How to schedule instagram posts for free
How to Schedule Instagram Posts (Without 3rd Party Tools)
You have a solid Instagram content strategy in place. And you have a bunch of ideas lined up in your content calendar. The problem is – your schedule is jam-packed and you’re struggling to find the time to post consistently. Fortunately, there’s a way to schedule your Instagram posts ahead of time so that you don’t have to worry about manually creating last-minute posts.
And you don’t even need a third-party tool to start scheduling your Instagram posts. In this guide, we show you how you can schedule your Instagram posts without using a third-party scheduling tool. And in case you want to make your life easier, we also provide you with some of the best tools to simplify your Instagram scheduling. Let’s dive in.
How to Schedule Instagram Posts (Without 3rd Party Tools) + 5 Tools to Make Your Life Easier:
- Why Schedule Your Instagram Posts?
- How to Schedule Instagram Posts Using Facebook Creator Studio
- 5 Tools to Simplify Instagram Scheduling
- 1.
Loomly
- 2. Later
- 3. Sprout Social
- 4. ContentCal
- 5. Buffer
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Schedule Your Instagram Posts?
Before getting into the steps, let’s first take a look at why you should schedule your Instagram posts. Here are the top ways you can benefit from scheduling your posts in advance:
Save TimeWhen you’re busy running a business, it’s hard to find the time to keep up with your publishing schedule because there’s so much to do. From marketing your business to overseeing the operational aspects – creating an Instagram post may be the last thing on your mind. Even content creators and social media managers also struggle with a similar issue.
Scheduling your Instagram posts helps you plan ahead and save time. When you allocate just a few hours of a specific day to schedule your posts for the week or even the rest of the month, it leaves more room for other important tasks that need a more hands-on involvement.
Maintain Consistency
Consistency is key when it comes to building a social media presence. If you don’t actively create new posts for your followers to engage with, the Instagram algorithm will soon learn to de-prioritize your account because you’re getting fewer engagements. That means you end up losing visibility and your followers may eventually forget about you.
Scheduling your Instagram posts in advance is a great way to ensure that you’re posting consistently and at the right frequencies. So you always have something for your followers to engage with, which is great for gaining and maintaining your visibility on the platform.
Post at Optimal Times
With millions of new posts created on Instagram every day, it’s easy for your post to get pushed to the bottom of the feed if it doesn’t immediately get engagements. This makes it crucial to post at optimal times when your followers are more likely to engage.
Scheduling your posts in advance is a great way to capitalize on optimal post timings so you can always make sure that you’re catching your followers at the right time.
Based on different studies, the best time to post on Instagram is 2 PM to 3 PM on Thursdays, 11 AM on Wednesdays, and 10 AM on Fridays.
Keep Things Organized
Scheduling your Instagram posts also helps you to keep your content calendar organized. Having a big-picture overview of what you have scheduled will help you spot any missed opportunities or gaps in your content calendar. This is a great way to ensure that you’re capitalizing on important events and maintaining a good balance of different content types.
Create a Cohesive Page
A visually cohesive page attracts Instagram users – whether it’s maintaining a certain color scheme or having a good mix of different content types. And scheduling your Instagram posts will help you to keep things cohesive since you get a holistic view of your entire content calendar. This allows you to plan ahead to create a visually appealing grid and make a good first impression.
Source: instagram.
com
How to Schedule Instagram Posts Using Facebook Creator Studio
Now that we’ve established the importance of scheduling your Instagram posts, let’s get to the most important part – how to schedule your posts without using third-party tools. While you can’t yet create posts from Instagram.com, the Facebook Creator Studio gives you the option to create and schedule Instagram posts from your desktop.
Besides scheduling and creating posts, the Creator Studio also lets you tag people and turn off comments. Content creators can even use it to tag business partners in sponsored content. Here’s what you need to do to start scheduling Instagram posts using Creator Studio:
Go to the Creator Studio page
This will automatically log you into the pages connected with your Facebook account. Keep in mind that you’ll need a Creator Account or a Business Account to use this tool.
Click on the Instagram icon at the top of the page
If you haven’t connected your Instagram account, you’ll be given a prompt to connect it
Click on the button to connect your account and follow the steps on your screen.
If your account is already connected, skip to the next step.
Once connected, click on the “Create Post” button from the left-hand panel.
