Send automated DMs with DM Flows

DM Flows send a DM automatically when someone comments a keyword on your Instagram or Facebook post, or replies to one of your Instagram stories. Use them to share a link, a guide or a discount code, answer questions you get every day, or ask people to follow you first. When someone replies, you pick the conversation up in Inbox.

A DM Flow is a short set of steps that runs on its own. Someone comments, the flow can reply publicly under their comment, wait a little if you want it to, and then send them a private DM. The DM can have up to three buttons. Each button opens a link or starts a path of follow-up messages.

This is the editor's preview of what someone sees after they comment. It's an example, not a delivered message.

Messages a flow sends show Sent by DM Flows under them in Inbox, so your team can tell them apart from replies written by a person.

The new flow opens in the editor with the template's starting text filled in. Select the name at the top to rename it. If you can add flows on more than one account, choose the account under the name.

The flow reads from top to bottom: Trigger, Reply publicly, Who gets it, Wait and Send DM. Select a step to edit it in the panel on the right. Optional steps that are switched off show as dashed outlines, and the + between steps opens Add a step. Reply publicly is for comment flows only, and Who gets it appears for Instagram accounts.

If a step needs attention, such as a button with no link, it shows a short red label. Selecting Create flow or Save takes you to the first problem.

Select Trigger, then set:

Reply publicly posts a reply under the person's comment, so others know to check their DMs. Write the reply and add up to five variations. One is picked at random each time, so the thread doesn't look automated. To stop public replies, turn off Reply to the comment.

Who gets it sets who receives the DM on Instagram. Choose Everyone, or Followers only. With Followers only, followers get the DM straight away. Anyone else gets a message asking them to follow, with a button to tap once they have. You can edit that message, the button label and the message sent if they tap it without following.

Wait before sending adds a pause before the DM, which makes it feel less automatic. Pick 30 sec, 5 min or 1 hour, or choose Custom for any wait up to 24 hours. To add a step that's switched off, select its dashed outline or use the + between steps.

Select Send DM and write the message. It can be up to 1,000 characters, or 640 characters when it has buttons.

Select Add button for up to three buttons. Give each one a label of up to 20 characters, then choose what it does:

Instagram doesn't deliver buttons to people who don't follow you, and that comment can't get another reply. If the flow sends to everyone, put the link in the message text as well so everyone can reach it.

On comment flows, turn on Also answer the keyword in DMs to send the same DM to someone who messages you the keyword instead of commenting. It needs at least one keyword.

When a button is set to Path, a lane for that button appears under Send DM. Select Add the first message, or the + in the lane, and choose Message or Wait. Selecting a step in the lane opens it in the panel on the right.

Select Preview at the top of the right panel to see the flow on a phone. Switch between Comment (or Story reply) and DM, plus Not following on Instagram and Path when a path step is selected. The preview is a guide: Instagram or Facebook decides the final styling.

The Live switch at the top sets whether the flow starts on. Select Create flow to save it. After that, Live saves as soon as you switch it, and other changes need Save.

If you change the post a saved flow listens to, Sequence asks you to confirm, because the flow's results start again from zero.

To delete a flow, open it, select More actions (the three dots next to Save), then Delete flow. People who comment won't get the DM any more, and you can't undo this.

The DM Flows page lists each flow with its DMs sent, clicks, click rate and a Live switch. Above the list are totals for DMs sent, link clicks, click rate and people reached. Filter by Comments or Story replies, search by name or keyword, or choose one account.

Open a flow and select Results to see its lifetime totals: comments matched, DMs sent, read and, when the DM has link buttons, link clicks. Where people drop off compares each stage, and Paths shows how many people started each path.

Below that, Activity lists each person and what happened, such as DM sent, Waiting to send, Asked to follow, Skipped or Failed, with the reason. Failed and Skipped show just those rows. Didn't match shows recent comments that matched no keyword, which helps you spot words to add.

When a content piece has an Instagram or Facebook post that's scheduled or published, its Publish tab shows an Auto-DM card. Select Add an Auto-DM to start a Comment to DM flow for that post, or Edit in DM Flows to change the flow already on it.