> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dmly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Create a broadcast
> Build and send a broadcast with the four-step wizard: audience, message, schedule, review.
A broadcast sends one message to many contacts on a single channel. You build it in a
four-step wizard — **Audience**, **Message**, **Schedule**, **Review** — at
**Messaging → Broadcasts → New broadcast**.
Three things to know before you start, because they shape everything else:
* **The channel is the one you're currently on.** There is no channel picker in the wizard.
The broadcast uses your active channel, shown read-only on the **Message** step, and it's
fixed once the broadcast is created. Switch channel first if you're on the wrong one.
* **WhatsApp broadcasts must use an approved template.** There is no message box for
WhatsApp — you pick from your approved templates and fill in their variables. Facebook,
Instagram, SMS and Telegram broadcasts use a plain message instead, with no template.
* **Broadcasts aren't available on Live Chat or TikTok.** Only WhatsApp, Facebook,
Instagram, SMS and Telegram can send them.
Set **Type** to **Contact** to message a segment, or **Retarget** to re-message the
recipients of an earlier broadcast.
For **Contact**, pick exactly one option:
* **All contacts**
* **Active contacts**
* Any segment you've saved under **Contacts → Segments**
* On Facebook and Instagram only: **Opted in — notifications** and
**Messaging window open (24h)**
There are no tag or attribute filters here — one segment is the whole targeting model.
To send to a tag, a pipeline stage or contacts inactive for N days, build a segment in
[Contacts](/contacts/tags-and-segments) first, then come back and pick it.
Tick **Reachable contacts only** to drop contacts who have opted out of the audience.
See the note below on what this does and doesn't do.
Give the broadcast a **Campaign name** — it's for you, and contacts never see it. The
**Channel** next to it is read-only.
**On WhatsApp**, choose a **Message template**. Only approved templates appear; if the
list is empty or missing the one you want, use **Create new template** and see
[Message templates](/broadcasts/message-templates). If the template has variables, a
**Body parameters** section appears with one input per variable
(**Enter parameter 1**, **Enter parameter 2**, and so on). Each one accepts a
personalisation token, so a parameter can be `{{first_name}}` or
`{{custom.order_id}}` and resolves per contact when the broadcast sends.
**On SMS and Telegram**, type the message directly. Both support tokens like
`{{first_name}}` in the body. SMS has no messaging window — long messages split into
multiple segments and cost more.
**On Facebook and Instagram**, type the message directly. Meta only delivers to people
who messaged you in the last 24 hours, or who hold a notification opt-in — everyone else
is skipped. Leave **Reach** on **Standard message**; **Marketing Messages (paid)** is
labelled **Coming soon** and selecting it disables **Continue**.
Choose **Send immediately after approval** or **Schedule for later** and set **Send at**.
Times use your account timezone from **Settings**, not your browser's. An immediate
broadcast goes out within about a minute. A time less than a minute away is treated as
immediate.
**Require team approval before sending** holds the broadcast until someone approves it.
If you don't have approval rights the checkbox is replaced by a note telling you the
broadcast will be submitted for approval before it sends — approval is applied
server-side either way.
**Review & send** summarises the audience, message, schedule and approval state. Select
**Create broadcast** — or **Submit for approval** if you don't have approval rights. You
land back on the broadcasts list, where the new broadcast appears with its status.
A broadcast that needs approval sits at **Pending approval** and never sends until
someone with rights uses **Approve & schedule** on it.
The wizard's steps are all clickable, so nothing stops you from jumping ahead to
**Review**. A broadcast saved with a **Campaign name** but no template and no message text
saves, runs, and fails for every contact. Check the **Message** step before you save.
A missing **Campaign name** blocks the save instead — but the wizard shows no error, so the
button simply appears to do nothing. **Campaign name** also lives on the **Message** step.
## What "Reachable contacts only" actually does
Opted-out contacts never receive a message — every channel blocks them at the point of
sending, whether or not you tick the box.
What the box changes is the audience list. Leave it unticked (the default) and opted-out
contacts are still pulled into the broadcast: they count towards the recipient total and
then land in **Failed**. Tick it and they're excluded up front, so your numbers reflect
reality. The hint says it also skips contacts who "can't be messaged on this channel" —
it doesn't. Closed messaging windows are not filtered out here; those contacts fail at send
time instead.
**Audience breakdown**, shown in the right rail on the **Schedule** and **Review** steps,
is an estimate, not a count. The
deliverable and opted-out figures are a fixed 95/5 split of the audience size — they are
not calculated from who has actually opted out. Don't plan against them.
**Send test message** doesn't send anything yet. It reports success without contacting the
channel. To sanity-check a message, send a real broadcast to a segment containing only
your own contact record.
## Retargeting an earlier broadcast
Set **Type** to **Retarget**, pick a **Retarget broadcast** and a **Retarget engagement
type**: **All Sent**, **All Delivered**, **All Read**, **All Replied**,
**All Sent But Not Replied** or **All Failed**.
Only broadcasts already sending or sent on the current channel can be a source, and a
broadcast can't retarget itself. The audience is resolved when the broadcast sends, so no
count is shown while you build it. Recipients are also narrowed to contacts reachable on
this broadcast's channel — retargeting a WhatsApp broadcast from an SMS broadcast only
reaches the overlap.
## After you save
* The broadcast is queued as **Scheduled**, whether immediate or for later. The sender picks
it up on the next sweep, at most a minute after it's due.
* An empty audience isn't an error. The broadcast completes immediately with zero recipients.
* Every message sent is written into the contact's conversation in the [Inbox](/inbox/overview),
so you can follow up on replies there.
* There is no pause, cancel or delete. Editing the broadcast is the only way to change it,
and editing one that requires approval clears the existing approval — it has to be
approved again.
The most common cause is the template. It's re-checked at send time, so a template that
Meta rejects or revokes between scheduling and sending will fail the whole broadcast.
Confirm the template still shows as approved, then create a fresh broadcast with it.
A broadcast saved with no template and no text fails the same way.
See [WhatsApp rules and limits](/broadcasts/whatsapp-rules-and-limits).
Those counters only move for WhatsApp (delivered and read) and SMS (delivered). Facebook,
Instagram and Telegram broadcasts never report them, so they stay at zero however well the
broadcast performed. [Analytics](/broadcasts/analytics) covers what each channel reports.
Create and submit the approved WhatsApp templates a broadcast needs.
Segments, retargeting, and who ends up in a broadcast.
Timing, timezones and approval holds.
Read the results, and what each channel actually reports.