Select whether you want to create a post for your Instagram feed or upload an IG video that’s longer than 60 seconds
At the time of writing this post, the Creator Studio doesn’t yet have an option to schedule Instagram Stories. For this example, we’ll go with the option to upload to your Instagram feed.
Start crafting your post
This involves uploading your content and creating a caption. You can upload single-image posts, carousels, and videos on this screen. Optionally, you can also tag people in the photos, mention people in the captions, and add a location. If you want to also publish the post to Facebook, make sure to check the appropriate box on this screen.
The “Advanced settings” give you the option to further customize your post by turning off commenting and inserting an alt text for your images.
To improve the accessibility of your content, it’s highly recommended that you add alt text to describe your photos so people with visual impairments can understand what’s going on.
Once you’ve finished creating your post
Click on the drop-down arrow next to the “Publish” button.
Select the “Schedule” option and choose the date and time you want the post to go out
Click on the blue “Schedule” button to finish scheduling. Optionally, you can also save the post as a draft so others in your team can review it before it goes out.
You’ll now be able to see the post in your content library with a “Scheduled” status. From here, you can delete the post, view it, edit it, or even publish it now.
On the left-hand panel, select the “Calendar” option to get a calendar view of everything you have scheduled for the week or the rest of the month. This gives you a holistic view of your content schedule so you can make adjustments as needed.
Click on any of the scheduled posts here to open it and make edits.
5 Tools to Simplify Instagram Scheduling
While the Creator Studio is a great way to schedule your Instagram posts, its features are a bit limited. For starters, it only lets you schedule posts for Instagram and Facebook. So if you want to manage content scheduling for other platforms, you’ll have to use a separate tool for that.
This is why it’s highly recommended that you use a dedicated Instagram scheduler tool to simplify your content scheduling efforts. Here are five of the best tools to make your life easier.
This multi-channel management platform lets you manage content for all your social profiles in a single dashboard. This streamlines your content management and publishing efforts for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. It lets you schedule your posts for these platforms and automatically publishes them for you.
Loomly provides you with post ideas and optimization tips to really take your content strategy to the next level.
With approval workflows and commenting systems, it lets you collaborate with team members and contributors so you can perfect your posts before they go out.
Source: loomly.com
4.5 out of 5 stars
This cloud-based marketing solution works best for freelancers, influencers and social media managers looking to best manage content on social media platforms.
Ratings
Overall Score
4.5
Features & Pricing
Analytics
Automated Publishing
Contact Management
Customer Targeting
Keyword Filtering
Multi-Account Management
Post Scheduling
Customer Engagement
Multi-User Collaboration
Reporting/Analytics
Price starting at:$26
Pros and Cons
Intuitive management tool
Inexpensive
Easy to learn platform
Requires additional integrations for some social publishing
Too many bots may bother users
Calendar function may be hard to access
Best for: Agencies, freelancers, startups, non profit organizations, influencers & individuals
4.
5 out of 5 stars
This cloud-based marketing solution works best for freelancers, influencers and social media managers looking to best manage content on social media platforms.
View
Later is a scheduling platform with a strong focus on Instagram. But it also offers scheduling features for other platforms including TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, and LinkedIn. This makes it one of the most comprehensive scheduling tools for businesses that have a presence across multiple social networks.
It offers a simple visual planner with a drag-and-drop feature that’s very easy to use even for novices. As you can just drag and drop your scheduled content between different dates and time slots, it’s a lot easier to adjust your content calendar and get a holistic view of what your publishing schedule looks like. Later also lets you preview how your Instagram profile will look, so you can easily make adjustments to the grid.
Source: later.com
The platform gives you suggestions on the best time to post based on how your followers are engaging with your posts.
This takes the guesswork out of your Instagram scheduling process and helps you post at optimal times.
And if the lack of Instagram Stories scheduling options with the Facebook Creator Studio is a deal-breaker for you, you won’t have that problem with Later. The platform lets you set reminders about when to publish your Stories. You can use a visual planner to plan out your Instagram Stories, which will then be sent to your phone at publishing time.
Source: later.com
4.3 out of 5 stars
Later is a calendar-focused social media scheduling platform with a drag-and-drop interface. Their planning and scheduling tools make it easy to visualize your social media management. Features include photo editing, publishing for stories, and more.
