AI agents are what actually reply to comments and DMs on your behalf. This guide covers how to choose an agent mode and configure a Default agent yourself.
💡 Why use this?
Your AI agent decides how Exerta sounds when it talks to your audience: friendly, sales-focused, formal, or somewhere in between. Getting these settings right the first time means fewer awkward replies and less back-and-forth fixing tone later.
🧭 Choosing your agent mode
There are two ways to get an agent set up.
Mode | Who sets it up | Best for |
Default | You, using the builder below | Most accounts. Pick from ready-made options, no writing instructions from scratch. |
Expert | The Exerta team (contact us if you need an expert agent) | Behavior the Default builder can't cover. Reach out to your Exerta contact to request one. |
📋 Note: If you need something the Default builder doesn't support, don't try to force it with Brand Context notes. Contact your Exerta team for an Expert agent instead.
Default vs Expert: what's actually different
The key difference:
With a Default agent, you're hands-on: you pick from preset options (Tone, Length, Speed, Link Handling, Tagging) yourself. You can see which presets are selected, but you can't see or edit what's actually behind each one.
With an Expert agent, you're still in control, just indirectly. You give the Exerta team the direction, brand details, and product knowledge, and they build a fully custom agent around it. If something's off once it's live, you flag it and the team adjusts it, no waiting for a preset to catch up to what you need.
Because it's custom-built rather than assembled from presets, an Expert agent can flex and adapt in ways a Default agent can't. It's not locked into a fixed set of options, so it can handle nuance, mixed scenarios, and situations that don't fit neatly into one preset.
| Default | Expert |
How it's built | You select from fixed presets yourself | Exerta team builds it around the direction and details you provide |
Who makes changes | You, directly, by switching presets | You tell the Exerta team what to adjust, they make the change |
Flexibility | Limited to what the preset options cover | Fully customizable and flexible, handles nuance, edge cases, and behavior the Default builder doesn't support |
Setup effort | Self-service, ready in minutes | You provide the details, Exerta team builds and maintains it |
Consider upgrading to Expert if:
You keep running into situations the default agent can't quite handle
You need behavior that mixes multiple presets in ways the builder doesn't offer
Your brand voice needs something more specific than the closest matching Tone option
You'd rather describe what you want and have the team build and maintain it, instead of managing presets yourself
⚙️ Setting up a Default agent
Step 1 - Name your agent
Go to AI Agents > Create Agent and give it a name.
💡 AI agent name is internal only. Your commenters never see it. Name it by platform or campaign (e.g. "FB Comments - Summer Launch") so you can tell agents apart later.
Step 2 - Choose an Agent Mode
Select Default.
Step 3 - Attach an Offer
Select which Offer this agent should point people to when they show buying interest.
See Setting Up Offers for how Offer matching works and how to set your Default Offer.
Step 4 - Select platforms
Turn on each platform this agent should respond on:
Facebook Comments
Facebook Messages
Instagram Comments
Instagram Messages
TikTok Comments
💡 Each platform is independent. Run one agent everywhere, or build a separate agent per platform if you want different tones or offers per channel.
Step 5 - Set the Tone of Voice
Tone | Best for |
Short | High volume of simple, repetitive questions (stock checks, sizing, basic FAQs). No personality added, just fast answers. |
Sales | Paid ads or launch campaigns where buying intent should get a nudge toward checkout, not just a factual answer. |
Support (Helpful) | Order, account, or product-issue questions where the goal is resolving things, not converting. Safest default if you're unsure. |
Funny | Playful, meme-driven, or lifestyle brands. Replies open with a reaction before anything else. |
Academic | Products where the "why" matters, like supplements or technical products. Gives room to explain reasoning, not just answer. |
📋 Funny tone note automatically drops the humor on any comment that reads as frustrated, skeptical, or like a complaint, and switches to flat, fact-only replies. It won't joke about complaints, refunds, money, safety, or health. Expect the voice to shift on tense comments instead of staying funny throughout. That's intentional.
Step 6 - Set the Response Length
Option | What it does |
Automatic | Length adapts to the comment: shorter for simple questions, longer for objections or complex ones. Good default for a mixed comment section. |
Concise | Short across the board, regardless of complexity. |
Standard | Fuller replies even for simple questions. |
Step 7 - Set the Response Speed
This controls the delay before the agent replies, not what it says.
