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Story Reply Trigger

What is the Story Reply Trigger?


The Story Reply Trigger is an Instagram Channel feature that automates conversations with customers using Keywords that are specific to a published Specific Story or All Stories.  


After a customer enters Keywords (or all words), the Automation Bot triggers a reply to engage customers in a tailored conversation. 


For example, you can run a campaign to generate new leads if you manage a language school.  Your story ad would read, “What language would you like to learn?”
Depending on your customer’s response (i.e. “Spanish”, “Japanese”, etc.), the Keywords (or all words) will trigger contextual targeting according to that comment.


How do I set up Story Reply Trigger? 


I.    Automation

  1. Go to your ManyChat account. 
  2. Select Automation on the left panel.
  3. On the upper right-hand corner, click the blue “New Flow” button.    
  4. Click “Create New Button” and type the desired name. 
  5. Note: You can toggle between Flow Builder and Basic Builder views by clicking on the upper right button.

II.    Flow Builder

The Flow Builder is your workstation where you will build a new automated workflow starting with the first two steps: 

‘Starting Step” and “Send Message”.

Go to “Starting Step” ->”Add Trigger”>”Instagram Story Reply”. 

Select Instagram Story Reply will appear.


In the drop-down menu of The Trigger will work with,  select either “All Stories” or “Specific Story”.

Specific Story” will automate a specific story.  Make your selection among the story choices shown.

“All Stories” is the default. It will automate all stories.

Your selected story image will appear. 

Note: Only one automation per story is permitted. If you have an additional story, you will need to create a separate automation for each one.

Don't forget to enter your preffered keyword for the Instagram Story Reply trigger. If you don’t enter a keyword, the Bot will still reply to all customer comments as a default. 


For example, if you have a Xmas holiday campaign, your story would read “Ready for the Holidays?”
Regardless of the Customer’s comment, the Bot will reply with “Thanks for sharing!”.


Also note that Story Reply Trigger works with the All Posts option in Instagram Highlights in your Instagram Account. You can’t attach the trigger to a specific Instagram Highlight story or Close Friends Stories.
After the story expires, the Story Reply Trigger will work if you attach it to an Instagram Story that was added to Instagram Highlights.


To learn more about keywords, visit our keywords article!