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How to Use Comment For DM: Posts & Reels

Evelyn Hartz avatar
Written by Evelyn Hartz
Updated today

What is it?

Instagram and Facebook show your posts to more people when they get lots of comments. One smart strategy is to ask your followers to comment on your post for a link to your recipe or other content, then say you'll direct message (DM) them the link.

With Grocer's List, this entire process runs on autopilot. When someone comments your keyword, we instantly send them a visual DM with your link. Our DMs get a 75% click-through rate on average, saving you tons of time while driving more traffic to your content! 💸

How it works:

To take advantage of this strategy, the typical post format you'll see creators use is: "Comment [insert keyword] and I'll send you the link!"
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Here's an example:

When your follower comments with your keyword, Grocer's List automatically:

  1. Posts a public reply to the comment on your post (optional)

  2. Sends a visual DM with the requested link and any additional buttons you've enabled (Save to Email, Shop the Recipe, etc.)
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How to Customize Your Default DM:

  1. Login to Grocer's List.

  2. Go to Comment for DM: Posts & Reels > Setup & Defaults.

  3. Pick your default keyword.

    • We recommend broad keywords that work across multiple post types like "recipe" or "link".

  4. Decide whether to enable automated comment replies. (Instagram only)

    • We recommend adding 15-20 comment variations. We'll rotate through them to keep responses sounding natural.

    • ⚠️Warning: If you have over 250K followers, we recommend disabling this feature to stay in Instagram's good graces.

  5. Customize your DM.

    • Customize the message, description, and button text.

    • Add "Save to Email" and "Shop the Recipe" to build your email list and make affiliate money.

Keep in Mind 🧠: The default DM settings you apply here will also apply to your Lives & Stories, but the process for posting a story or live is different. Read more here.


What to Know Before You Post:

Once your defaults are set up, posting is simple. The best part? You don't need to log into Grocer's List each time before you post.
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All you have to do is include two things in your caption:

  1. Your default keyword (so followers know what to comment)

  2. The direct URL you want to send them

Our system will automatically send the DMs based on your default settings.


Pre-Post Checklist:

  • ✅ Is your direct URL included in your post caption? - The exact link you want followers to receive.

  • ✅ Is your keyword included in your post caption? - Your default keyword that is also present in Grocer's List.

  • ✅ Are you following best practices for keywords? - Emojis are fine, but be sure to include at least one actual word. We also recommend avoiding apostrophes.
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How to Edit a Post Once It's Live:

Once your post is live, it will appear in the post & reels table. You can click on the pencil icon to edit it.

  • If your post is missing a link, you can add it after the fact and your DM will send to anyone who has replied within the last 24 hours.

  • Additionally, you can filter this table to see only mosts that are missing the URL OR by platform: Instagram or Facebook posts OR sort by the columns in the table ('sent', 'opened', 'clicks', 'CTR', 'signups' and 'published' date.)

Ready to take your engagement to the next level? Take 5 minutes to set up your default DMs in Grocer's List and we'll take care of the rest! 🚀

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