A DM isn't the only place buying intent shows up. Comments under your posts, 'how much', 'is this available', 'link please', are a sales channel most sellers half-answer or ignore entirely.
Comments are a sales signal, not just engagement
When someone comments "price?" or "available in blue?" under a post, that's the same buying intent as a DM, just posted in public. Most sellers either answer these inconsistently between busy periods, or ignore them entirely and hope the customer follows up in DMs, which many never do. Every unanswered comment asking a real question is a missed sale sitting in plain sight.
Comments also compound in a way DMs don't: a popular post can pull in dozens of the same question within an hour, "is this available in a size 8" repeated over and over, publicly, underneath the post. Left unanswered, it makes the account look unresponsive to every other visitor who scrolls the comments before messaging.
The other side: comment spam
The flip side of an active comment section is spam, bot accounts, unrelated links, and low-effort engagement farming. Left unmoderated, it buries the genuine questions and makes a post's comments look untrustworthy to a potential buyer deciding whether to message you.
Answering comments the same way you answer DMs
Castor's agent reads comments on your Instagram and Facebook posts the same way it reads DMs, answering genuine questions with real product and pricing information, in public where other potential buyers see the answer too, and quietly hiding obvious spam without you having to review it. If a comment reveals a serious buying intent worth moving to a private conversation, it can prompt the customer to DM for the details that shouldn't be public, like an address or payment method.
The comment section becomes another answered channel instead of a backlog, see how this connects on the integrations page, or what a fully answered inbox is worth on the automate Instagram sales page.