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Instagram’s assault on ManyChat: ‘Don’t Try to Hack Engagement Bro’

@thestevenmellorJune 1, 20244 min read

Engagement Bait just entered the chat.

I’ll keep this short + I made a quick Loom (2 minutes) if you want to watch instead

What you need to know

Instagram specifically called out Engagement Bait in their latest Reel from their @Creators account.

You’ve seen those Reels that say “Comment ‘Fonts’ and I’ll send you my Free Font Pack”, right?

Well here’s an example that absolutely crushed.

My good friend @made.by.james ran this, went viral, and his comments went ballistic because of it. (proof 👇)

Well, Instagram is waging war against this type of behavior apparently.

The @creators account made a post today calling out ‘Engagement Bait’

The result?
Reduced reach and distribution.
Not kidding.
Here’s what they said in the Reel:
“First, don’t try to hack engagement and here’s what we mean… If we believe your content explicitly asks for engagement through shares, COMMENTS, tags, or other actions, then we won’t recommend it”

This is obviously one way to combat all the engagement hacking people are doing when using ManyChat.

Now, at the time of this email, they haven’t specifically called out ManyChat or this specific type of example (and I don’t think they will) but we can assume this is exactly what they’re talking about

So is automation cooked? hardly.

I still heavily recommend using ManyChat + Automating Instagram (for obvious reasons) but it’s still clearly the best way to monetize your IG, grow your email list, and get more eyeballs on your content.
HOWEVER, let’s pivot your automation strategy a little bit and focus less on Comment Automation and using keywords in your Captions for a minute.
Use these two methods instead:
✅ MID-ROLL CALL TO ACTION (wtihin the actual video) — I think this will be harder to detect and still works as a viable option to get people to comment and engage on your content, while leveraging Automation.
✅ STORIES — Since they’re already following you, lean into Stories a bit heavier with your automation. It won’t affect your Feed content or recommendation performance (since they use different algorithms)
✅ DM REVEAL STICKER — This is a new option from Instagram in your Stories to reveal content after they reply to the story (hint hint: you can also hook this up to automation)
I would avoid: 
❌ Using any “Comment “Keyword” in your captions — that’s an easy target for them to identify and it will probably affect your feed content recommendations.
In fact you should probably go through, edit your captions, and remove all the engagement bait that you’ve posted recently. (I did this in the past and saw good results — but no promises, I’m still testing this working theory)
Well, that’s a wrap for today.
If you have questions about Automation, Stories, ManyChat, DMs, or Engagement bait — just reply or shoot me a DM on IG.
— Mellor 🫡
p.s. I’ve been in the trenches building out a few products and making some updates and I can’t wait to share them (1st is a big update to my Automated Creator Course and 2nd I’m releasing a free Stories to Sales workshop)
So stay locked in. I’ll report back shortly.

Talk soon,

Steve

ps. If you haven’t picked up my Stories to Sales templates, do that here, over 1,100 people downloaded them this week.

pps. If you really want to learn how to use Automation the right way, check out Automated Creator (my flagship automation course to help you get more views, more leads, and more sales on Instagram).

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