Instagram auto-replies for fitness coaches

Most messages are versions of the same six questions. Automate the ones with a fixed answer, and keep the ones that need your judgement.

Tip: On the Growth and Business plans, AI replies answer other messages using only the business information you write. Add a line saying injury and medical questions get a personal reply, and the AI can tell people you'll answer those yourself rather than guessing.

• A what-I-eat-in-a-day Reel with RECIPES for the full pack. Show real portions: viewers check whether the food looks like something they'd actually eat.
• A carousel comparing two lunches with the same calories and very different protein, with MACROS for the guide.
• A 20-minute workout filmed in a small room with no kit, with HOME for the printable version.
• A client's story, told with their written permission, with COACH for how coaching works.
• A walk-through of one client's weekly check-in, shared with permission, with CHECKIN for a blank copy.
• A countdown Story the week before an intake, with WAITLIST in the text.

Many coaches open intakes in early January and in the weeks before summer. Set the auto-replies up before those weeks start, and test each one by commenting from a second account, since your own comments don't trigger it.

1. Weeks before: post useful content with RECIPES, MACROS or HOME. Everyone who answers the first DM becomes a conversation in your inbox.
2. Announce the intake. WAITLIST collects emails, which you can download as a CSV for your email tool.
3. Doors open: email the list with your application form or call link. Post a Story with a reply word as well, since people who reply to a Story can get the link straight away.
4. Intake closed: change the first DM and the card to the next date, so late commenters aren't sent to a closed form.

Coaching from India? The DMFast store can sell a paid program as a digital product, give away a lead magnet in exchange for an email, and take bookings for free or paid calls, with payments through Razorpay. Coaches elsewhere point the card at their own checkout or booking page.

• Transformation posts: get each client's written OK, show typical results, and never promise a number of kilos in a number of weeks. Bodies respond differently.
• Boosting one of those posts turns it into an ad, and Meta's advertising standards don't allow personal health ads to show before-and-after images.
• In many places, diet advice for medical conditions is limited to licensed professionals, and the rules differ by country and state. Check yours, and send anyone with a condition to a doctor or registered dietitian.
• Meta allows one private reply per comment, sent within 7 days of it. A viral Reel can pass Instagram's cap of 750 private replies an hour; DMFast stays under 700 and queues the rest.
• Going live for a Q&A? Comments made during an Instagram Live can only get a private reply while the Live is still on, so set the word up before you start.
• Pick words people don't type by accident. A keyword fires on the whole word wherever it appears, so PLAN would also answer “what's your plan for legs?”, while RECIPES or STEPS rarely misfire.