Navigating the fast-paced world of social media engagement can be overwhelming, especially as your brand grows. That’s where Manychat’s Facebook comments trigger comes in — a tool designed to streamline how you respond to and engage with your audience on Facebook.
This feature allows businesses to automatically respond to comments on posts, creating immediate, personalized interactions that drive engagement and build stronger relationships. In this article, we’ll dive into how the Facebook comments trigger works, its practical applications, and best practices to help you use it as a key part of your brand's engagement strategy.
Whether you're aiming to boost customer satisfaction or increase conversions, this guide will show you how the right automation can transform your approach to social media interaction. We will cover these main sections:
- How to set up the Facebook comments trigger
- The types of posts compatible with Facebook comments trigger
- How to configure public auto-replies for comments on your posts
- How to automate private responses in Messenger
- Limitations and troubleshooting
How to set up the Facebook comments trigger
In your Manychat account, navigate to Automations → + New automation or choose one of the existing automations:
In the flow builder, click + New trigger and select the User comments on your post option from the list:
In the settings, you can configure this trigger to work with any post or a specific post.
You can specify keywords that comments must include to trigger the automation and also exclude keywords for comments that should not trigger the automation.
If preferable, you can set the trigger to activate with any comment:
Finally, you have the option to configure the trigger to respond exclusively to first-level comments which disables the trigger for second-level ones.
First-level comments are direct comments made on a post, as opposed to replies under these comments. For example, if someone comments directly on your Facebook post, that's a first-level comment. If another user responds to that comment, their response is considered a second-level comment, or a reply.
The final option for public auto-responses allows you to respond to user comments on your posts.
We'll explore this feature in more detail in a separate section of the article, as it plays a key role in how this trigger functions.
The types of posts compatible with Facebook comments trigger
To select a specific post for this trigger, navigate to the settings tab and click the Select Publication button.
This will open a pop-up window divided into four sections, allowing you to choose posts based on their type.
Published posts
This tab includes all posts on your business page, including text, photo, video, and live video posts. For optimal functionality, ensure photos and videos are directly uploaded from your device when creating a post. Adding media from the photos or videos available on your page may cause issues with the trigger, as only original posts are fully supported to collect comments and send private auto-responses to users.
⚠️ Note: This trigger does not support Event, Offer, and Job post types, nor does it support reposted content from other pages.
To ensure the trigger works seamlessly with a specific post on your business page, the best approach is to select it directly from the Published posts tab.
Scheduled posts
Manychat fully supports Facebook's scheduled posts. You can select a scheduled post from Scheduled Posts tab in Facebook comments trigger, and it will automatically start collecting comments and sending auto-response messages to users as soon as the post goes live.
⚠️ Note: Posts scheduled through Meta Business Suite currently do not appear in the list of available posts within Manychat. This limitation is due to a known issue on Facebook's end, as outlined in their bug report.
As this issue originates from Facebook, it’s beyond our control to resolve. We’re closely monitoring this situation and recommend subscribing to Facebook's report for updates.
You’re also encouraged to leave a comment on the report to bring more visibility to the problem. Facebook team.
Promotable posts
This tab includes all posts that are eligible for promotion on Facebook, such as ad posts, dark posts, boosted posts, and other promotable content. This tab also displays ad posts created directly in Facebook Ads Manager.
For a smoother experience, we recommend selecting ad posts from this list to avoid any issues with invalid post IDs, ensuring seamless promotion and tracking.
Custom
The Custom tab lets you connect a post by entering its URL or ID directly. This option can be helpful if your post isn’t showing up in the other tabs.
However, we generally recommend avoiding this method, especially for ad posts created in Ads Manager, as it may result in functionality limitations.
To locate the post ID, go to Meta Business Suite → Content select the post by clicking on it. The ID will be displayed in the Overview section, as shown in the screenshots below.
Alternatively, you can click on the three dots displayed there and select Copy post ID for a quick and easy way to retrieve the ID.
If an ad post is not appearing in the Promoted Posts section, and you want to connect it through the Custom section, you can find the ad post ID in Meta Business Suite → All tools → Page posts → Ad posts, as shown in the screenshot below:
Posts with multiple pictures
There are two ways in which these posts can be created, and the Facebook comments trigger will handle them differently:
- Manually by the user in the page's feed
The user creates a post by uploading photos or videos and publishes it. This type of post will work with the trigger when users leave comments under the post or in the comment section of the first picture in the gallery. However, comments on other pictures in the album will not trigger the widget.
