How to answer a comment on instagram


What Should You Say? How to Respond to Comments on Instagram

One of the things I'm always preaching about Instagram etiquette is the need to respond to comments on Instagram. I say it over and over: respond to all the comments on your posts! This is important in growing your community and actually building relationships with your audience.

However, for as much as I preach this, there are a variety of comments that you might receive and not all of them deserve the same type of response. This was highlighted recently when a reader asked me how she should respond when someone @ mentions someone else on your posts (inviting them to check out the content or asking their opinion). I responded to her email with my suggestions but decided to take this one step further in today's blog post.

So, here I have examples of different scenarios where someone might comment or @ mention you and how you can respond to each.

Just remember that if you are going to address anyone in your comments, you need to @ mention them to ensure they see your response.

Additionally, I should point out that you can obviously respond to comments directly in Instagram, on your profile. However, there are third party tools available that you can use to better manage notifications, comments, and engagement. One of the tools I recommend to help make sure you never miss a comment is Agorapulse (affiliate link). You can monitor multiple Instagram profiles, including all the comments you receive, as well as ads you might have running. It's super easy to review and reply to all your comments that way.

A Compliment on Your Post

These are often some of the most common comments you'll receive on your posts. People may appreciate the beauty of the image, the artistic composition of the photo, the value of the quote, or some other aspect. Their comments typically offer some variation of a compliment on the content.

If the person is genuinely complimenting your post, respond in a thankful manner. Something as simple as "Thank you" or "Thanks" or "Glad you liked this one" is more than fine. If they called out specifics or got detailed in their comments, responding with a similar level of personalization is ideal. In these situations, the extra step makes you more genuine and relatable.

Now, if the person is being spammy in their compliments, you can choose how you want to handle them. Spam attempts are those who say "great pic! Follow me back" or "You look great!" (when there's no person in the photo) or other variations on these. And they usually try to get you to check their profiles or follow them back.

Personally, I usually call them out, tell them I don't condone spam on my content and that I will be deleting their comment. You can do this to if you feel comfortable with it. Otherwise, simply ignoring or even deleting the comment is an alternative. Also, if you do delete their comment, you can choose to do so while deleting and reporting as a spam/scam. I do this frequently when the spam attempt is blatant. Instagram does review this feedback in its analysis of what accounts are adhering to their terms.

A Response to Your Question

Did you ask your audience a question? Or ask them to tag people or perform an action on your post? If you did, you really should respond to them and thank them for their input! This is called being "social" 😉

While I can't give you targeted ways to respond to this, since it will depend on what you originally asked of them, your response should include gratitude (thank you) for their comment and input. If they've answered a question or provided specifics, I again recommend you personalize your response. Something like "I hadn't tried that yet" or "What a clever suggestion" or "I really like that idea" in response to their comment is a good way to acknowledge their comment.

A Question or Customer Service Issue

If one of your fans or customers reach out to you on Instagram with a question or customer service issue, you MUST (in my opinion) respond to them. If someone is looking to you for help, it is your obligation to provide that support.

Answer their question as accurately and promptly as possible. Be specific and helpful - this your real opportunity to provide value to your audience.

If the question or issue is something that requires a more personalized approach that you don't want to publicly address on your post, respond to their comment and let them know that you want to help them but that you will send them a private DM to resolve the issue privately. First of all, this allows you to respect their privacy and address the issue. But secondly, it shows your other followers that you do respond and take these issues seriously.

An @ Mention to Someone Else

This happens quite commonly where someone who follows you @ mentions a friend on your post. Sometimes it's just their Instagram username, other times it's their name and a question or comment. For example, "@soandso what do you think of this?" or it might be more specific to the item in your post or it might be something like "I thought of you when I saw this".

Personally, I don't typically respond if it's a simple @ mention of someone. This is because I don't know what the context of the mention was for and don't want to interfere or insert myself into a conversation.

However, if they have left an additional comment, then a response may be warranted. A simple "Thank you" or "thanks for sharing this with your friends" may be appropriate - you know your audience best. You can also send the person who commented a Direct Message with a personalized thank you.

Another tip I recommend, especially if your post is product based, is to offer a discount code as an additional thank you for sharing your products. If the person tagged responds with a positive comment (they like them, they want it, so pretty, etc.) then I would DEFINITELY respond to both the original person and the tagged person in a response. Thank the original person for sharing, and show your gratitude that the tagged person liked the product. Again, if you want to find a way to seal the deal, throwing in a coupon code for them (DM or in a comment) will both show your appreciation, customer service, and be more likely to convert the sale. Also, if more people notice this pattern of reward, they may be more likely to do this again, or themselves. People are willing to share a lot for an extra 10% off at their favorite retailers and stores.

