Automate replies to Facebook post comments

In the Chatbot panel's left menu, open Tools (Нэмэлт), the third item from the bottom, and click Facebook Comment Automations. In the newer panel this menu is called Skills (Чадварууд).

To keep things organized, you can click New Folder to create a folder (the video uses “Test”), then open it and work inside it.

Click Create New, enter a name for the automation and click Continue. The example is named “1”.

First decide whether you'll make a separate automation for each product or service, or run one on all posts. If you have many products or services, asking people to comment a number such as “1”, “2” or “10” and sending the matching information for each number works well.

Under Track comments on, select All Posts, so anyone who writes “1” under any of your posts gets the information.

Under Private reply to comment, select Flow and pick the flow to send to the commenter in chat. Prepare this flow in advance so it matches your post (see step 9).

Under Public reply to comment, select Text and type the reply to leave under the comment, for example “Чатаар мэдээлэл илгээлээ” (We've sent you the details in chat). Click Add New to add more variations such as “Чатаа шалгана уу” (Please check your chat), so the replies vary instead of all being the same.

Under Reply to, choosing All comments would send the flow to every comment under the post. To reply only to people who write “1”, select Comments equal to, click + Add and enter “1”.

The example is a shop that sells socks: anyone who comments “1” under any post receives the socks information as a private message.

Click More Options and set the following:

• Only reply to new contacts: sends the message only to people who are messaging or commenting on your Page for the first time. It's best to keep this off.
• Reply only once to each user in one post: replies to each person only once per post. This protects the post from overload and helps keep your Page from being restricted by Facebook. Turn it on depending on your traffic, or if someone keeps commenting “1” over and over.
• Like the user comment: your Page automatically likes the comment.
• Reply to users who have already commented in others posts: still messages people who have already commented on another post. With All Posts selected, people who commented elsewhere might otherwise not get a reply, so keep this on.
• Don't reply to replies to comments: skips the replies people write in the thread under a comment. Answering those looks like people chatting with each other, so it's better to keep this on.

Reply After controls how long after a comment the message is sent. The options are:

• Immediately: sends right away. This is risky if you go live. A live video counts as a post, so the automation also runs on live comments, and Facebook's rule is that replies to live comments must be at least 10 seconds apart. If 10 people comment “1” at the same time, the system can't answer them all at once.
• A fixed time in seconds, minutes or hours, for example 20 seconds, 1 minute (60 seconds), or 1 or 2 hours.
• Random within 3 minutes (also 5, 10, 20, 30 or 60 minutes): sends at a random moment within that window. With 3 minutes (180 seconds), one person may get a reply at 10 seconds, the next at 50 seconds and another at 130 seconds.

Save your settings when you're done.

The saved automation appears in the list. Always switch on the toggle in the Status column, or it won't work. You can switch it off when the product sells out or the post gets old.

To move the automation into a folder, click the three dots (⋮) at the right of its row and choose Move to Folder. Tick the folder (for example “Test”) and click Continue. Keeping things organized makes later edits easier.

Create an automation for each product the same way. For example, name one “15”, choose the shirts flow, add the reply “Чатаа шалгаарай” (Check your chat) and enter “15” under Comments equal to. Now “1” under any post sends the socks information and “15” sends the shirts information. A nail salon, for instance, could number its manicure and pedicure information the same way.

To run an automation only on certain posts, select Specific post under Track comments on, and add each new post here when you publish it. If you post about socks again a month later, select that post too. The automation then works only on the posts you selected.

• Reels also show up in the Published tab, but Facebook posts and reels use different ID numbers, so the automation won't work if you pick a reel there. Always select reels from the Reels tab.
• Boosting a post changes its ID number. Select boosted posts from the Ads tab.

Then choose the flow you prepared for that post and add a public reply such as “Чатаа шалгаарай” (Check your chat). Under Reply to you can use a number, but since only a few posts are selected, All comments often works better: anyone who asks “мэдээлэл авъя” (I'd like info), “хэд вэ” (how much?) or “хаана байдаг вэ” (where are you?) gets the details in chat.

If the automation is set up correctly but messages don't arrive, the problem is usually in the flow. Facebook doesn't allow sending a commenter more than one message at first.

• The first block of the flow must contain only one piece of content. A block with both text and an image arrives as two separate messages, which Facebook blocks.
• Add buttons to that first message. The example has three: “Оймс” (Socks), “Цамц” (Shirts) and “Холбоо барих” (Contact).
• After the person taps a button, the next steps can contain several pieces of content (text, images and so on), because tapping counts as agreeing to receive more information.
• Don't connect the Continue link at the bottom of the first block directly to another message. That also sends two messages.

For example, tapping “Оймс” can send socks details and photos, and tapping “Холбоо барих” can send your address, location, phone number and opening hours. Prepare a flow like this for each product or service, then connect it to your comment automation.