Require a follow before you reply

Want a giveaway entry, a link, or a coupon to actually grow your following? Turn on the follow requirement on any automation, and Zaptium won't hand over the real reply until the person follows you — checked for real, not on the honor system.

Turn it on in 3 steps

1. Open your automation's setup and find "Require a follow before sending" in the "Send only if they follow" section. This works for any goal — link, coupon, giveaway, and every other goal alike.
2. Write your two messages: the opening message someone who comments gets first, asking them to follow you and reply, and the message shown if Zaptium checks and finds they haven't followed yet. Write a few versions of the opening message — Zaptium picks one at random each time, so nobody gets a copy-paste message.
3. Save and turn the automation on. From now on, this is what happens on a matching comment or DM.

Here's what the person sees after they comment. First, your opening message: a short, plain message asking them to follow you and reply. Instagram only lets Zaptium see whether someone follows you once they've messaged you, which is why it asks them to reply. The moment they do, Zaptium checks with Instagram right then and there. If they follow you, the real reply (their link, coupon, or whatever the automation sends) goes out immediately. If not, they get the not-following message with a Follow button and an I Followed ✓ button, and can tap "I Followed" once they actually have — Zaptium checks again each time.

Why this only works in DM

The follow prompt needs a private conversation to live in — you can't put a tappable "I Followed ✓" button on a public comment. So look for the Move conversation to DM switch just above the follow section; it needs to be on before this option does anything.

That switch decides where an automation's reply is delivered, not which message it sends. With it on, all anyone else sees under the comment is a short public teaser like "Just sent you a DM 👀" — the follow prompt, the reply you configured, and everything after it are sent privately to that one person. With it off, your reply is simply posted publicly on the comment, and there's no private conversation for a follow prompt to happen in.

Someone who starts by DMing your automation's keyword is a slightly shorter path: there's already a private conversation open, so Zaptium checks the follow immediately rather than sending your opening message first.

What's next

The follow gate pairs especially well with giveaways and discount codes — anywhere a follow is a fair trade for what you're sending.

Don't need the follow, but sharing a trial reel or an ad where most people don't follow you yet? You can still have the opening message go first, without the follow check — see sending a short opening message first.