@ Mentioning You In a Spam Post

These ones get beyond annoying and I'm asked about how to handle these all the time. There are a lot of spam posts out there (not your content, I know!), but where people will for some reason @ mention you in the post comments. Since you can't do anything about these posts, I can't really help there.

BUT, I do recommend you block the user who mentioned you. Then block the person with the spam post. Then report the spam post as being a scam or spam. You can access all these options from the three-dot button on the posts and profiles.

 

These are my tips... what are yours? Do you have any unique or rewarding ways to respond to comments on Instagram? I'd love to hear your tips in the comments below!

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How to Reply to Instagram Comments, Messages and DMs?

1.

Reply to Instagram Comments on Mobile App

Let’s start with the most basic functionality - replying to IG comments on the mobile app. The steps are absolutely easy. 

  • First, go to the post where you want to reply to a comment.
  • Now, tap on the [View all comments] link. You should now see all the comments with the recent ones at the bottom. 
  • Tap [Reply] for the comment you’d like to reply to. The input box will now have the IG username of the person you’re replying to. 
  • Enter your comment and hit [Post]

2. Reply to Instagram Comments from Web Browser

Alright, you might be someone who enjoys using the desktop way more than their phones. And why not, it’s less distracting and helps you get work done faster. 

Now you can engage with Instagram using your web browser as well, which was restricted earlier by them.

Follow the short GIF or the steps below:

  • Go to the IG post where you want to reply to a comment
  • Scroll the right section to view the comments
  • Click [Reply] for the comment you want to respond to
  • Enter your reply and click [Post].

3. Reply to a specific message on Instagram DMs

Let’s talk about how you can reply to an Instagram DM. You may receive a lot of DMs from your customers on your IG account. And it’s of utmost importance to respond to every one of them in a timely manner. 

Here are the steps to respond to a specific message on IG DMs: 

  • Hover your mouse over the message you want to reply to.
  • Click the curved arrow to reply to the message

Add your message and hit [Send].

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An easier way to reply to Instagram comments and DMs

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Let’s see how you can reply to comments, DMs, and directly send a message as a reply to a comment with DelightChat.

1. Reply to Instagram Comments

After you log in to your DelightChat account, you’ll see the connected support channels. Select Instagram, and you should be able to view all the comments that have come through.

Select the comments from the second section and then hit reply for the comment that you want to reply to. That’s it :)

2. Reply to Instagram comments via Direct Messages

There’s another option to respond to comments on DelightChat. What if you do not want to respond publicly to a comment? 

Maybe you want to share order details or payment information with your customers. 

DelightChat makes it really easy to directly respond to a customer who has commented on your post via DM. 

Here’s how:

  • Hover your mouse over the comment that you want to send a DM to.  
  • Click the three dots that appear after you hover

Click [Message] and you can now enter your message on the popup box.

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How to reply to comments on Instagram to other people

The user will be able to reply to a comment on Instagram through the corresponding function, which is located under each text message. In some cases, it may be missing if the owner of the page has blocked the ability to send him answers or mention.

Table of contents

  • How to send a reply to a comment on Instagram
    • If the user has forbidden to mention
    • Determine what was blocked in the comments
    • New "Send a message" feature in Instagram
  • Why replies disappear in the thread
    • How to formulate your answer beautifully and in an original way

How to send a reply to a comment on Instagram

Every registered user can rewrite in the comments using the function: "Reply".

How to send :

  1. Go to Instagram - select a post.
  2. Go to the section: "Comments" - choose one of all.
  3. Click below the "Reply" text.
  4. Enter your text and send.

Already when entering, the recipient's nickname will be visible. You can tag multiple people by simply adding a second person via the "@" sign and entering the nickname manually.

If the user has forbidden to mention

One of the problems of how to respond to comments on Instagram is privacy settings. The profile owner can prevent being tagged in posts, stories, and comments.

Feedback cannot be sent, but there is another option how to continue the correspondence:

  1. Go to comments - select a user.
  2. Copy the nickname and write it in a separate message.

If the notification appears again, remove the “@” sign in front of the nickname and send the answer like this.

If there are already replies in the thread under the first comment:

  1. Click "Reply" by choosing another user.
  2. Delete the nickname in front and write a simple answer.

The original commenter will be notified that a response has been received. The message itself will appear in the general list and will be available to other participants in the conversation.

Determine what was blocked in the comments

If two people were talking in the comments and the answers of one of them suddenly disappeared, then he blocked his opponent. Moreover, other participants can send answers and this will be visible in the general thread.

Other ways to determine what is blocked :

  • find a user by nickname. On his page will appear: "0 publications, 0 subscriptions and subscribers";
  • Notifications are received but cannot be viewed. One of the mistakes of the social network, when alerts come even from a blocked page;
  • Correspondences with other participants in the conversation appear. You can tell from the text that there is a dialogue going on.

