Intern
What you actually do
Sort yes/no DMs. Run the three tests: qualify, keyword, noise. Screenshot contacts. Kill the second bot.
Library / Wire / Instagram DMs are not a CRM. Write them in.
Comments, DMs, and profile taps feel like pipeline. They are not until a contact exists with a source, a next step, and an owner. Wiring Instagram to GHL means capture without turning every emoji into a lead, and without running sales from the Instagram inbox forever.
Comments, DMs, and profile taps feel like pipeline. They are not until a contact exists with a source, a next step, and an owner. Wiring Instagram to GHL means capture without turning every emoji into a lead, and without running sales from the Instagram inbox forever.
Not every DM is a lead. Define the capture rule: they asked for the offer, they came from an ad, or a human marked qualified. Capturing every 'thanks' pollutes the pipeline and the spine.
You will often lack email at first. Store handle, name, and a custom field instagram_id. When they give email, merge — do not create a second person. Write the merge rule.
Many-chat or native GHL Instagram can be the inbox. Pick one. Two bots in one DM is how you look unsupervised.
The conversion is still a booked call, application, or payment — not a longer thread. Threads without a next date are not in the system.
Ads that say 'comment WORD' must end in a contact with a file delivered and a follow-up spine, not a file and silence.
Intern
Sort yes/no DMs. Run the three tests: qualify, keyword, noise. Screenshot contacts. Kill the second bot.
Operator
Instagram is a door. Protect the rule so the board stays meaningful. Require a next date on handle-only records or they are not in the system.
CEO
A brand with a busy inbox and an empty pipeline is a personality, not a company. Write-in from IG is the gate before more 'DM me' creative.
Instagram professional account, DM/comment capture rule, GHL contact, handle + email/phone when known, source:instagram, last_thread_note field, pipeline Warm inbound, Conversations (or a linked inbox), booking link as conversion.
Qualified DM (keyword, ad, or human handoff) → GHL contact; handle stored; source:instagram
Comment-to-DM automation that promises a file → contact created when they reply with email/keyword, not on every comment
Owner continues in Conversations or logs last_thread_note if Meta inbox remains the live chat
Booked call from the thread → same contact, opportunity Discovery booked — Instagram is not a second calendar
On one page: which DMs create a contact (offer keyword, ad referral, human qualify). Which stay in Instagram. Ban 'capture everything'.
Why: A pipeline of emoji-leads trains sales to ignore GHL.
Done when: Examples of yes and no DMs exist. The intern can sort them.
GHL Conversations via Instagram integration, or Meta inbox with a required log to GHL. Not both as systems of record.
Why: Split threads are how promises get made twice and kept zero times.
Done when: A test DM appears where the spec said. The other tool is not also auto-replying.
Fields: instagram_handle, instagram_id. When email arrives, match and merge. Do not let the form create a duplicate because handle-only contact exists.
Why: The same human as two contacts is how they get two spines and no memory.
Done when: A handle-only contact that later submits a form becomes one record.
Keyword comment → DM with the asset → ask for email or use a form link with UTMs. Contact created on the email, tagged source:instagram campaign.
Why: A file sent with no contact is a paid giveaway with no list.
Done when: Test comment produces a contact the same day, not only a DM.
After qualify: booking link or apply link that writes GHL. Opportunity created. If they stall, a finite DM/SMS follow-up, then lost_reason.
Why: Endless helpful DMs feel like work and never hit the board.
Done when: A test qualified DM becomes Discovery booked or a dated next action on the contact.
Send a test DM that matches the capture rule. Confirm a GHL contact with handle and source. Send a test comment keyword. Confirm a contact after the email step. Confirm a random emoji comment did not create a deal. If ManyChat and GHL both replied, disconnect one.
A content series whose only CTA is 'DM me' until capture and a booking write-in exist. More DMs into an unowned inbox is not a growth system.
Founder is the CRM. Comment-to-DM delivers a PDF. No email captured. GHL has a leftover Instagram integration that double-replies. Ads Manager says conversations. Pipeline is empty. That is a social account, not an operating system.
Qualified DM → contact → booking writes the same contact. Comment keyword → asset + email → contact. Noise comment → no opportunity. One inbox. Merge rule documented for handle-then-email.
Until a hire, a weekend, or a banned account. Memory in Meta is not a pipeline. Show rate and source reporting cannot live there.
You can. You will hate the board. Capture on intent, not on noise.
Then they are a handle with a next date or they are not in CRM. Phone from a form is the upgrade. Do not invent a fake email.
This week
This week: capture rule, one inbox, handle fields, one comment-to-DM that creates a contact, booking from thread writes GHL.
A full calendar and an empty pipeline is two databases.
Read ↗A high score in a CSV is not a qualified opportunity.
Read ↗If the thank-you does not change the contact, the page was a brochure.
Read ↗If paid lives in Stripe and the opportunity is still open, reporting is theatre.
Read ↗Working notes
The minimum CRM, pipeline, and nurture spec before you add more pages. Request the file. It arrives by email — not a public dump, not a drip of slogans.
Email and WhatsApp stay open. A call is for installing the system — not for a tour of tools.