Story mentions and tagged posts can be a good source of goodwill. The agent can thank people and share a relevant link, but it should not reply in a way that feels automated at a customer's best moment. We keep those replies short and varied, and we flag unusual ones, such as a mention that includes a complaint, for a person.
Through Instagram, the agent can answer direct messages, respond to story mentions and handle comments under rules you set. It works through your business account, so replies appear under your name. That matters for trust, and it means the account setup needs to be right before anything goes live.
Public comments need the most thought. A friendly reply on a post is fine. A reply to a critical comment can do harm if it sounds defensive. We usually let the agent respond to simple, positive or factual comments and send anything critical to a person for approval first. For DMs, decide when a conversation becomes a lead. Once someone gives their details or asks for a quote, the agent passes them to your CRM or inbox so that nothing sits in an app nobody checks.
Look at the share of DMs answered, the number that turned into enquiries and the replies your team edited. If staff are rewriting many replies, the voice examples need another round. Check that the person approving replies has time to review them in the first weeks. A few things make the set-up smoother: