A new Instagram account pushed straight into automation gets banned within 48 hours — guaranteed. Accounts that go through a proper 30-day warmup protocol first have ban rates under 5%. This is the exact protocol used by serious multi-account operators.
Zero automation. Log in from your phone, follow 5-10 accounts manually, like a few posts, save a couple of things, watch some Reels. Post 1-2 feed posts with decent content. Let the account establish a real-looking session history. This week teaches Instagram's algorithm that this is a genuine user.
Add Viari with very conservative limits: 10-15 follows per day, 20-30 likes, 5 Story views. No DMs yet, no comments. All actions during realistic awake hours (not 3 AM). Keep posting 1 feed post every 2-3 days from your phone or Viari's scheduler.
Scale to 30-40 follows/day, 50-70 likes/day, add 10-20 Story views. Introduce comments (5-10/day) with AI-generated variations. Still no DMs. Content posting continues at the same cadence.
Bring account to target automation volume over the last week. Add DM capabilities with 15-25 messages per day max. By day 30, account should be at steady-state operational volume — 80-150 actions/day mixed across follow, like, comment, DM, Story view.
The 30-day warmup feels slow when you want to scale fast, but accounts that skip warmup get banned at 10-20x the rate of warmed accounts. The math always favors patience.