The short answer
Comment-keyword DMs are the famous one, but they are not the only trigger, and not always the best. A DM sent because someone commented lands in their Requests folder if they do not follow you, and most people never open it. When people message you first, the reply lands in their main inbox instead.
Step by step
1A keyword in a comment
"Comment GUIDE and I'll send it." Match the word anywhere in the comment, not only as the whole comment — people write "guide pls" and "GUIDE 🙏". Keep the word short and easy to type.
2Any comment at all
Every commenter gets the DM. It reaches more people, but it also answers "nice" and emoji-only comments, so make the message make sense to someone who did not ask for anything.
3One post only
Limit the rule to a single post when the offer belongs to that post. Otherwise a keyword from an old Reel keeps triggering a message about something you no longer offer.
4A keyword in a DM
Ask people to message you a word instead of commenting it. Their own message puts the conversation in their main inbox, so your reply is seen; the cost is that fewer people bother to open a DM than to leave a comment.
5Gate the link behind a follow
Send a first message with a button, check that they follow you, then send the link. It grows followers, but every extra step loses people — use it only when the follow matters more than the click.
What catches people out
- Comment DMs to people who do not follow you go to Requests. On one of our own accounts, 2 of the first 15 people sent a link that way ever opened the message. A public reply saying "check your Requests" is the usual fix; asking them to DM you first avoids the folder altogether, at the cost of fewer people starting.
- Instagram only lets you message someone who contacted you first, and only inside a time window. None of these triggers is a way to message people who did not interact.
- With an "any comment" or "any message" rule, add a cooldown so one person writing "hi", "hello", "??" does not get three copies of the same reply.
- Sending people to another app (Telegram, WhatsApp) adds a second jump after the tap. On that same account, 35 taps on a Telegram invite produced no joins at all.
Related guides
Last checked 2026-10-17. Instagram changes its API without notice — if something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
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