Guide
How to set up Instagram comment-to-DM automation
The exact thing that just happened to you, built from scratch in about ten minutes. Account, trial, Instagram, first automation.
You commented a word on a reel. A few seconds later a DM arrived with the link to this page. Nobody saw the comment, nobody typed the reply, and it may well have been the middle of the night here.
That is one automation, and it takes about ten minutes to build. This guide walks the whole thing: creating an account, starting the trial, connecting Instagram and setting up the flow from a template.
It also covers the parts most guides skip — the rules Meta imposes on this, which decide what you can and cannot do once you go past the first message. Those limits are the difference between an automation that works and one that quietly stops halfway.
Create your account
ignix.social → Create account
Sign up with an email and password, or use Continue with Google. If you use email, we send you a link to confirm the address — check your inbox before carrying on.
Creating the account is free and does not ask for a card. You land straight in the app.
Start the 7-day free trial
Plan & billing
Pick a plan and start the trial. The free trial runs on Spark ($19/month) when billed monthly — the entry plan, and all you need for what this guide builds.
Spark includes one social account, which covers a single Instagram profile. Blaze ($39/month), with three, is the one to take if you also want to run Facebook, WhatsApp or the rest alongside it; it starts without the free trial.
Checkout asks for a card so the subscription can continue without interrupting your automations. Nothing is charged during the seven days, we email you before the trial ends, and cancelling takes two clicks.
Tip · The trial is on monthly Spark only. Annual billing and the larger plans start immediately, so choose monthly Spark if you want the seven free days.
Connect your Instagram account
Accounts → Connect a new account
Choose Instagram and complete the permission screen. When it finishes, the account shows up in your list marked as connected.
One requirement comes from Meta, not from us: the Instagram account has to be a professional account — Business or Creator — and it has to be linked to a Facebook Page. A personal Instagram account cannot receive these permissions at all. Both changes are free and take a couple of minutes in the Instagram app under Settings → Account type and tools.
Tip · If the connection screen fails or loops, log out of Instagram and Facebook in that browser first, then connect again. Being signed into the wrong Meta account is the single most common cause.
Build the automation from a template
Automations → Comment → DM
The tab opens on a gallery of quick templates. For what this guide builds, pick Send a link on keyword — they comment your keyword, your link lands in their DMs.
The template opens a short form, already filled in. Four things to set:
Keyword. The word people have to comment. Keep it one short word that nobody types by accident — LINK, GUIDE, INFO. You can add several, separated by commas, and it is worth adding the obvious misspellings.
The message. What arrives in their DMs. Write it like a person, not a robot, and say what they are getting.
The button. A label and the URL it opens. This is where your link, lead magnet or booking page goes.
Which posts it runs on. All posts watches everything on the account. Next post arms it for the next thing you publish — that is the one to use when the reel is not up yet. Specific post pins it to one you have already published.
Use Preview to see the comment and the DM side by side before saving. Then save, and switch it on with Activate in the list underneath.
Tip · Publishing the reel after you set the automation? Choose "Next post". You set it once, publish, and it attaches itself — no coming back to pick the post from a list.
Publish and test it
Instagram
Publish the reel with a caption that tells people exactly what to comment. Being explicit matters more than being clever: "comment GUIDE and I will send it to you" outperforms anything that leaves people guessing.
Then test it from a second account — comment the keyword and watch the DM arrive. If nothing happens, check that the automation is active, that the account is still connected, and that the keyword you commented actually matches one on the list.
What Meta lets you do, and what it does not
These are Meta’s rules, not ours. Knowing them up front saves you building something that cannot work.
- Only Instagram and Facebook
- Replying privately to a public comment is a Meta feature. TikTok, X, LinkedIn and YouTube have comments, but none of them let a tool turn one into a private message. If someone sells you comment-to-DM on TikTok, ask them to show you.
- One private reply per comment
- Meta allows exactly one automatic private message in response to a comment, and it cannot carry media or a carousel. That single message is your whole opening move, so it has to do the work on its own.
- The 24-hour window
- To send anything beyond that first message — a second message, a question, an email capture — the person has to tap a button first. Tapping opens a 24-hour window in which you can keep talking. This is why the lead-capture templates open with a short welcome and a button: the button is what buys you the conversation.
- "Require follow" works, with a catch
- Instagram only reveals whether someone follows you once they reply in the DM, not at the moment they comment. So the flow sends a short message first and checks when they answer. It works — it just cannot be silent about it, and any tool claiming otherwise is describing something Instagram does not expose.
Questions that come up
- Does it work on Facebook too?
- Yes. Comment-to-DM runs on both Instagram and Facebook, and you pick which connected accounts each automation covers.
- Can one automation use several keywords?
- Yes — enter them separated by commas. Add the common misspellings while you are there; people type fast.
- What about comments on my older posts?
- Set the scope to "All posts" and it watches the whole account, including everything you published before setting it up.
- Do I need to leave anything running?
- No. It runs on our side, whether or not you have the app open. That is the point — it works at three in the morning.
- What happens when the trial ends?
- The plan you chose renews automatically at its monthly price. We email you before that happens, and you can cancel in two clicks from Plan & billing.
- Can I have more than one of these at once?
- Yes. Run a different keyword per campaign — one for the reel, one for the launch, one for the giveaway — and each keeps its own message, button and stats.
Now the honest part
That was one feature.
You have just built the thing that sent you here. It answers comments while you sleep, and it will keep doing it whether you post once a week or five times a day.
It is also the smallest part of what you are paying for.
One inbox for everything
DMs, comments and reviews from every connected network land in the same place. Nothing sits unanswered over the weekend because it arrived on the network you check least.
An AI that knows your business
Teach it your products, your prices and your tone. It answers customers around the clock and hands the conversation to you the moment it should — and it knows when it should.
Publishing that runs itself
Plan a month in one sitting across all your networks. A calendar, best-time posting, and your best posts recycled automatically instead of forgotten.
Automations past the first message
Keyword replies are the entry point. Behind them: story replies, sequences, broadcasts, lead capture, tags and a full flow builder when the simple form stops being enough.
Most people running this end up paying for three tools: a scheduler that cannot reply, a DM automation tool and a chatbot for the website. Three subscriptions, three logins and three bills for one job.
Ignix is all three in one plan. Each plan includes its social accounts, its DMs for the month — 1,000 on Spark, 10,000 on Blaze — and its AI credits. Need more? Extra DMs (+10,000 for $5), accounts and credits are add-ons.
Plans start at $19 a month. Seven days free, no annual contract, cancel in two clicks.
The automation that sent you this took four minutes to build. This whole guide takes ten.