Publishing a post is half the work; answering every "how much?" comment underneath it is the other half. When you connect a post published from the panel to an automation, the panel takes that half over: it catches the comment, sends a DM to whoever wrote it, and if you want, writes a public reply under the comment too. This guide helps you combine a post and an automation in the right order.
⚠️ Note: The comment, mention, story reply and post share triggers work on Instagram only. On a WhatsApp account such an automation never fires, and the pre-publish check warns you.
Order matters: publish first, connect second
To bind an automation to a specific post, that post has to be live on Instagram. The reason is simple: the list in the post picker comes from Instagram, and a schedule that has not gone out yet does not exist there.
So the flow is:
- Prepare the post and publish it with Publish now or Schedule.
- Confirm it has reached the Published status on the Queue → History list.
- Open the automation and select that post in the comment trigger.
If you want to bind an automation to a post that is scheduled but not published yet, use one of two routes:
- Leave the post ID empty. The trigger listens to comments on all of the account's posts, so the new post is covered the moment it goes out. This is the most practical route.
- Narrow it down afterwards. Listen to all posts on the first day, then open the trigger and select the post once it is live.
- Open Automations from the left menu and choose the automation (or create a new one).
- In the flow editor, tap the trigger card.
- Choose Post comment as the type.
- Press the Choose post button in the Post field.
- Find your post in the window that opens and tap it.
- Take the flow live with Publish.
Every field and rule of the post picker is covered one by one in The post comment trigger; here we only handle the publishing side.
If a new post does not appear in the picker
The list in the post picker is pulled from Instagram and cached in the panel for a while. If you cannot find a post you just published:
- Press the Refresh button at the top of the window. The list is pulled from Instagram again.
- Type a word from the caption into the Search posts box.
- If the list cannot be refreshed you see "The list could not be refreshed from Instagram; the most recent list is shown." In that case check the account's connection.
⚠️ Note: On posts carrying the Comments off badge the automation never fires. If you turned comments off on Instagram, the comment trigger does not work; the badge is drawn so you see this while setting things up.
Which triggers work with posts
These are the events publishing a post can set off:
- Post comment — Fires on comments written under your post, your Reel or your live video. You can select a specific post or listen to all of them.
- Mention — Fires when someone tags you in their post. It is not directly about the post you published, but it belongs to the same family of events.
- Post share — Fires when someone sends you a post or a Reel by DM. It fires when someone sends one to you, not when you send yours to someone.
- Story reply — Fires on replies to a story you published. This is the trigger that matches your story posts directly.
The details of these triggers live in their own articles, starting from How triggers work.
The comment trigger sends a private message (DM) to the commenter. If you also want a public reply under the comment, you have to add the Reply to comment step to the flow; the trigger itself does not do that. The step's rules are in The reply-to-comment step.
A concrete example
A jewellery studio is announcing a new collection:
- From the New post screen it prepares a five-photo carousel, writes "Comment for the price 👇" in the caption and schedules it for Saturday 11:00.
- On Saturday the post goes out; the card becomes Published.
- The studio builds a new flow in Automations: trigger Post comment, this carousel via Choose post, keyword price.
- It adds a message step to the flow: the price list and an order link.
- It also adds a Reply to comment step: "Sent it by DM 💌".
- It presses Publish. The automation is now running.
By Sunday morning there are 60 comments under the post and 60 conversations in the inbox, none of them typed by hand.
Tips and good practice
- Say plainly in the caption what you want the reader to do ("comment price", "comment your size"); a keyword trigger only fires if that word is written.
- On your first setup, leaving the post ID empty and listening to all posts removes the burden of building an automation for every new post.
- When you want a campaign-specific answer, select the post individually: a trigger with a post selected wins priority over an "all posts" trigger.
- Test the automation with a test run before taking it live; see Test runs.
- If you delete the post on Instagram, the trigger bound to it never fires again. That record appears in the post picker with a Deleted badge.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- I scheduled the post and built the automation, but it does not fire. If the post is not published yet, no comment can land under it. Confirm its status on the Queue list.
- I built the automation but could not find the post in the picker. Press the Refresh button; the list is pulled from Instagram again.
- The trigger fires on the wrong post. You probably left the post ID empty, so the trigger listens to every post. Select a specific post.
- Comments arrive but no DM goes out. The cause may lie in the rules of the first message sent from a comment; see Comment replies are not going out.
- The automation does not work on my WhatsApp account. WhatsApp has no concept of comments. These triggers work on Instagram accounts only.
If you have trouble combining a post with an automation, see My automation never starts or contact our Support team.
Related articles