This tutorial walks you through building a "post comment auto-reply" campaign in Social Automation from scratch: when someone comments on a post you specify, the system will publicly reply and DM the commenter the content you prepared. We use the most common case – IG post comments – as the example. Follow the seven steps below and you will have your first campaign published.
Before you start, you need to link the social account you want to work with. If you haven't done that yet, complete [Tutorial｜Link Your Instagram / Facebook Account] first, then come back to create your campaign.
Steps
The whole flow is straightforward: fill out the campaign screen from top to bottom. Pick an account and trigger type, choose the posts and keywords to apply, then write the public reply and DM content. When you're done, save as draft or publish.
Step 1: Go to 【Campaigns】 and add a new campaign, then choose an account
In the left sidebar of the admin panel, go to 【Campaigns】 > 【New Campaign】. The first field on the screen is "Select account," which lists the social accounts you have already linked. Choose the one you want to work with – every action in this campaign will happen on that account.
Step 2: Choose the trigger type
Next, choose the "Trigger type," which decides which type of interaction will fire this campaign. Options include IG post comment, IG story, FB post comment, FB Messenger message, and Threads post reply. Each campaign maps to exactly one trigger type. In this tutorial we use "IG post comment", the most common choice.
Step 3: Choose the posts to apply
Decide which posts this campaign will watch for comments. You have three options:
| Selection method | Best used when |
|---|---|
| All posts | You want the same reply logic to apply to every post on this account. |
| Select from list | You only want to target a few specific campaign posts – picking from the list is the most intuitive way. |
| Enter post ID manually | You already know the specific post you want and want to specify it quickly. |
Step 4: Set up keywords
Decide which words in a comment will fire the reply. Separate multiple keywords with commas, and choose a match mode: "Exact match" means the comment must match the keyword exactly to trigger; "Contains" means the comment just has to include the keyword to trigger (the looser option, and the one most people use in practice).
If you leave the keyword field empty, every comment on the post will trigger the reply. That is a good fit for campaigns that just want to send the same DM to everyone who comments.
Step 5: Write the public reply
Write the text the system will use to "publicly reply" in the comment thread. Each reply is one block, and if you set up two or more, the system rotates them at random, so the replies in the thread look more natural and less copy-pasted. We recommend preparing at least two or three variations.
Step 6: Write the DM content
Set the content the system will DM to the commenter. The DM uses a block-based editor and supports text. This is usually where the real message lives – a promo link, a campaign description, or a request form.
A DM triggered by a "comment" is responding to the user's recent action and is less restricted than a regular DM – it will generally deliver within a window after the comment. But if you want to "reach out" to someone who has not interacted with you first, platform rules will block delivery. Design your content around the principle of "DM only after an interaction."
Step 7: Save as draft or publish
Once everything is set, you can either "Save as draft" to hold the settings without going live, or click "Publish" to activate the campaign right away. Once published, the system will start watching for new comments on the posts you specified and reply automatically. To check performance, go to 【Trigger History】 to see every triggered comment and its DM result.
FAQs
Here are the questions we most often get about building campaigns.
Q: What happens if I leave the keyword field empty?
A: Every comment on that post will trigger the reply. That's ideal when you want to send the same content to everyone who comments. If you only want to target specific words, fill in keywords.
Q: How many public reply variants can I set up?
A: Multiple, with no hard limit. With two or more, the system rotates them at random so the comment thread looks more natural. We recommend at least two or three variations.
Q: What's the difference between "Draft" and "Publish"?
A: A draft just saves your settings and does not run. Only after you "Publish" will the campaign start watching for new comments and reply automatically. You can save as draft, adjust freely, and publish when you are ready.
Q: How long until a published campaign takes effect?
A: It starts to apply to "future" new comments right after publishing. Existing older comments are not necessarily processed retroactively, so we recommend preparing the campaign right around the time you publish the post.
📚 Related articles:
- [Feature Overview｜What Is Social Automation]
- [Feature Overview｜Plans and Pricing]