Ratings
Overall Score
4.3
Features & Pricing
Analytics
Automated Publishing
Content Management
Multi-Account Management
Post Scheduling
Reporting/Analytics
Price starting at:$18
Pros and Cons
Easy to use, simple interface and media gallery
Competitive pricing plans
"Best time to publish" feature
Lack of eCommerce integration
You need business accounts on social
Limited features compared to competition
Free version has basic features
Best for: Businesses of all sizes
4.
3 out of 5 stars
Later is a calendar-focused social media scheduling platform with a drag-and-drop interface. Their planning and scheduling tools make it easy to visualize your social media management. Features include photo editing, publishing for stories, and more.
View
Ideal for larger organizations that need heavy-duty features, Sprout Social offers an entire suite of social media marketing tools. This includes social media publishing and scheduling tools for all major platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
The visualized calendar gives you a central hub for organizing and managing your posts across all social networks. So you can see what you have planned for the week or the entire month. This visual overview makes it much easier to adjust your publishing schedule and ensure that everything is properly balanced out.
Source: sproutsocial.com
Sprout also collects engagement data from your social profiles to understand when your followers are most likely to engage.
You can choose to automatically have your posts published at optimal send times and optimize your results.
One of the best features about the Sprout Social publishing tool is that you can simultaneously optimize your scheduled content across multiple networks. This lets you preview how a certain post would look on different social platforms. So you can easily make adjustments and get a real-time view of how those changes would look until you perfect the post.
Source: sproutsocial.com
4.4 out of 5 stars
Sprout Social is a popular social media management platform that offers schedule, analytics and engagement tools. Manage your social media from one place with their all-in-one platform and get insights to understand your audience and your KPIs. Data-driven ingiths help businesses improve responsiveness.
Ratings
Overall Score
4.4
Features & Pricing
Analytics
Automated Publishing
Contact Management
Content Management
Conversion Tracking
Customer Targeting
Keyword Filtering
Multi-Account Management
Post Scheduling
Brand Tracking
Reporting/Analytics
Social Media Monitoring
Price starting at:$249
Pros and Cons
Easy to navigate interface
User-friendly publishing calendar
Robust reporting
Competitive analysis features
Expensive price tag
Support can be slow
Lack of native support for some social networks
Best for: Brands and organizations of all sizes
4.
4 out of 5 stars
Sprout Social is a popular social media management platform that offers schedule, analytics and engagement tools. Manage your social media from one place with their all-in-one platform and get insights to understand your audience and your KPIs. Data-driven ingiths help businesses improve responsiveness.
View
ContentCal is a multi-channel collaborative platform for social media publishing. It can be integrated with all the major social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can use the calendar to visualize your publishing schedule, with the image and caption of each post prominently visible. This saves you the trouble of having to click on each scheduled post to review it.
The platform makes collaboration easier, allowing you to share your calendar with your team. Agencies can even share their calendar with clients and improve visibility across the board. It also lets you set up approval workflows so team members can review, provide feedback, and make changes to your posts before they go live.
4.7 out of 5 stars
Manage multiple accounts and post to multiple accounts using Onlypult, a social media management tool. This platform allows you to customize posting based on your needs as well as manage engagement.
Ratings
Overall Score
4.7
Features & Pricing
Analytics
Automated Publishing
Contact Management
Customer Targeting
Keyword Filtering
Multi-Account Management
Post Scheduling
Customer Engagement
Multi-User Collaboration
Reporting/Analytics
Hashtag Tracking
Content Planning
Content storage
Hashtag Management
Price on request
Pros and Cons
Simple user interface with productivity workflow
Direct scheduling for multiple platforms
Collaboration tools
Tiered customer service model
Some SoMe platforms are not supported
Best for: Businesses, agencies, and freelancers
4.
7 out of 5 stars
Manage multiple accounts and post to multiple accounts using Onlypult, a social media management tool. This platform allows you to customize posting based on your needs as well as manage engagement.
View
Buffer Publish is a multi-platform social media publishing tool that lets you plan and collaborate on your content schedule. It offers scheduling features for all major social networks – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
You can use the visual content calendar to see what’s in queue across all your social profiles, which means you can manage it all from one dashboard. This simplifies your social media scheduling as you don’t have to switch between multiple tools and dashboards to schedule your posts.
Source: buffer.com
While Buffer doesn’t let you schedule content directly on TikTok and Instagram Stories, it gives you the option to plan ahead and set reminders. By sending you a notification when it’s time to publish, it helps ensure that you never forget to share to your Stories.
