Answer comments and story replies with automations (comment to DM)

An automation answers for you on Instagram. Someone comments on your post, or replies to your story, and Planoly sends them a DM. On a post it can also leave a public reply under their comment.

Before you start

• Instagram only. The Automations row only shows on an Instagram channel in the post builder.
• Paid plan. Automations come with a paid plan. On the free plan, opening Automations shows an upgrade screen. Only the workspace owner can change the plan. See choose a paid plan.
• Auto-post. The post has to publish through Planoly. With the posting method set to Reminder, the row reads Automations require Auto-post and does not open. Planoly finds the post a comment belongs to by the Instagram id it records when it publishes the post, and a reminder post never gets one.
• A connected Instagram account. Planoly will not turn an automation on without one. With no account it says "Connect an Instagram account with auto-post before adding an automation." An expired connection or one that is not finished connecting gets its own message.

Automations are rolling out. If the Automations row is missing from your post builder, it has not reached your account yet.

Open Automations

1. Open a post in the post builder and select its Instagram channel.
2. Under Posting method, select the Automations row. It reads Nothing set up yet until the post has one.
3. Select Create automation.

Step 1: Trigger

The first step decides which comments the automation answers.

• Name is for you. It is what the Automations row shows on the post.
• When someone comments on sets where it runs. This post is the post you are on. Every post covers every post on your Instagram account, including posts already live and posts you published without Planoly. Choose posts opens a grid of posts already live on Instagram.
• and the comment has sets which comments count. Any words answers every comment. These words answers a comment that contains one of your keywords. Type a keyword and press Enter or a comma to add it. You can add up to 10.
• Public reply is on from the start, with three replies filled in. Planoly uses them in turn: the first reply sent gets the first one, the next gets the second, and so on. Each one is up to 100 characters. Turn the switch off to send the DM alone.

Keywords ignore case and match anywhere in the comment. link answers "LINK", "link please" and "linked".

Select Next. If a field is missing something, the message shows under it and you stay on this step.

Step 2: Action

The second step is the DM. An automation on a post sends one message, because Instagram allows one private reply to a comment. Pick what that message is from the menu at the top of it.

A button needs a label of up to 20 characters and a full link. Voice notes and PDFs are not supported yet.

Switching to another kind after you have written something asks first, because the message you wrote is replaced.

Select Add to this post to finish. The preview beside the form plays the comment, the public reply and the DM. In a narrow window, select the eye icon at the top to see it.

When it starts replying

Saving a new automation turns it on. Saving a paused one leaves it paused.

On a post that is not published yet, the automation waits on the post and is created the next time you save the post. If it cannot be created, Planoly tells you which one and why, and the post saves anyway. It answers comments once Planoly has published the post.

On a post that is already published, the automation is created as soon as you add it.

What the commenter gets

• The DM first. The public reply goes under their comment only after the DM is delivered. If the public reply fails, the DM still stands.
• One reply per post. Someone who comments three times gets one DM, even if several automations match.
• Nothing for your own comments, including the public replies Planoly posts for you.

Only one automation answers a comment. When two match, one you chose for this post beats one on Every post, and between two of the same kind the newer one wins. The list warns you when this happens, for example: "Two automations answer BREAD on this post, so only the higher one replies unless you give one a different keyword."

Replies only go out while the workspace is on a paid plan. A comment that arrives while it is not gets no reply, then or later.

Automations on stories

On a story the trigger is a reply to the story. The scope is This story or Every story, there is no public reply, and the button reads Add to this story. A story automation starts once the story is published.

Each story keeps its own automations. Copy existing copies one of your other story automations onto this story. A story offers no Remove from this story.

Manage a post's automations

Each automation on the post is a row in the Automations list. In a wide window the preview sits beside the list, and selecting a row plays it there. Hover a row for the pencil, which opens the editor, and the menu beside it.

• Pause stops the automation on every post it runs on, not only this one. Resume turns it back on.
• Remove from this post takes it off this post and leaves it running on the others. An automation on Every post cannot be removed from one post: pause it or change its scope instead.
• Delete everywhere asks first, then deletes it from every post.
• Add existing, beside New automation, puts an automation you already built on this post.

On the calendar, a post with an automation carries a wand icon. Hover it for Automation running or Automation paused.

If Instagram disconnects

A banner over the list says what is wrong:

• Instagram disconnected — no automation is running means nothing replies until you select Reconnect Instagram. Your automations are kept, but until you reconnect you cannot create one, resume a paused one, or add one that is on to a post.
• An expiry date means the connection still works until then. Select Reconnect before it.
• Allow direct messages shows when the account was linked without direct message permission. Automations cannot reply without it.

Reconnecting saves the post first, then takes you to Instagram. See refresh a channel connection.

On mobile

The Planoly mobile app has an Automations row in the post builder too, on Instagram posts.