How to Add an Automatic First Comment

What Is an Automatic First Comment?

A first comment is a comment SocialCal posts automatically, right after your main post goes live. It's the most popular way to keep hashtags, links, and calls-to-action out of your main caption while still publishing them.

Common uses:

• Instagram — park your hashtags in the first comment to keep your caption clean
• LinkedIn — put your link in the first comment (LinkedIn tends to favor posts that keep links out of the main text)
• Facebook — add a call-to-action or an extra link
• Threads — kick off the conversation with a follow-up reply

Which Platforms Support It

First comments are available on four platforms:

Platform	What it's called	Character limit
Instagram	First Comment	2,200
Facebook	First Comment	8,000
LinkedIn	First Comment	1,250
Threads	First Reply	500

First comments are not available for X (Twitter), TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, or Bluesky.

How to Add a First Comment

1. Go to Create New Post in the sidebar
2. Write your main post and select one of the supported platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Threads)
3. Click the First Comment option — a pill that appears once a supported platform is selected (it's labelled First Reply for Threads)
4. A text box opens — type the comment you want posted
5. Watch the character counter (for example "142/2200") — it turns red if you go over the limit
6. Publish now or Schedule for later, exactly as usual

When the main post publishes, SocialCal posts your first comment automatically a few seconds later.

Good to Know

• Instagram & Facebook Stories don't support comments — the First Comment option is hidden when you select the 📸 Story format
• Instagram hashtags: Instagram counts hashtags across both the caption and the first comment; SocialCal warns you if you add more than the recommended 5 in the comment
• The comment only goes out after the main post succeeds — if the main post fails, no comment is posted
• Each platform has its own first comment box, so in a single multi-platform post you can use different text for each network

Tips

• Keep a hashtag bank (Instagram): save your go-to hashtag sets and drop them into the first comment for clean captions
• Link in comment (LinkedIn): write a hook in the post, then add "Link 👇" plus your URL in the first comment
• Tailor per platform: use punchy hashtags for Instagram and a single clean link for LinkedIn in the very same post