Business questions
Customer Support Agent
Answers DMs and comments from your business profile and FAQ. Draft-first or auto once trusted; escalates what it can't answer; can pull live data through MCP connections.
See the support agent →💬 Engagement & inbox
Instagram auto DM — until you start typing
Most Instagram auto DM tools are a chatbot bolted onto your account. Nimply’s DM automation is different: AI agents answer the repetitive threads from the profile you gave them — and the instant you type in any conversation, the agent stands down there. Automation with a permanent human override.
Instagram professional accounts · draft-first default · per-thread pause
Illustrative thread
hey! do you do custom orders? need something by the 20th 🙏
@jordan.k · 11:42 PM
Hey Jordan! Yes — custom orders are open. For delivery by the 20th we'd need your design brief by this Friday. Want me to send the details?
Support agent · auto-sent · 11:42 PM
yes please! also can I split payment?
@jordan.k · 11:44 PM
Hey Jordan, jumping in personally — yes, we can split it 50/50. Let's set it up.
You · 8:03 AM
You typed — agent paused in this thread
What DM automation covers
Three ways DMs get handled without you
“Auto DM” is really three different jobs. Nimply covers each with a purpose-built piece, not one chatbot pretending to do everything.
Creator conversations
Personal DM Agent
Learns your texting style and keeps fan conversations warm — with away-mode for offline hours and allow/block lists so it never talks to the wrong people.
See the DM agent →Keyword opt-ins
Comment-to-DM automation
“Comment LINK and I’ll DM it to you” — the classic funnel, built as a visible automation on the canvas rather than a black box.
See comment-to-DM →The rails
Automation you can interrupt is automation you can trust
Every automated DM thread lives in the same unified inbox as your manual ones — AI triage tags sentiment and intent, and the agent’s activity is visible in the conversation, not hidden behind it. Nothing sends in a mode you didn’t choose: draft-first is the default, auto-send is your explicit call, and typing in a thread pauses the agent there every single time. Each run shows its credit cost.
Capturing leads from those DMs? That’s its own page: Instagram lead generation.
Honest setup
From connected account to automated DMs
- 1
Connect + opt in
Connect your Instagram professional account and switch its inbox on. Inbox is opt-in per channel — nothing flows in until you say so.
- 2
Hire the right agent
Support agent for business questions, Personal DM Agent for creator chats. Give it your profile, FAQ, or texting style — the honest ten minutes that make it sound right.
- 3
Run draft-first
Let it draft while you approve. Watch what it gets right, tighten the instructions where it doesn't.
- 4
Graduate to auto
Flip the mode when it's earned it. You still have per-thread pause, escalation, and full visibility in the inbox.
Platform notes: Instagram DM automation requires a professional (business or creator) account — an Instagram API rule, not ours. The unified inbox also carries Facebook Page DMs and comments plus YouTube comments today, with more platforms as approvals land.
Instagram auto DM — FAQ
How does Instagram auto DM work in Nimply?
You connect an Instagram professional account, switch its inbox on, and hire an agent for the DM work you want covered — the Customer Support Agent for business questions or the Personal DM Agent for creator conversations. The agent reads incoming DMs and drafts (or, if you allow it, sends) replies based on the profile and instructions you gave it.
What happens when I want to take over a conversation?
Just type. The moment you write in a thread yourself, the agent pauses in that conversation and stands down — no settings hunt, no global off switch. That per-thread pause is a core rail, not a workaround.
Will it message people who haven't messaged me first?
No. DM automation in Nimply is inbound: agents respond inside conversations that already exist. The one structured exception is the comment-to-DM automation, where someone opts in by commenting a keyword you advertised — and that flow is a visible automation you configure yourself.
Does auto DM work on personal Instagram accounts?
No — Instagram's API only supports this for professional accounts (business or creator). Converting is free inside the Instagram app, and it's the same requirement every serious DM automation tool has.
Can I control who the agent talks to?
Yes. The Personal DM Agent supports allow and block lists, so you can keep it away from specific people entirely, and an away-mode for when you only want coverage while you're offline. The Customer Support Agent escalates anything outside its brief to you instead of guessing.
Do I get to review messages before they go out?
By default, yes — draft-first is the standard mode: the agent writes, you approve. Auto-send is a deliberate switch you flip per agent once it has earned trust, and every run has a transparent credit cost so you can see exactly what's happening.
Your DMs, answered at 11:42 PM. Your call, always.
Connect your Instagram professional account, hire an agent in draft-first mode, and see what it would have sent.