DM Champ Docs

Follow to Get the Link (Instagram)

Ask people to follow your Instagram account before you send them a link, a guide or a discount code. This is the “follow us to get the link” flow you may know from comment automations: someone comments your keyword, gets a DM asking them to follow and reply, and only receives the link once they actually follow you.

Where this is set up: it builds on Comment-to-DM. You need an Instagram Comment Entry Point and an AI Agent that answers the DM.

How It Works

Every time someone writes to you in Instagram DMs, the platform checks whether they currently follow your Instagram account and tells the AI: follows, does not follow, or unknown. Your Agent’s instructions decide what to do with that.

Instagram only lets us check this for people who have messaged you, so the check happens when they reply in the DM, not when they comment.

Set It Up

  1. On your Instagram Comment Entry Point, write a first DM that asks for the follow and a reply, for example: “Follow us and reply DONE, and I’ll send you the guide.” This works with both Exact text and AI as the first response.
  2. In the Agent’s instructions, add the rule, for example: “Only send the link https://yoursite.com/guide once they follow us on Instagram. If they don’t follow yet, ask them to follow first and reply DONE.”
  3. Set the Agent’s max messages high enough for the back and forth (3 to 5 is plenty), so it can answer again after they follow.

When the person replies “done”, the AI sees whether they now follow you. If they do, it sends the link. If not, it asks them to follow first and reply again.

Good to Know

  • The check needs a DM reply. Instagram does not share follow status for people who only commented, so the link is always sent after they reply in the DM.
  • Following and replying right away works. The follow status is checked again when they reply, so someone who follows and then writes “done” is seen as following.
  • Unknown means we could not check. If Instagram does not answer, the AI is told the status is unknown. Write your instructions for that case too if it matters, for example “if unknown, send the link anyway”.
  • Only when you ask for it. The AI only brings up following when your instructions mention it. Agents without a follow rule are not affected.
  • Instagram only. This works for Instagram DMs connected through Instagram or Facebook login. It does not apply to other channels.