Direct messages to your Instagram Business account arrive in the inbox and replies go back from the same account.
What you need
- An Instagram Business or Creator account. A personal account cannot be connected.
- A Facebook page linked to it. Meta requires the link; the connection runs through the page.
- Admin rights on both.
Converting a personal account to a Business account is done in the Instagram app under Settings, and takes a few minutes.
Connecting
Add an inbox of type Instagram. You are sent to Meta, you approve access for the linked account, and you return with the account name and id filled in.
Messages arrive by webhook, so they appear within seconds.
Limits
Replies are capped at 1,000 characters. This is the tightest limit of the messaging channels, and it is easy to hit with a thorough answer. Where an answer does not fit, link to the relevant help article instead of trimming it into something unclear.
Replies are plain text. Formatting is stripped.
Attachments are not supported on this channel.
What arrives
Direct messages, including replies to your stories. Comments on posts do not arrive; neither do mentions.
Story replies land as normal messages and often carry no context at all ("is this available?"), because the customer can see the story and the person answering cannot. It is worth answering those with a question rather than a guess.
Contacts
Instagram identifies people by an account-scoped user id. The contact carries their Instagram username and no email address.