Instagram and Meta setup for DM Automations

DM Automations send through Meta’s APIs. You need an active Instagram professional account and/or Facebook Page connected to the Pointerly team before keywords can fire.

What you'll do

• Connect Instagram (direct or Meta Business) and/or Facebook Pages
• Confirm accounts appear active for Social → DM
• Reconnect if tokens expire or automations show disconnected

Before you start

• Correct team selected
• Role allowed to manage integrations / social connections
• Instagram Business or Creator account (personal consumer accounts are not enough for comment/DM automation)
• Prefer the Facebook login that owns the Page, not necessarily your Pointerly email
• Feature dm_automation / social connections available on the plan

Connection options

Pointerly exposes the same Meta choices used in Integrations / Social Connections:

On iOS Integrations the subtitles match: Instagram = “Business or Creator account — profile, comments & DMs.”

Steps

1. Connect from Integrations

1. Go to Dashboard → Integrations (or Social Connections / Settings paths that start Meta OAuth).
2. Find Instagram, Meta, or Facebook cards.
3. Click Connect and complete Meta’s OAuth consent.
4. Return to Pointerly; the card should show Connected or Via Meta.

For accounts already under Meta, use Manage in Meta when badges say Via Meta—see Integrations overview.

2. Confirm the account for DM Automations

1. Open Dashboard → Social → DM → New automation.
2. Instagram accounts and Facebook Pages that are active should appear in the pickers.
3. If the list is empty, reconnect and refresh; inactive or token-less rows cannot send.

3. Facebook vs Instagram

• Instagram rules use the IG professional token and Graph/Instagram Graph APIs (variant depends on oauth_variant: default vs business/page).
• Facebook rules target Page comments and Messenger-style DMs.
• Previous-comment (retroactive) backfill works on selected posts for both Instagram and Facebook Pages (Meta allows one private reply per comment within 7 days of it on both).
• You can enable both platforms on a link’s DM panel; advanced settings may note Facebook syncs with Instagram when sync is active.

4. Reconnect when automations pause

Automations can auto-pause when a social account disconnects (paused_reason such as account disconnected). Link badges may show disconnected warnings (“DM desactivado”).

1. Re-run OAuth with reconnect.
2. Toggle the automation active again if it stayed off.
3. See Integrations troubleshooting for token/consent failures.

Tips

• Structured templates (button/carousel/coupon) need accounts that support those message formats; otherwise sends fall back to plain message.
• Keep one Meta connection tidy: manage IG/FB children from Integrations → Meta when badges say Via Meta.
• Pop-ups must be allowed for facebook.com during OAuth.

Related

• DM Automations overview
• Create a keyword DM automation
• Integrations overview
• Integrations troubleshooting