Link Instagram Posts to Products: A Guide to Post Mapping
Once a post is linked to a product, comments on that post get an automatic reply with the product's name and price. We walk through the Post Mapping screen and bulk mapping by hashtag.
In this post
Linking a post to a product means telling the system "the product in this photo is this one". When someone comments "price?" on a mapped post, the automation knows which product they mean and writes the product's name and price into the reply itself. You do this on the Post Mapping tab of the My Products page.
Why do you need mapping?
A comment that comes in from Instagram only carries the comment text and the ID of the post. Someone who writes "how much?" doesn't say which product they mean, because to them the photo makes it obvious. For the automation to fill that gap, you have to set up the link between the post and the product.
Comment automation works without mapping too, but the replies stay generic. You end up keeping the customer waiting with something like "DM us for the price". With mapping, the same flow describes the right product on every post. You don't need fifty separate flows for fifty posts.
The Post Mapping screen
On the My Products page, switch to the Post Mapping tab. Choose the Instagram Account at the top, and that account's posts are listed below. Each card shows the post's image, its caption and the hashtags in the caption.
To map a single post:
- Click Map Product on the post's card.
- In the Select Product window, search by product name or code.
- Pick the right product and click Map.
To remove a mapping, click the remove icon next to the mapped product on the card and confirm the Remove Mapping window.
There are two rules:
- One post, one product. Each post is linked to only one product. When a comment comes in, it's never unclear which product to describe.
- One product, many posts. If you posted the same dress three times from different angles, you can link all three posts to that product.
For products with variants, the post is linked to the product itself, not to a single size or color. Size and color are chosen later in the DM.
Bulk mapping by hashtag
If you have a lot of posts, mapping them one by one takes a while. Many sellers already put the product code in the caption as a hashtag, for example #TSH100. UlakChat can compare these tags with your product codes and do the mapping for you.
Click the Map by product code button on the Post Mapping screen. A window shows the rules, and when you click Start mapping the scan begins. It follows these rules:
| Case | What happens |
|---|---|
| The tag is the same as one of your product codes | The post is linked to that product. Upper and lower case don't matter. |
| The post is already mapped | It's left alone. A choice you made by hand is never overwritten. |
| The post's tags point to more than one product | The post is skipped and flagged on its card. You pick the right product. |
| The tag has a typo | No match. The system doesn't guess. |
At the end you see how many posts were scanned, how many were mapped, how many were already mapped and how many were skipped. If nothing matched, the screen tells you why: your products have no codes, your posts have no hashtags, or the hashtags don't match any code.
Codes with dashes
Instagram doesn't allow dashes inside hashtags. If you write #TSH-100, Instagram cuts the tag off at #TSH. That's why mapping ignores separators: a product with the code TSH-100 is also found with the tags #TSH100 or #tsh_100. Dashes, underscores, dots and spaces are ignored when comparing.
There's one exception. If two of your products end up with the same code once separators are removed (for example AB-1 and A.B1), the system can't tell which one is meant and doesn't link that tag to either product. Not linking is safer than linking the wrong product, because a customer who comments on that post would get the wrong product's price.
New posts are easier: when you publish, add the product code to the caption as a hashtag without dashes. Then just run Map by product code again.
How comment flows use the mapping
In comment automation, the step that reads the mapping is Product Check. It's connected after the Comment Trigger and looks at the post the comment was left on:
- Post Has a Product Linked: The post is linked to a product. You can use product variables in the Reply to Comment and Private DM steps on this branch.
- Post Has No Product Linked: The post isn't mapped. Put a general message here with no product variables.
The skeleton of the flow:
An example Private DM:
Hi, Product Name is currently Price.
Add a button to the message under Quick Replies, for example "Choose size and color". When the customer taps it, the conversation moves to the message automation you linked. There, Variant Selection sends the color and size options as buttons, and the customer picks one with a tap instead of typing.
Reply to Comment is public and only sends plain text. If you'd rather not post the price openly under the comment, a short note is enough:
We've sent you the details about Product Name by DM.
What the customer sees:
Someone commented "price?" on the Cream Trench Coat post. The reply under the comment says "We've sent you the details about Cream Trench Coat by DM."
Hi, Cream Trench Coat is currently 799 ₺.
Choose size and color
The conversation continues in the linked message automation.
Which Color?
Cream
Which Size?
M
Status of Color: Cream, Size: M: In stock. Price: 799 ₺.
Only use the variables on the "Post Has a Product Linked" branch. The other branch has no product details, so those fields stay empty and the customer reads half a sentence. Before you turn the flow on, use another account to comment once on a mapped post and once on an unmapped post, and test both branches.
If you turn on Apply to all posts in the Comment Trigger, one flow runs on all your posts. On each comment, the message changes to match that post's product. When you post a new product, the only thing you need to do is map the post.
We built this whole flow step by step in the auto DM for price comments guide.
How the mapping carries over to the DM
You can send only one private message per comment. To keep the conversation going when the customer replies to that message, add a Link Message Automation step at the end of the comment flow. It hands the customer over to the message automation you choose and takes the post's product along with it.
On the message automation side, two steps use this information:
- Product Context Check: Checks whether a product is already known in the conversation. For a customer coming from a comment, the answer is Product Found, and you can go straight to size and color questions.
- Product Detection: If the customer hasn't typed a new product name, it uses the product from the conversation. It doesn't ask the customer again for a product it already knows.
When the customer replies "do you have it in M?", they don't have to say again which product they mean. We covered how to set this part up in the size and color auto-reply guide.
Common mistakes
- No product codes. Hashtag mapping looks at product codes. Products without a code won't match any post in this scan. Add codes in the product form or in your bulk upload file.
- The code is written differently in the hashtag.
#TSH1000andTSH-100won't match. Copy the code into the caption instead of typing it. - A new post goes live before it's mapped. Comments start coming in as soon as the post is live. Until it's mapped, those comments fall into the "Post Has No Product Linked" branch. Map the post right after you publish it.
- An outfit post linked to one product. If the customer asks about another item in the post, the automation describes the linked product. For posts like this, use Product Detection in the DM flow and let the customer type the product name.
For other ways to use comment automation, see our Instagram comment automation page.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do if a post shows more than one product?
A post can be linked to only one product. For outfit posts, link the product people ask about most. For the others, use the Product Detection step in your DM flow, so the right product is found when the customer types its name.
Does hashtag mapping work on my older posts?
Yes. The scan goes through your account's recent posts and links the ones whose caption has one of your product codes as a hashtag. It leaves posts that are already mapped alone.
I mapped a post to the wrong product. How do I fix it?
On the Post Mapping screen, remove the mapping from the post's card and pick the right product. The new mapping is used for comments that arrive on that post from then on.