4.4 out of 5 stars
Buffer is one of the most popular social media scheduling platforms. This software helps drive engagement and traffic on social media with the help of their scheduling, engagement, and analytics tools.
Ratings
Overall Score
4.4
Features & Pricing
Automated Publishing
Content Management
Multi-Account Management
Post Scheduling
Reporting/Analytics
Price starting at:$5
Pros and Cons
Simple cross-posting
Straightforward calendar view
Integrates with almost every social platform
Buffer Analyze may be too basic for some
Buffer may glitch with Instagram
Arbitrary character limits for Facebook, Twitter
Pay-as-you-go packaging
Best for: Publishers, mid-stage startup teams, non-profits, higher education, sports teams, e-commerce, solopreneurs, businesse
4.4 out of 5 stars
Buffer is one of the most popular social media scheduling platforms.
This software helps drive engagement and traffic on social media with the help of their scheduling, engagement, and analytics tools.
View
Get to Scheduling
Whether you want to use the free Creator Studio or invest in an Instagram scheduling tool, you have plenty of options to schedule your Instagram posts. If you plan on getting a scheduling tool, make sure to check out our guide on how to schedule Instagram posts using these tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you schedule posts on the Instagram app?
The Instagram mobile app currently doesn’t give you an option to schedule posts. You need to access the Creator Studio from your desktop and schedule your posts from there.
How can I schedule my Instagram posts for free?
The Facebook Creator Studio is a free tool available to Creator and Business Accounts. It lets you schedule your Instagram posts for free.
Can you set up automatic posts on Instagram?
You can set up automatic posts on Instagram using an Instagram scheduling tool like the Facebook Creator Studio, Later, Sprout Social, or ContentCal.
Does Instagram allow scheduled posts?
While Instagram allows scheduled posts, you can’t schedule it from the app. You need to schedule your posts using the Creator Studio on a desktop.
What is the best app for scheduling Instagram posts?
Later, Sprout Social, ContentCal, Buffer, and Loomly are some of the best apps for scheduling Instagram posts.
How to Schedule Instagram Posts in 2023: Guide + Best Practices
Learning how to schedule Instagram posts in advance is the easiest way to save time on the platform so that you can focus on what matters.
The more complex your Instagram marketing efforts are, the more helpful a scheduling tool becomes. This is true whether you own a small business or manage a global team. Consistent, high-quality content is easier to plan, craft and share when you automate some of the grunt work.
In this article, we’ll go through how to schedule posts on Instagram, including the best Instagram scheduling tools for Business, Creator and personal accounts.
1. Add your Instagram Business account to your social media management platform
2. Compose your Instagram post
3. Find the best time to post
4. Schedule your post
Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.
How to schedule Instagram Posts (for Business accounts)
Can you schedule posts on Instagram Business? You sure can!
Visual learners: Watch this video for demos of how to schedule Instagram posts and Stories with Creator Studio and Hootsuite. Everyone else: keep reading.
Brands with business profiles can use third-party apps like Hootsuite to schedule posts across multiple social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest.
You can schedule feed posts, Stories, carousel posts, and Instagram ads with Hootsuite.
Before you start, make sure to switch to an Instagram Business or Creator account — it’s free, and it only takes a minute. If you’d rather stick to a personal account, we have a section for you coming up.
1. Add your Instagram Business account to your social media management platform
If you’re using Hootsuite, it’s easy to link your Instagram account. From the Hootsuite dashboard:
- Click your profile icon in the bottom left corner
- Next, click Social Networks and Teams
- Select + Private Network in the bottom-left corner
- Choose Instagram from the list of networks, and then click Connect with Instagram
- Input your account credentials
For more details on this process, check out our very thorough help article.
2.
Compose your Instagram postIn your Hootsuite dashboard, click the Create icon, then select Post.
In the Post To field, choose your preferred Instagram account from the list.
Now go ahead and upload your visuals (or select them from your content library). You’ll also want to write an engagement-driving caption, add your hashtags, tag relevant accounts, and add your location.
Your draft will show up as a preview on the right.
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If you haven’t already prepared your image for Instagram, it’s easy. Click Edit Image to crop your visual to the required aspect ratios (that is: 1.91:1 or 4:5), filter it, and otherwise perfect it.
Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.
Get the template now!
You can also edit your image using Canva’s editor inside the Hootsuite dashboard.
