Corkie Bolton

Welcome to Jewelry Making Tips with Metalsmith Society the ultimate podcast for anyone passionate about the art of jewelry making . I'm your host , Corkie Bolton . Metalsmith Society is a community on Instagram that has over 240,000 individuals , from professional jewelers to small business artisans , hobbyists , students and even those curious looky-loos eager to learn about jewelry making . Together , we share tips , kindness and even those curious looky-loos eager to learn about jewelry making . Together , we share tips , kindness and support . In this podcast , I will discuss tips from the Instagram page , provide deeper insights , address questions and share bonus tips that often surface in the comments section . So , whether you've been making jewelry for a while or you're just starting your jewelry making journey , this podcast is your go-to resource for all the jewelry making tips . So grab your tools , dust off your workbench and join me . In today's episode . I want to discuss ManyChat , a social media tool I've been using for over a year and it truly has been a game changer . I will talk about how I've used it for Metalsmith Society and how I've also used it for my jewelry business , Corkie Bolton Jewelry . Now , I confess I've only been using a few of the features that ManyChat has to offer , so I will cover those today . I've used it to build my email list , get direct sales through DM , and I've increased my overall engagement . But first let's talk about what ManyChat is in a little bit more detail . I've had a lot of people asking me about it in our jewelry making community . Manychat is this super handy tool that lets you create chatbots and automated messaging for your social media . You can use it on Facebook and Instagram to set up automations that will help handle customer questions , send them updates and direct message them . It's sort of like having an extra team member who never sleeps because it's constantly running 24-7 on Instagram . So this is how I discovered ManyChat .

Corkie Bolton

Back in 2023 , I noticed an account or two that I was following had this new feature where , if I commented specific words on a post of theirs , they were going to automatically DM me a blog article or a product . And I thought to myself what is this feature and how can I get this ? Because at Metalsmith Society , I'm constantly trying to serve and educate , and I can't tell you how many times people have DM'd me asking where did you get this tool , when did you get this product ? And there's no way that I can get back to everybody's DM , and so there have been so many questions that have gone unanswered , that you know . I just simply couldn't get to , and so I thought oh my gosh , this is perfect for our community because it's not pushing anything . You know , the post is still going to be educational , but if there is a product involved and people are interested , they can simply comment and then I can automatically DM them . I'm like this is amazing . Comment and then I can automatically DM them . I'm like this is amazing .

Corkie Bolton

The other thing that this action was doing is it was increasing the engagement on my posts , because I was getting , in some cases , hundreds and hundreds of people commenting on my post . Now there is a downside to this which must be discussed , and that's the bot-like quality of setting up an automation . So let's talk about that real quick . The term bot definitely has a negative reputation , particularly on Instagram . You know those irritating bot comments that pop up on your posts whenever you use certain hashtags . For me lately it's been people commenting random words but their profile pic is of their butts . Sorry , but that's just what's been happening . It's so weird and random . I guess it is engagement nonetheless , but this whole action of setting up an automation where someone comments on my post ?

Corkie Bolton

Manychat also allows you to set up an automated reply to that , and you can set up 15 to 20 different ones so that not every comment gets the same response , which is pretty cool , but it's still not me actually responding . So on one hand , it's a great time saver because I don't have to go through and reply to everyone ManyChat does that for me but it is definitely not as personalized as me going through each comment and interacting personally . However , when I go back to the limitations of my time and being able to get back to every comment and every DM , I will take this slightly less personalization to be able to give everyone the information that they need and also that acknowledgement of like hey , thanks for commenting . I sent you a DM Now for my jewelry making business , which has way less followers , and I use an automation like this . What's really beautiful about it is it's also opening up a DM with a potential customer in the case of selling your jewelry , and once they have DM'd for this information , you can personally reach out and be like hey , did you have a chance to check it out ? Or thank you so much for your interest , or I hope you're having a great day , or there might even be a future post that you do and you know that this person was interested in a different piece of jewelry . But you can reach out and say , hey , I know you didn't snatch up that particular piece , but I have another thing that I think you might be interested in , and so , while this is an automation , it can really start the conversation and deepen the connection with someone in your community , one of your followers , one of your potential customers , and I think that part is really cool .

