Instagram automations

For brands that want to message Instagram creators at scale instead of one at a time.

An Instagram automation sends a partnership message to every creator in its audience, a few at a time, and skips anyone you've already messaged. It lives in Outreach → Automations, on the Instagram tab next to TikTok and Email.

The short version

• Instagram automations are part of the Scale plan. If your shop moves to a lower plan, its Instagram automations stop sending; you can still switch them off or archive them.
• Connect Meta first, from the Instagram tab of Creator Search. See Find Instagram creators.
• Click New Automation, or set filters in Creator Search and click Create automation.
• Pick an Audience: Filter search (Creator Marketplace filters) or Lists (your saved lists).
• Write the opener, add an optional follow-up, and set a daily limit.
• Click Start automation. The first messages go out within a few minutes.
• Meta allows 250 new creators a day per Instagram account, shared by all your automations.

Create an automation

Open Outreach → Automations and pick the Instagram tab, then click New Automation. You can also start from Creator Search: set a keyword or filters on the Instagram tab and click Create automation, and the builder opens with those filters filled in.

Name

Give it an Automation name, for example US beauty creators, 10K to 50K. Only your team sees it.

Audience

Choose who gets the message:

• Filter search: creators who match Creator Marketplace filters, best matches first. These are the same filters as the search. Click Preview in Creator Search to open the results in a new tab.
• Lists: the Instagram creators in lists you've saved. Pick up to 10 lists. The picker shows each list's Instagram creators count, which is the number of members this automation can message. Members who only have a TikTok handle or an email are skipped. To build a list, use Save as list on Creator Search; see Managing lists.

Either way, anyone you've already messaged is skipped. Under the audience, the builder shows the first few creators in line.

Message

Write one text message to open the conversation. Click Insert username to add the creator's Instagram username, which is filled in for each creator. The counter shows how much of Meta's 1,000-byte limit you've used (emoji and some characters take more than one byte). Meta doesn't allow attachments until the creator replies.

The preview on the right shows the message as the creator sees it in their partnership inbox.

Follow-up

Turn on Follow-up to send one more message if the creator hasn't replied. Set how many days after the first message to send it (1 to 29, 3 by default). Meta allows 2 messages in 30 days until a creator replies, so this is the only follow-up you can send.

Daily limit

Set the most creators this automation messages in 24 hours, up to 250. Your Instagram account can reach 250 creators a day across all automations, so if you run several, split the 250 between them.

Save or start

• Start automation saves it and starts sending. The first messages go out within a few minutes.
• Save as draft saves it paused. Click Start on its row when you're ready.

Meta's rules

The builder lists these under How Instagram outreach works:

• 250 creators a day. Meta's limit per Instagram account, over a rolling 24 hours. Every automation and any message you send by hand share it.
• Automations sleep at the limit. They pause on their own and pick back up as the 24-hour window frees slots.
• 2 messages before a reply. The opener and one follow-up within 30 days. Once a creator replies you can message freely. Replies arrive in Creator Messages, on the Instagram tab.
• Eligible creators only. Creators over 250K followers, or closed to partnership messages, are skipped and don't use up your limit. If your filters only allow creators with 250K followers or more, the builder warns you, because nothing would send.
• 1,000-byte messages, no attachments in the opener.

The Daily Instagram limit card on the Instagram tab shows how many creators your account has messaged in the last 24 hours, and when the next slot frees up.

Manage your automations

The Instagram tab lists each automation with its Messages, Follow-ups, Replies, Created date and Status. From the row you can Start or Pause it, and the menu has Edit, View logs and Archive. Archived automations are hidden until you tick Show archived automations; Restore brings one back paused.

Hover a status to see what it means:

• Active: running. Messages go out every few minutes within your limits.
• Starting: the first messages go out within a few minutes.
• Paused: nothing sends until you start it.
• Sleeping: the automation hit its own daily limit, or your Instagram account hit Meta's 250. Sending resumes on its own.
• Slowed down: Meta is rate limiting the account. It picks back up on its own.
• Completed: every creator in the audience has been messaged or can't be messaged. Widen the filters or add lists to reach more.
• Reconnect: your Meta connection has expired or is missing a permission. Reconnect Instagram on Creator Search.
• Not eligible: your Instagram account isn't set up on the Creator Marketplace. Open Meta Business Suite, go to Creator Marketplace and accept the terms.
• Error: sending keeps failing. The hover text shows Meta's error.

Common questions

Why did my automation stop sending? Check its status. Sleeping means a daily limit was reached and it will resume on its own. Completed means it ran out of creators to message. Reconnect and Not eligible need you to fix the Meta connection.

My list has 2,000 creators but the picker shows far fewer Instagram creators. Only members with an Instagram account can be messaged on Instagram. Creators saved from TikTok or YouTube search, or added by email, are counted under other platforms. Save creators from the Instagram tab of Creator Search to add them.

Can I send an image or a product card? Not in the opener or follow-up. Meta only allows attachments once the creator replies. You can then send files from the conversation in Creator Messages.

Can two automations message the same creator? No. Anyone already messaged from your Instagram account is skipped, whichever automation messaged them.

Can I message creators with more than 250K followers? No. Meta doesn't allow partnership messages to them, so they're skipped.