Guide: Get started with DM automation
This page: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/getting-started/get-started-with-dm-automation
Topic: Getting started
Time: about 10 minutes
Who can do it: Owner, Administrator or Manager
Author: https://anantgupta.xyz (Anant Gupta, founder of CommentWatchDog)
Start in the app: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/inbox
Result when done: Your page answers a comment with a DM on its own, and you have watched it happen on your own phone.
Context: A path, not a reference. Connect the page, pick the ready-made automation Send a DM when someone comments, choose the post and the word, write the message with your link, save it live, try it on yourself, then read its first run. It is one screen, with no canvas and no AI credits. The flow builder is the last step, for when you want more than one. Each step links to the guide that owns the detail, so nothing is explained twice. Two of Meta's rules shape everything: a comment gets exactly one private reply, and after that a page may message someone only within 24 hours of their last message or tap.

Before you start:
1. An Instagram professional account linked to a Facebook Page, or a Facebook Page alone for Messenger.
2. Message access allowed on the Facebook connection; only an owner or an administrator can connect.
3. Starter and above. On Lite the same words go out as a public reply instead of a DM.

Steps:
Step 1 of 7: Connect the page and allow messages.
Where: Settings, then the Pages tab: connect Facebook and add the Instagram account or the Page. A connected page reads Receiving comments. In Facebook's window, leave the message permission on; without it comments arrive and messages do not. This screen has no line for message access: open the page's Messages tab, and if it shows a card asking you to allow message access, press Reconnect Facebook there or here.
Link: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/messages/allow-message-access-on-the-connection (Guide: Allow message access on the connection)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-connect-messages.en.webp (Settings, Pages: both pages connected, each reading Receiving comments.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-connect-messages-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: Receiving comments beside the page, and a Messages tab that lists chats instead of asking for access.

Step 2 of 7: Open Automation and pick Send a DM when someone comments.
Where: Left sidebar, the page, the Automation tab, then New automation (top right, or press N). The page that opens asks what should happen on your page. Under Or pick a ready-made one, marked No AI credits, the first card is Send a DM when someone comments. It is one screen with three steps, no canvas and no AI: click it.
Link: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/keyword-automations/the-automation-list (Guide: The Automation list)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-home.en.webp (New automation, at the top right of the Automation tab.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-home-phone.en.webp (New automation, under the title on a phone.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-gallery.en.webp (The ready-made automations, marked No AI credits: Send a DM when someone comments is the first card.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-gallery-phone.en.webp (The same card on a phone.)
You should see: The editor of that automation: Where, Which comments, The message they get.

Step 3 of 7: Choose the post and the word.
Where: Step 1, Where: under Choose posts, click the post; it gets a green tick. Any post or ad, the tick box above, listens everywhere instead. Step 2, Which comments: the menu reads Contains a keyword. Type your word in the box under it (LINK is the usual one) and press Enter. Matching ignores capitals.
Link: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/keyword-automations/send-a-dm-when-someone-comments (Guide: Send a DM when someone comments)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-picker.en.webp (Choose posts: the picked reel carries a green tick.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-picker-phone.en.webp (The picked reel on a phone.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-comment-dm-which.en.webp (Which comments: Contains a keyword, and the keyword LINK.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-comment-dm-phone-which.en.webp (The keyword on a phone.)
You should see: The summary at the top right of each step reads it back: 1 selected, then Contains “LINK”.

Step 4 of 7: Write the message, and add your link.
Where: Step 3, The message they get. Write it in the box. Under the box, Add a link button: name the button and paste your link beside it. This message is the one private reply Meta allows on a comment, so the link goes in it. Leave Advanced settings for later; the guide below walks through each switch.
Link: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/keyword-automations/send-a-dm-when-someone-comments (Guide: Send a DM when someone comments)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-comment-dm-message.en.webp (The message, with its link button Shop the new roast under it.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-comment-dm-phone-message.en.webp (The message on a phone.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-comment-dm-message.en.webp (The link button under the message: its name, then the field for your link.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-comment-dm-phone-message.en.webp (The field for your link on a phone, under the button's name.)
You should see: On a computer the phone beside the editor plays it scene by scene, from the post to the link; on a phone, Preview opens the same.

Step 5 of 7: Save it live, and try it from your own account.
Where: Save, the button at the top right of the editor, or ⌘S (Ctrl+S on Windows). The Live switch sits beside it: a new automation is saved live unless you turn that switch off first. Then comment your word on that post from your own personal account (not the page's). On Instagram, if that account does not follow the page, the DM lands in its Requests folder.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-comment-dm-new.en.webp (A new automation, not saved yet: Save at the top right, the Live switch beside it.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-editor-comment-dm-new-phone.en.webp (Save and the Live switch, above the name on a phone.)
You should see: A toast: Saved. Live on your page. Then, on your phone, the DM with your message and its link button.

Step 6 of 7: See what it did.
Where: On the Automation list, the three dots at the end of the automation's row, then See runs. Each run is one row: when it happened, the person, and what happened, the steps in order ending in the outcome.
Link: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/keyword-automations/runs-what-each-automation-did (Guide: Runs: what each automation did)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-home-menu.en.webp (See runs, in a row's menu.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-home-menu-phone.en.webp (See runs on a phone.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-runs.en.webp (One run: when, who, which automation, and what happened.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/automation-runs-phone.en.webp (A run's row on a phone.)
You should see: Your own comment as a run, with what was sent.

Step 7 of 7: When you want more than one step, open the flow builder.
Where: The same page, New automation. Under the ready-made automations, Start from a template opens a flow that is already written; its first card, Send a link to everyone who comments a word, is this automation as a flow you can add steps to: a question, a tag, a wait, a second message. Start from a blank canvas opens an empty one. Flows are on Starter and above, on the 7-day free trial, and on the 7-day DM pass on Mini and Lite.
Link: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/flow-builder/build-your-first-flow (Guide: Build your first flow)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-templates.en.webp (The template Send a link to everyone who comments a word, first under Start from a template.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-templates-phone.en.webp (The same template on a phone.)
You should see: The flow on the canvas as an unsaved draft, its messages already written.

If something is off:
Problem: My comment got no DM
Fix: Check the word, that the comment is on a post the automation listens on, and that the Live switch is on. Moderation runs first: a comment your rules hid never gets the DM.
Problem: I commented twice and got it once
Fix: Only once per person is on by default. Under Advanced settings, choose Once per post or Once a week instead of Once ever, or switch it off.
Problem: Nothing shows in Messages
Fix: Message access is off on the connection. Reconnect Facebook and allow it.
Problem: The DM is not in my inbox on Instagram
Fix: A private reply to someone who does not follow the page lands in their Requests folder.

Common questions:
Question: Does this first automation use AI credits?
Answer: No. The ready-made automations are marked No AI credits. Only what you ask the AI to write costs one: Write 3 more with AI, under the message, drafts variations for 1 AI credit.
Question: Does it work on Facebook too?
Answer: Yes. On a Facebook Page the same automation sends a Messenger message. Open it from the page you want it on.
Question: What can I build next?
Answer: A flow on the canvas, from a template or from one sentence with Build with AI: a question that collects an email, or an AI agent that answers what the flow does not.

Related guides:
- Send a DM when someone comments: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/keyword-automations/send-a-dm-when-someone-comments
- Runs: what each automation did: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/keyword-automations/runs-what-each-automation-did
- Build your first flow: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/flow-builder/build-your-first-flow

Plain text of this guide: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/getting-started/get-started-with-dm-automation.md
All guides for assistants: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/llms.txt