Set up your first TikTok automation in Manychat: User sends a message

After connecting your TikTok account, you can start creating automations to chat with followers and automatically reply to messages. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to set up a User sends a message trigger: a simple and effective way to start conversations and engage your audience on TikTok.

Available Triggers

You can choose from three triggers to start your TikTok automations in Manychat:

• User sends a message: Starts an automation whenever someone sends a direct message to your TikTok account.
• User clicks a link: Generates a unique Ref URL that opens a TikTok messaging automation when clicked.
• User scans a QR code: Creates a scannable QR code that launches a TikTok messaging automation.

User Sends a Message

The User sends a message trigger starts an automation whenever someone sends a direct message to your TikTok Business account.

It’s a great way to capture interest right inside TikTok and turn messages into real conversations. With this trigger, you can reply faster, qualify leads, and create more personalized experiences for your audience.

How it works:

1. A user sends a message to your TikTok Business account.
2. The automation you’ve set up starts automatically in the user’s TikTok inbox.
3. The conversation continues based on the flow you’ve designed in Manychat.

Set up the User sends a message trigger

You can add the User sends a message trigger to a new automation or an existing one.

To add the trigger to a new automation:

1. Switch to the Automation tab and click the +New Automation button.
2. Once the Flow Builder opens, click the +New trigger button.
3. Select the User sends a message trigger from the list to add it to your automation.
4. When you click on the added trigger, a panel opens on the left, where you can configure the trigger details.
5. From here, you can define how the automation should start when a user sends you a message - for example, automatically greeting them or qualifying the inquiry.
6. Once everything is set up, click Save to apply your settings.
7. Then click Set Live to publish the automation.

Starting Conversations on TikTok

You can make your TikTok chats more welcoming and engaging with a few simple tools in Manychat. Set up a Welcome Message to greet new followers, use a Default Reply to keep the conversation going when no automation applies, and add Suggested Questions to help users find what they’re looking for faster. Together, these features make it easy to start meaningful conversations and create a better experience for your TikTok audience.

Welcome message

Create a default message that greets users when they enter your DMs. You can also use the welcome message to instruct them to send you a specific keyword depending on the type of query.

To set it up:

1. Open Settings in your Manychat account and switch to the TikTok tab.
2. In the Welcome message section, enter the text of your message, and turn on the Send welcome message toggle.

The welcome message will appear for new contacts when they open a chat with you on TikTok, before they send their first message.

Suggested questions

Pre-configure frequently asked questions and proactively answer them. Suggested questions provide a way for users to start a conversation with a business, with a list of frequently asked questions or discussion topics.

You can create up to three suggested questions.

To set it up:

1. Open Settings in your Manychat account and switch to the TikTok tab.
2. Find the Suggested questions section and click Edit.
3. The Quick Automation window opens, where you can set up questions.
4. Make sure to enable the toggle at the top of the workspace next to Suggested questions.

If both the Welcome Message and Suggested Questions are enabled, new contacts will see both when they open a chat with you on TikTok, before sending their first message. 

Default reply

Ensure every message gets a response. Set up a Default Reply to automatically handle messages that don’t match any of your Keywords.

To set it up:

1. Open Settings in your Manychat account and switch to the TikTok tab.
2. Scroll down to the Default Reply and click Create New Reply to add a new one or Select Existing to use the existing reply.
3. If you select Create New Reply, the Flow Builder opens, allowing you to set up the reply. 
4. Once you’re finished, click Set Live.

Available features and limitations

TikTok’s integration with Manychat is still expanding, and some features work differently compared to other channels. Here’s an overview of what’s currently available:

Messaging Window

You can send up to 10 messages within 48 hours of the last user interaction, without requiring a response. After 48 hours, you can only message the contact again if they restart the conversation.

Buttons

You can use standard buttons in TikTok messages to guide users through your automation.
Buttons on image blocks and direct link buttons (like “Open Website”) aren’t available yet.

Links

You can include links in your messages. While links aren’t clickable inside TikTok DMs, sending them as a separate message helps contacts easily copy and open them.

Media

You can send images and videos to make your conversations more engaging. GIFs, stickers, and audio messages aren’t supported yet, but they’ll still display correctly in TikTok’s native inbox.