How to Auto DM People Who Reply to a Specific Instagram Story

Sometimes you want one story, and only that story, to send a DM. A flash sale, a workshop announcement, a limited slot release. Replies to your other stories, the ones where you are asking what people had for lunch, should not get a sales message. Viralyze lets you pick a chosen story as the trigger, so the automation is scoped to exactly one piece of content.

Here is how to set it up and how to use it well.

How do I choose a specific story as the trigger?

In the automation setup, select "story replies" as the trigger type, then choose "a chosen story" rather than "any story". The app shows your currently active stories; tap the one you want.

The automation fires only on replies to that story. When the story expires after 24 hours, the trigger has nothing left to watch, which is a natural end. You can also set an auto-pause after one day to mark it done.

What are the steps from start to finish?

1. Post the story with a clear instruction such as "Reply SALE for the 40% link." 2. Open the Viralyze app and create a new automation. 3. Set the trigger to story replies and pick that story. 4. Add keywords: "SALE", "sale link" and "discount". 5. Write the DM, attach the checkout page, and test with the live tester. 6. Turn it on.

The live tester lets you type "Sale pls!" and see whether it matches before anyone replies for real. Matching ignores case and copes with typos and emojis.

When is a specific story better than any story?

When the message is tied to that content. A chosen-story trigger is right for a one-off offer, a single event or a story that asks a question and promises a particular answer.

Any-story mode suits an evergreen ask, such as "reply HELP for my FAQ" that you want to work on every story you post. Running both at once is fine: the specific-story automation and the any-story automation are separate items in your list, each with its own state.

What should the DM for a flash sale say?

Short, with the link first. For a handmade jewellery seller:

"Here's your 40% link, live till midnight: [checkout]. Reply with your size if you're unsure and I'll help."

The checkout page takes UPI, cards and net banking through an RBI-authorised aggregator, and the platform fee is 0%. The question at the end means replies come back to your Inbox with the original story reply as context, so you know which offer they are asking about.

How do I stop the automation replying to the wrong people?

Use a keyword. Without one, every reply to the story, including "nice!" or an emoji, would trigger the DM. With "SALE" as the keyword, only people who type it get the link.

If you want to send a different message to people who reply without the keyword, do not add a second any-reply automation on the same story. Keep one automation per story so the logic stays easy to read.

What can I learn from a specific-story automation afterwards?

Because the automation is scoped to one story, its funnel is clean: replies, matched, delivered, clicked and signed up all belong to that story. Compare two sale stories posted a week apart and you can see which wording produced more clicks.

Every person who replied is a contact tagged with that automation. Export them to CSV if you want to follow up by email or run a targeted story later.

Frequently asked questions

**Can I pick a story that I have added to Highlights?** The trigger watches active stories. Post it fresh when you want the automation to run, and the 24-hour window applies from that post.

**What if I post the story before creating the automation?** That works. Create the automation afterwards and pick the already-live story; replies from that moment onwards will trigger it.

**Can the same story send different DMs for different keywords?** Yes. Map "SALE" to the checkout link and "SIZE" to a size chart PDF within the same automation.

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