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“You don’t want to be caught in that high volume moment and not have a way to capture people, not have a way or a plan to funnel people from Instagram onto your owned list.”
You might not recognize today’s guest by name, but you’ve seen her work in action.
Gabbi Zutrau is a freelance digital consultant in the progressive space, with clients ranging from MoveOn to Stop AAPI Hate. She’s also the creator of Edna the Runt, an adorable pup who anchors her own lively social community with a ton of followers and massive engagement.
As an independent digital consultant, Gabbi built the Zohran Mamdani campaign’s chatbot automation infrastructure during his recent New York City mayoral primary campaign. By deploying Manychat automations, she played a pivotal role in turning social engagement into real-world impact—helping Mamdani defeat Andrew Cuomo and his billionaire backers.
It was low-cost, high-scale organizing in action.
Throughout our conversation, we cover:
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Building ladders of engagement that nurture supporters step-by-step from interest to action
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Differences in how automation can be deployed for campaigns versus advocacy groups
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Using automation to support fundraising, volunteer recruitment, and event sign‑ups
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Leveraging automation to lean into — rather than try to fight — the endless scroll and capture attention
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The role of engagement bait—and how ManyChat flows can avoid feeling spammy while maintaining their effectiveness
- And more!
📊 Some key metrics from the campaign:
- Over 77,000 automated messages sent across comment, DM and Story flows
- 20,000+ clicks generated directly from Instagram DMs
- 3,000+ emails collected via in-app conversation flows
- A 76% click-through rate on trigger-word comment flows
- All achieved for roughly $318 total—about $0.03 per action
In a world where “link in bio” gets ignored and the platforms are designed to keep people scrolling, this campaign shows what’s possible when you meet supporters where they are—and have a plan to keep them engaged, both online and off..
Tune in to hear how campaigns can—and should—embrace automation to turn online momentum into real-world organizing power.
Listen here or wherever you stream podcasts.
If you prefer video, you can also watch our full conversation:
Find all episodes at HelloMergeTag.com or wherever you stream podcasts.
Links
Edna The Runt
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube
Manychat
Gabbi has an affiliate link. Using it supports her work and gets you a 30% discount for 3 months. You can find that here.
Rachel Karten’s Link-In-Bio piece on the campaign.
Big thanks to our sponsor Civic Shout. Learn more about the great work they’re doing to help Democratic campaigns and progressive nonprofits build their lists ethically at civicshout.com/partners.
“Every newsroom, whether they acknowledge it or not, is values-driven. The choice to cover something or not cover something, the choice to use a word in a headline or not, is a statement on your values and your mission. We are just more transparent about it.”
RC Di Mezzo is a Democratic digital strategist with a decade of experience building online brands that connect directly with voters.
As Vice President of Brand & Social at Courier, he led the 2023 launch of @CourierNewsroom—a social-first, values-driven progressive newsroom that became the fastest-growing news brand in the US, reaching over 100 million weekly views and generating more than 3 billion social views throughout the 2024 cycle.
Courier’s rapid growth—from 1.8 to over 5 million subscribers in a year—has positioned it as a benchmark for both legacy and emerging digital news outlets.
This episode is especially timely: a recent Reuters/Oxford report reveals that 54% of Americans now get their news from social media, surpassing TV’s 50% for the first time.
While the right has spent years building creator-driven narrative ecosystems, the left has lagged—Courier Newsroom has emerged as our leading response, creating shareable, social-first content built for group chats and feeds.
🎧 What we covered:
- How Courier built a digital-first content machine for today’s social audience
- Why editorial and digital teams must work in lockstep—no silos
- Why context outperforms clickbait
- Creating content in the app without fancy 3rd-party editing tools
- Balancing national messaging with state-level storytelling
- Lessons from successful campaigns—from Gavin Newsom to Kamala Harris
- Why campaigns should invest in digital early
- Which social platform is Courier’s fastest-growing (hint: it’s not TikTok!)
Plus: RC’s tips for campaigns and creators building momentum from day one.
If you want to unlock the digital tactics that drove billions of views, this is your behind-the-scenes guide. 🎙️
Listen here or wherever you stream podcasts.
If you prefer video, you can also watch our full conversation:
Find all episodes at HelloMergeTag.com or wherever you stream podcasts.
Links
Report about more Americans getting their news from social media than from TV.
A helpful Axios piece on their local expansions.
We discussed several relevant newsletters: The FYP, FWIW News and Chaotic Era.
Courier’s Channels
Substack | Website | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
RC’s Channels
Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter
Big thanks to our sponsor Civic Shout. Learn more about the great work they’re doing to help Democratic campaigns and progressive nonprofits build their lists ethically at civicshout.com/partners.