Choose Fast, Natural, or Slow.
Step 8 - Set Link Handling
Applies to Facebook Comments, Facebook DMs, and Instagram DMs only.
Option | What it does |
Always | Includes a link in every reply where one applies. |
When Relevant | Only includes a link when it's contextually useful, not appended by default. |
Never | Never includes a link, even when one would help. |
⚠️ This setting does not apply to Instagram Comments because Instagram flags comments with links. For Instagram, use the CTA setting instead (Step 10).
Step 9 - Set User Tagging
Applies to Facebook Comments and Facebook DMs only. It doesn't work for Instagram and that's intentional. Instagram mentions usernames so it makes comments and DMs unnatural.
Option | What it does |
Always | Tags the commenter by name or handle in every reply. |
Never | Never tags the commenter. |
Smart (Contextual) | Tags only when it adds clarity, like in a busy thread with several commenters. |
Step 10 - Set platform-specific CTAs
These apply on top of your Tone and Length settings, per platform:
Facebook Comments: Invite to DM / No CTA / We'll DM You
Instagram Comments: Invite to DM / No CTA / We'll DM You
TikTok Comments: Answer Only / Link in Bio / 2 Reply Sequence
TikTok CTA | What it does |
Answer Only | Replies with just the answer, no link included. |
Link in Bio | Replies with the answer and points the commenter to the link in your TikTok bio, instead of pasting a link directly. |
2 Reply Sequence | Posts the answer as the first reply, then adds the link as a second reply underneath that first comment. |
💡 Why 2 Reply Sequence exists: TikTok flags comments that contain a link directly, the same issue Instagram has. Posting the link as a separate follow-up reply, instead of inside the answer itself, works around this.
Step 11 - Add Brand Context (optional)
Add anything the agent should know that isn't covered by your Offer, like phrasing to avoid or background on your business. This is a free text field with no preset options.
Step 12 - Preview and save
Select a platform under Preview target to test how your agent responds to a real comment or DM.
📋 The live preview only activates after you save the agent. Use the preview to sanity-check your Tone and Length combination before going live.
➡️ What's next?
AI agents can't work on their own. So once you set up your AI agent, you need to create moderation rules and assign your agents to them.
See these articles to get started:
❓ FAQs
🔍 Q: What's the difference between Default and Expert mode?
A: Default mode is self-service. You configure tone, length, and other settings yourself using the builder. Expert mode is custom-built by the Exerta team for behavior the Default builder can't handle.
📋 Q: Can I switch an agent from Default to Expert later?
A: Contact your Exerta team if you need an Expert agent. They'll set this up for you.
🔍 Q: Which tone should I pick if I'm not sure?
A: Support (Helpful) is the safest general-purpose default. It's warm, solution-first, and works well across most comment types.
⚠️ Q: My Funny agent stopped being funny on one comment. Is that a bug?
A: No. The agent automatically switches to a flat, factual tone on comments that read as frustrated, skeptical, or like a complaint. This is by design.
🔍 Q: Can I use different tones for different platforms?
A: Yes. Build a separate agent per platform if you want different tones, lengths, or offers per channel.
📋 Q: Why isn't my agent tagging commenters on Instagram?
A: User Tagging only applies to Facebook Comments and Facebook DMs. We don't support it for Instagram because they mention username, which feels unnatural.
⚠️ Q: I set Link Handling to always but my Instagram comments still doesn't show a link. Why?
A: Link Handling is ignored for Instagram Comments because Instagram flags links in comments.
⚠️ Q: I set up my agent but it's still not working?
A: AI agents need moderation rules to work. Create moderation rules and assign the agent to that.
📋 Q: Why does my agent's tone feel too formal for my brand?
A: If it's a default agent, change the tone by editing your agent. If it's an expert agent, reach out to our support.
📋 Q: Can I use my Default agent to handle TikTok DMs too?
TikTok DMs are not supported, we only handle TikTok comments.
📋 Q: Can I run one agent across every platform or do I need a separate one for each?
A: Each platform needs its own agent and for comments and DMs separately.
⚠️ Q: Can I set up my agent without an offer?
A: Offer is required for an agent to work but an offer only requires a URL. If you don’t have product context, you can create the offer with just a URL.