Corkie Bolton

Using ManyChat to build your email list is another really important use for it Because , let's think about it , Most times on Instagram , if you're asking people to join your email list which you should be doing you're going to tell them head over to the link in my profile . But this gives you the option to say , on a post or a reel and maybe one that's , you know , become quite popular , you can say comment join my list on this post and I'll DM you the link to join my list . And it's so much easier to convert when it's going directly into someone's inbox like that , and then all they have to do is click on the button and it brings them right to the form . So I love using it for that and I think every artist , small business , definitely benefit from growing their email list , of course , and using this automation to help make that happen . So I've briefly discussed how I use it to increase my engagement on posts , send DMs with actual links to products or my email list , which has really increased my conversion . And now I'm just going to run through some of the other possibilities on ManyChat , which I confess I haven't used them all , but they sound amazing .

Corkie Bolton

You can send welcome messages automatically greeting new followers or subscribers . You can send instant replies that will quickly answer common questions and comments that are happening within your DM . So let's say , for example , someone is constantly asking where can I find your book ? Just as an example , you can set up an automation where , if that , if those words DM'd to you , you can create an instant reply . And there's a whole , you know you can set up a whole web of responses as well . You can do reminders . You can do event notifications , surveys Within ManyChat . You can create customer groups based on how they're interacting with you Appointment reminders . You can share newsletters and updates , order updates . You can also follow up with people after they've bought something with you and , like we mentioned , lead capturing , getting people to sign up for your email list and , of course , doing all types of promotions .

Corkie Bolton

One of the questions I had before I started using ManyChat is how is this allowed to happen ? Because truly bot-like activity really isn't allowed on Instagram . But ManyChat is allowed to work on Instagram because it complies with Instagram's official API guidelines and policies , and Instagram provides an API , that's an application programming interface that allows third-party tools like ManyChat to integrate and offers features such as automated messaging and customer interaction , and so , since they're using it in a way that adheres to Instagram's rules , ensuring user privacy and maintaining a high standard of service , it's permitted to operate on the platform . So you don't have to worry that you're breaking the rules or doing something that's going to get your Instagram account in trouble , which I mean is definitely a concern , but I'm going to stop calling it bot-like activity , because it's truly not .

Corkie Bolton

You really are setting up this thoughtful series of interactions that can take place with people who are genuinely curious , want to hear from you , want to see what you have to offer , and we know , as small business owners , it's impossible to get back to everyone in real time all the time , and so what's been amazing about this is there are new people constantly to Metals mith Society and Corkie Bolton Jewelry that are seeing posts for the first time , and ones that even happened weeks ago , months ago , and these automations continue to work . One of my favorite ones is and the biggest offer I have to get people to join my email list is I have a beginner's download for people that are beginners to jewelry making , and so I have a post that I put on Instagram that shows some of the clips of you know the beginner list and essentially says if you want to join , you know , comment , join the list . And it is continuously getting people to sign up months and months after the fact , because we're constantly finding new members of our community and so when they come across that and they're able to use it down the road , that's something that you know . If I was doing everything in real time , I would never be able to serve all of those new community members in this way . If you want to see some of the many chat integrations I've used in real life , you want to see some of the ManyChat integrations I've used in real life . I'm going to link a few examples in the show notes . Today , I will also link a sign up for ManyChat .

Corkie Bolton

I hope you found today's episode helpful and thank you for listening . If you'd like to support the podcast , please follow on Apple or Spotify and leave me a rating and review . It would mean so much to me and it helps others find the podcast . You can also head over to metalsmithsocietycom and check out a bunch of merch I have . I've also been sharing that I now have a free membership on Patreon To join . Over there you go to patreoncom slash metalsmithsociety where I'm doing a weekly digest of all the tips we've shared over on Instagram . So be sure to check that out and tune in next time . Bye .