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If you haven’t already figured this out for yourself, the world of being a digital or affiliate marketer requires that you are constantly in a state of learning and adapting. I have developed a habit of subscribing to newsletters from pros in the business to glean their “free” value content – because I have learned quite a bit this way – both from the literal content they share but also learning by example how they present their offers and write their email campaigns.
For example, this past week I joined a free webinar hosted by Amy Porterfield, an industry champion in email marketing. And it was quite a great session loaded with valuable tips for lead magnet ideas and how to employ them to grow your email list.
(I’ll circle back to that in a moment)
Then this morning, I spent ten minutes checking in on Instagram to see what latest content was offered by some Instagram coaches I follow there were posting, and learned from @brock11johnson that Instagram is soon rolling out an update that whenever someone clicks on an external link in your bio, the following pop-up will be presented warning people about potential scams:

Now, if you are using Instagram to grow your audience and attract traffic – this is BAD NEWS. Why?
Because it is already difficult to get someone to click on your “link in bio.” Now this adds one more hurdle and likely will frighten most away from getting to your links at all! And if this is coming to Instagram, we will likely see something similar coming to Facebook as well as they are both part of the “Meta” suite of tools.
It is in Meta’s best interest, or really any social media platform’s best interest, to keep people on the platform as long as possible. So this move also helps serve that goal as well.
But as a small business entrepreneur, you want people to come to you, your site, your products, and most importantly – your email list. So how do you get people off their social media platforms and connect with you in a space YOU control?
Hint, I’m still talking about your email list here.
So if you’ve linked to your e-mail list-building lead magnet in your bio and are directing your audience to go there, you’re going to want to pivot into a different strategy.
You may have already noticed yourself that more and more content creators are switching tactics in their “calls to action,” or CTAs, in their content. They are asking people to comment specific words to their post with the promise that they will send something back to that person in their direct messages (DMs), and then having an automated system handle making those DM replies.
Now, even before this new Instagram “spam link-in-bio” alert update, this method of DM chat automation was allegedly almost 50% more effective than directing people to external links. I can imagine that percentage to increase substantially once this update is pushed out to every Instagram user.
Fortunately, there is an approachable way to build your own comment/DM chat automation like other businesses are using, and this is using a tool called Manychat.
Manychat works with both Instagram and Facebook and you can get started with a free account.
At the free account level, you currently can have an unlimited amount of “custom flows,” in other words, an unlimited number of your own sets of instructions you can build to reply to people using whatever key word or phrase you choose. It will also engage up to 1,000 unique contacts and allow 10 unique customer “tags.” Once you exceed 1,000 contacts, the Pro subscription currently starts at $15/mo and scales up as your contact list grows.
But the real power of this tool is that it enables you to engage with your audience in an automated fashion around the clock and build engagement campaigns to encourage people to send you their email address so you can add them to your leads.
And you may have heard it before, but it is worth repeating over and over again lest you should forget… the MONEY is in your LIST.
Getting back to that webinar I mentioned at the start of this post, Amy dropped some really staggering facts about the importance of your email list to your business. She quoted a statistic from Litmus that said your email list is the “only business asset with a return of [at least] $36 for every $1 spent.”
That’s a return-on-investment (ROI) of 3,600%!!
Your email campaigns are CRUCIAL for building that know, like, and trust with your leads, and ultimately to help you convert them to customers and loyal fans. Most of your sales are going to happen after engaging with a lead at least 7-10 times.
Your list is also wholly owned and controlled by YOU. So it is impervious to any update those social media platforms are going to make that might trip an unprepared entrepreneur.
As I have been bogged down in a to-do list as long as my arm with regards to my current business plan, I admit I have at times forgotten where most of my focus needs to be – and that is on building my email list. Ultimately, that is where at least 80% of my attention should be spent when prioritizing my business activities.
I’ll wrap up this post with another plug to Amy Porterfield – if you haven’t run across her yet, her content is fantastic. She is a coach, author, and has a podcast called “Online Marketing Made Easy.” Give it a listen for even more expert tips on how to cultivate your email list into the revenue-generating powerhouse you wish it to be.
With love,

Nice warning about Instagram. Tiktok seems to have adopted this standard some time ago as well. A bit disappointing the at least two major platforms have done this.
I have found it necessary to use several platforms because you never know what is going to happen.
Yes, I agree that diversity is very important for growing your list. The social media landscape is constantly changing.
AK
Great Blog Acasha,
I’m going to have to check her out. And I absolutely agree… The money is in the list.. It’s the list I don’t seem to have yet. But I’m working it. 🙂
Sandy
Me too, Sandy!! Me too 🙂
AK
Wow! Thank you, Acasha for this post! You remind me of the importance of email campaigns in building an email list.
This is a core skill that I am keen to develop. I look forward to your posts and learning more. I have heard of Amy Porterfield but have not followed, I look forward to listening to the podcast.
If I’ve learned anything yet in my own digital marketing journey it is that there is always more to learn! I find podcasts a great way to do this while on the go.
AK
Manychat sounds interesting, I will need to give that a look. One of the things about being online is that your messages can come in day and night, another is that people want near-instant responses, so this could be the answer to that. I have to say though that I would need to see how the messages come across, I hate when I know I am talking to a bot, but the bit user has written the message to pretend its them I am talking to.
I saw some content from Frank Kern that said something about the fact that many people actually *like* chatting with a bot. Maybe its less threatening for people feeling insecure about asking questions more directly out of fear for seeming silly or dumb.
But as far as ManyChat specifically, you absolutely have the ability to tailor the responses in your own voice, so its quite handy in that regard.
AK
Looks like they are trying to push you to use paid ads.
I suspect it is not just Meta. Who knows, maybe other social media platforms will start following suit.
This shows how important it is to build your own assets.
True, I am sure you are right about that as well. That is where their revenue comes from after all.
AK
The more I learn about email marketing the more I realize the truth of “the money is in the list”.
I have come across Amy Porterfield but haven’t really paid attention to her content. Now I will!
Fabulous post!
Thanks, glad you found my content useful!
AK
Hi Acasha,
Great information. I think we need to be reminded – often – of the important things relative to sales on the internet: the list is master!
The new changes relative to email sender rules being implemented by Google is definitely – I think – a step in the right direction but some of the Social Media platforms, (such as the one you mention here, Instagram), may need to “rethink” some of the parameters you mention.
As DeanHolland says, the money is in your relationship with the list. That’s what makes the difference.
Are you saying when I post my latest blog on instagram, a spam alert will pop up?
Its unclear when you specifically will see this change in your Instagram app. I have not yet seen it myself. It seems Instagram rolls out feature updates in a slow, targeted way. Perhaps to test things out before implementing broadly. And it will only pop-up as I understand it when you click on an external link, like the ones we put in our bios.
AK