Hey Reader!
There's a new Manychat alternative on the market and it's made specifically for food creators! 🥳
I've been using Manychat since last September but this May I switched over to Grocers List. I was skeptical at first but I've actually been so impressed by it, so I had to share!
If you aren't familiar with either of them, they're chat marketing platforms that let you automate engagement with your Instagram audience.
For example, if I tell followers to "comment RECIPE for the link" and then they comment RECIPE, it will automatically DM them the link to the recipe!
Real quick, I want to note that these automation tools aren't for everyone. They can clutter your comments & DMs and make engaging with your audience less meaningful.
Personally, they've helped increase my engagement, drive traffic to my blog, and connect with more of my audience, so I like them (for now). Just some things to keep in mind if you're deciding to try it out or stick with it!
New features are coming to Grocers List, but right now they have things like Comment For Recipe, Automatic Comment Replies, Instagram Story Reply, and Save to Email.
I've been using their Comment For Recipe and Save to Email features, so I'm going to show you how those work!
Step 1: Add your keyword(s) to your Grocers List settings.
The keywords are the words people will comment to receive the link. I usually just add the first 3-4 letters of the word and include typo variations.
Step 2: Include the keyword & URL in the caption when you post.
Grocers List will automatically detect the URL and send that link to whoever comments the keyword.
I commented "Blueberries" on the post above and received the message below!
When I click "Tap here for recipe", it takes me right to my spiced blueberry pie recipe!
Step 3: Save to Email
Grocers List integrates with ConvertKit, so if I tap "Save to email", it'll send the recipe link via email and add the email address to my subscriber list!
If you aren't with ConvertKit, it saves the emails so you can manually import them into your ESP.
Btw, this button can be disabled if you don't want to use the Save to Email feature.
After tapping "Save to email", I received an email that looks just like the one below! You can customize the copy and colors in your Grocers List settings, which is super nice 😊
In addition to being easy to use, it's also pretty smart! If someone comments a keyword but there isn't a URL in the caption, Grocers List will notify you that the link is missing.
Once you manually add the link in Grocers List, it'll automatically DM it to whoever previously commented the keyword!
Probably my favorite thing about it is that it allows me to schedule my Instagram posts in advance! Since it pulls the URL that's in the caption, I don't need to set up separate automations like with Manychat.
One down side is that Grocers List can be more expensive than Manychat. Depending on your follower count and the features you want to use, you may need one of their paid plans.
You can check out what their free & paid plans offer right here (I'm on the Plus plan).
If you want to give the paid plan a try, feel free to use my affiliate code FOODBLOGCOACH - it'll give you 100% off your first month 😊
& if you do try it out, let me know what you think!