Blocking deletes all previous replies for the recipient only. The rest can view them, participate in the dialogue. If the interlocutor was the author of the original comment under which there was a conversation, then the entire thread will disappear.

Instagram's new "Send Message" feature

One of the new features that has been added to the comments is to send a private message. That is, if users are mutually subscribed, they can reply to comments with a personal message.

How to send a reply to Direct:

  1. Go to the comments under the publication
  2. Select under the text of the review: "Send a private message" - write a letter.
  3. Submit.

If there was a correspondence before, then the message will be sent to the general list. But as with unsubscribed, you can send replies to comments by selecting the standard option: "Reply".

Why replies disappear in a thread

Sometimes, when going to a previously created comment thread, a user may notice that some of the comments have disappeared.

There are reasons why this happens:

  • Instagram's filter only shows the most popular replies;
  • the author removed his quotes;
  • the page owner blocked the commenter;
  • replies removed by social network filters.

If the review contained obscene language, offensive language, or other participants complained about it, it will be deleted by the social network.

Another reason is that the profile owner blocked the commenter, and the rest of his replies were automatically hidden. Or, the owner independently cleared the correspondence, removing the answers of this particular person.

How to formulate your answer beautifully and in an original way

You can answer beautifully on Instagram in correspondence, depending on the context. Emoticons or non-standard characters are often added to the answers, which show the emotions of the writer.

How to answer difficult dialogues :

  • I will gladly stop wasting my time on you;
  • you shouldn't answer me, because our dialogue initially stalled;
  • I like to communicate with smart people. What a pity they are not here;
  • our conversation was interesting until you came;
  • please spare me your attention.

Or use really friendly :

  • thanks for our conversation. It was interesting to hear the opposite opinion;
  • let's agree that any opinion has the right to exist;
  • it seems to me that you are quite an interesting opponent;
  • I am glad that I was able to communicate with such an interesting person as you.

To pay a compliment to the author of a photo or video, it is enough to pay attention to the details: correctly set light, posing.

How to respond to a comment mentioning a person and a simple comment

posting comments. The main task of the application is to share photos in real time. During the testing process, the application has been improved and today it is easily accessible for both mobile devices and computers.

Over several years of work, the program has undergone changes for the better, acquired a memorable interface, and was also supplemented with photo adjustment functions, the ability to add videos, reels, igtv, stories, chat within the application, leave comments mentioning a specific user or your account. But, let's get back directly to the process and its implementation, namely how to respond to comments on Instagram.

How to reply to an instagram comment mentioning another person or user instagram

You see a post on Instagram, under it there is a heated discussion in the comments and you want to enter into a discussion of the discussion with a certain user or just reply to his comment! To do this, you just need to, under the user's comment, select the active one - " answer ".

  • Select the comment of the Instagram user you want to reply to.
  • Under the comment we find the active field - " answer ".
  • Clicking on the active field " reply " will trigger an automatic command that inserts the username into the comment dialog.
  • After which you will see , in the field for entering a comment, the name of the account you are replying to.
  • After you post a reply to a comment, the user will receive a notification on their Instagram account.
Example screenshot from instagram app, how to reply to a user's comment mentioning

This is the most convenient and simple solution that is implemented in all the most popular social networks. Due to which, the function is intuitive and immediately helps to understand that you are responding to a specific Instagram user.

Tag a person - if you know the exact username on Instagram

First, let's look at how to add a mention in a comment of your account. To do this, in any place of your text, comment, of course, so that it fits into the context of the message, insert a special character, @ known as a dog, more commonly used in email. And after it, we indicate the nickname of our account - this is your username, for example, @mashka .

After posting a comment, your name will become a link to your profile, is this trick very common? when they advertise an account with any goods, services. Like, girls express weight loss method here @hudey and so on. You could see this more than once in the comments yourself.

Enter the username - which you want to mark in the comment

And as you understand, in a comment, you can specify any user, a thematic account. If you want to add mentions in a comment to another account, such as your friend or follower, the system will help you.

In particular, when you start typing the first letters after the @ special character, the application system will show you a list of accounts from your followers, if there is no user you want to mention, you will have to enter his nickname yourself.

An example of how prompts appear when you want to tag an Instagram user in the comment field about it, notified. So, you can, for example, enter the username (nickname) of your girlfriend, under the photo, of some new collection in your favorite store and she will receive a notification about it.

There are many interpretations of such manipulations, the main one, namely how to respond to comments on Instagram, as well as leave active links, we have described and we hope the instruction will help you solve the problem that has arisen and expand your understanding of the possibilities of instagram.


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