This DM trick just killed 'link in bio' forever
with Jeff Dwoskin, Stampede Social
This DM trick just killed 'link in bio' forever
Show Notes
Link in bio is a workaround - a way to compensate for the fact that social platforms don't let you embed clickable links in posts. It adds friction at exactly the wrong moment: when someone is engaged, interested, and ready to act. Jeff Dwoskin built Stampede Social to eliminate that friction by routing the conversion through DMs instead. Comment a keyword, get the link delivered directly to your inbox. No leaving the app. No remembering where you saw it. No lost conversions.
Stampede Social is a social selling platform for Instagram and Facebook that combines DM automation, post-level attribution tracking, and AI-powered engagement tools. The core thesis: the best time to capture a lead is when they're already engaging with your content - and the DM inbox is the highest-intent destination on the platform.
Why Link in Bio Is a Conversion Killer
Jeff's framework for the problem is simple: every additional step between interest and action is a place where you lose people. Telling someone to "go to my link in bio" requires them to leave the post, navigate to your profile, find the link, remember what they were looking for, and actually click. In a world where algorithms have trained people to scroll at the speed of a reflex, that's four too many steps.
The DM alternative collapses that funnel. When a post says "comment JEFF for 20% off," the viewer doesn't leave the content experience - they type one word and the link arrives. If they're not ready to buy in that moment, the link is still in their DMs when they are. Jeff's insight: the DM inbox functions as the viewer's personal to-do list. They chose to put the link there. They know where to find it. That's a fundamentally different conversion dynamic than a tab they'll never return to.
Important caveat he's clear about: this automation only works on Instagram and Facebook. What looks like DM automation on TikTok or LinkedIn is manual imitation - the platforms don't support it. Founders and brands running campaigns there are doing it by hand.
The Attribution Problem Stampede Solves
Influencer marketing has a measurement problem. A brand hires five influencers, sees a sales spike, and has no reliable way to know which creator drove it, which post triggered it, or which audience segment converted. Self-reporting from influencers is inherently unreliable. Coupon codes are a proxy that only capture a fraction of intent.
Stampede's attribution layer tracks down to the post level - not just "this campaign drove traffic" but "this person clicked through from Jeff Dwoskin's post about X, clicked twice, and converted on day three." Brands can run the same campaign across multiple creators and see exact performance by creator, by post, and by audience. Influencers can use that same data to know their actual worth - and price accordingly.
Jeff's background at Little Caesar's corporate gave him a specific sensitivity to this problem: the hardest part of influencer and agency campaigns isn't launching them, it's measuring them. Stampede was built to solve that measurement gap.
AI Features and Product Roadmap
The existing AI layer includes competitive analysis (analyze any competitor's Instagram presence quickly) and comment intelligence (analyze incoming comments on any post for sentiment, themes, and engagement patterns). These tools sit on top of the core DM automation infrastructure.
The roadmap focus is on three areas: making the reporting layer digestible for non-analysts (raw data is there; the presentation needs work), partner integrations with adjacent tools in the creator stack, and platform extensions as Instagram and Facebook release new features worth jumping on.
Jeff is also preparing to raise a seed round. Planned use of funds: product operations, marketing, and distribution - specifically events, ads, and creator-driven campaigns to put the tool in front of the audiences who need it most.
Jeff's Creator Lens
Jeff Dwoskin isn't just a founder building tools for creators - he's been a creator himself for a decade. His podcast, Classic Conversations, has run for 360+ episodes, focusing on pop culture figures who were famous in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. He came up through standup comedy. His office walls are covered in signed eight-by-tens from comic cons.
That background shapes how he thinks about the platform. He knows firsthand how exhausting it is to chase the algorithm - why TikTok creators delete and repost videos within the first 30 minutes if the numbers aren't moving, why the perception that influencing is easy is the opposite of true. He also knows that the DM-as-conversion strategy works precisely because it respects the way people actually consume content: they discover things when they're not ready to act on them, and they need a reliable way to come back to them later.
His view on AI mirrors his view on the platform: the best tools are invisible. They don't make content feel manufactured or kitsch - they remove friction so the human creator can focus on what only humans can do.
Founder Takeaways
Why is DM automation a better conversion path than link in bio?
Link in bio requires a viewer to leave their current context, navigate to your profile, find the right link, and remember what they wanted. DM automation delivers the link to their inbox in response to a single comment - with no context-switching. The DM inbox also functions as a personal to-do list: the viewer opted in, they know where the link is, and they can return to it when they're ready. This is fundamentally different from an open browser tab they'll never revisit.
Which platforms support real DM automation?
Instagram and Facebook business pages connected to Instagram. DM automation does not work on TikTok or LinkedIn despite common imitation of the format. Brands and creators running comment-to-DM campaigns on those platforms are doing it manually, which means no scale and no attribution.
How does Stampede's attribution work?
The platform tracks conversions at the post level - which creator, which post, which click, and which conversion. This allows brands running multi-influencer campaigns to see exact performance by creator and by content piece, not just aggregate campaign metrics. Influencers can use the same data to demonstrate their actual audience value rather than relying on follower count as a proxy.
Who is the ideal Stampede Social customer?
Brands using influencer marketing who need to measure true attribution and stop guessing which creators are driving ROI. Influencers and creators who sell digital products, courses, or affiliate offers and want to convert social engagement without losing people to link friction. Agencies managing campaigns across multiple creators who need unified attribution data. The tool works for B2C product sales, podcast growth, event signups, content downloads, and any scenario where you're trying to convert social interest into an action.
What does Jeff's creator background add to Stampede?
Jeff has run a podcast for over 360 episodes, worked in comedy, and spent years in corporate marketing before building for creators. He understands the frustration of the algorithm from the inside - the exhaustion of chasing engagement, the gap between effort and visibility, the need for tools that compound your output rather than add to your workload. That perspective shapes a product built on creator empathy rather than brand-side assumptions about how the creator economy works.