Automating Instagram Like Responses with Make

In today's digital landscape, maintaining an active social media presence is essential for any business. Instagram, with over a billion monthly active users, has become a key platform for connecting with potential customers. But how can we efficiently manage follower interactions without spending hours glued to our screens?

The Solution: Automation with Make

Make (formerly known as Integromat) is a powerful automation platform that allows us to connect apps and services to create automated workflows. Today, I'll show you how to create an automation that automatically responds to likes on your Instagram posts.

Benefits of This Automation

Time Savings: Let automation handle routine interactions
Improved Engagement: Increase interaction with your followers
Personalization: Tailor responses based on follower type
Scalability: Efficiently manage a high volume of interactions

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you'll need:

A Make account (you can start with the free plan)
A professional or creator Instagram account
Access to the Meta Business API (Facebook Developer)

Step-by-Step: Creating the Automation

1. Initial Setup in Make

First, log into your Make account and create a new scenario. Search for and select the "Instagram" module as your initial trigger.

2. Instagram Trigger Configuration

Select the "New Like" option as the event that will trigger your automation. Connect your Instagram account by following the wizard instructions.

3. Filtering Likes

Add a filter module to determine which likes you want to respond to. You can filter by:

Users who already follow your account
Users with a certain number of followers
Users who have previously interacted

4. Customizing the Response

Add an "Instagram > Create a comment" module and configure it to respond to the post. You can use dynamic variables to personalize the response:

Thank you @{{trigger.user.username}} for your like! 😊 Enjoying the content? Let us know what else you'd like to see!

5. Activity Logging (Optional)

Add a module to log the activity in a spreadsheet or database, including:

Username
Date and time
Post that received the like
Response sent

The Automation JSON Code

Below, I'm sharing the complete JSON for the automation that you can import directly into Make:

{
  "name": "Automatic Response to Instagram Likes",
  "flow": {
    "trigger": {
      "id": "instagram-new-like",
      "module": "instagram",
      "type": "trigger",
      "parameters": {
        "accountId": "{{account.id}}",
        "mediaType": "all",
        "limit": 10
      }
    },
    "filter1": {
      "id": "filter-followers",
      "type": "filter",
      "parameters": {
        "condition": "{{trigger.user.follows_count}} > 100"
      }
    },
    "action1": {
      "id": "create-comment",
      "module": "instagram",
      "type": "action",
      "parameters": {
        "mediaId": "{{trigger.media_id}}",
        "text": "Thank you @{{trigger.user.username}} for your like! 😊 Enjoying the content? Let us know what else you'd like to see!"
      }
    },
    "action2": {
      "id": "log-interaction",
      "module": "googlesheets",
      "type": "action",
      "parameters": {
        "spreadsheetId": "your-spreadsheet-id",
        "range": "Interactions!A:E",
        "values": [
          "{{formatDate(now; 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss')}}",
          "{{trigger.user.username}}",
          "{{trigger.user.follows_count}}",
          "{{trigger.media_id}}",
          "Like"
        ]
      }
    },
    "router1": {
      "id": "engagement-router",
      "type": "router",
      "parameters": {
        "rules": [
          {
            "condition": "{{trigger.user.follows_count}} > 1000",
            "targetId": "action3"
          }
        ],
        "defaultTargetId": "end"
      }
    },
    "action3": {
      "id": "premium-engagement",
      "module": "instagram",
      "type": "action",
      "parameters": {
        "userId": "{{trigger.user.id}}",
        "action": "follow"
      }
    }
  },
  "connections": {
    "trigger": ["filter1"],
    "filter1": ["action1"],
    "action1": ["action2"],
    "action2": ["router1"],
    "router1": ["action3", "end"]
  },
  "metadata": {
    "version": "1.0",
    "scenario": {
      "roundtrips": 1,
      "maxErrors": 3,
      "autoCommit": true,
      "autoCommitTriggerLast": true,
      "sequential": false,
      "confidential": false,
      "dataloss": false,
      "dlq": false
    },
    "designer": {
      "orphans": []
    }
  }
}

Advanced Customization

This is just the starting point. You can expand this automation to:

Segment Responses: Different messages based on user type
Schedule Follow-ups: Send a personalized DM days later
Analyze Trends: Collect data on which posts generate more engagement
Integrate with CRM: Register active users in your customer management system

Ethical Considerations and Best Practices

Remember that automation should enhance, not replace, genuine human interaction:

Be transparent about using automations
Personalize messages so they don't seem generic
Review and manually respond to user replies
Respect Instagram API limitations to avoid blocks

Conclusion

This automation will allow you to save valuable time while maintaining and improving engagement with your Instagram audience. At Baraut, we specialize in creating custom automation solutions for your business's specific needs.

Need help implementing this or other automations? Contact us and we'll help you optimize your digital processes.