Instagram Post and Reel Comments trigger

The Instagram Comments Reply trigger in Manychat helps you turn post engagement into real conversations. It automatically responds when someone comments on your post or reel, so you never miss an opportunity to connect.

With this trigger, you can:

• Send a public reply directly under the comment to boost visibility and engagement
• Follow up with a private DM to continue the conversation
• Capture leads and move them into your Manychat automations

It’s a simple way to save time, stay responsive, and turn casual commenters into engaged subscribers or customers, all while keeping your Instagram presence active and interactive.

Set up the Instagram Comments Reply trigger

1. Open your Manychat workspace and click the Automation tab in the sidebar.
2. Click the + New Automation button.
3. Click + Start From Scratch. 
4. Select the Start with a blank option.
5. Once the Flow Builder opens, click the +New Trigger button.
6. Select the User comments on your Post or Reel trigger from the Instagram tab.
7. Next, select comment under which post or reel would trigger the automation:
   • Specific post or reel: only comments under the selected post or reel would trigger the automation.
   • All post or reels: comment uder any post or reel would trigger the automation.
   • Next post or reel: only comments under the next post or reel that you publish would trigger the automation.
8. Click Continue.
9. Next, you can set up specific keywords to trigger the automation. There are two options here:
   • Include certain words into the list of keywords: only the words you included here would trigger the automation.
   • Exclude certain words: any comment containing these words would not trigger the automation.
   • You can also select Any comment: this way, any comment left under the selected post or reel would trigger the automation.
10. Click Continue.
11. Next, select if you want to add public replies under comments. You can create multiple variations, and Manychat will randomly rotate them to keep interactions natural.
12. Click Save to add the trigger.

Set up an automated private reply in Direct Messages

The Instagram Comments Reply trigger is just the starting point; to turn engagement into a real conversation, it needs to send a private message. That’s why the next step is to add at least one Instagram message to your flow. This is what brings the automation to life and allows you to publish and run it successfully.

To add a private response to your automation:

1. Go back to the automation containing your Instagram comments reply trigger.
2. Add a first step: select Instagram to add a Send Message node to your automation.
3. Make sure to select the Send as a Private Reply option; otherwise, you won’t be able to continue with the automation. 
4. You can add a Quick Reply button to start the conversation, or simply add a button with a link you’d like to send to the users who replied under your post or reel. 
5. Keep in mind some of the limitations:
   • The first private reply node can contain only a single content block (text or an image, with buttons or Quick Replies).
   • You can’t use User input, Instagram DM Lists, Typing delays, or Dynamic blocks.
   • There should not be Next Steps in this node.
6. After configuring the first private reply, you can continue building the rest of your automation as needed.
7. To see how it works, you can click the Preview button at the top of the Flow Builder. 
8. You can choose to preview the automation either in Manychat or directly on Instagram. 
9. The second option lets you see everything exactly as your audience will experience it. Click the arrow icon next to the Preview to select the preview mode.
10. Once you’ve finished setting up the automation, click the Set Live button if you’re creating a new automation or Update if you’re making changes to the existing one.

Tips and best practices

To avoid having your replies flagged as spam by Instagram's automated systems:

• Change the wording of your auto-replies periodically
• Use different auto-replies for various comments
• Avoid using very short replies or ones consisting only of emojis.

Use Instagram buttons or Quick Replies if you want users to opt in and be added as contacts in Manychat. When a user clicks a button or Quick Reply, the 24-hour messaging window opens, they receive the next message in your automation, and they’re added to your contact list as opted-in subscribers.

If you select Open website as the button action, it does not count as an opt-in. In that case, the user won’t be added to your contact list, the 24-hour window won’t open, and you won’t be able to continue messaging them unless they interact in another way.

In addition to the Instagram message node, you can place other blocks at the beginning of your automation to customize its behavior:

• For example, you can add an Action to automatically tag contacts in Manychat — useful if you want to label users who opted in through a specific campaign.
• A Condition block lets you control who receives the private reply. For instance, you can send messages only to users who follow your account if your goal is to grow your follower base.
• With a Smart Delay, you can add a short pause before sending the first message, making the interaction feel more natural and less automated.
• A Randomizer allows you to send different message variations to different users, helping create a more dynamic and personalized experience.

Instagram Comments Reply trigger on collaborative, remix, and boosted posts

The Instagram Comments Reply trigger works based on the original post owner.

If you created the post or reel, everything should run as expected. However, if you’re listed as a collaborator on a post, or trying to automate replies on a remix that you didn’t originally publish, the trigger may not work properly.

This depends on how Instagram handles post ownership and permissions, which can limit how automations behave in these cases.

Collaborative posts

Let’s say you publish a post and invite an influencer to collaborate on it. In this case, the automation you set up in your Manychat account will work as expected. Anyone who comments with the specified keywords will receive the public and private replies you configured.

However, the automation only works from the original poster’s account — in this scenario, yours. Even though the post also appears on the influencer’s profile, the automated replies are not connected to their account.

This means that if someone views the post from the influencer’s profile and leaves a comment there, your automation won’t trigger. The automation only runs for comments made on the version of the post published from your account, since that’s the account connected to Manychat.

Remix posts

Remix posts come with additional limitations.

To use comment reply automation on a remix, you must own both the original content and the remix itself. Only in that case will the post appear in the post picker and be available for automation.

If you don’t own both parts, Manychat won’t be able to access the post for automation. This is a platform-level restriction set by Meta and is considered expected behavior.

Boosted posts

As of June 11, 2024, the Instagram Comments Reply trigger supports boosted posts.

Keep in mind that the post picker only displays posts that appear in your Instagram feed. If a post was created purely as an ad in Ads Manager and does not exist on your profile grid, it won’t be available for selection and can’t be used with the Comments Reply trigger.