How to reply to every Instagram comment without living in the app

A comment is the one place on Instagram where a stranger has already spoken to you first. Someone stopped scrolling, typed something, and is waiting to see whether anybody is there.

Replying is cheap and most accounts still skip it, usually because the comments arrive faster than anyone can answer. Here is how replies work, what to put in them, and how to keep up without living in the app.

Why replying to comments is worth the time

We treat a reply as part of the post, not a chore after it. The comments section is the part of the post other people read before they decide whether you are worth following, and an unanswered question sitting there says more than the caption does.

We are not going to tell you that replying changes how far a post travels. Instagram has not said that, and we would rather not repeat a claim nobody can point to. The reason is simpler: the person asked, and a reply is the answer.

How do you reply to a comment on Instagram?

Under the comment, tap Reply and write your answer. Instagram groups it directly underneath the original comment, so a back-and-forth stays in one place instead of scattering down the page.

That grouping has been part of Instagram since 2017. When it launched, Instagram said that comment threads "help you keep track of conversations and make it easy to respond to a specific thread."

Two small habits make threads work. Reply under the comment itself, not as a new top-level comment, so the person is notified and the question and answer sit together. And start with the answer, not the thanks, because the thanks fits in the last four words.

If a question comes up again and again, answer it once in a reply and consider putting the answer in the caption of your next post. Anyone who would have asked will find it before they type.

What should a good reply say?

A good reply does one of three jobs: it answers, it asks one question back, or it thanks someone in words that could only belong to this comment. A reply that could sit under any post is wallpaper.

• Answer the question first. "Yes, it ships across India, 3 to 5 days" beats "Thanks so much for asking!"
• Ask one thing back when it helps. A reply that ends in a question gives the person a reason to answer.
• Use their detail. "The blue one in the second photo" shows a person read the comment.
• Keep it short. Two sentences is plenty, and nobody reads a paragraph in a comment thread.
• Skip the copy and paste. If you would be embarrassed to see the same line under ten posts, rewrite it.

A reply that could sit under any post is wallpaper.

How do you keep up when the comments pile up?

The honest answer is that you cannot answer everything by hand once a post takes off. So split the comments into two piles.

The first pile needs you: a real question, a complaint, a collaboration offer, a story worth a proper answer. Do those yourself, and do them first.

The second pile is the same request again and again. "Link please." "Price?" "Where is this from?" These are all one question, and a person typing the answer fifty times is wasting the best hours of their day.

That second pile is the one worth automating, and it is the one Instoly is built for. You pick a keyword, say REPLY, and tell people to comment it. Instoly answers every comment that carries the keyword with the DM and a public reply, on the free plan too. The DM and the reply each spend a credit.

Your attention then goes to the first pile, where it matters. Automation handles the repeats and you handle the people.

What about replying with a reel?

Instagram added reel replies in December 2021. When you reply to a comment, a new option lets you choose the Reels button to create a video reply, and the comment you answered shows up in the video as a sticker.

It suits a question with a visual answer: how a product fits, what the settings screen looks like, how a step is done. It is more effort than typing, so keep it for the questions that deserve it.

Questions people ask