you have I don't know,
a guide or Christmas guide or holiday guide that has
a bunch of your favorites and you're sacking it with
affiliate links, or maybe you're just sending a link to
one of your favorite outfits or whatever it is that
you want to promote. You're able to scale your affiliates
through these automations. Or if you're not doing affiliate marketing
(03:26):
and you're selling direct to your audience a product or something,
you're also able to send them that link right away
in a very easy, scalable manner. When it comes to
affiliate marketing, a lot of creators just get stuck because
they don't know how to promote their links. But using
many chat automations, so if someone comments you know toy
truck and you want to send them the link to
the toy truck, they're now able to all get that
(03:47):
link and purchase the toy truck that you are recommending
to your audience. And this is obviously creating powerful monetary
results for a lot of creators that are using affiliates
within their automation. So I also want to share a
few ideas and ways that our community is currently using
many chats. So a lot of creators are obviously really
interested in growth and that's the number one reason they
(04:09):
end up using many chat to do automations. But it's
more than just growth, it's nurturing the new followers. So
they are thinking of their followers in a very intentional way.
They're like, I want every single person that hits followed
to get an auto welcome message. You're something of that nature.
And they're really trying to build this human sort of
connection using these automations to their people, and they want
(04:32):
them to engage with them right away. A lot of
people find that it's helped with their consistency efforts because
they don't have to be up like twenty four to
seven sending things right like many Chat is working for
you even while you sleep and sending links on your
behalf and hopefully those links are converting into sales in
some capacity for you. We're seeing creators really now get
(04:52):
excited about growing their email lists. I have a lot
of creators on substack. I have a lot of creators
that are growing their email list right now my inner
circle community, and I doing a whole email list challenge.
So when I start to think about emails, I think about, Okay,
how do we use many chat to help capture emails?
And luckily the tool has an email capture so in
order to get the freebie, for example, you have to
(05:14):
put in your email. They let you do that directly
within the platform. There are some features that you're going
to see you when I share my screen that are
for the free user, and then there are features that
are pro. So if you're somebody that is interested in
dabbling into many Chat pro, we use many Chat Pro.
I have a affiliate code for you guys that's actually
going to give you your first month of pro free.
(05:36):
So that's something that you want to dabble in. I
have included that link below so that you can try
the proversion for free for a month, test it out
and see if it works for you for growth, sales
and engagement. Many Chat is known for its keyword triggers.
So for example, you put you know, put shop to
get this. You can do this inside of stories, you
can do this inside of posts. Obviously. Manichat also has
(05:58):
some broadcast features at some creators, like or, you can
literally send a message to every single person that follows you,
a huge broadcast capability. Do be careful, though, because part
of how many Chat charges is based on the number
of contacts you have, so if you're not planning to
use the broadcast method, then you don't need to have
all your contacts stored in your many Chats, so I'm
(06:19):
gonna go ahead and jump into the tutorial section which
Nicole from our team has filmed for you guys, so
you can set up your first automation. And then I'm
going to jump back on and share some ideas things
that you can do and what we are doing, what
the creators in our community are doing to help you
use many Chat to the best of your ability.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Okay, let's create your first automation inside many chet. I'm
going to be using the free version, so everything I
show you today you can do without paying. Of course,
if you want more advanced features, you can upgrade it later,
but this is more than enough to get started. Once
you're inside your many Chat dashboard, look at the left
hand menu and click on Automation. Here's where all your
(07:00):
flows and automations will live. For today's video, we're going
to set up your very first automation so when somebody
comments in this specific word on your post, they'll instantly
get an automated DM. To get started, we're going to
click on neo Automation on the top right and you're
going to see a bunch of templates that Manichad has
for you. We're going to click on this one that
(07:21):
says auto DM links from comments. Here's where all your
flows and automations will live for today, we're gonna set
up your very first automation so when somebody comments in
this specific word on your post, they'll instantly get an
automated DM. To get started, we're going to click on
neo automation on the top right and you're going to
see a bunch of templates that Manuchad has for you.
(07:42):
We're going to click on this one that says auto
DM links from comments. Once you click on the template,
Manichad will walk you through everything step by step. The
first thing you'll need to do is choose where this
automation will be triggered, either on any post and a
specific post or the next post. With the free version,
you can only select in a specific posts, so that's
the one I'm gonna pick here as well. Next, I
(08:04):
like to turn on the reply to comments because this
allows you to instantly reply to anyone who comments the
keyword and automatically direct them to your DMS. This is
super helpful in case the message lends in their request folder.
