Most Creators Never Turn Attention Into a Business. This Is the 1 Piece They’re Missing
Manychat CMO Ido Mart argues that the gap between attention and dependable momentum is a systems problem.
EXPERT OPINION BY NICOLE RAMIREZ, FOUNDER, NR DIGITAL CONSULTING
Every successful creator eventually hits the same wall: the content is working, the audience is growing, and then the direct messages, comments, and follow-ups keep piling up faster than any one person can answer. The instinct is to feel guilty about it, or to automate everything in sight and hope no one notices. Ido Mart, chief marketing officer at Manychat, thinks both reactions miss what is actually happening, and what the moment is really asking of a creator.
Manychat sits at an uncomfortable intersection. The company helps creators and businesses automate conversations at scale, precisely when audiences have grown allergic to anything that feels botty or fake. That tension is the heart of the business, and Mart’s answer to it is more disciplined than the usual automation pitch.
The question, he says, is always the same
The question, he says, is always the same one: what do people actually want and need? A creator and their audience are building a relationship rooted in the wants and needs of both sides, and like any relationship, parts of it go unanswered. His rule follows directly: “Automation should fill in the relationship gaps, not replace the relationship.”
What automation actually replaces
The common fear about automating audience interactions is that a bot will stand in for a warmer, more personal human reply. Mart argues that framing gets the real-world tradeoff wrong.
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The problem he describes is one every growing creator recognizes. A single popular account generates an overwhelming daily stream of signal, more comments and messages than any person could read, let alone answer in time.
Much of it is the same handful
Much of it is the same handful of urgent, simple asks: where is the link, how do I buy this, when are you in Paris next? Those interactions demand a clear and fast response, and Manychat exists to catch and answer them while the moment is still hot. That, he argues, is what keeps a relationship alive rather than what threatens it.
He said: “In the real world, automation doesn’t replace a better, more human response. It replaces silence.” The realistic alternative to an instant automated answer is not a thoughtful personal note written hours later. It is the message sitting unread, the question never answered, the moment gone cold. Seen that way, automation makes the relationship stronger rather than weaker, because the audience gets an answer at all.
Source: www.inc.com