No more switching tabs, digging through your “Downloads” folder, and reuploading files — you can seamlessly create beautiful visuals from start to finish without leaving Hootsuite Composer.
To use Canva in Hootsuite:
- Log in to your Hootsuite account and head to Composer.
- Click on the purple Canva icon in the bottom right corner of the content editor.
- Select the type of visual you want to create. You can pick a network-optimized size from the drop-down list or start a new custom design.
- When you make your selection, a login pop-up window will open. Sign in using your Canva credentials or follow the prompts to start a new Canva account. (In case you were wondering — yes, this feature does work with free Canva accounts!)
- Design your image in the Canva editor.
- When you’re done editing, click Add to post in the top right corner.
The image will automatically be uploaded to the social post you’re building in Composer.
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3. Find the best time to post
Posting at the right time can help you reach your audience when they’re online. Plus, early engagement tells the Instagram algorithm that people like your content (a.k.a. gives it a nudge to surface it in more users’ feeds).
Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature shows you your best time to post on Instagram based on your posts from the past 30 days. It groups posts by weekday and hour to identify when your posts had the highest impact, based on average impressions or engagement rate.
To find your best times to post, save your post draft and follow the instructions below:
- In the left-hand side menu, click Analytics.
- Then, click Best time to publish.
- In the dropdown menu at the top of your screen, select the Instagram account you’re posting to.
You will see a heatmap highlighting your best times to post (based on your account’s historical performance). You can switch between two tabs: “Build awareness” and “Boost engagement” to find the time that will work best for your specific goals.
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4. Schedule your post
All right, now comes the easy part. Click Schedule for Later in the bottom right, and select the date and time you’d like your post to go live.
If you skipped the step above and didn’t go to analytics to look up your best times to publish, you will see a couple of recommended posting times once you select a date. You can pick one or manually set a time.
That’s it! You can review your scheduled posts in the Hootsuite Planner, and edit them there before they go live, as well.
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How to schedule Instagram posts (for personal accounts)
Finally, let’s take a look at how to schedule an IG post for those of us using personal profiles.
If your Instagram profile is neither a creator nor a business account, don’t worry. You can still schedule your posts; there are just some extra steps involved. In short: Hootsuite sends you a mobile push notification at the scheduled time, which reminds you to log in and tap publish.
1. Add your Instagram profile to your social media management platform
For self-evident reasons, we’ll pretend that your preferred management platform is Hootsuite. From the Hootsuite dashboard:
- Click your profile icon in the bottom left corner
- Next, click Social Networks and Teams
- Select + Private Network in the bottom-left corner
- Choose Instagram from the list of networks, and then click Connect with Instagram
- Input your account credentials to integrate the accounts.
You’re also going to want to set up the ability to use mobile push notifications.
Follow these steps on your phone:
- Download the latest version of the Hootsuite mobile app onto your phone
- Open the Hootsuite app, tap your profile icon in the upper left corner, go to Settings, then Notifications
- Find your Instagram profile in the list and ensure Send me a Push Notification is on
2. Compose your post
You know the drill: write a good caption, use the right hashtags, tag relevant accounts, and add your location.
If you want to level up your posts, check out our list of Instagram marketing tips. Or else read up on the latest Instagram trends in 2023.
3. Schedule your post
The key difference between business and personal accounts? Posts scheduled for a personal account don’t publish automatically. Instead, you’ll get a mobile notification.
You’ll still want to check your Instagram analytics and make sure you select the best time to post.
Go ahead and pick your time and date, then click Schedule.
4. Publish your post
When the time comes, you’ll receive a push notification on your phone to remind you to post to Instagram. Note that this is essentially the same process for scheduling your Instagram Stories (no matter what kind of account you have).
The process for posting looks something like this. The Hootsuite app will take care of most of the work, but you need to open Instagram, paste your caption in, select your photo, et cetera. Not tough brain work, but give yourself five minutes to triple-check that everything’s right.
And voila! You’ve done it!
How to schedule Instagram posts with Creator Studio
Can you plan your Instagram feed on Facebook? You sure can — if you have a Business or Creator profile on Instagram. Facebook’s native Creator Studio allows you to craft and schedule Instagram posts from your computer.
Note that while Creator Studio is a handy Facebook scheduler for Instagram, it’s currently not possible to post or schedule an Instagram Story from Creator Studio.
To do that, you’ll want to check out our post on how to schedule Instagram Stories.
