“Gift for a follow” (Instagram)

A user writes to your direct, comments under a post or a live, replies to your story, reacts to it or mentions you — the bot greets them in DMs, optionally checks the follow and hands over what you promised: a link, a file, a promo code.

Who it is for

• Users reach you in different ways, but the gift is the same.
• You post stories and want a story reply to start the bot too.
• You run lives and collect leads right in the broadcast chat.

The conversation is the same as in “Code word in a comment”. The one difference is what starts it: here you choose the triggers, and there can be as many as you like.

What the follower sees

1. They do one of six things: write to your direct, comment under a post, write in the live chat, reply to a story, react to it or mention you in their own story.
2. The bot greets them in direct messages: the welcome, optionally an image, and a button. If they came from a comment or a live, the bot answers with a private reply to that comment, and optionally with a public reply under the comment as well.
3. They tap the button.
4. If the follow check is on, the bot looks at the follow. Not following — it sends the “If not subscribed” message with a “Done” button. They follow and tap it — the bot checks again.
5. The bot hands over what you promised: a message with a link button or a file as a separate message.
6. If they never tap the button, the bot can nudge them ten minutes later — but only for users who came through an entry that opens a reply window (not a comment, not a live).

Wizard settings, step by step

Step “About the bot”

The first step of every template bot. Two rows: Name — what the bot is called in your bot list (“Gift for a follow 1” by default, the next such bot gets “Gift for a follow 2” and so on; feel free to rewrite it), and Description — a short note for yourself on what the bot does (empty when the bot is created, optional). Only you see these.

Step “Account”

“Instagram account” — from “Connections”, required. No account yet, or need a different one? Tap “Add account”: the connection opens right here and brings you back to this step afterwards.

“Require subscription” — on by default; “The bot hands out the material only to followers of the account”. Off — the gift goes out right after the button is tapped, and the “If not subscribed” step disappears. While the switch is on, the welcome text carries a sentence about following — edit it as you like; turn the switch off and it is removed.

Step “What starts it”

Say where the user comes from. You can add several triggers — any one of them starts the bot.

Triggers are added as a list: “Add a trigger”, then pick an event. Each event can be added once; already added ones are marked “Already added” in the menu. To remove one, use “Delete” on its row. At least one trigger is required — an empty list will not pass (“Add at least one trigger”).

The six Instagram events:

• “Direct message” — someone messaged the account directly.
• “Comment under a post” — someone commented under a post or Reels.
• “Comment in a live” — someone wrote in the live chat. A reply is possible only while the live is on.
• “Reply to a story” — someone replied to a story with text.
• “Reaction to a story” — someone reacted to a story with a quick icon. Likes and stickers do not count.
• “Mention in a story” — someone mentioned the account in their story.

Every trigger opens its own settings page.

“When to start” — present for direct messages, comments, lives and story replies. Three options, “contains a word” by default; the wording matches the event (“Any comment”, “Any message”, “Any story reply”):

• “Any …” — the bot answers anything, no code word needed.
• “… that contains a word” — the code word appears in the text, even among other words.
• “Exact …” — the text is exactly the code word.

“Reaction to a story” and “Mention in a story” have no word filtering at all: there is nothing to filter, so the bot fires on any reaction and any mention.

“Code words” — shown for the two precise options. Chips: type a word and press Enter. Example: want, guide. It cannot be empty — the wizard says “Add at least one code word”.

“Posts” — only for “Comment under a post”. “Under all posts” (default) or “Only under selected”, picking the posts you need. Selecting none will not pass.

Step “Welcome”

“Welcome message” — default: “Hi! I have a free checklist for you. Follow the account and tap the button below.”

“Button text” — default “Get it”.

“Welcome image” — the only field you may skip. JPG or PNG, up to 8 MB (that is what Instagram accepts). If the format or size is wrong, the wizard warns you and offers to compress the image or pick another one (both the app and the browser compress it on your own device). If none of your triggers is one where the user writes to the bot themselves (only comments and lives are left), a note appears under the field: Instagram does not allow an image under a comment or in a live.

Step “If not subscribed”

The step is absent when the follow check is off.

“Message” — default “I do not see your follow yet. Follow the account, tap ‘Done’ and I will send everything right away.”

“Button text” — default “Done”; tapping it makes the bot check the follow again.

Step “What we hand over”

“Message” — the text the gift travels with.

“What to send” — “Link” (default), “Image”, “Video”, “Audio”, “File”.

“Button text” — link only, default “Open”.

“Link” — link only, an address like https://…. It opens via the button inside the message, with no grey preview card in the chat.

“File” — attachments only. An image up to 8 MB, video and audio up to 25 MB; as a document Instagram only takes a PDF up to 25 MB. If the file does not suit the channel, the wizard warns you and offers to compress it (in the app a video is compressed right on the phone), convert the format, or pick another file. The attachment goes out as a separate message after the text.

Step “Replies in comments”

The step appears only when “Comment under a post” is one of your triggers.

“Reply in comments” — with the “any comment” trigger this is a row: tap it to choose “Do not reply”, “Reply to everyone” or “Only comments with the word” (and then which comment and which words). The private message goes to everyone either way — the choice only affects the public reply. With a code-word trigger it is a plain switch, on by default: the public reply already goes only to those who wrote the word.

“Reply variants” — phrases, one per line. The bot picks one at random; each user gets one public reply per post.

Step “Additional settings”

“Remind about the gift” appears here only when at least one of your triggers opens a reply window: a direct message, a story reply, a reaction or a mention. If the bot is started only by comments and lives, the setting is absent — Instagram would not let the bot write a second time.

The other fields — “Follow-up message”, “Interval, minutes”, “Finish the conversation after (hours)” — are explained in Additional settings.

Common questions

Can I add all six triggers at once? Yes. One bot, one conversation, and any of the six events starts it.

Comments and lives never arrive at all. Instagram does not send these two events to every app. If nothing arrives at all, the cause is access on the platform side, not your bot — write to us and we will look.

Story reactions do not fire. Instagram does not deliver these reactions for accounts over 50,000 followers. A like or a sticker is not a reaction.

A story mention never arrived. A mention from a private account only arrives if that account follows you. Resharing your story is not a mention.

How is this different from “Code word in a comment”? Only in what starts it. If there is a single entry and it is a comment, take “Code word” — its wizard is shorter. If you need other entries, take this one.