Email or DM for the first touch?

Email or DM for the first touch?
Popular advice: "DM creators where they actually live — Instagram, not their inbox."
Myth. The DM feels native, sure, but it's not a channel — it's a slot machine with no read receipts and a folder called Requests that nobody opens. Email gives you a subject line, a thread, and a paper trail you can follow up on. It's not about where they live; it's about where a business conversation can survive past message one. Use DMs to get noticed. Use email to get answered. Confusing the two is why your "native" outreach dies in a Requests folder.