In general, Creator Studio is a good tool if you only want to schedule Instagram and Facebook posts (and don’t mind not being able to schedule Stories). But most social media pros can save a lot of time and energy using a social media management tool and handling all social channels from a single dashboard.
A tool like Hootsuite will help you schedule content to Instagram and Facebook pages, as well as TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest, all in one place. Here is how Creator Studio compares to Hootsuite:
To schedule Instagram posts from your computer using Creator Studio, follow these steps:
- Link your Instagram account to Creator Studio.
- Click the Create Post button.
- Upload your visuals (photos or videos — you can upload multiple files to create a carousel post).
- Craft your post (write your caption, add emojis, mentions and hashtags).
- Click the arrow beside the blue Publish button, and select Schedule.
That’s it! Now you can lean back and check your DMs.
What about cross-posting?
If you’d like to streamline your process even further, you can also consider cross-posting.
Cross-posting is the process of sharing similar content across multiple social media channels. It’s a handy choice for businesses with smaller budgets and less time to personalize content.
You can use cross-posting (via Hootsuite or Facebook Creator Studio) to set Facebook to post to Instagram. It’s not always the best choice for truly engaging content, though.
We’ve got more details in our in-depth guide to cross-posting. If you’re serious about scaling your Instagram marketing efforts, you’ve got better options.
Best practices for scheduling Instagram posts
If you’re ready to take the plunge and get real efficient with your posting habits, these tips will help keep you ahead of the game.
1. Post at the best time
In general, posting when your followers are online is key. That’s because the Instagram algorithm prioritizes recency. This means that, generally, a newer post will show up higher on your followers’ newsfeed than an older one.
That’s one reason why simple cross-posting may not work. Your audience on Facebook may be active from 6-10PM on weeknights, but browsing Instagram from 1-4PM.
The right Instagram analytics tool will tell you when your audience is most likely to be online and/or engage with your post.
For the Hootsuite social media team, that time is 8AM-12PM PST, or 4-5PM PST on weekdays. For you, it might be different.
Luckily, Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature can show you your best time to post on Instagram based on your posts from the past 30 days. It groups posts by weekday and hour to identify when your posts had the highest impact, based on average impressions or engagement rate.
Then it suggests the best times for you to post moving forward.
It will also suggest time slots that you haven’t used in the last 30 days so that you can shake up your posting habits and test new tactics.
2. But don’t schedule too far in advance
If we learned anything in 2020, it’s that the world is changing faster and faster. That’s why automating Instagram posts is a little more nuanced than “set it and forget it.”
When it comes to Instagram scheduling, going much farther than a week in advance can start to increase the risk of something going sideways. You don’t want to cause a social media crisis for your brand by posting something insensitive. If something unexpected happens, you may need to pause your posting calendar entirely. You might even need to use your social channels to communicate through a crisis.
Our advice: keep your finger on the pulse, and stay nimble.
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3. Be ready to press pause
If you do schedule your posts far in advance, it’s not the end of the world. Sometimes you need a full two weeks of vacation!
Just make sure you’re using an Instagram scheduler that allows you to press pause on all upcoming content if a crisis or emergency suddenly occurs.
With Hootsuite, pausing your scheduled social media content is as simple as clicking the pause symbol on your organization’s profile and then entering a reason for the suspension. (This is actually one of our favorite Hootsuite hacks.)
Source: Hootsuite
4. Don’t get spammy
Yes, the miracle of Instagram scheduling means you can now increase your quantity of posts without sacrificing quality. But should you?
The short answer is “maybe.” The long answer is “maybe, if you can maintain consistent quality at that pace over the long term.
”
Consistency matters more than frequency when it comes to engagement. Remember that the algorithm prioritizes good relationships: if your followers are engaging with your Instagram content, the algorithm will show more of it to them.
5. Optimize and edit
No matter how busy you are, make sure you take a fresh look at that copy before it goes live.
And for big teams with a lot of moving parts, an internal multi-stage approval system is ideal for preventing a gaffe.
But though words are important to any social media post, visuals are key on Instagram. Get yourself an Instagram scheduler that allows you to edit your photos in the same dashboard you publish from. It’ll save you much more time and ensure that your images are fully optimized before posting.
Shout out to Hootsuite’s image editor, which can crop your image to the correct size for any social network. It also has an extensive filter library (useful for those of us who would rather leave photo editing up to the professionals).
