Instagram Comment Keyword Triggers: Exact vs Contains vs Regex
How keyword triggers decide which Instagram and Facebook comments get your automatic reply and DM: Exact match, Contains, Regex and case sensitivity, each shown with comments that match and comments that do not.
In this video
- An empty trigger: every comment on the post gets your reply
- Exact match (the default): the whole comment must be the keyword
- Contains: the keyword anywhere, and the short-keyword catch
- Regex patterns, and case sensitivity
- Why a post’s keywords should not overlap
- Edit, pause and delete a rule
About this tutorial
Every SocialAutoDM rule belongs to one post and starts with a trigger: the text a comment must contain to get your public reply and DM. Leave it empty and every comment on the post matches. Exact match, the default, needs the whole comment to be the keyword; Contains matches it anywhere in the comment, including inside longer words, so a short keyword can fire by accident; Regex matches a pattern. Case sensitivity is off unless you turn it on. If one comment matches two rules on a post, both run, but Meta allows one private reply per comment, so keep each post’s keywords distinct. Rules can be edited, paused and resumed, or deleted at any time.
Transcript
In this video: how SocialAutoDM decides which comments get your reply. Exact match, contains, regex, and case sensitivity, with examples.
Every rule belongs to one post. Open the post's Automation rules.
This field is the trigger. Leave it empty, and every comment on the post gets your reply.
Or type a keyword. I'll use KNOTS.
Exact match is the default. It means the whole comment must be your keyword, and nothing else. "knots" matches. "Knots please!" doesn’t.
Contains means your keyword anywhere in the comment. This is the one most people want.
One catch: it also matches inside longer words. A short keyword like ART matches "party" and "start", too. So pick a word nobody types by accident.
Regex is for patterns. This one matches knot, knots or recipe, as whole words only.
Case sensitive is off by default, so capitals never matter. Turn it on, and only the exact capitals match.
I'll go with contains, and leave case sensitive off.
Add the public reply and the DM, and create the rule.
Now anyone who comments KNOTS, in any capitals, anywhere in their comment, gets your public reply.
And the DM with your link.
One tip: keep the keywords on a post distinct. If a comment matches two rules, both run, but Meta allows one private reply per comment, so only one DM gets through.
To change a rule, click Edit. The form fills in, and Update rule saves it.
Deactivate pauses a rule without losing it. Activate turns it back on.
And Delete removes it. Click it twice to confirm.
That's keyword triggers. Next up: reply-to-unlock, and how it really works. See you in the next video!
SocialAutoDM works with Instagram Business/Creator accounts and Facebook Pages via Meta’s official APIs. The bakery in this video is a fictional demo account. Every match shown is computed with SocialAutoDM’s own matching code.
