Answer Instagram comments and story replies

What happens when someone comments

1. The comment guard checks it first and hides scams and spam.
2. Your agent replies under the comment with one short, warm line, such as “Thank you, Meera! Just sent you a DM with the details 💬”. A public reply never includes a price, a discount, a link or an @mention.
3. Your agent answers in a private message — whatever they actually asked. The comment becomes the first message of a chat in Conversations, which carries on like any other.

Switch comment replies on

Comment replies are part of your Sales & Commerce agent, so Sales must be running. They don’t take a slot of their own — a plan that runs Sales answers comments.

1. Go to Agent › AI Studio › Agents and press Manage on Sales & Commerce.
2. Under Where it listens, find Comments on your posts. No rule yet means comments aren’t answered.
3. Press Add a rule. Choose:
   • Comments with any of these words — type a word and press Enter. Leave it empty and Sales answers every comment.
   • On which posts — Every post, or Posts I choose and pick them from your feed.
   • First message in the chat — only once you’ve chosen posts. Leave it empty and your Sales agent writes it from the post and the comment.
4. Press Add rule. It’s on straight away.

Each rule has a switch to pause it and Edit to change it; Remove rule is inside Edit. The replies a rule already sent stay in their chats.

Tell your agent what each post is about

1. Go to Grow › Content & bindings (shown when the channel switch is on Instagram or both).
2. On a post, Reel or story, press Bind a product.
3. Fill in Product, Price, When a customer replies and any Offer, if any.
4. For stories, pick When the agent is unsure: Ask which product they mean, Show them what you sell or Don’t reply — leave it for you.
5. Press Save binding.

Without a binding, your agent asks which product they mean rather than guessing.

Check public replies before they post

Switch on Public replies need approval in Set up › Settings & team › AI controls — Where it listens shows which way it’s set, with Change in Settings beside it. Each public reply then waits in Needs you on AI Studio › Overview: edit it if you like, then press Approve & post publicly or Reject — post nothing. Replies are also held in Assist or Manual mode.

Story replies and mentions

When someone replies to your story or mentions your shop in theirs, the chat arrives in Conversations with a Story reply or Story mention strip, usually with View source. Your agent’s answer knows which story it was and what you said in it. Stories vanish after 24 hours; the strip then says the source media expired.

Story replies go out on their own. To change that, open Sales & Commerce with Manage and, under Where it listens, pick one for Story replies and mentions:

• Answer on its own — the answer goes straight away.
• Wait for your OK — each answer waits in Needs you: press Approve & send, Edit then send or Reject, within 24 hours of the customer’s message — Instagram only delivers replies inside that window.
• Off — reactions and mentions get no answer. A customer who writes on your story is still answered like any DM.

Hide scam and spam comments

In Set up › Settings & team › AI controls, under Replies & approvals:

• Comment guard is on from the start. It hides scam links, impersonators, spam and abuse under your posts and Reels. Only the author still sees a hidden comment, and you can unhide it on Instagram.
• Delete certain scams instead of hiding deletes a scam or impersonator the guard is at least 90% sure of.
• Ask before hiding a comment holds each flagged comment in Needs you, with the reason and how sure the guard is. Press Hide the comment (or Delete the comment), or Keep it.

If something’s not right

• Comments get no reply. Check that Sales & Commerce is running and Comments on your posts shows a rule that’s switched on, then look in Needs you.
• “Turn Sales on to answer comments and stories.” Sales is paused, or your plan has no room for it. Press Turn Sales on, or pause another agent first.
• “Connect Instagram first — Sales answers comments on the account you connect.” Connect Instagram in Set up › Connections, then add the rule.
• “A first message you write is for the posts you choose.” One message under every post can’t know which post they saw. Choose the posts, or leave the first message empty.
• “An earlier send didn’t go through — Instagram’s reply window for this chat had closed.” The story reply was approved too late.
• “An earlier send didn’t go through — Instagram needs reconnecting.” Reconnect Instagram in Set up › Connections.
• “No posts synced yet” in Content & bindings. Press Sync now.