Watch the video below for a preview of the tool.
6. Analyze and adjust
Now that you know how to schedule posts on IG, you’ve got time to take a look at the big picture.
Are you creating content that works for your audience? What’s earning likes? What’s falling flat? Choose your preferred Instagram analytics tool and start exploring.
Use Hootsuite to schedule Instagram posts at the best time, respond to comments, track competitors, and measure performance—all from the same dashboard you use to manage your other social networks. Start your free trial today.
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Delayed posting on Instagram (2022): free and without software
- Updated on 03/25/2022
- Author Zarina Musina
More recently, Facebook has pleased with the function. Now we can do delayed posting and schedule publications in advance without using additional programs and services.
Disadvantages of third-party applications
There are 2 disadvantages to using autoposting services:
1. In some services, you need to enter the login and password from your Instagram account .
It is very easy to get on fake sites that simply collect logins and passwords of promiscuous social network users. I am too distrustful and I don’t want my account to be spammed in the comments “I earn up to 46 thousand a day with my child” after some time.
2. Other services access the account via API .
This method is safe for your account data, you just give access to actions on behalf of your Instagram profile without entering a login and password. But here another nuance appears: for suspicious actions, your profile may be banned. nine0009
For example: you have scheduled a publication through such a service at 18:00. And at 18:03 you go to Insta from your phone - like, post a story or just scroll through the feed. Instagram sees it like this: 2 active users on 1 account from 2 different devices from 2 different countries (such services are often placed outside the CIS) - it looks suspicious. Ban.
Therefore, in consultations, on live broadcasts and in private conversations, I did not recommend using different gliders. It's good that Facebook made this feature for Instagrammers. nine0009
Schedule a delayed post on Instagram
To schedule a post, go to Creator Studio. There are two ways to get here:
- Go to the link - https://business.facebook.
com/creatorstudio - Go to business manager FB - Tools - Creator Studio
Go to the Instagram tab , to do this, click on the logo on the Instagram logo. If this is your first time here, you will need to enter your username and password from your account. You trust the data to Facebook itself, and not to third-party applications, so you can not be afraid for your data. nine0009
In the upper left corner, click on the button " Create publication ". The service allows you to publish a post in the feed, or a video in IGTV.
Here you can also view account statistics: audience data, reach, engagement, impressions. In general, all the same numbers that are shown in the application. Below you can add other Instagram accounts.
Select " Instagram Feed " and the " Your Post " window will open. Insert text into it, upload a photo of the post, specify a geotag and, if necessary, enter hashtags.
In one post, you can use up to 2200 characters, 30 hashtags and 30 mentions of other profiles. nine0009
You can publish the post right away, or you can set the desired date and time. See the little triangle on the right next to the " Post " button?
Click on it, select " Scheduled Publication " and enter the date and time.
Delayed posting via Facebook allows you to schedule posts several days in advance. It is very convenient when you are going on a trip or just tired of writing posts every day. Use delayed posting on Instagram, the feature is free and available to everyone. nine0009
If you have any questions, please write in the comments. I will answer.
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How to make scheduled posts and stories on Instagram
The social network itself still has no special mechanics. But there are at least three suitable solutions. Detailed instructions on them were compiled for Pressfeed by the author of the blog SMMplanner Alexey Edakin.
The Instagram application and the website do not have a built-in function for delayed publications, as is done in VKontakte or Odnoklassniki. But on the other hand, Facebook, which owns Instagram, offers two tools at once - Creator Studio and Business Suite, where this function is available.
How to make a delayed post on Instagram on PC
Creator Studio is Facebook's official content publishing tool. It is simple: you need to go to your Instagram account, click on the "Publish" button, set the release date. Everything, the post will go to the "future"!
Changing the type of account on InstagramFor delayed posting, your Instagram account must be switched to a business profile.
To do this, go to Settings → Account → Change account type.
Link the page to Facebook right away: Edit profile → Page → Create or connect a page. nine0009 Associating an account with Facebook
Now let's start delayed posting.
Step 1. Go to the Facebook Creator Studio homepage. Select the tab to enter Instagram. You will need to enter your username and password on a new page.
Logging in via InstagramIf you have linked pages on Facebook and Instagram, log in via Facebook, so you can post to both social networks.