It gives them a clear heads up on where to
find it. Then you'll set up your keyword. This is
a word that people have to comment in order to
receive your automated DM. So my tip here is don't
(08:27):
make it too complicated to spill, but also avoids something
too generic that people might accidentally comment without wanting the message.
You want only the people who actually want the freebie
or link to trigger the DM. That way, it doesn't
feel spammy for anybody else. I'm going to do guide
twenty five just to make it more specific. The next
step is setting up your opening DM. This part is optional.
(08:50):
If you want to greet people first, you can customize
a peer reading message. Then many chat provides, but if
you prefer to go straight to your freebie or link,
you can simply skip it by turning it off. Now
for the main DM, this is where you actually deliver
your resource. You can write a quick line telling them
what they're getting and prompt them to click the button
below to access it. So I'm going to write, hi, there,
(09:12):
here's a free guide you requested to learn about the
best spot in New York this winter. Next, you're gonna
click this button add a link. Here is where you're
gonna add your resource, the one that you're gifting. I
usually write something simple like get guide here. You can
even put a little emoji, and then you're gonna add
(09:37):
the link in the box below. Then you're going to
click safe and then head to the top right corner
to click go live. Okay, and that's it. Your automation
is now live and ready to send DMS when somebody
comment your chosen word. And just as a quick reminder,
the left panel right here is where you'll make all
your edits. If you click edit right here, and on
(09:58):
the right side shows you a live preview of what
the experience will look like on Instagram. When you go
back to your automations, you can see your automation into life.
What I always do is rename it so that I
know that I'm gifting the New York City Guide, and
(10:19):
I also put the keyword that I'm using, just so
I can keep track of everything and it looks organized.
Whenever you want to stop this automation, you can click
on it and head to the top right and click stop.
Instead of deleting it, you can just pause it anytime.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So I hope you guys enjoyed that tutorial from Nicole,
Like I said, funny enough here on YouTube, we're always
trying to get views on our YouTube. We have been
using many chat to tell our audience I comment this
and get the link to our YouTube video. It could
be that simple where you are driving views from your
longer content and getting your Instagram followers to now watch
your entire YouTube videos. You can create checklist. You can
(11:01):
include links to PDFs or ebooks or Canva graphics that
you've made. You can include links to like a secret
video Google Maps, how that creator was doing she was doing,
Like comment this for Google Maps. You can send it
to a blog article that has a bunch of information.
You can send a link to your substack. As you
can see, it's just such a great link generator. So
(11:23):
many creators are sending their Amazon storefront links, or they're
sending their Levant links. We talked about Levant and a
few other videos. Because of those higher commissions, we're seeing
a lot of quators send their Levanta link so that
they're getting those high commissions when creators are purchasing. You
can absolutely use this in a brand partnership. You can
sell this as an add on in your brand partnership.
(11:43):
So if a brand is going to pay you for
a real and you want to do a sponsored many
chat automation, you can also add that in to your packages.
And again you could send the brand's link, you could
send the brand's storefront, you can send a code, a
coupon code, whatever, And it's a really nice way to
track the effects that you are doing for this brand partner,
if they're seasonal sales or exclusive deals. These are things
(12:05):
that you guys can share again right away with your audience.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, make
sure to rate, review, and subscribe to our show and
visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com for more resources on all things
influencer marketing and social media. Until next time,
Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
in this influencer industry and see behind the curtain? Well,
let's jump in. This creator has comment Amsterdam to get
(00:24):
my Google Maps lists with ten plus more incredible playgrounds
in the city. This is an example of a many
chat automation that allows this creator to send that Google
Maps list to her community and give them the value
they are searching. So many of us on Instagram are
seeing comment this for that, whether it be a link
or PDF or some sort of freebee. We have all
(00:47):
seen this being done and so many people are curious,
what is this, how do I do it, what's the
benefit and is it going to really help me grow?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I recently interviewed this creator on our podcast and she
shared with us how many Child actually helped her grow
over one hundred thousand followers in a year using automation
in a really smart and strategic way. So what I
want to do is first of all, talk about menichat
screen Share a tutorial so that you can actually leave
today's video setting up your first automation using their free version.
(01:19):
Because what I want to see for you is growth engagement,
and this tutorial is going to help you do it. Now,
before we get into the tutorial, I do just want
to start off with a brief definition about many chat
and talk about some key benefits and features that you
could use as a creator. And then we're going to
dive in to the screen share where we're going to
set up your first automation. So definition. Manichat is a
(01:40):
marketing automation platform that helps businesses and creators connect with
their audiences through chatbots and automated messaging. It works across
channels like Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS, and it
allows creators to automate conversations. So what does that mean?
