Creators and community accounts share a specific problem: people reach out and expect a real response, but the volume makes that impossible to do by hand. This playbook keeps your community feeling seen and heard, using the AI Agent for general DMs and scenarios for the moments that matter, without you spending all day in the inbox.

A setup where the AI Agent handles general incoming DMs in your voice, a comment-to-DM scenario turns high-engagement posts into conversations, and your most engaged fans get flagged for a personal reply from you.

In AI Agent → Voice and personality, paste real messages from your own inbox into the message examples. Not polished ones, the actual way you reply to fans: casual, warm, genuine. For a community, this matters more than any other step, because an audience that chose you will notice instantly if the replies don't sound like you. Set the typical message length to Short so replies feel like DMs, not press releases. See Configuring Your AI Agent's Personality and Tone.

In AI Agent → Knowledge access and behaviour, add context about your world: what your content is about and who it's for, your short backstory, what you're working on right now, the questions your community asks most, and what you're happy to talk about versus what you keep private.

In AI Agent → Goals and instructions, set the goal around connection: make every fan feel seen and responded to in a genuine way. In Audience type, describe your community specifically (who they are, why they follow you, what they reach out about). Use Other instructions for the boundaries that matter here: topics to keep private, and how to handle critical messages (acknowledge the feeling, don't get defensive).

Build a comment-to-DM scenario on your key posts. For an engagement post ("Comment GUIDE for my free resource"), deliver what you promised, then ask one open question to keep the conversation going. For the full build and the one-message rule, see Comment-to-DM: Turn Comments into Customers.

At the end of that scenario, add a Hand over to AI Agent action. In the instructions field, pass context: "This contact came from that post and has the guide. Engage them naturally and answer follow-ups in my voice." From there, the agent handles the conversation. See AI Smart Actions in Scenarios.

In AI Agent → Actions and automations, add an intent-based action: when a contact "mentions you, tags you, or expresses strong loyalty", add them to a "High-value fans" folder. Check that folder weekly and reply personally. These are the people most likely to become customers, collaborators, or advocates. See Intent-Based Actions: Links, Folders & Scenario Triggers.

Acknowledge story love automatically. Pair this with story-mention and story-reply scenarios so people who share your content get a genuine thank-you. See Comment Moderation & Engagement.

Turn fans into a segment. File your most active fans into folders and reach them later with a campaign built for that warm audience.

Communities that feel responded to, even partly through automation, tend to engage more over time, and the algorithm rewards active, conversational accounts. The real payoff is the handful of high-value fans you reply to personally each week, who turn into your advocates and first customers.

Once your community is engaged, turn your most active fans into a targetable audience. See Audience Selection & Segmentation for Campaigns to build segments from your folders and reach them with campaigns that match where they are.