Send a DM automatically when someone comments
Turn a keyword comment on one Instagram post into a private message with your link.
4 min readUpdated 21 Oct 2026Pro and Max only
Before you start
Steps
Open Automations. Each automation shows whether it is live, paused or a draft, with the people it triggered and the DMs it sent.
Click New automation. A template fills in the steps for you and everything stays editable. This one starts from scratch.
Open When someone comments, keep Specific post and choose the post people will comment on. The list is the account's own posts, including ones published outside the app.
Leave the match type on Contains and add keywords one at a time. A comment with any of them starts the automation.
Open Reply to their comment and write what shows under the comment. Add variations: one is picked at random each time, so the replies don't repeat.
Click Add a DM, write the message, then give the button a label and a link. The preview on the right shows what the commenter receives.
Click the name at the top and type a new one.
Click Set live. You land back on the list, where the new automation is Live and its counters start at zero. From then on, a matching comment on that post gets the public reply and the DM.
Open Inbox and the conversation. A message sent by an automation carries its name, so nobody wonders who wrote it.
Platforms and triggers
Automations work on Instagram and Facebook, the two platforms that let you send a DM in answer to a comment. The trigger can be Specific post, All Reels, All posts, or Story reply (Instagram only).
Matching keywords
Contains matches a keyword anywhere in the comment, Exact match needs the whole comment to be the keyword, and Starts with needs the keyword first. Capital letters don't matter. Leave the keywords empty and every comment matches.
One DM per person
Each person gets the DM once per automation, however many times they comment.
The public reply
The reply under the comment is optional. Add variations and one is picked at random each time. Leave out the DM and the automation only replies in public.
How the DM is sent
The DM goes out as a private reply to the comment, so Meta's private reply rules apply to it.
The numbers
The list shows how many comments an automation caught, how many DMs it sent and its click rate. A click is counted when someone opens the DM's button.
Plans
Automations are on the Pro and Max plans.