Build an Instagram DM Sequence
Go to Instagram > Campaigns, add your audience, and build a sequence from steps like Follow, View profile, Like a post, Comment on a post, and Send DM — with Wait delays and a Wait for reply / If replied branch between them. WarmySender runs it automatically for every prospect, inside each account's safe daily and hourly limits. You build it once, add your people, and it runs for everyone at a natural pace.
An Instagram sequence is the series of steps WarmySender runs for each person you're reaching out to — from a first friendly touch to a direct message. It's how you automate Instagram outreach: auto-follow and warm up leads, then send the DM, all safely paced.
Where: Go to Instagram > Campaigns and click 'Create Campaign'. Name it, choose the Instagram account (or accounts) to send from, add the people you want to reach, then build your steps.
Sending from several accounts (Pro plan and up): if you pick more than one Instagram account, the campaign rotates its sends across them — choose Round-robin (take turns evenly), Random, or Weighted (favor some accounts over others). Each prospect is assigned to one account and stays with it for the entire sequence, so every message a person gets comes from the same consistent sender. Spreading sends across accounts keeps each one well inside its own safe daily and hourly limits.
The building blocks (add any of these, in any order):
- Follow — Follow the person's account. A light, friendly first touch that often makes a later DM land warmer. Counts as one action.
- View profile — Look up their profile to resolve their account and warm up your own activity, the same as looking someone up on Instagram (Instagram doesn't notify people of profile views). Counts as one action.
- Like a post — Like one of their recent posts. A low-key way to get on their radar before you message. Counts as one action.
- Comment on a post — Leave a genuine comment on a recent post (up to 1,250 characters). Best used sparingly and kept authentic. Counts as one action.
- Send DM — Send a direct message (up to 1,000 characters). This is the heart of most sequences. Counts as one action.
- Wait — Pause for a set amount of time before the next step, so your touches are spread out naturally rather than all at once. Not an action.
- Wait for reply — Pause the sequence until the person replies (with a maximum wait you set). If they reply, they move on; if they don't within your window, the sequence continues. Not an action.
- If replied — Branch the path: do one thing if the person has replied, and something else if they haven't. Perfect for sending a follow-up only to people who went quiet. Not an action.
A simple, effective starter sequence (5 steps):
Follow → Wait 1 day → Like a recent post → Wait 1 day → Send DM.
This warms the person up before your message ever arrives, which lifts reply rates. It spends three outreach actions per prospect (the two waits don't count), so at the full daily ceiling one account reaches up to ~33 prospects a day. Add a Wait for reply (up to 3 days) and an If replied branch after the DM to send a short, friendly follow-up only to people who went quiet.
Personalize your messages: use merge tags like {{firstName}} in your DM and comment text, and WarmySender fills in each person's details so every message reads like it was written just for them. Add a fallback (for example {{firstName | default: 'there'}}) so a message still reads naturally if a detail is missing.
Test what works: your Send DM and Comment steps can be A/B tested — write two versions and WarmySender splits them across your prospects so you can see which wording earns more replies.
Control the pace: set your sending days, hours, time zone, and a daily action limit for the campaign. On top of whatever you choose, WarmySender always keeps each account inside its safe limits (a combined 100 actions a day and 10 an hour) — so if your settings would ever go faster than is safe, safety wins and the step simply waits.
One DM per person, not spam: a sequence is designed to build a real conversation, not blast messages. Keep it to a couple of thoughtful touches, and let 'Wait for reply' and 'If replied' stop the follow-ups the moment someone responds.
Full guide: /documentation/build-an-instagram-dm-sequence