Step 2 . Click "Create Post" and select "Instagram Feed". nine0009 You can also make a delayed video in IGTV
Step 3. Create a post. Add a photo or upload several at once to make a carousel. There is no built-in editor, but you can mark an account and crop images to 1:1, 1.91:1 and 4:5 formats.
You can add a geotag to a post The maximum amount of text is 2200 characters.
You can make 30 mentions and post 30 hashtags. All indents and paragraphs will be preserved - you do not need to use services to create invisible spaces. nine0009
In advanced settings, you can disable comments for a post and write alternative text for uploaded images.
Post advanced settingsStep 4. Making a delayed post. Click on the arrow next to the "Publish" button and select "Scheduled Post". We set the time and day.
A delayed post cannot be released immediately to the feed - the minimum time is +10 minutes from the current one. Planning for later dates is unlimited - you can set any day and time. nine0009 We plan to release a post on Instagram
As a result, the delayed post will appear in the profile exactly at the specified time, with all the tags and a breakdown by paragraphs in the text.
A delayed post is no different from a posted one from the application You can view all posts in the "Content Library" section - the first in the list will be scheduled publications.
In the same section, you can see the number of likes and comments for each post that appeared on your account.
Creator Studio has a publication calendar - this is a visual content plan. A scheduled post can be edited or its deadline can be shifted - this helps to flexibly change the order of posts.
Publication calendarIn the "Statistics" section, you can see the audience and study the dynamics of likes, coverage. The data is available for a week and a month and is no different from the statistics from the application.
How to view Instagram statistics on a computerCreator Studio has apps for iPhone and Android, but delayed posting is only available for Facebook. If you want to make scheduled posts on Instagram from your phone, you will need to install Business Suite. nine0009
How to make a delayed post on Instagram from the phone
Business Suite is a marketing platform for managing advertising and commercial accounts on Facebook and Instagram.
The service has an online version and applications on the phone. The functionality is wider than that of Creator Studio, so you can also do delayed posting on Instagram.
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How it works
You need to transfer your Instagram account to a business profile and link it to Facebook - the Business Suite can only be accessed through this social network. See instructions above.
After that, install Business Suite on the phone.
Step 1. Download Business Suite to your Android phone or iPhone.
Download Business Suite to phoneStep 2. Log in to Facebook by email and password. Click the "Publish" button in the center. We switch in the post editor to the Instagram profile. nine0009 If you do not switch, the post will be sent to both social networks at once
Step 3.
Create a post. We write the text, add an image, mark people and put a geotag. We click "Next".
Step 4. Set the exit time. Click "Publication scheduling options" → "Schedule for the future". Specify the date and time. Click "Schedule" and go back. Click "Publish".
We plan the release time of the post on InstagramThe post went on hold. You can find it in the "Publications" → "Scheduled" section. You can edit the post, change the posting time, or delete it.
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How to delete a scheduled post for Instagram Business Suite, like Creator Studio, has access to profile statistics and a number of advanced features: you can reply to direct messages and run targeted ads.
The only downside is that you can’t schedule stories in both services. But there is a solution. nine0009
How to make a delayed story on Instagram
To do this, we will use one of the delayed auto-posting services with the ability to edit stories - SMMplanner.
Step 1. Go to the SMMplanner website. We enter the account, create a new one or do it through any social network.
Step 2. Enter the menu. Go to the menu tab and select "Accounts".
To enter the menu, click in the upper left corner - a list will openStep 3. Connect your Instagram account. Select "Advanced API SMMplanner". Enter login and password.
What does it mean: posting through the Instagram API will not allow you to create delayed stories - its functionality is the same as Creator Studio.
Connecting Step 4. Planning stories. We return to the "Posts" section and click "Schedule a story.
"
Step 5. Creating a Story. First, select an account, then make a background - you can upload a photo or video. All stickers from the application are available, but if you need text, you will first have to add it to the image. You can use the Canva or Crello editors that are built right into SMMplanner. nine0009 Edit and set the timer
Step 6. Plan the time. Click "Schedule", set the date and time. After that, the story will appear in the "Posts" list - it can be edited or rescheduled for another time.
Instagram is in no hurry to introduce delayed posting directly into the application - apparently, it considers that this function is only needed by SMM-boxes and commercial accounts. Therefore, you have to use Business Suite, Creator Studio or SMMplanner. On the other hand, it is more convenient to create publications in these tools: the functionality is wider, it is possible to save drafts and plan a content grid.
