Create your first automation

An automation watches the comments on one post or Reel. When someone comments one of your keywords, SyncRelay replies to the comment in public and sends that person a DM.

Start a new automation

1. In the dashboard, open Automation in the sidebar and click Create Automation.
2. Choose the trigger When user comments on your post or reel. (You can also choose When user replies to your story.)

Fill in the form

1. Select Instagram Account: the account the post belongs to.
2. Select Post or Reel: pick the post this automation runs on. Each automation runs on one post, so create one for each post you want to automate.
3. Setup Comment Replies: the public replies posted under the comment. Four friendly replies are selected for you, and SyncRelay picks one at random each time so your replies don't all look the same. Edit them or add your own.
4. Keywords: type a keyword and press Enter or Space to add it. Add several if people might write it differently, for example guide, link and pdf. Or tick Trigger on any comment to reply to everyone.
5. Response Flow: the DM itself.
   • The Opening Message asks the person to tap a button (for example Send me the link) before you send the rest. Tapping it opens the conversation, which helps the rest of your messages get delivered.
   • Click + Add Response to add a Text Message with your text and, if you like, a link button.
   • On Pro, you can add Ask For Follow before the link: SyncRelay checks that the person follows you and asks them to follow first if they don't.
6. Click Create Automation. It starts working right away.

How keywords match

• Capital letters don't matter: GUIDE, Guide and guide all match.
• A keyword matches anywhere in the comment, so guide matches "Can I get the guide please?".
• Because of that, very short keywords can match by accident: hi also matches "this". Use a distinct word, like the one in your post's call to action ("Comment GUIDE").
• Only top-level comments trigger an automation. Replies to other comments are ignored.

Test it

Comment your keyword on the post from a different Instagram account. Instagram doesn't let an account send a DM to itself, so testing from your own account won't work.

The DM arrives within a few seconds. SyncRelay waits a short, random moment before sending so replies look natural.

Pause or edit later

On the Automation page, use Pause to stop an automation and Resume to start it again. Paused automations don't reply to anything. To see what happened to each comment, click View. Why didn't my DM send? explains each status.