Instagram comment automation: from a keyword in the comments to a link in the DM, step by step
Someone comments a keyword on your post and gets a reply under the comment plus a DM with your link, without you typing a thing. Here is the four-step setup and every building block of the conversation: button, follow request, email and follow-up.
Instagram comment automation: from a keyword in the comments to a link in the DM, step by step
Here is the idea. You say in the video "comment LINK and I'll send it to you", and anyone who does gets a reply under their comment plus a DM with the link, with nothing typed on your side. In Cut.Pro you set this up in four steps, and the automation is free with no limit on how many you create, on every plan.
What is different from the tools you may have seen is the conversation in the DM. It can have a button, a follow request, an email request and a second message for people who forgot. I will go in the order things happen and say what I would pick at each step. The usual disclosure: I work at Cut.Pro.
Why a keyword in the comments works
Someone who types a word has raised a hand. They watched the video, decided they want what you promised, and made the small effort of typing. That beats "link in bio", which asks them to leave the video, open your profile and hunt.
There is a second effect, covered in how Instagram weighs the signals on a clip: comments are interactions, and a post that asks for a word tends to collect more comments than one that asks for nothing. No guarantee, but the ask costs nothing.
And a link in the comment itself? On YouTube Shorts, for one, it does not pay off, as the post on Shorts and links in comments shows. On Instagram, the DM is where the link belongs.
Before you build: what Instagram allows
Sending DMs from comments follows Meta's rules, and those change. What Meta's documentation describes today (page updated July 2026): each comment can receive a single private message, and it has to go out within 7 days of the comment. For people who do not follow the account, the message tends to land in message requests rather than the main inbox.
Two practical consequences. First, you cannot send three messages to the same comment, so the conversation has to be designed to fit that format. Second, an old post with an old comment may not get the DM. I would treat these as a starting point and check Meta's current policy before building anything big, because that decision is not ours to make.
Step 1: pick the post and the keyword
In Cut.Pro, open Automations in the Studio and choose the comment reply template. Creation is a four-step flow with a preview that looks like the Instagram screen: you see the comment, the reply and the DM the way the person will.
In step one you choose the post (or all of them) and the keyword. My rules:
- A short word that is easy to type, ideally without accents. "LINK", "COURSE", "SHEET".
- The same word you said in the video. If the video says "comment WANT" and the automation expects "I WANT", you lose people.
- One word per offer. Two products on the same profile, two words.
Step 2: the reply under the comment
The commenter sees a public reply from you, something like "Sent it to your DMs!". It looks minor, but it does two things: it tells the person where to look, and it shows anyone just reading that this works.
If you want, vary the wording so the replies are not all identical. A hundred comments with the same sentence pasted under the video look robotic, and people notice.
Step 3: the conversation in the DM
This is the new part. You build the conversation from blocks, and each one solves a specific problem.
Opening DM with a button
The first message does not carry the link. It has a short text and a button, for example "Send me the link". The link goes out only after the tap.
Why? Because a tap is an explicit yes. Whoever tapped is looking at the conversation and wants the link. For you, the benefit is knowing who moved forward and who just left a comment. It also fits the one-message-per-comment format: the second part of the conversation starts when the person answers, not when you push.
Ask to follow
If the post is also meant to grow your profile, use the "Ask to follow" block. People who already follow you get the link directly. People who do not follow get a request with an "I followed" button.
The detail that matters: Cut.Pro checks again on every tap. If someone taps "I followed" without following, they do not get through; they get the request again. It is a check, not trust in a button. It is worth it when the link delivers something of value (a file, a discount), and I would use it sparingly: asking for a follow to hand over any old link is friction for nothing. The full reasoning on turning views into followers is in how to turn views into followers.
Ask for an email
Another block: the automation asks for the email in the DM. If the reply does not look like an email, it asks again. Whatever the person types is saved in the Contacts tab, with the rest of the conversation data.
This fixes an old problem: Instagram followers are not a list you own. Emails are. But ask only when it makes sense, and say what the person gets in return. "Type your email to get the link" is an honest ask; asking for an email for no reason kills the conversation.
Follow-up
And people who tapped the button but never opened the link? Maybe they saved it for later. The follow-up sends a second message to people who did not open the link after a few hours. One sentence is enough, like "Did the link open? If it did not load, tell me here."
Remember what I said earlier: Instagram limits what can be sent and when. Whether a particular follow-up goes out depends on those rules at that moment, so do not build a strategy that depends on it.
Step 4: review in the preview and switch it on
The last step is review. The preview shows the comment, the reply and the DM the way Instagram does, and it is the moment to test for real: comment the keyword from another account, tap the button, check that the link opens. Do it on your phone, because that is where almost everyone will see it.
Three things I check every time:
- The keyword matches the one in the video.
- The link goes to the right place (obvious, and I have still seen the wrong link).
- The DM sounds like you, not like a form.
Which combination to use
| Your goal | Blocks I would use |
|---|---|
| Hand out a link or free resource | Comment reply + opening DM with a button |
| Grow the profile along with the delivery | Above + Ask to follow |
| Build your own list | Above + Ask for an email |
| Reach people who did not open it | Any of the above + Follow-up |
I would start with the first row. Every extra block is one more step for the person, and the more steps, the more people drop out along the way.
What it costs and what it does not do
Automations are open on every plan, including the free one, with no limit on how many you create. If an automation generates video clips, those use your account credits, like clipping by hand; replying to comments and sending DMs is not that case.
What it does not do: sell for you. It delivers the link to whoever asked, quickly, without you answering one by one. If the post does not interest people or the offer is weak, you will get a well-delivered DM that nobody opens. Here is where Cut.Pro fits in your content flow: you cut the video with AI, post it as a Reel, and let the automation handle the comments. If you want to go further, with an AI agent running the rest of the operation, the path is in automating clipping with an AI agent.
Where to start
Take your best recent video, pick one keyword, build the simplest version (comment reply plus opening DM with a button) and test it with a second account. After a week, look at how many people tapped the button. Only then add the follow request or the email.
New account with no history, and you want to avoid trouble with the profile? Before automating anything, read how to warm up the account. And if what you want is for the video to generate messages instead of just likes, DM shares are worth more than likes is worth your time.
