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Set Up Instagram DM

This guide takes you from an empty Daktela instance to answering your Instagram direct messages in Daktela. It builds the pieces in the order they depend on each other.

If you haven't yet, read How Instagram DM Works first β€” it explains what each piece does and how a chat travels through them.

The whole setup:

  1. Prepare your Instagram Business Account
  2. Create the Instagram DM queue
  3. Add agents to the queue
  4. Define your business hours
  5. Create a terminate target for offline chats
  6. Create the time condition
  7. Create the connector and authorise your account
  8. Apply the configuration and test

1. Prepare Your Instagram Business Account

To use Instagram DMs in Daktela, you need an Instagram Business Account connected to a Facebook Page:

  1. Set up an Instagram Business account.

    Warning

    Creator accounts don't work with Daktela.

  2. Connect your Instagram Business account with your Facebook page.

  3. Allow your Facebook page access to messages: in the Instagram app, open your Business Account profile β†’ hamburger menu β†’ Settings β†’ Privacy β†’ Messages, and under Connected tools turn on Allow access to messages.

The details are described in Instagram DM Connector – Authorise Your Instagram Business Account.

2. Create the Instagram DM Queue

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Queues and click Add new, then select Instagram.
  2. Fill out the Unique queue number and the Title (e.g. "Instagram – Support").
  3. Click Save.

Every field is described in the Instagram DM Queue reference.

3. Add Agents to the Queue

Info

Agents get queues only through their profiles: this dialog and the Queues area of a profile are two views of the same setting. If you have already given the queue a log-in type in your profiles, this step is done. Setting up Daktela for the first time? Set Up Your Contact Centre shows where queues, profiles and users fit in.

  1. In the queue list (Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Queues), find your new queue and click Change in the Agents column.
  2. Check (tick) the profiles that should have access to the queue β€” this is how agents are assigned, via the profiles they hold.
  3. Select a Priority for each profile (10 – highest, 0 – lowest) and a Login type β€” Automatic is a good default.

See Queue Basics – Assign Agents to a Queue for all the options, and Distribution Strategies for how priorities drive who rings when.

4. Define Your Business Hours

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Workflows β†’ Time groups and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title and add an Open definition for each working period β€” e.g. 9:00–17:00, Monday–Friday.
  3. Click Save.

See Time Groups for holidays, linked groups and common pitfalls.

5. Create a Terminate Target for Offline Chats

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Instagram DM β†’ Terminate and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title and select the Disconnection cause (internal only).
  3. In Queue, select the Instagram DM queue from step 2 β€” this is what makes missed chat notifications work.
  4. Optionally select an Auto response template and set Answered.
  5. Click Save.

The full field reference is in Terminate.

6. Create the Time Condition

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Instagram DM β†’ Time conditions and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title, select the Time group from step 4.
  3. In If time matches, select Queue and choose the Instagram DM queue from step 2.
  4. In If time does not match, select Terminate and choose the target from step 5.
  5. Click Save.

See Time Conditions for the other routing targets you can use here.

7. Create the Connector and Authorise Your Account

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Instagram DM and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title, Description, Next destination β†’ the time condition from step 6, and Allow attachments.
  3. Click Save, then reopen the connector.
  4. Click Authorise IG direct page and follow the Facebook wizard: log in, select your Instagram Business account, select the connected Facebook page, grant permissions and pick the page to use. The whole flow with screenshots is described in Instagram DM Connector – Authorise Your Instagram Business Account.

8. Apply the Configuration and Test

  1. Back in Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Instagram DM, click Apply configuration changes in the top right corner.
  2. Test the online path: with an agent logged in to the queue and in the Ready state during business hours, send a DM to your Instagram account and check that it rings the agent.
  3. Test the offline path: outside business hours, check that the chat ends via your terminate target and shows up as a missed activity in the queue.

Warning

Every later change to connectors, time conditions, automessages, decision trees, chatbots or terminate targets needs Apply configuration changes again.

Go Further

Not Working?

  1. Nothing arrives? Click Apply configuration changes in Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Instagram DM β€” routing changes stay in a working copy until you do.
  2. Always the offline path? Check the time condition has a time group selected and that the time group covers the current time.
  3. Conversations don't ring? In Realtime, check an agent is logged in to the queue, Ready and not on a pause.
  4. No missed conversations to follow up? The terminate target must have your queue selected, and Missed activities must be on in the queue.
  5. Messages stopped arriving? The connector may have lost its authorisation β€” click Authorise IG direct page again. Also check Allow access to messages is still on in the Instagram app.

More checks, by symptom, are in Troubleshooting.