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How to Use Klaviyo's K:Social to Improve Acquisition
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Klaviyo's K:Social is Klaviyo Social Marketing. It's the Instagram product that turns a keyword comment or DM into an email, SMS or WhatsApp subscriber without the person leaving Instagram. It used to be called Gatsby. The core feature, Social Auto-replies, is free in every Klaviyo account. The paid add-on starts at $50 a month, according to Klaviyo.
So start with the free part. Prove it grows your list. Then decide whether the add-on earns its place.
K:Social Is Gatsby, Rebuilt Inside Klaviyo for Instagram
Search Klaviyo's docs for "Social Marketing", not "K:Social". That's the official name. Klaviyo announced the Gatsby acquisition on 19 August 2025. It described Gatsby as a social automation product that helps brands "convert engagement over social channels into owned customer relationships".
Klaviyo's own case study confirms that Social Marketing was previously called Gatsby. The product became generally available to all users on 30 June 2026. Klaviyo announced the launch a week later, on 7 July 2026.
It works on Instagram only. Klaviyo's help centre confirms its social properties and events don't support TikTok or Facebook. One channel, but a big one. Meta's Mark Zuckerberg said on 24 September 2025 that Instagram had 3 billion monthly active users.
Followers are rented, because Instagram decides who sees your post. A consented email address or phone number is owned. No algorithm sits between you and that inbox. If you've followed Klaviyo's new product launches, you'll notice this one points at acquisition rather than retention.
Three Tools Ship Inside Social Marketing, and Only One Is Free
The free tool is the one that grows your list. Social Auto-replies are the only part of Klaviyo Social Marketing you get without paying. Klaviyo launched the product with three capabilities:
- Auto-replies, which collect email, text and WhatsApp consent plus zero-party data.
- Profile enrichment, which adds social interactions and engagement signals to customer profiles.
- A central library for owned and user-generated content, with AI-powered insights.
The table below shows which features are free and which sit in the paid plan. It follows the split in Klaviyo's general availability announcement.
The add-on is billed separately and priced on Active Profile count. Your bill rises as your profile count grows. Free also means no head start. Klaviyo reported more than 205,000 customers at the end of Q2 2026, and every one of them can switch auto-replies on. The advantage goes to the brand with the better offer and welcome flow.
How a Comment or DM Becomes an Email or SMS Subscriber
A Social Auto-reply moves a public comment into a private conversation. The person only becomes a Klaviyo subscriber when they hand over an email address or phone number. Take a hypothetical swimwear brand. It posts a reel captioned "Comment SUN for early access to the summer drop."
A follower comments "SUN". Klaviyo replies by DM and never with a public comment. The thread stays clean, and the offer stays private.
That DM runs on Meta's Private Replies feature. Meta lets a business send one message to someone who commented on a post, ad, reel or Live. The message has to go within 7 days of the comment, or during the broadcast for a Live. Followers get it in their Inbox. Non-followers find it in their Requests folder.
The DM then asks for an email address or phone number. Klaviyo can opt phone numbers collected through an Instagram auto-reply in to SMS, WhatsApp or both. Consent is explicit and recorded. Not inferred from a like.
Only now does any Instagram data sync to a Klaviyo profile. Before the opt-in, commenters stay anonymous to your eCRM. A comment is a signal. A consented email address is a subscriber.
Set Up Your First Social Auto-Reply in Six Steps
A Social Auto-reply comes down to six decisions, and the keyword and the consent mapping matter most. Get your account basics right first. If they're shaky, work through a step-by-step Klaviyo tutorial for beginners before you add social. Then follow these six steps.
- Connect an Instagram Business account. Instagram is the only supported platform, so that's your one connection.
- Create the auto-reply. One offer per auto-reply. If you mix offers, you can't tell which one pulled the sign-ups.
- Pick a keyword. Make it short, distinctive and hard to misspell. If one Instagram account is linked to several Klaviyo accounts, Klaviyo requires each keyword to be unique across all of them.
- Turn on both comment and DM triggers. Comment-triggered flows can time out. With DMs on, people can restart by sending the keyword.
- Map consent. Choose email, SMS, WhatsApp or a mix. Only ask for the channels your follow-up flow will use.
- Test from a second account. Comment, reply and opt in. Then check the profile in Klaviyo for the right consent and keyword.
Route Social Subscribers Into a Flow That Knows Where They Came From
Segment on the opt-in keyword before anything else. Everyone who replied "SUN" goes into an early-access welcome flow. Everyone who replied to a giveaway keyword goes into a giveaway flow. Drop them into your generic popup welcome flow and you've wasted the opt-in.
The first message repeats the offer they asked for and delivers it straight away. They replied to one specific offer. Give it to them first.
Klaviyo lists the Instagram data it captures for segmentation and flows. That includes username, profile image, follower count, "follows you" status, opt-in keywords, comments, DMs and mentions. Engagement events sit in the paid add-on, so check what your plan exposes before you build.
Follower count and "follows you" status add a second layer. A subscriber with a large following is a creator lead, so tag them for ambassador outreach. A non-follower found your post some other way, so a "follow us" nudge in email two makes sense. Map each branch into your wider lifecycle programme. Otherwise social becomes a silo with its own disconnected email automation and flows.
Four Acquisition Plays Worth Launching This Month
The strongest Social Auto-replies give people one clear reason to type a keyword. These four plays sit comfortably alongside the other advanced strategies for email list growth you already run. Treat them as tactics to test against your own numbers, not benchmarks.
