Too many Instagram and Facebook comments: what to automate and what to keep human

Why do public comments need different rules from private messages?

A comment is read by everyone who sees the post, and a wrong sentence stays there. A mistake in a private message can be corrected in the next line. A public reply with the wrong price is seen, screenshotted and quoted back to you by people who were never part of the conversation.

The sensible split: automate the repetitive public acknowledgement with words you approved, move the real answer into a private conversation, and keep people on anything sensitive.

How do keyword rules for comments work in AdaptiveReply?

Each rule pairs a list of keywords with one fixed reply, and the first rule that matches a comment answers it. You set the rules on the Comments tab of the assistant editor. Nothing is generated: the reply is the text you typed, character for character.

1. 1Open the Comments tab and turn on Comment automation. While it is off, comments collect in the panel and no reply is sent.
2. 2Add a rule and type its Keywords, separated by commas, for example “price, how much, cost”.
3. 3Choose the match: any of them (one keyword is enough) or all of them (every keyword must appear).
4. 4Write the Reply posted under the comment. A rule without a reply cannot be switched on.
5. 5Order the rules, then press Publish. Comment rules stay a draft until you publish; the live version keeps running until then.

• Keywords match from the start of a word. “size” also catches “sizes” and “sizing”.
• The first matching rule wins. Put specific rules above general ones.
• A rule with no keywords matches every comment. If you use one, keep it last.
• Reply once per person means that when someone comments several times on the same post, only the first comment gets a reply. Turn it off for giveaway posts.

How do you move the conversation from a comment into DM?

You move it by asking: the fixed reply invites the customer to send a direct message, and the detailed answer happens there. AdaptiveReply does not send an automatic DM to someone because they commented. The customer writes first, and from that message on the AI assistant can answer.

In the direct message the assistant works with your real data. It looks up the product in your catalogue, gives the price and options, says whether an item is available or not on sale, and replies in the customer’s language. When a question is outside what it knows, it does not guess; it hands the conversation to your team as a case. The guide to Instagram DMs covers that side.

How does the assistant know which post a customer is asking about?

It knows because you tag the post. The Posts screen lists the Instagram and Facebook content you have published; on each post or story you can attach the products it shows and add notes for the assistant. A customer who replies to a post rarely names the product: the message is usually just “how much?”. With a product tagged, the assistant answers about that product, and your team sees above the conversation which post the message came from.

Which comments should a person answer, and where?

A person should answer anything a fixed sentence cannot cover: complaints, questions that involve personal details, and comments no rule matched. In AdaptiveReply these are handled on the Posts screen: open a post to see its comments and reply from there.

• Reply by hand. Each comment has a Reply link. What you write is posted publicly under the comment from your own account.
• Refresh when you need to. The sync button on a post fetches its new comments.
• Read before you send. A sent reply cannot be edited from the panel.

For a complaint, the reliable pattern has three steps: acknowledge it briefly in public, ask the customer to send a direct message, and have a person take it from there. Order numbers, addresses and phone numbers should never be requested in a comment thread.

Five example rules to start with

Start with a small set and watch it for a week. The table shows five rules in the order they should appear; the wording is an example to adapt.

Know the limits. Rules match words, not meaning: “I can’t believe how much I love this” contains “how much” and will receive the price reply. A catch-all rule also answers complaints and jokes with the same sentence, so many businesses leave it out and let unmatched comments wait for a person.

A short checklist before you turn it on

• Every reply is true for every person who could trigger it: no prices, dates or promises in public text.
• Specific rules sit above general ones, and the catch-all, if you keep it, is last.
• The posts you promote this week have their products tagged.
• Someone on the team owns the unmatched comments and checks the Posts screen every day.

Next, tune how the private replies sound in keeping the assistant in your brand voice. If comments arrive mostly under promoted posts, read what happens after a click-to-message ad; the feature overview shows how posts, messages and cases fit together.