How to write a first message that does not sound like spam

What a good first message contains

1. A reason you are writing: something specific they said or posted.
2. One thing of value: a short answer, a checklist, an introduction or a link that actually helps.
3. A light question or none at all. "Would that be useful?" is enough.

What to leave out

• A pitch, a price or a demo link in the first message.
• Flattery that could apply to anyone ("love your content!").
• A wall of text. Three or four short lines is plenty.
• Pressure: "last chance", "limited time", repeated chasing.

Five openings that work

• The reference: "Your comment about handovers between sales and support stuck with me."
• The answer: "On your question about shipping to Canada: yes, in three to five days."
• The resource: "You mentioned onboarding. Here is a one-page checklist we use; happy to send it."
• The introduction: "You might get on well with… who is working on the same problem."
• The honest ask: "I work on this exact problem and would like to hear how you handle it. Open to a short chat?"

When to follow up, and when to stop

If there is no reply, wait several days and send one short follow-up that adds something new, such as an answer to a question they asked elsewhere. If there is still no reply, stop. A second polite attempt is persistence; a fifth is spam, and on most networks it is also what gets accounts restricted.

Tailor it to the network

• LinkedIn: messages reach first-degree connections only, so a short connection note comes first.
• Instagram: messages to people who do not follow you arrive as requests; a follow and a public reply first help.
• Reddit: help in public before you send a private message.
• Facebook: you write and send messages yourself; Avocado Leads does not send them.

Examples for three common situations

Each example is about them, gives something away and asks for nothing. That is the pattern to copy, not the words.

• They asked a question in a comment: "On your question about onboarding emails: three is plenty, the first within an hour. Want the template we use?"
• They complained about a competitor: "Sorry that happened. If it helps, here is what to ask any provider before you switch: how they handle handover and who answers when something breaks."
• They announced something new: "Congratulations on the launch. One thing we noticed helps early on is a simple page that says who it is for. Glad to share an example."

Where Avocado Leads fits

Avocado Leads does the collecting, ranking and pacing part of this work. You paste a post, a profile or a search, and it saves the people who commented, reacted, followed or match, then scores each person from 0 to 100 on buying language, how recently they were active, how well they fit your business and how reachable they are.

It then runs a paced follow or connect campaign from your own signed-in browser, with a message after where the platform allows one. It never asks for your social passwords, and it keeps to hourly, daily, weekly and monthly caps for each network. The limits that come with each platform are on the platforms page, and the safety page explains what it will not do.

Questions people ask