Reels and Posts

What it is

ZeroChats isn’t limited to DMs: it also manages comments on your Instagram Reels and Posts. It can reply to the comment publicly and, on top of that, open a private DM so the AI agent can continue from there.

Public comment with a keyword → random public reply + private DM with the content.

Where to configure it

In the business menu this screen is called CTAs and has two tabs:

• Posts and Reels — everything about comments on publications, which is what this page covers.
• Stories — the story CTAs, for when someone replies to a story with a keyword.

How to configure it

The Posts and Reels tab offers two main toggles:

Toggle	What it does
Reply to comments publicly	Posts a public reply to the comment, picked at random from the replies you have configured.
Reply to the comment and send the content privately even if the keyword doesn’t match	After the public reply, ZeroChats opens a DM with whoever commented so the AI can continue the conversation, even if the comment didn’t match any keyword.

A comment that triggers nothing creates no lead

If the comment doesn’t match any keyword and you don’t have the second toggle enabled, ZeroChats does nothing with it: it doesn’t reply and it doesn’t create a lead in your CRM for that person either. They only enter the CRM when their comment triggers a reply or when they write to you by DM.

Comment reply

Configure a list of short replies. Each time a comment arrives on one of your reels or posts that triggers the public reply, ZeroChats picks one at random from the list.

Recommendation

Use messages that thank the comment and let the user know you’ve messaged them privately. Avoid identical repeated texts: varying the replies is what makes it feel human.

Keyword + Link delivery

When a comment matches a configured keyword, ZeroChats sends the associated reply by DM. If there’s a match, the AI agent’s DM reply is skipped — for the AI to pick the conversation back up, the lead will need to respond or you’ll need to have follow-ups active.

For each keyword you can define:

• Keyword and match type: Equals (exact match) or Contains (partial match).
• DM reply: one or more messages (one per line).
• Button with link (optional): deliver the resource as a tappable button instead of a bare URL inside the text.
• AI (optional): if you want the lead assigned to a specific agent. Defaults to the business AI.
• Publication (optional): limit the keyword to a specific reel or post. If you don’t choose, it applies to All publications.

Write the reply as a single message

Instagram only lets you open the conversation with one message per comment. If you write several lines, the first one always arrives; the rest only if the lead replies to you. The dialog warns you when it detects more than one line. If the lead absolutely has to read everything, write it all in a single message.

So when the person commenting has never written to you before, everything that matters — the resource included — has to be in that first line.

How the comment is matched against the keyword

Matching is tolerant of the way people actually write in comments:

• Case and accents don’t matter: INFO, info and ínfo all count.
• Emojis, mentions and punctuation are ignored: INFO! 🔥 @youraccount still triggers INFO.
• Small typos are accepted on longer keywords: a letter changed, added or missing still activates the keyword. Short keywords have to match exactly, so they don’t fire on unrelated words.

This cuts down on comments that went unanswered because of an emoji or a typo, without you having to create variants of the same word.

Deliver the resource as a button

Instead of pasting the URL inside the text, you can attach a button with link to the keyword. It’s two fields:

• Button link: the address it opens when tapped. It has to start with http:// or https://.
• Button text: the label the lead sees. Instagram cuts it at 20 characters.

Fill in both fields or leave both empty: a half-finished button won’t save.

The button travels on that first message, which is exactly the only one that reaches someone who has commented but never written to you.

Why use the button

A button reads better than a URL pasted into the text, and it keeps your account from piling up link-heavy messages sent to people who have never talked to you.

Comments on ads

Meta doesn’t allow private replies to comments on an ad. On those publications the keyword won’t open the DM with the button: the lead can only be messaged if a conversation is already open, and in that case the message goes out as text.

Typical case

Campaign example

You publish a reel with “Comment INFO to receive the free PDF”.

1. You create the keyword INFO (type Equals) pointing to that reel.
2. You associate the reply with the link to the PDF.
3. Anyone who comments “INFO” automatically receives the DM with the resource.
4. The conversation stays open in Discovering state and the AI takes over from there when the lead replies.

Using the same keyword on multiple publications

Is it possible to use two keywords with the same name for two different publications? For example, Post 1 has the keyword INFO and Post 2 also has INFO.

Yes, you can do it, as long as each keyword is assigned to a specific publication from the Select publication dropdown.

If the keyword is created without assigning a specific publication (it stays on All publications), it won’t work when another one with the same name exists.

Requirement

If you’re going to reuse the same term across multiple posts, none of the keywords can stay on All publications. Each one has to point to a specific post or reel.

Story CTAs

The Stories tab covers what happens when someone replies to one of your Instagram stories with a keyword: the AI you pick takes over that conversation and follows the instruction you wrote.

Each story CTA has three fields:

Field	What it does
Keyword	The term the lead writes when replying to the story. E.g. info.
AI	The agent that takes the conversation from that point on.
What should the AI do?	The instruction that AI will follow. E.g. Send the price list and offer a call this week.

When you save, the instruction is added to the instructions of the agent you picked. If the keyword isn’t on your keyword list yet, it’s added and pointed at that AI. You can delete a CTA whenever you no longer need it.

To send a content item from a story CTA

Name the content in the instruction exactly as it appears in your Content library. For example: “send the Price list”. If the name doesn’t match, the AI won’t know which file you mean.

You need at least one AI

Story CTAs always point to an AI agent, so if you haven’t created one yet, create it first from AI Assistant.

Best practices

• Keep between 3 and 5 varied public replies so they don’t look like a template.
• For specific campaigns, always restrict the keyword to the campaign reel or post; that way it doesn’t fire replies on old publications.
• If the comment doesn’t match any keyword and you want the AI to keep managing the lead, also enable Reply to the comment and send privately.

If the content doesn’t arrive by DM

If the lead comments a valid keyword but doesn’t receive the private message, it’s usually due to one of these causes:

• The lead doesn’t allow messages from your account (their Instagram privacy blocks it).
• You have ManyChat active and it’s intercepting the comment before ZeroChats. Run only one of the two automations per publication.
• Meta failed to deliver the DM. It’s an intermittent failure on Meta’s side (it also happens with ManyChat). If it’s a one-off, nothing needs changing; if it repeats, check the Instagram connection status.