Someone DMS you on Instagram and you are able to
imediately start the sort of chatbot conversation, Hi, how can
(02:03):
I help you today and set up different sort of
scenarios or your follower can get their question answered right
away in DM without you having to be the one
to sit there and answer them right. We see a
lot of creators using this functionality to automate conversations and
then give the person what they're looking for. So let's
just say you're a travel influencer and people are always
asking you about a specific guide or a specific something.
(02:24):
You could automate that conversation so that you're not constantly
copying and pasting in your DMS the same thing. This
works really well if you get ask something all the time. Obviously,
it's a big engagement tool because if you're telling your
audience to comment X for why, you're getting them to engage.
So it really does a number on engagement. And oftentimes
you'll see a lot of creators say things like make
(02:45):
sure to follow me so I can deliver this freebie
to you. We are seeing big time audience increases using
many chat to automate this process. Oftentimes we're seeing big,
big audience growth because we see say things like follow
me in order to get this freebie, so people are
clicking followed to get the freebie. And of course drive
(03:06):
sales if you have affiliates. If you have I don't know,
a guide or Christmas guide or holiday guide that has
a bunch of your favorites and you're sacking it with
affiliate links, or maybe you're just sending a link to
one of your favorite outfits or whatever it is that
you want to promote. You're able to scale your affiliates
through these automations. Or if you're not doing affiliate marketing
(03:26):
and you're selling direct to your audience a product or something,
you're also able to send them that link right away
in a very easy, scalable manner. When it comes to
affiliate marketing, a lot of creators just get stuck because
they don't know how to promote their links. But using
many chat automations, so if someone comments you know toy
truck and you want to send them the link to
the toy truck, they're now able to all get that
(03:47):
link and purchase the toy truck that you are recommending
to your audience. And this is obviously creating powerful monetary
results for a lot of creators that are using affiliates
within their automation. So I also want to share a
few ideas and ways that our community is currently using
many chats. So a lot of creators are obviously really
interested in growth and that's the number one reason they
(04:09):
end up using many chat to do automations. But it's
more than just growth, it's nurturing the new followers. So
they are thinking of their followers in a very intentional way.
They're like, I want every single person that hits followed
to get an auto welcome message. You're something of that nature.
And they're really trying to build this human sort of
connection using these automations to their people, and they want
(04:32):
them to engage with them right away. A lot of
people find that it's helped with their consistency efforts because
they don't have to be up like twenty four to
seven sending things right like many Chat is working for
you even while you sleep and sending links on your
behalf and hopefully those links are converting into sales in
some capacity for you. We're seeing creators really now get
(04:52):
excited about growing their email lists. I have a lot
of creators on substack. I have a lot of creators
that are growing their email list right now my inner
circle community, and I doing a whole email list challenge.
So when I start to think about emails, I think about, Okay,
how do we use many chat to help capture emails?
And luckily the tool has an email capture so in
order to get the freebie, for example, you have to
(05:14):
put in your email. They let you do that directly
within the platform. There are some features that you're going
to see you when I share my screen that are
for the free user, and then there are features that
are pro. So if you're somebody that is interested in
dabbling into many Chat pro, we use many Chat Pro.
I have a affiliate code for you guys that's actually
going to give you your first month of pro free.
(05:36):
So that's something that you want to dabble in. I
have included that link below so that you can try
the proversion for free for a month, test it out
and see if it works for you for growth, sales
and engagement. Many Chat is known for its keyword triggers.
So for example, you put you know, put shop to
get this. You can do this inside of stories, you
can do this inside of posts. Obviously. Manichat also has
(05:58):
some broadcast features at some creators, like or, you can
literally send a message to every single person that follows you,
a huge broadcast capability. Do be careful, though, because part
of how many Chat charges is based on the number
of contacts you have, so if you're not planning to
use the broadcast method, then you don't need to have
all your contacts stored in your many Chats, so I'm
(06:19):
gonna go ahead and jump into the tutorial section which
Nicole from our team has filmed for you guys, so
you can set up your first automation. And then I'm
going to jump back on and share some ideas things
that you can do and what we are doing, what
the creators in our community are doing to help you
use many Chat to the best of your ability.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Okay, let's create your first automation inside many chet. I'm
going to be using the free version, so everything I
show you today you can do without paying. Of course,
if you want more advanced features, you can upgrade it later,
but this is more than enough to get started. Once
you're inside your many Chat dashboard, look at the left
hand menu and click on Automation. Here's where all your
(07:00):
flows and automations will live. For today's video, we're going
to set up your very first automation so when somebody
comments in this specific word on your post, they'll instantly
get an automated DM. To get started, we're going to
click on neo Automation on the top right and you're
going to see a bunch of templates that Manichad has
for you. We're going to click on this one that
(07:21):
says auto DM links from comments. Here's where all your
flows and automations will live for today, we're gonna set
up your very first automation so when somebody comments in
this specific word on your post, they'll instantly get an
automated DM. To get started, we're going to click on
neo automation on the top right and you're going to
see a bunch of templates that Manuchad has for you.
