Comment-to-DM automation

Reply publicly to a comment and send the real answer in a DM, inside Meta's rules

Comment-to-DM is the automation most creators start with: someone comments a keyword under a post, they get a public reply so others see it works, and the link, code or answer arrives in their DMs.

How it works on Meta's side

Arolead uses two Meta capabilities. The public reply is posted under the comment through the comments API. The DM uses Meta's private reply, which lets a business send one message to someone who commented, even if that person has never messaged the account. Two rules come with it:

  • The private reply must be sent within 7 days of the comment.
  • It opens a normal conversation. Once the person replies, the standard 24-hour messaging window applies to everything after. See messaging rules.

Set it up

  1. Automations → New, choose the Comment keyword trigger and the account.
  2. Pick the post, or leave it on all posts. Enter the keyword. Use contains so "LINK", "link pls" and "Link?" all match.
  3. Add a Public reply step. Keep it short: "Sent you a DM!"
  4. Add a Send DM step with the actual content.
  5. Optionally add Add tag so everyone who asked ends up in one segment, and Move stage to put them in Engaged.
  6. Turn it on.

Keep it inside Instagram's rules

  • Reply once per comment. Repeated DMs to the same person for the same comment are what Meta's spam signals look for.
  • The DM must relate to the comment. A "LINK" keyword that sends a sales pitch about something else gets reported, and reports lower your account's standing.
  • Do not ask people to comment a keyword purely to farm DMs with no delivery. Deliver what the post promised.
  • Testing: comment from a second account, not the connected account itself.

Free plan behaviour

Comment-to-DM is available on Free. The first 50 replies each month go out at the speed you set; after that a 30-minute delay is added to each reply. Paid plans never add one.