Instagram auto DM: send a DM when someone comments a keyword

How Instagram auto DM works

You post a Reel and write “Comment GUIDE and I'll send it to you” in the caption. Two hundred people comment GUIDE overnight. Without automation, that is two hundred DMs to send by hand in the morning, and the first person waited eight hours.

With an auto DM, each of them gets your message a few seconds after they comment, while they are still looking at your post. Instagram calls these private replies: a direct message sent to someone because of a comment they left, through Meta's official API.

How to set up an auto DM on Instagram

• 1. Connect Instagram. Use a professional account (Business or Creator) and connect it through Instagram's own login screen.
• 2. Open Automation and choose Keyword DMs on your Instagram card, then tap Add.
• 3. Type the keyword. One word or a few, separated by commas: guide, دليل. Choose “keyword anywhere in the comment” or “only the keyword”.
• 4. Pick the post. All your posts, or just the Reel you are promoting.
• 5. Write the DM. Up to 1,000 characters, links included. Add a public reply under the comment if you want one.
• 6. Save. It works from the next comment. Facebook Pages work the same way.

Auto DM ideas that people actually use

• GUIDE → “Here's the free guide: [link]. Tell me which tip you try first!”
• PRICE → “Thanks for asking! Our packages are here: [link]. Happy to help you pick one.”
• CODE → “Your code is WELCOME10, valid until Sunday. Enjoy!”
• BOOK → “Pick a time that suits you here: [link]. See you soon!”
• LINK → “Here's the product from the video: [link].”
• دليل → “أهلاً! هذا رابط الدليل المجاني: [link]” (Arabic keyword, Arabic message.)

Instagram's rules for automated DMs

Meta publishes the rules for private replies in its developer documentation, and PersonaXpand follows them in code, so you do not have to think about them:

• One DM per comment. A comment can get one private reply, never two.
• Within 7 days. The DM must go out within 7 days of the comment. Ours usually goes out in seconds.
• Live comments only during the Live. On Instagram Live, the DM has to be sent while you are still broadcasting.
• The person replies first. After the DM, more messages are allowed only once they answer, and within 24 hours of their answer.
• Once per person per post. Our own extra rule: someone who comments the keyword twice under the same post gets one DM, not two.

Auto DM plus real replies, in one app

Keyword DMs handle the predictable part: links, codes, booking pages. The rest of your comments and DMs are real questions, and PersonaXpand answers those too, in your own voice, learned from your posts. Questions about prices you never shared, addresses or availability wait for you instead of getting a guess.

The same app schedules and posts to Instagram, Facebook and six more networks, and shows your analytics, so the post that drives the comments and the replies that follow live in one place. See how it compares in ManyChat alternatives.