Review and reply to Instagram direct messages

Receive direct messages from Instagram and respond directly from HubSpot's social tool. Managing direct messages in the social reply tool helps you track social activity and communicate with your audience, without switching platforms. For example, when a follower sends you a direct message through Instagram, you can reply to the message, assign the Instagram profile to a CRM contact, and manage the interaction alongside your other social activity.

This feature is available for Instagram messages only. 

Before you get started

Before you begin managing direct messages, review the following requirements, limitations, and considerations. 

Requirements

• Connect your Instagram account to HubSpot. If you’re setting up direct messages in HubSpot for the first time, you must disconnect and reconnect those accounts to authorize this feature.

• To receive Instagram direct messages in HubSpot, the Allow access to messages option in your Instagram settings must be turned on.

Limitations & considerations

• When connecting or reconnecting your Instagram account to HubSpot, only direct messages from the last 7 days will be retrieved.

• When reviewing your Instagram direct messages in HubSpot, the 200 most recent messages for each thread will appear. The full thread can be viewed directly on Instagram. 
• In the social tool, only incoming direct messages and messages with replies are displayed. If you send an outgoing direct message, it won't be available in the social tool until the recipient replies.

Reply to direct messages

Reply to Instagram direct messages from HubSpot to keep customer conversations in one place. Engage with your audience using automatically generated reply recommendations and attach media files to your reply.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Social. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Social directly.

2. At the top, click the Reply tab.
3. In the left sidebar menu, under All activity, click Direct messages.
4. Click a direct message.
5. In the right panel, enter your response or insert a reply recommendation.
6. Click Reply.

Send file attachments

Attach images, videos, audio files, or PDFs when replying to Instagram direct messages. A single reply can contain text or an attachment, but not both. To send both content types, split them into two separate messages.

1. To send file attachments in your reply, click the attach attach file icon.
2. In the right panel, search for and select a file or click Upload to add a file from your device.
3. Click Reply.

The following media types are supported for Instagram direct messages:

Organize direct messages

Filter messages and update their status to help your team prioritize conversations. 

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Social. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Social directly.

2. At the top, click the Reply tab.
3. In the left sidebar menu, under All activity, click Direct messages.

Filter direct messages

At the top of the Reply tab, apply the following filters:

• Accounts: connected Instagram accounts.
• Statuses: the message status (e.g., Read, Unread, Replied to, Saved, and Archived).
• Date range: the date the last message was sent.

Update direct message status

To change the status of a direct message, click Actions and select a status:

• Save: mark the message as saved and move it to the saved folder.
• Archive: archive the message and move it to the archived folder. 
• Move to spam: mark suspicious messages as spam and move it to the spam folder.
• Mark as unread: mark the message as unread.

Assign a CRM contact

Assign Instagram profiles with CRM contacts to associate direct messages to your contacts. This can help you track conversation history and maintain context for future interactions.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Social. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Social directly.

2. At the top, click the Reply tab.
3. In the left sidebar menu, under All activity, click Direct messages.
4. In the left panel, click a direct message.
5. In the right panel, click Actions and select Assign CRM contact.

6. In the dialog box, enter the contact’s name into the search bar to locate and select an existing contact. Click Create new to create a new contact.
7. Click Assign to contact or Create new contact.

Learn more about associating contacts with social interactions.

Troubleshoot direct messages

If Instagram direct messages aren’t displaying in HubSpot, confirm that Allow access to messages is turned on in your Instagram account.

To check this setting:

1. Open the Instagram app on your device.
2. Navigate to your profile.
3. In the top right, tap the menu icon.
4. Tap Messages and story replies > Message requests.
5. Toggle the Allow access to messages switch on.