Add the second message

Edit the automation you want to add it to. The follow-up sits below the message you already send, in its own step, because that is the order it happens in.

Check that one of three things is on above it: an opening DM, a follow gate, or an email gate. Each asks the person to do something, and their tap is what opens Instagram's 24-hour messaging window.

Without one, there is no window for a second message to arrive in: a public comment alone never opens one. If none are on, the follow-up switch says so rather than letting you build something that cannot send.

Anywhere from 30 minutes to 20 hours, counted from the moment your first message is delivered.

Six hours or the next morning are the common picks: long enough not to read as a double-text, short enough to stay well inside the window. The ceiling is 20 hours rather than 24 because the window opened when they tapped, not when your message landed, and the gap between the two is the headroom.

A whole message, not a repeat: its own words, and its own links if you want to send them somewhere different.

Three that work: say thank you the next morning, which turns a delivery into a conversation. Ask for the follow, which is much easier to say yes to once you have already given something. Or send the link again, for the people who opened your DM meaning to come back to it.

One switch: only the people who never opened your link.

On, and anyone who already tapped through is left alone, so nobody is nudged toward something they already have. Off, and everyone who received the first message receives the second. If your follow-up is a thank you or a follow request rather than a reminder, off is usually right.

Save, and the automation's analytics gains a Followed up step showing how many second messages went out, with the clicks they earned underneath.

Follow-ups that could not be sent are counted too, with the reason, so a closed window shows up as a skip rather than disappearing.