- Auto-generated by Facebook when creating or updating an album in the Photos section of the business page
This type of post will only work with the trigger when users comment under the post. Comments on the pictures in the album will not trigger the widget.
This is the main information you need to know to fully understand how to work with the Facebook comments trigger, ensuring smooth and efficient functionality across your posts.
How to configure public auto-replies for comments on your posts
To enable public auto-responses to comments under your posts, start by toggling on the relevant option, then write the responses you would like to send, as shown in the screenshot below.
For increased engagement, you can also check the Like comments option, which will automatically like all comments under your post along with responding to them.
⚠️ Note: Both auto-responses and likes will only apply to the very first comment from each user, as this is the default behavior of the Facebook comments trigger.
You can also include First name, Last name, and Full name variables in your replies to add a personal touch. Simply click on the {.} sign to access these variables.
How to automate private responses in Messenger
When someone comments on your post, you can send them an automated direct message through an automation.
⚠️ Note: Sending a private response in direct messages doesn’t automatically opt users into your Facebook channel or open the 24-hour messaging window. This will only happen if the user interacts with the message by sending a response as well as clicking a regular or quick reply button.
To set up a private response, open the automation in the flow builder, then add Messenger message nodes to create your desired flow, as illustrated in the screenshot below:
⚠️ Note: It is mandatory to manually mark the first message node as a comment reply.
Otherwise, you will receive the following error message when trying to publish the automation: Mark the message as a "Comment Reply" if you want to send it as a reply to a post or reel comment:
In the above example, once users click the 🍕 button, the 24-hour window opens, and they successfully receive the second message. They are also added to your contact list in Manychat as they opt into your Facebook channel by clicking this button.
Additionally, if the following pop-up window appears when trying to mark the first message node in your automation as a comment reply, it means your message contains some content that is not allowed.
You need to remove all irrelevant content or create a new first message node without anything extra in it.
⚠️ Note: If you choose the Open website option when specifying what happens when the button is pressed, it won't be considered an opt-in to your Facebook channel. As a result, users will not appear in your contact list, the 24-hour messaging window will not open for them, and you won't be able to communicate with them further.
To publish the automation, click Set Live in the upper right corner of the flow builder:
Once you publish the automation, be sure to turn on the Facebook comments trigger to ensure it works correctly:
In addition to the message node, you can use action, condition, randomizer, and smart delay blocks as the first node in your automation, as demonstrated in the examples below:
⚠️ Note: You must include at least one message node in your automation attached to the Facebook comments trigger. Without this, you won’t be able to publish the automation because it doesn't work only for comment replies; the private response in the direct messages is mandatory.
Limitations and troubleshooting
While the comments trigger is a powerful tool for engaging users directly on your posts, certain limitations and potential issues may affect its functionality.
Supported post types and comments
- The Facebook comments trigger works exclusively with comments on the original post on your business page. It does not support Event, Offer, or Job post types, nor does it support reposted content from other pages.
- The trigger is compatible with both new and older posts; however, it cannot retrospectively recognize or respond to comments that were made before the trigger was set up.
Page and comment restrictions
- The trigger only functions with comments from personal Facebook profiles, so comments made on behalf of your Facebook page will not activate the auto-response.
- If your page has any country or age restrictions, you’ll need to remove these settings for the trigger to function as intended.
Testing and API limitations
- Due to Facebook's API limitations, the trigger can be tested only once per user. If you’ve received the auto-response on your first test, this confirms that the tool is functioning as expected.
Compatibility limitations
- Lastly, please note that the comments trigger does not work with posts in Facebook groups or on personal profiles.
Priorities for multiple Facebook comments triggers
When you have multiple Facebook comments triggers active on your account, certain priorities are applied to determine which trigger will respond to the comments. Here's how they work:
- If you have several triggers without keywords, the oldest one (the first created) will always be triggered. If a trigger with a keyword exists, the one with no keyword that was created before it, will take priority and trigger regardless of whether a keyword was used. If the trigger with no keyword was created afterward, then it will trigger only if the comment does not match any keywords of the other trigger.
- When multiple Facebook comments triggers share the same keyword, the respective flow will be triggered based on the keyword used in the comment.
- If you have set one trigger to work with all posts and another one for a specific post, the trigger for the specific post will take precedence and activate instead of the 'All posts' one.
- If two different triggers are set to work with all posts, the latest one created will be the one to trigger.
- If you comment on two or more posts with the 'All posts” trigger, the auto-response will trigger every time, ensuring continuous engagement.
If you're encountering issues with the Facebook comments trigger, please contact our Support Team.