What You Need to Know About Managing Comments on Your Instagram Posts

What You Need to Know About Managing Comments on Your Instagram Posts

Published on 17th of January 2025

When you post content on Instagram, you want people to engage with it. Likes, shares, and comments expand your online presence and help you connect with your followers. They can also improve how the Instagram algorithm ranks your page and, therefore, how often it shows up in recommendations.

But not all of the comments on posts will be positive. Whether comments are positive or negative, it simply isn’t practical to try to respond to all of them. With a bit of knowledge, however, you can more easily manage comments on Instagram posts.

Why Instagram Comments Matter

Before getting into how to manage Instagram comments, make sure you understand why they are important in the first place.

  • They Build Community

    Because comments are public, anyone who looks at your post can see them. For this reason, comments help build a sense of community. When your followers see what other followers are saying about you, they can build on common ground or share opinions, regardless if they differ or are similar.

  • They Give You Insights

    Comments can also give you important insights. They can serve as a means to gather feedback or a source for people to review your products and services.

  • They Legitimize Your Profile

    Having comments on your posts legitimizes you as a business. It shows that your audience is engaged and that your followers aren’t bots. This social proof encourages more people to follow you on Instagram or try your product.

  • The Instagram Algorithm Uses Comments

    Comments are also one of the indicators that Instagram uses to rank posts. Remember that the more comments you have, the more likely for Instagram to recommend your post to others.

How to Respond to Comments

You will want to respond to most comments on your Instagram posts. But since this is not always doable, at the very least, you should try to at least like them.

Replying simply entails tapping “Reply” under a comment and typing your response. Alternatively, you can send a private message to the user who left the comment.

How to Delete Your Own Instagram Comment

If you make a comment on someone else’s post, you can always delete it. Tap the comment, and with your finger still on it, swipe left.

You will see a red trash can and a gray arrow. Tap the trash can to delete.

Can You Edit an Instagram Comment?

What if you make a typo in the comment or want to change your response? There isn’t technically a method of editing Instagram comments. But there are two main alternatives.

The first option is to delete the comment and write a new one to replace it.

The other is to reply to your comment with the corrected version, typically with a “*” in front of it. For example, if you accidentally type “to” instead of “too,” you can reply to yourself with “*too.”

How to Delete a Comment Someone Made on Your Post

As a brand on Instagram, you are likely to receive comments that you would want to delete. The good news is that this process is simple.

Just tap the comment and swipe left, like you would for your own comment. You’ll see a red trash can, a gray pushpin, and a speech bubble. Select the trash can to delete.

How to Pin a Comment on Your Post

When you swipe left on a comment on your post, you will see a gray pushpin. You can select this icon to pin a comment that you want to highlight.

You can pin as many as three comments on each Instagram post. A pinned comment will appear at the very top of the comments, so it is the first comment anyone will see.

Keep in mind that pinning a comment sends a notification to the person who wrote the comment.

How to Disable Comments

There may be instances wherein you want to turn off all commenting on a given post. If you are dealing with a controversial post or it is attracting trolls or negative comments, you can easily disable comments on a post.

Just open the post and tap the three horizontal dots to the top right. On the menu, choose “Turn off commenting.” This will stop new comments and make the existing comments invisible.

How to Limit Comments

Instead of disabling comments on a post, you can also limit them. For example, you can prevent accounts that aren’t following you from commenting. You can also prevent accounts that just recently started following you from commenting. If you choose this option, you can set the limit for one day to four weeks.

Keep in mind that you can only set these limits across your entire profile, not a single post. To do so, go to “Settings” and “Privacy.” When you select “Limits,” you will see your options.

How to Block Specific Users

Yet another feature to manage posts is to block specific users from commenting on them. To do this, go to “Settings” and then “Privacy.” From there, go to “Comments.” Typing in a username will prevent that person from commenting on any of your content, including photos, videos, and Reels.

You can also go to “Privacy” and then “Connections.” From there, you can select “Restricted Accounts.” Search to add contacts to your list of restricted accounts. You can remove someone from this list at any time.

Bulk Actions With Comments

You can also delete comments or block or restrict accounts in bulk. To do so, select “View all comments” under your post. Select the comments to manage and then choose the appropriate option. You can do this to up to 25 comments at a time.

How to Hide Comments With Certain Words

The problem with blocking a specific user from commenting is that they can make a new Instagram account. Because of this, you may want to hide comments that contain a specific word that you have identified as irrelevant or improper.

To do this, go to “Settings,” “Privacy,” and “Hidden Words.” Select the toggle for “Hidden Words” and make a list of words or emojis that will lead to comments being automatically hidden.

You will also notice an option for “Offensive words and phrases.” You can automatically have Instagram hide these comments for you without having to create a list yourself.

Conclusion

Managing your comments on Instagram helps you maintain your brand and build your reputation. You can delete offensive or negative comments. You can also respond to comments to start and maintain a conversation, driving engagement.

Published by Stormlikes.com

Stormlikes is the ultimate solution to your Instagram growth. We're the pioneers of viral Instagram marketing so make sure to explore our products or venture down the rabbit hole that is our blog. You'll find hours of learning materials related to Instagram marketing and other social media.

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