Can you auto DM new followers on Instagram?

Why most tools can’t auto DM new followers

Two rules decide this. The first is about what Instagram tells apps. The second is about who a business may message.

Meta’s public API has no follow event

Apps on Instagram’s official API learn about new activity through webhooks. A webhook is a short notice that Instagram sends to the app, such as “a new comment arrived on this reel”.

Meta lists every webhook an Instagram app can get. The list covers comments, Live comments, mentions, messages, message reactions and a few other messaging events. It has no event for a new follower.

So an app on the public API never learns that someone followed you. It has nothing to react to.

A follow does not start a conversation

Under Meta’s normal messaging rules, a business can message only people who messaged it first or commented. It cannot message a list of people, the followers of other accounts or people found by hashtag.

A follow is not a message or a comment. It does not open the 24-hour messaging window either: only a DM from the person does. Our guide to the Instagram 24-hour messaging window explains what opens it. The Instagram DM automation rules guide lists every rule.

The exception: Meta’s Follow to DM beta

Meta itself tests a way to greet new followers, with a few large partners. ManyChat lists it as a beta called Follow to DM. Its help center says the beta “is not available to all Manychat accounts yet”, that eligibility “is determined by Meta, not Manychat”, and that “Meta allows only one Follow to DM message per user per week.” Chatfuel describes a similar feature in alpha, for “a limited group of creators”.

This works through Meta, not around it. But you cannot switch it on yourself, most accounts do not have it, and Meta’s public developer docs do not offer it to other apps. DM Flow cannot send it.

What other tools that promise it really do

Apart from Meta’s limited beta, the public API cannot tell tools about follows. So a tool that promises new-follower DMs to every account must get that information another way.

It logs in as you with your password and clicks around in Instagram, or it scrapes your followers list. Both break Instagram’s terms. Accounts that use these tools can be restricted.

How to spot one

• It asks for your Instagram password. Tools on the official API send you to Instagram’s or Facebook’s own login page instead.
• It works with personal accounts. Personal accounts cannot use Instagram’s messaging API, so automated DMs from them cannot be official.
• It promises to message people who never wrote to you. That includes the followers of other accounts and people found by hashtag, and new followers on any account, outside Meta’s own beta.

A greeting for people who message you first is a different thing. That is allowed, and Meta’s own inbox can send one for free. Check which of the two a tool means by “welcome message”.

What works instead

Let the new follower take the first step. A comment or a DM from them makes your reply allowed. Here are four ways to invite that first step, with text you can copy.

Say you are Leo, a fitness coach. New followers arrive from your reels every day, and you want each one to get your free 5-day starter plan.

1. Invite people to DM a keyword

Ask new people to send you one word. Put the invite where new followers look first: your bio, a story or a caption.

When someone sends “PLAN5”, a keyword auto-reply sends the plan. Their DM opened the 24-hour window, so you can keep talking.

Pick a keyword people will not write by accident, like PLAN5. With a “contains” match, a short word such as “hi” also matches “this”.

You can set this up for free in Meta Business Suite, on desktop, with its custom keywords automation. It works differently from DM Flow:

2. Offer a freebie for a comment

Many new followers find you through a reel. Ask for a comment in the caption, and send the freebie as a private reply.

Comment to DM in DM Flow sends one private reply to each comment that contains your keyword. Meta allows one private reply per comment, within 7 days. You can send more only after the person answers, so end the reply with a question.

People who don’t follow you yet may find the reply in their message requests. That is why the caption asks them to check. Our guide to comment for the link covers captions, replies and common mistakes. Meta Business Suite also has a free “Comment to message” automation, on desktop.

3. Greet everyone who writes for the first time

Many new followers send a first message on their own: a question, a hello or a reaction. If your Instagram account is connected to Meta Business Suite, its Auto reply template can answer. Meta’s help pages also call it an instant reply. It sends a greeting when someone messages you for the first time.

Add Meta’s “Frequently asked questions” template too. It suggests questions people can ask you and answers them with helpful information. Our guide on how to set up auto reply on Instagram walks through these free options and their limits. Meta notes that some messaging features are not available to businesses in Europe and Japan.

The greeting reaches only people who write to you. Followers who never send a message never get it. That is the rule working as designed.

4. Ask a question in your story

A reply to your story arrives as a DM. So a story that asks something gets new people writing to you, and each reply opens the 24-hour window.

Answer these replies yourself. They are real conversations, and a personal answer is the point of asking. In DM Flow, these chats sit in your Instagram DM inbox with the time left to reply on each one.

Welcome ideas that stay inside the rules

Each idea starts with something the person does. That is what makes the reply allowed.

How to write the welcome reply

Whichever way you choose, the first reply does most of the work. Keep it short and useful.

• Give what you promised, in one message. Put the link, the plan or the code in the first reply. After a private reply, you cannot send a second message until the person answers.
• End with a question. When the person answers, the 24-hour window opens, and you can keep helping.
• Stay under 1,000 bytes. That is about 1,000 English letters, but fewer with emoji, because most emoji take 4 bytes each. DM Flow’s editor counts bytes for you.
• Say it is automated where the law requires it. Meta asks businesses to tell people when they are talking to automation where the law requires it, for example in California and Germany.
• Test with a second account you own. Comment and write from it, and read the replies as a new follower would.

How DM Flow fits in

DM Flow does not DM people when they follow you: Meta’s public API gives it no follow event. It answers the people who take the first step:

• Comment to DM. One private reply to each comment with your keyword, on one post or reel, several, or all of them.
• Keyword auto-reply. A reply to each DM that matches your keywords, with contains, is exactly or starts with.
• One inbox. Every conversation in one list, with a ring that shows the time left to reply.
• Checks before every message. DM Flow checks the 24-hour window and the 7-day private-reply limit before it sends.

DM Flow works with Instagram Business and Creator accounts. It connects through Instagram’s official login, so it never asks for your Instagram password.