How do I send a DM when someone comments on my post or Reel?

Before you start

• Your Instagram must be a professional account (Business or Creator) and connected to InstantDM. See How do I connect my Instagram account?
• Choose the word people will comment, for example LINK or GUIDE. A trigger word is the word that makes InstantDM send your DM. Tell people the word in your caption: “Comment LINK and I’ll DM you the link.”
• On the Free plan you can add up to 3 trigger words and 3 public replies per automation.

Steps

1. On Home, click New Automation (top right).
2. Under “When should it run?”, click Comment to DM.
3. Under “Which posts?”, keep Existing posts and the Instagram pill. Click your post or Reel, then click Next.
   • Next stays grey until you pick a post.
   • If you pick 2 or more posts, you create an Automation Group. See one automation on many posts.
4. Under “What should it send?”, click Send Link & PDF. The editor opens.
5. In the Trigger box, keep Specific Comments. Click Expected Word, type your word (for example LINK) and press Enter.
   • To add several words at once, separate them with commas: link, guide, pdf.
6. Decide about the public reply. Reply with comment! is on by default. It posts a public reply under each matching comment, so everyone can see it.
   • Click Reply Comment, type a line such as “Sent, check your DMs” and press Enter. Add a few different lines.
   • Or switch Reply with comment! off if you don’t want public replies.
7. Under Send a DM!, choose Text/Link and type your message with the link. The box holds up to 700 characters.
8. Optional (Legend Pro and above): turn on Welcome Message or Ask audience to follow you before sending link!.
9. Click Publish (top right).
   • If you see “Recommended Setup for Better Engagement”, click Send link directly to publish as it is, or Edit Automation to go back and turn on a Welcome Message.
   • You’ll see “Automation is live” and return to Home.
10. Ask a friend to comment your word on the post from their own account, and check that the DM arrives.

Other way in, from the post itself: open Quick Automation, click the Instagram tab, choose Posts and click your post. On the “Post Automations” page, click the Send Link or PDF card. The editor is the same, so follow steps 5 to 9. After Publish you see “Automated Successfully!” with an option to save the setup to your Library.

On the phone app

The app has no New Automation button. You set it up from the post:

• Tap Instagram on Home, open the Posts tab and tap your post or Reel.
• On Manage Post, tap the Send Link or Images card. This is the same automation as Send Link & PDF on the web.
• In Edit Automation: under Trigger Words choose Specific Words, type your word and press enter. Under Reply to Comments, add replies or switch it off. Under Send a DM!, type your message.
• Tap Publish. The post header shows AUTOMATION ACTIVE.
• If this post has a Lead Gen automation that you made on the web, publishing from the app removes that Lead Gen.

What your followers see

• They comment your word. A few seconds later they get one private DM from your account, linked to their comment.
• If public replies are on, one of your reply lines appears under their comment, picked at random. It is posted only when the DM went out.
• With Welcome Message on, the first DM is a short message with a button. The link comes after they tap it.
• If they don’t follow you and Instagram refuses the DM, InstantDM posts a public comment under their comment asking them to follow. See public comment replies.
• On the Free plan, after your first week, the DM ends with ”|| Automation powered by InstantDM”. Any paid plan removes this line.

Good to know

• Each DM that Instagram accepts uses 1 credit. Public replies and failed DMs don’t. Legend Pro, Trendsetter and Trendsetter Pro have unlimited DMs, paced per hour.
• Capital letters don’t matter. “link” also matches “Links” but not “blink”. Details: How do trigger words work?
• Only top-level comments count. A reply inside someone else’s comment thread never triggers the DM.
• Instagram decides whether the DM lands in the main inbox or in Message Requests. No tool controls this.
• On a very busy post, comment DMs are paced by your plan’s hourly limit. See What should I do when a post goes viral?

What you can’t do

• Send a different link for each word on the same post with Send Link & PDF. One post has one DM for all its words.
• Message people who did not comment. Instagram does not let any tool send DMs to people who never interacted with you.
• Like the comment automatically.

How to turn it off

Open Quick Automation → Instagram → Posts, click the post and switch off the Send Link or PDF card, then click Disable. More in turn off, edit or delete an automation.

If it doesn’t work

• “Missing Trigger words”: add at least one word in the Trigger box, or choose All comments.
• “Missing DM text”: write your message under Send a DM!.
• “Missing Reply comments words”: add a line with Reply Comment, or switch Reply with comment! off.
• Your friend commented but got nothing: check the spelling of the word, check it was a new comment and not a reply in a thread, and look for the red banner “Instagram conection expired! Automation Stopped.” at the top of the app. Full checklist: Why didn’t my automation send a DM?