Put a Keyword in Your Instagram Bio
A bio call to action turns profile visits into opt-ins all year round. Write something like "DM WELCOME for 10% off your first order" and point it at your standard welcome offer. It's the always-on equivalent of a signup form. Leave it running and report on it weekly.
Run Giveaways With a Keyword Entry
A giveaway entered by keyword collects a consented email address instead of a tag-three-friends comment. Entries become subscribers rather than vanity engagement. Send giveaway entrants into their own short flow. Some joined for the prize alone, so judge them on engagement before they meet your full campaign calendar.
Gate Early Access and VIP Drops
Early access is the cleanest offer for a social keyword, because the reward is information, not a discount. "Comment DROP for the link 24 hours early" costs you no margin. It's worth testing whether these sign-ups buy faster than discount-led ones. Add an SMS opt-in here, since launch-day alerts are where text earns its place.
Recruit Ambassadors Through DM
Ambassador recruitment is the play with the clearest proof behind it. Klaviyo's case study reports that Kulani Kinis earned $425K in revenue in 6 months from its "Kulani Sun Chasers" ambassador programme. That programme runs on Klaviyo Social Marketing.
Investing.com reported that Kulani Kinis was a beta user. Over the previous year, it grew the programme to more than 130,000 members and more than 4,800 user-generated posts. Managing that volume of UGC in Klaviyo needs the paid Social Content Library. Recruitment alone runs on free auto-replies.
The Meta and Timing Rules That Trip Brands Up
Meta's messaging rules, not Klaviyo's settings, set most of the limits on a social opt-in. Check each of these before you put a keyword live.
- One private reply per comment. Meta's Private Replies feature allows a single message within 7 days of the comment. Make that first DM count.
- Non-followers land in Requests. Write a first line that makes sense out of context, because nobody is expecting it.
- Comment flows can time out. Klaviyo lets people restart by sending the keyword again if DMs are enabled. So leave DMs on.
- Manual replies have their own window. Meta's messaging policy has a Human Agent tag for manual replies within 7 days. Staff the inbox during big pushes.
- Nothing syncs before the opt-in. Don't plan segments around commenters who never shared an email address or phone number.
K:Social vs ManyChat for Brands Already on Klaviyo
For a brand already on Klaviyo, native Social Auto-replies usually beat ManyChat for list growth. They cost nothing and write consent straight onto the profile your flows already use. Full disclosure: we're a Klaviyo Master Platinum Partner. Weigh our view with that in mind.
ManyChat prices its plans by active contacts. The table uses ManyChat's annual-billing rates next to Klaviyo's options.
Monthly billing costs more. ManyChat's help centre puts Pro at $39 a month billed monthly, with extra contacts at $0.05 each, or $0.038 on annual billing. It also includes a 14-day free trial. Tidio's review dates this active-contact structure to 2 March 2026.
The maths favours staying native. Every ManyChat tier scales with your audience, and that's a second contact count to pay for on top of Klaviyo. The case for ManyChat is narrower. If you need social automation beyond Instagram, Klaviyo's product doesn't cover it yet, so judge other tools on that. If you're not on Klaviyo at all, it's a different comparison entirely.
Your First K:Social Auto-Reply, Filled In
This template covers every field your first auto-reply needs. Change the offer, keep the structure.
- Keyword: "SUN". Short, on-brand and not already in use on any linked account.
- Caption CTA: "Comment SUN and we'll DM you early access to the summer drop."
- DM opener: "Thanks for commenting. Want the early-access link before anyone else? Pop your email below."
- Consent step: Email first. Then offer SMS or WhatsApp drop alerts as a separate opt-in.
- Custom question (paid plan): "Shopping for swimwear, activewear or both?" That's zero-party data for your first segment.
- Welcome flow trigger: Opt-in keyword equals SUN. The first email sends the early-access link immediately.
- Test: Comment and DM from a second Instagram account, then check consent on the profile.
- Measure: Weekly sign-ups from the keyword against weekly sign-ups from your popup.
Quick Answers on Klaviyo Social Marketing
What Is Klaviyo's K:Social?
It turns Instagram comments and DMs into consented email, SMS and WhatsApp subscribers. K:Social is shorthand for Klaviyo Social Marketing, the product formerly called Gatsby.
How Much Does It Cost?
Social Auto-replies are free in every Klaviyo account. The paid add-on starts at $50 a month and is priced on Active Profile count.
Which Platforms Does It Support?
Instagram only. TikTok and Facebook aren't supported.
Can It Collect SMS and WhatsApp Consent?
Yes. Phone numbers collected through an Instagram auto-reply can be opted in to SMS, WhatsApp or both.
Is It Better Than ManyChat?
For brands already on Klaviyo, usually yes. The auto-replies are free and write straight to existing profiles. ManyChat is a separate tool priced from $0 to $139 a month by active contacts on annual billing.
Run a One-Week Keyword Test Before You Pay for Anything
Pick your next high-engagement post. Add one keyword with one offer. Run it for a week and put its sign-ups next to your popup's weekly sign-ups. If the keyword holds its own, the $50-plus add-on has a case. If it doesn't, fix the offer before you spend.
Enchant is Klaviyo's 2026 EMEA UK & Ireland Partner of the Year and builds email list growth programmes. Talk to us if you'd like specialists to set up and run the test.
