Instagram DMs, answered.
The DMs that vanish into the app land in a queue instead. No Facebook Page required.
Instagram messaging for business uses Meta's messaging API for Instagram professional accounts, which lets a company read and reply to direct messages from outside the Instagram app. Otobiz connects the account directly through Instagram login, brings every DM into the same shared inbox as your other channels, and drafts replies grounded in your own information.
What it does on Instagram.
Every one of these runs on your own account, with your own information behind the answers.
Direct messages in the same inbox
Instagram DMs land beside WhatsApp, Messenger, and Telegram in one queue. The same assignment, statuses, notes, and contact record apply, so a customer who moves from a comment to a DM to WhatsApp is still one person with one history.
- One thread per customer, merged across channels
- Images, video, audio, and shared location cards read on the way in
- Reactions, read receipts, and message unsends reflected in the thread
- Replies you send from the Instagram app appear here too
Replies grounded in what you actually sell
The AI drafts from your knowledge base, your crawled website, your Q&A pairs, and the contact's history, and names the sources on the draft. When it has nothing to ground on, the draft says so.
- Product and policy answers from your own content
- Draft sources shown to the reviewer every time
- Answers written in the customer's own language
- Uncertain or sensitive cases routed to a person
Buttons and cards, not walls of text
Instagram supports quick replies, a link button, and a swipeable card carousel. Otobiz sends all three, so a size question or a booking can be answered with a tap instead of a paragraph.
- Quick replies for fast branching questions
- A call-to-action button that opens a link you control
- Card carousels of up to ten items with a link on each
Ad clicks and referrals attributed
When a message starts from an Instagram ad or a referral link, Otobiz records where it came from on the contact, so the conversation is countable against the campaign that produced it.
- The ad that produced the chat captured on the first message
- Trackable links that open an Instagram chat with a reference code
- Source visible on the contact and usable in segments
Follow-ups to people who messaged you
You can send a targeted follow-up to contacts who wrote in recently, using the same segment builder and the same consent screening as every other channel. Instagram has no template concept, so eligibility is the window itself.
- Text and media follow-ups to contacts inside the 24 hour window
- Audience resolved from the shared segment builder
- Suppression and per-contact frequency caps applied first
Comment replies that move to DM
A comment on a post can be matched against your rules, answered publicly, and continued in a private message to the person who left it, so a public question becomes a private conversation without anyone copying a handle.
- Comments matched on exact text, contains, or a checked pattern
- Public reply and private follow-up from the same rule
- Comment history kept on the contact record
A longer window for human agentssoon
Meta offers a longer reply window for threads a person is actively working, which is useful when a customer writes overnight and your team answers in the morning. Meta has to approve it first.
- Applies to threads a person is handling, not automated sends
- Requires Meta's approval
What it will not do.
Most of these are the platform's rules, not ours. They decide what you can send, and when.
The 24 hour window, with no template escape
Instagram allows a business reply for 24 hours after the customer's last message. Unlike WhatsApp, there is no approved-template path that reopens it. Otobiz blocks the send and tells you the customer has to write again.
No document attachments
Instagram DMs carry images, video, and audio. They do not carry PDFs or other documents. Otobiz refuses the attachment with a clear message rather than sending a broken file.
No lists, and captions arrive separately
Instagram has no list message, so options render as quick replies. It also has no caption field on media, so a caption is sent as a follow-up text message right after the file.
Story replies are read as attachments
A reply to your story arrives as a message with an attachment. The conversation works, but Otobiz does not show which story it referenced.
It cannot post, and cannot read your insights
The connection asks only for what messaging needs. Otobiz does not request permission to publish to your account or to read its insights, so it cannot do either.
What it takes to connect
Connecting is one redirect. You sign in to Instagram, approve two permissions, and the account is bound to your workspace. Otobiz subscribes to messages, postbacks, seen events, reactions, and referrals, and refreshes the access token before it expires.
What you bring
- An Instagram professional account, either business or creator
- Message controls in the Instagram app set to allow access to messages
- Someone who can sign in to that Instagram account to approve the connection
- A workspace owner to start the connection, since channel connects are owner-only
Common questions
Do I need a Facebook Page to connect Instagram?
- No. Otobiz uses the direct Instagram login path, so a professional Instagram account connects on its own. If you also run a Facebook Page, connect it separately as its own channel.
What kind of Instagram account is required?
- A professional account, either business or creator. A personal account cannot be connected, because Meta does not expose messaging for personal accounts.
Which permissions does Otobiz ask for?
- Two: basic account information and permission to manage messages. Publishing, comments, and insights permissions are not requested, so the connection cannot post on your behalf.
Can we reply to a DM from three days ago?
- Only if the customer has written since. Instagram allows a business reply for 24 hours after the last customer message, and there is no template that reopens the window.
Do replies sent from the Instagram app show up here?
- Yes. When someone on your team replies in the Instagram app, the message is recorded on the thread as an outbound message, so the history stays complete.
Can we send a PDF or an invoice?
- Not on Instagram. Documents are not supported by the channel. Send a link to the file, or move the conversation to WhatsApp or email where documents work.
Does the AI answer Instagram DMs automatically?
- It drafts. Automatic sending applies only to routine replies and only when you enable it. Sensitive and uncertain cases go to a person.
Can we broadcast to our Instagram followers?
- No. Instagram gives no way to message followers who have never written to you. You can follow up with people who messaged you, inside the window.
What if the Instagram connection lapses?
- Otobiz renews it before it expires. If that fails, the channel says it needs signing in again and tells you what to do.
Does it handle reactions and unsent messages?
- Yes. Reactions appear on the message, and when a customer unsends a message the thread reflects that instead of keeping a copy the customer thinks they deleted.