Instagram customer support: DMs, story replies and comments in one queue.

Nateq connects Instagram professional accounts: business accounts and creator accounts. The account has to be linked to a Facebook Page that you admin, because Meta routes Instagram messages and comments through that Page. Personal Instagram accounts cannot be connected. That is a limit set by Instagram rather than by Nateq, and switching the account to a professional type is the fix.

The connection is made through Facebook. Once the account appears in the list of linked accounts, you choose it and its messages and comments start arriving. Nateq is a Meta Tech Provider, so the connection runs through Meta's official approved channels.

Three kinds of item reach the queue. Direct messages are one-to-one conversations. Story replies are messages sent in reply to one of your stories, and they carry a reference to that story, which disappears after 24 hours. Comments come from posts and reels, and each one stays attached to the post or reel it was left on.

A reply to a story you posted is a conversation you can answer. Meta's story reference can be empty when the story has already expired, so the reply still arrives, but the story preview may not.

A public reply is posted under the comment. A private reply sends one direct message to the commenter, within seven days of the comment, and only once. Meta does not allow a private reply to a reply inside a thread, and it does not allow one to a comment on an Instagram ad. For those, the public reply is the only answer available, so write it so it works on its own.

A story reply is different. It is a message, so you answer it as a DM, inside the messaging window. Story replies are where a customer asks about a specific product in the frame, so the reply carries the story reference and the agent can see which story the customer is answering.

Flows can reply to comments, send the private reply, hide a comment, delete it or like it, and their handling is the same as on Facebook. A flow that sends a private reply to an Instagram ad comment is refused at that step, and the flow records the refusal.

The rules match Messenger. For 24 hours after a customer's last message, anyone can reply, including the AI. From 24 hours to seven days, only a person can reply, under Meta's human agent tag, and the AI never sends under that tag. After seven days, Meta closes the thread to replies, so the customer has to write again before you can answer. The composer shows which state applies.

This is why an old DM can look unanswerable. The inbox keeps the history, so the agent can read the whole exchange and decide what to do next, such as replying on a fresh comment or through the customer's other channel.

Connect the account through Facebook, then choose what arrives: direct messages, story replies, and comments on posts and reels. Turn on only the types your team can cover, and set the comment rules that decide which comments get a public reply, which open a private message, and which are hidden. Then start a flow that uses the Instagram trigger, and test it in the simulator before turning it on for real customers.

Keep the AI on for the questions it can answer from your knowledge base, and give it a clear handoff for everything else. The handoff carries the conversation to the shared inbox, where the agent sees the story, post or reel the customer came from.