- Brands that already receive customer questions through Instagram DMs.
- Support and lead flows where social traffic should land in the same inbox as other channels.
- Teams that need one operator workflow across Instagram, website chat, and other messengers.
Instagram channel
Connect Instagram DMs to one AI support workflow.
Use Instagram when customers already message your business account there and you want AI answers, operator handoff, and shared conversation history in one place.
- Instagram dialogs land in the same shared inbox as Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, widget, and email.
- The agent can answer from knowledge, call APIs, and route risky or sensitive cases to operators.
- Operators keep the same thread and can return the conversation back to AI after manual help.
- BldBot uses Messenger from Meta for Instagram, so the setup depends on the connected Facebook Page, Instagram Professional account, Page Access Token, and Instagram webhook topic.
- BldBot asks for `page_access_token` and `verify_token`, not for a separate Instagram token. The Page Access Token must belong to the Facebook Page connected to the Instagram Professional account.
- During development, Meta usually allows messaging only for app roles such as administrators, developers, and testers. For real inbound Instagram traffic from normal users, first publish the app to Live mode. App Review is a separate Meta process and should not be confused with publishing.
Setup instructions
- Open Meta for Developers and either create a new app or open an existing one that uses Messenger with Instagram Messaging. If you are starting from scratch, use Meta's Instagram Messaging Getting Started guide.
- Make sure the correct Instagram Professional account is connected to the correct Facebook Page. In Meta, generate the `Page Access Token` for that Page. Meta normally offers this only when you are a Page admin and the app can manage and access messages for the connected Instagram account. This token is what BldBot expects as `page_access_token`.
- Open the BldBot workspace, go to the agent page, paste `page_access_token` and your own `verify_token` into Instagram activation, then enable the channel.
- Copy the Instagram callback URL shown by BldBot into Meta Webhooks, set the same `verify_token`, subscribe the app to the Instagram webhook topic, and keep Instagram messaging fields enabled. Meta's Webhooks guide and Instagram Messaging docs help on this step.
- Inside Instagram message controls, enable connected tools if Meta requires it for API-based message handling. Then send one real Instagram DM and confirm that the dialog appears in Conversations and gets a reply.
- While the app is still in development mode, test from Instagram accounts that have the app role access Meta expects. Before expecting real incoming DMs from normal users, publish the app to Live mode. Meta's Instagram App Review is a separate process you can read about if it becomes relevant later.
What to verify after activation
- The Instagram dialog appears under the correct agent in BldBot.
- AI or operator replies go back to the same Instagram DM thread.
- The same conversation can move through handoff without switching tools.
Typical issues
- The Instagram Professional account is not connected to the expected Facebook Page.
- The wrong token was copied, or the app does not have the permissions needed to manage and access Instagram messages.
- Webhook setup, Instagram topic subscription, connected tools, or Live mode state is incomplete, so the settings look active but real DMs do not arrive.
Ready to launch this channel?
Open the app, connect the channel, and test it with one real message before you scale it further.