← Influencer Butler
← Help

Instagram

Instagram Butler — DM brand collaborations directly on Instagram

Send first-touch outreach DMs to brands and creators on Instagram using rotating templates, follower-count filters, and a do-not-message list.

What Instagram Butler does

Instagram Butler is the Instagram-side version of Amazon Butler: it sends first-touch DMs to targets you've identified, using rotating message templates, with the same set of safety rails (per-target cooldowns, skip-lists, follower-count filters). It's the workspace you use when you want to pitch brands on Instagram directly rather than wait for them to find you.

It pairs naturally with Messenger Butler (which handles in-progress conversations) and Instagram Goldmine (which discovers people worth messaging). Instagram Butler is specifically the first contact step.

Before you start

  • A signed-in Instagram account in Chrome. Instagram Butler uses your existing session.
  • Your Amazon storefront URL in the topbar — used in templates via {storefrontUrl}.
  • A target source — either manually pasted handles, follower lists from your account, or imports from Instagram Goldmine.

Setup: the message template

Open the Initial messages card. This is where your first-touch DMs live. Two key rules:

  1. Write 3-5 variations of your opener. Instagram detects identical-DM patterns and rate-limits accounts that send them. Variations like "Hey! Saw your post about X, would love to collab" / "Hi! Your content on Y caught my eye, would love to chat" rotate per-target.
  2. Use placeholders — {storefrontUrl} substitutes your storefront link; {address} and {mediakit} pull from your saved profile values. Keep variations short — first DMs that read like a pitch get ignored.

Set initialMessageMode to random (the default) so Butler picks a variation per-target rather than always using the first.

Choosing targets

The Target mode dropdown picks who Instagram Butler messages:

  • new-followers — your most recent followers. Useful for converting new follows into actual conversations.
  • manual-handles — a list you paste manually. Use this when you've curated a target list (e.g. from Instagram Goldmine).
  • suggested-from-graph — Instagram's "suggested for you" graph, walked from a seed username.

Most starting users pick new-followers + manual-handles for the first few weeks until they find their rhythm.

Filters that matter

  • followersLimitMin / followersLimitMax — skip accounts outside this range. Useful for staying on micro-influencers (e.g. 1K-50K) and avoiding both spam accounts and unreachable mega-accounts.
  • skipBrandsRaw — newline-separated brand names to never message. Useful for excluding direct competitors or brands you've already worked with.
  • skipTitleRaw — newline-separated keywords. If a target's bio or recent post titles contain any of these, skip. Helps avoid wrong-niche targets.
  • excludeAlreadyMessaged — leave on. Prevents Butler from re-messaging the same handle.

Running your first outreach pass

  1. Open Instagram Butler in the left nav (under Instagram Butler parent toggle).
  2. Confirm your message variations in Initial messages.
  3. Pick a target mode and confirm filters.
  4. Set a conservative daily cap (start at 15-25 DMs/day on a new account).
  5. Click Run.

A Chrome window opens. Butler walks each target, opens their profile, opens DMs, and sends one of your message variations. Pacing is built in — typical pace is 2-5 minutes per DM with random jitter.

Instagram's rate-limit rules

Instagram is the strictest platform Butler interacts with:

  • First 30 days on a new account: 15-25 DMs/day max.
  • Established accounts: 40-60 DMs/day sustainable.
  • More than 80/day is flagged territory — accounts get DM-locked for 24-72 hours.

Butler's defaults (jitter, cooldowns, pacing) are tuned for safety — don't override them aggressively.

Where the data goes

Per-DM outreach history is logged in the preseed cache. Once a DM is sent, the recipient handle moves into the do-not-message list automatically (assuming excludeAlreadyMessaged is on).

Common gotchas

  • "Instagram action blocked" banner — you sent too many DMs too fast. Butler stops and waits. Wait 24-48 hours before resuming, and lower your daily cap.
  • First DM sent to message requests, not inbox — Instagram routes DMs from non-followers to "Requests" rather than inbox. Out of Butler's control.
  • Templates feel scripted — even rotating 5 variations gets old at scale. Refresh your variations every 2-3 weeks.
  • Manual sign-in mid-run — Instagram occasionally requires verification. Solve it in the Chrome window Butler spawned, click Resume.

Related