(07:42):
We're going to click on this one that says auto
DM links from comments. Once you click on the template,
Manichad will walk you through everything step by step. The
first thing you'll need to do is choose where this
automation will be triggered, either on any post and a
specific post or the next post. With the free version,
you can only select in a specific posts, so that's
the one I'm gonna pick here as well. Next, I
(08:04):
like to turn on the reply to comments because this
allows you to instantly reply to anyone who comments the
keyword and automatically direct them to your DMS. This is
super helpful in case the message lends in their request folder.
It gives them a clear heads up on where to
find it. Then you'll set up your keyword. This is
a word that people have to comment in order to
receive your automated DM. So my tip here is don't
(08:27):
make it too complicated to spill, but also avoids something
too generic that people might accidentally comment without wanting the message.
You want only the people who actually want the freebie
or link to trigger the DM. That way, it doesn't
feel spammy for anybody else. I'm going to do guide
twenty five just to make it more specific. The next
step is setting up your opening DM. This part is optional.
(08:50):
If you want to greet people first, you can customize
a peer reading message. Then many chat provides, but if
you prefer to go straight to your freebie or link,
you can simply skip it by turning it off. Now
for the main DM, this is where you actually deliver
your resource. You can write a quick line telling them
what they're getting and prompt them to click the button
below to access it. So I'm going to write, hi, there,
(09:12):
here's a free guide you requested to learn about the
best spot in New York this winter. Next, you're gonna
click this button add a link. Here is where you're
gonna add your resource, the one that you're gifting. I
usually write something simple like get guide here. You can
even put a little emoji, and then you're gonna add
(09:37):
the link in the box below. Then you're going to
click safe and then head to the top right corner
to click go live. Okay, and that's it. Your automation
is now live and ready to send DMS when somebody
comment your chosen word. And just as a quick reminder,
the left panel right here is where you'll make all
your edits. If you click edit right here, and on
(09:58):
the right side shows you a live preview of what
the experience will look like on Instagram. When you go
back to your automations, you can see your automation into life.
What I always do is rename it so that I
know that I'm gifting the New York City Guide, and
(10:19):
I also put the keyword that I'm using, just so
I can keep track of everything and it looks organized.
Whenever you want to stop this automation, you can click
on it and head to the top right and click stop.
Instead of deleting it, you can just pause it anytime.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So I hope you guys enjoyed that tutorial from Nicole,
Like I said, funny enough here on YouTube, we're always
trying to get views on our YouTube. We have been
using many chat to tell our audience I comment this
and get the link to our YouTube video. It could
be that simple where you are driving views from your
longer content and getting your Instagram followers to now watch
your entire YouTube videos. You can create checklist. You can
(11:01):
include links to PDFs or ebooks or Canva graphics that
you've made. You can include links to like a secret
video Google Maps, how that creator was doing she was doing,
Like comment this for Google Maps. You can send it
to a blog article that has a bunch of information.
You can send a link to your substack. As you
can see, it's just such a great link generator. So
(11:23):
many creators are sending their Amazon storefront links, or they're
sending their Levant links. We talked about Levant and a
few other videos. Because of those higher commissions, we're seeing
a lot of quators send their Levanta link so that
they're getting those high commissions when creators are purchasing. You
can absolutely use this in a brand partnership. You can
sell this as an add on in your brand partnership.
(11:43):
So if a brand is going to pay you for
a real and you want to do a sponsored many
chat automation, you can also add that in to your packages.
And again you could send the brand's link, you could
send the brand's storefront, you can send a code, a
coupon code, whatever, And it's a really nice way to
track the effects that you are doing for this brand partner,
if they're seasonal sales or exclusive deals. These are things
(12:05):
that you guys can share again right away with your audience.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, make
sure to rate, review, and subscribe to our show and
visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com for more resources on all things
influencer marketing and social media. Until next time,
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.