Quick Automation: Grow followers from comments

Quick Automations in Manychat continue to evolve, and we’re excited to introduce a new addition: the ability to automatically grow your Instagram followers directly from comments.

Until now, Quick Automations made it easy to generate leads from stories and send automated DMs in response to comments. With this update, you can take things a step further by turning comment engagement into follower growth—without adding extra manual work.

If you’re already familiar with using Quick Automations for story replies or auto-DMs from comments, you’ll find the setup for growing followers from comments just as intuitive. The process follows the same logic, keeping everything simple and efficient.

This feature is ideal for scaling audience growth, saving time, and strengthening your overall Instagram strategy, all while engaging users right where the conversation starts.

Setting up a Quick Automation to grow followers from comments

To make setting up and managing this automation simpler, we’ve added several entry points throughout Manychat. This allows you to access and update the automation at any time, even after the initial setup is complete.

From the Home tab:

1. Open your Manychat workspace and go to the Home tab.
2. Find the Start Here section and click the Explore all templates button.
3. In the pop-up that appears, click the Grow followers from comments card.

From the Automations tab:

1. Click the Automations tab in the sidebar.
2. Select My Automations.
3. Click +New Automation.
4. In the pop-up that opens, select Grow followers from comments.

From here, you can set up or edit the automation. You’ll be taken directly to the Quick Automation setup page, where you can customize your automation as needed.

1. Select a post or reel which will trigger the automation: As the first step, you will be asked to select the post or reel comments from which will trigger the automation. There are three options here:
   • A specific post or reel: only comments under this post or reel will trigger the automation.
   • Any post or reel: any comment under any post will trigger this automation. 
   • Next post or reel: the automation will be triggered when users leave comments under the next post or reel you publish after setting the automation live. Note: You can run only one next post or reel automation at a time. Once it’s triggered by a new post or reel, you’re free to set up a new one.
2. Then, decide which words a comment needs to include to trigger the automation, or allow it to run for any comment. Be sure to separate words and reactions with commas. Multiple words entered without commas will be treated as a single keyword.
3. Next, set up what the user will get from you after they leave a comment:
   • Opening DM: This message is sent after contacts engage with the selected post or reel. Think of the Opening DM as a quick “Hey, are you available to chat?” before starting a conversation. When recipients tap the button in this message, they opt into the conversation—confirming they’re ready to talk. This action allows you to send additional messages within the next 24 hours.
   • Ask for a follow: Next, the system checks whether the user already follows your Instagram account. If they don’t, an additional message will prompt them to follow you before receiving the link. This step helps grow your audience while ensuring your content is shared with engaged followers.
   • A DM with the link: This is the core message of your automation. It contains the main content you want to share, such as a link to a product, offer, or resource. You can customize this message with up to three links, making it easy to direct users to multiple destinations like business pages, product details, or affiliate content.
   • Prefer a simpler approach? You can also send a text-only message without including any links. To do this, simply don’t add any links to the final message in the automation.
4. Other things to automate: In this last section, you can decide if you'd like to do anything else with your automation.
   • Reply under the post so people feel seen and special: You can create three custom messages that will be shuffled by Manychat for dynamic engagement. This feature allows you to craft personalized responses that keep your interactions varied and engaging.
   • Follow up to re-engage and build trust: Set up a follow-up message to re-engage users who didn’t click the link. This helps maintain the conversation and increases the chances of converting interest into action.
   • Ask for emails in DMs to keep in touch beyond social: This option sends an additional message after the Opening DM, prompting users to share their email addresses. This feature allows you to effortlessly grow your subscriber list and engage with your audience beyond Instagram.
5. Once your setup is complete, click Go Live in the top-right corner to activate the automation.

When all these features are enabled, the order is as follows:

1. Opening DM
2. Email collection
3. Follow request
4. Main message with the link
5. Follow-up reminder

Edit or stop your automation after it goes live

If you need to make adjustments to your automation after it has gone live, you can easily return to the setup page.

1. Open the Automations tab and find the Grow followers from comments automation in the list.
2. Click on it to open the automation’s page.
3. Next, click the Edit button in the upper-right corner. Once you're in edit mode, make the necessary changes.
4. When you're done, click the Update button to publish your changes. Afterward, you'll be redirected back to the Insights tab to monitor your updated automation's performance.

If you decide to stop the automation at any time, click the Stop button in the upper-right corner of the automation’s page. If you want to reactivate it later, click the Go Live button in the same location to bring your automation back online instantly.