Why Instagram DMs Need More Than the Instagram App
If your business has any following on Instagram, you are already receiving DMs. Product questions, order issues, collaboration requests, customer complaints, purchase enquiries — they arrive in the app and, more often than not, sit unread for hours while your team is busy on other channels. The Instagram app gives you one inbox and no team structure. That is not enough for a business that takes customer communication seriously.
Tenreply connects your Instagram Business account to a shared inbox where your entire team can handle DMs — with the same assignment, history, tagging, and automation that powers your WhatsApp CRM. Here is how to set it up.
What You Need Before You Start
- An Instagram Business or Creator account (not a personal account)
- That Instagram account connected to a Facebook Page (required for the Messenger API that powers DM routing)
- A Tenreply account — if you do not have one, sign up free
Step 1 — Open Settings → Channels
Inside your Tenreply workspace, navigate to Settings → Channels. You will see your WhatsApp connection listed, plus options to connect Instagram and Facebook Messenger.
Step 2 — Connect Instagram
Click Connect next to Instagram. This launches Meta's OAuth flow — log in with the Facebook account that manages your Instagram Business account. Grant the requested permissions (these allow Tenreply to receive and send DMs on your behalf, nothing more). Select the Instagram account you want to connect, confirm, and return to Tenreply.
The connection takes under two minutes. Tenreply subscribes to your Instagram's DM webhook automatically.
Step 3 — Verify the Connection
Send a test DM to your Instagram account from a different account. Within seconds, it should appear in your Tenreply inbox under the Instagram channel. If it does not appear, check that your Instagram is set to Business (not Personal) and that it is linked to the correct Facebook Page.
Step 4 — Configure Your Team's Response Workflow
Instagram DMs now flow into the same shared inbox as your WhatsApp conversations. You can:
- Assign incoming DMs to specific agents or teams
- Tag contacts from Instagram with the same tags you use across other channels
- Set up an automation that sends an instant acknowledgement when a new DM arrives — critical for the response speed that Instagram's algorithm rewards
- Use canned responses for the questions you see repeatedly
Story replies also land in the inbox — when a follower replies to your Instagram Story, that reply is a DM and it will appear in Tenreply with context showing which story triggered it.
What About Instagram Automation?
You can build keyword-triggered auto-replies for Instagram DMs using Tenreply's flow builder — useful for answering common questions instantly (pricing, shipping, availability) and qualifying leads before handing off to an agent. For detailed automation guidance, see How to Automate Instagram DM Replies.
The Bigger Picture
Connecting Instagram is one step toward managing all your customer channels in one place. If you use Facebook Messenger, see how to connect Messenger. For the website chat widget, see adding a chat widget to your site. All three, combined with WhatsApp, give you a complete omnichannel inbox.