Manage the privacy of your Facebook and Instagram conversations by replying privately. In Engage, you can choose to transition from a public fan post, mention, comment, or reply to a direct message conversation.
In this article:
What content can I reply to via direct message?
In Engage, you can choose to reply to the following content via direct message.
- Comments and comment replies on your Facebook posts and Instagram posts/reels
- Facebook fan posts on your page
- Comments on Facebook fan posts on your page
- Instagram post/reel and comment mentions
When applicable content is displayed in Engage, you will have the option to reply via direct message for only 7 days. It’s only possible to reply to any conversation item via direct message once.
Please bear in mind that, while you cannot directly reply to X (Twitter) content via direct message, you can choose to invite the customer to direct message.
Replying to posts and mentions via direct message
Follow the steps below to reply to any Facebook Page post or Instagram mention via direct message.
- Locate the Facebook Page post or Instagram mention in an Engage feed.
- Click the post or mention to expand and open the content in detail view.
- In the middle of the page, hover over the content.
- Click Message.
- In the pop up, type your direct message reply.
- Click Send message (envelope icon).
Replying to comments and replies via direct message
To reply to any individual comment or comment reply, please follow the steps below:
- Locate the comment or reply on the associated post or mention. If you are viewing the comment in an Engage feed, first click to expand the content in detail view then locate the comment.
- Hover over the comment you would like to reply to.
- Click Message.
- In the pop up, type your direct message reply.
- Click Send message (envelope icon).
How will my replies appear in Engage?
Once you have replied to a post, mention, comment, or reply, your channel icon and name will appear below the item in Engage noting that you have replied by direct message. The same notice will appear to all users in Engage. When you view the post natively (on Facebook or Instagram), there will be no visible notice that you have replied.
Next, a new direct message conversation will be visible in Engage between your channel and the customer. The same direct message conversation can be found natively.
While viewing a Facebook direct message conversation, you will notice an automated note from Facebook providing a link to the comment, highlighting that you are replying to a post or comment on your page. This note will not appear for direct message conversations starting from Instagram content.
For help setting up an Engage feed to view your Facebook and Instagram direct messages, please visit our article on creating and managing Engage feeds.
Note:
Once you have replied to a customer via direct message, the direct message conversation will be considered read until the customer replies. For this reason, it will not appear in any feeds filtered for unread messages. Consider creating a new Engage Feed without specifying a rule under the Marked as read by field.
FAQs
- After replying via direct message, do I need to mark the post, mention, or comment as read?
- No, choosing to replying to a post, mention, or comment via direct message will mark the item as read.
- Will the Team Performance Report include data for replies via direct message?
- Yes - The Team Performance Report will consider replies via direct message as a response and reflect the response and handle time accordingly.
- Why can’t I find the direct message thread in my direct message Engage feed?
- New direct message conversations beginning from a post, mention, or comment will be considered read until the customer replies. If your Engage Feed’s settings are configured to only include unread messages, the new conversation may not yet be visible. Otherwise, please contact the Support Team for help locating the conversation.
- Why can’t I reply to a particular post, mention, or comment?
- It’s only possible to reply within the first 7 days of the customer publishing the post, mention, or comment. In addition, you may only reply to each item once. Otherwise, please contact the Support Team for help with any issues replying.
- Can I reply to Instagram story mentions via direct message?
- Yes — by default, when your channel is mentioned in an Instagram story, it will arrive as a direct message both on Social Media Management and Instagram. As a result, you can simply reply to continue as a direct message conversation.