Turn Instagram comments into DMs automatically

You’ve seen it on Reels: “Comment LINK and I’ll send it to you.” Someone comments, and a message with the link lands in their inbox a moment later. This is called comment to DM. In Exoconnect, a recipe does it for you, with no code. This guide sets one up on Instagram, and it works the same way on Facebook.

Before you start: connect your Instagram account in Exoconnect. It needs to be a professional account (Business or Creator) linked to a Facebook Page. Set up Exoconnect shows how.

An example

Say you sell hand-printed cushions, and your new Reel ends with “Comment LINK for the shop”.

Alex comments “Link?“. A moment later, your account replies under the comment, and a message with the link lands in Alex’s inbox:

Other people scrolling the comments see your reply, know the offer is real, and comment too. Each of them gets the same message. In Exoconnect, every reply shows under Activity and in the recipe’s Runs.

Behind the scenes, Exoconnect receives each comment from Meta and checks it against your recipe. A comment without your word gets no answer. You choose whether the recipe posts the public reply, sends the message, or both.

Make the recipe

Open Recipes (from Today) and choose Make your first recipe, or New recipe if you already have one. Under Start from, pick Send a link. It fills in a recipe you can edit:

1. When someone comments. Leave Words chosen and keep “link”, or type your own word, like “guide” or “menu”. Press Enter after each word. A comment matches when it contains any of your words, in capitals or not. With no words at all, the recipe answers every comment.
2. On. Choose Every post, or narrow it down: Some videos (pick the videos or Reels), Tagged videos (videos you’ve given a tag in Exoconnect), or A hashtag (posts whose caption has that hashtag). A post you made straight in Instagram counts too.
3. In. Pick the accounts the recipe watches.
4. Then reply. Turn on In the comments for the public reply, and By message for the private message. Write what people should get.
5. Add a button. Under the message, choose Add a button or picture, then Link button, and paste your link. It must start with https://. You can add up to three buttons.

As you write, the recipe’s preview shows how the reply and the message will look, on Instagram and on Facebook. Switch between Comments and Messages to see each one.

Instagram and Facebook send different messages

Meta allows different things in a private reply to a comment:

• Instagram takes text only. Exoconnect writes each button as a line of text under your words, like Open: https://…, so the link still arrives. A message on Instagram stops at 1,000 characters, buttons included.
• Facebook shows real buttons, up to three. With buttons, the words stop at 640 characters. Facebook can also take one picture, video, audio clip or PDF instead of words (choose Picture or file). A recipe that watches an Instagram account can’t send a file.

Send a form instead of a link

If you want people’s details, not just a click, publish a form in Exoconnect first. Then choose Form button when you add a button. Each person who comments gets their own link to the form, and what they submit goes to your contacts.

Turn it on

Choose Turn on. A sheet opens with two steps:

1. Check. Give the recipe a name and choose Check recipe. Exoconnect tries it on sample comments. It stays off while it’s checked, and nothing is sent. You see whether it Passed its checks, and for each sample whether it Answers and what it would send.
2. Turn on. Under Try a comment, type a comment of your own and see what the recipe would do. Then choose Turn on.

“It starts with the next comment. Comments that arrived before now are left alone. Each reply it sends shows in Activity.”

Later, choose Test on the recipe’s page to try another comment. Nothing is sent when you test.

Meta’s rules for private replies

These come from Meta, and Exoconnect follows them:

• One private message per comment. If the same person comments twice, each comment can get its own message.
• Within a day. The recipe answers new comments, within 24 hours of each comment.
• Only new comments. Comments from before you turned the recipe on are left alone.

If the person replies to your message, the conversation continues in your Inbox, like any other message.

Tips that help

• Say the word in your caption. “Comment GUIDE and I’ll send it” tells people exactly what to type.
• Choose an unusual word. A word matches anywhere in a comment, so “link” also matches “linked”. A word like “guide” or “recipe2” catches fewer comments by mistake.
• Let people ask in their own words. Some people write “can you send it?” instead of your word. On every paid plan, a recipe can answer comments by meaning to catch them.
• Keep it to the posts that need it. If one Reel has the offer, choose Some videos, so other posts don’t trigger the message.

See what it did

On the recipe’s page, switch to Runs. It lists each comment the recipe picked up, newest first, and what it did: Replied in the comments, Sent a message, No reply needed, or a failure with the reason. Activity (the What it did button at the top of the recipe) shows the comment and each reply.

To stop, choose Turn off. A recipe that’s off can be deleted.

What it costs

A recipe counts as one automation run each time it sends something. A comment that doesn’t match is free. Free includes 2,000 runs a month, Starter 25,000 and Pro 100,000. See the plans.

When you need more than a recipe

A recipe matches comments and replies to them. If you want something different, like a different message for each product, describe it to Exi or your own AI agent, and it builds an automation for you. Build automations with AI shows how.

For the other ready-made recipes, read Four ready-made recipes, and when to use each.