If you could describe the “magical” secrets to Instagram success, you’d probably mention great quality posts, consistency, and massive engagement. However, these characteristics are easier said than achieved. Scheduling your Instagram posts beforehand is one of the most helpful ways to keep up with these best Instagram practices without spending too much time on the app. 

Whether you’re an upcoming business person or the head of a brand, the more detailed your Instagram marketing strategies are the more helpful a scheduling tool becomes. That’s because high-quality content is easier to outline and share when the challenging parts have been automated.

In this guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know about scheduling your posts for the ‘gram.’ This includes the tool you should use and the best times to schedule Instagram posts for maximum engagement.

And the cool part? You can do it all for free!

Let’s get to it.

Do I Need To Schedule Instagram Posts?

The answer is YES. You should schedule your posts. In today’s world of social media, it is expected that you will frequently update your Instagram page with relevant and timely content. Without scheduling, it’ll be difficult to meet this expectation. Here are other reasons why using an Instagram scheduler should be in your posting plans.

Scheduling Helps You Create a Cohesive Post

Nowadays, Instagram aesthetics doesn’t just revolve around perfect pictures and presentations. Users are also drawn to feeds that tell a cohesive visual story. 

You often have a few seconds to make an excellent first impression, so planning a visually engaging grid is necessary. A cohesive feed naturally takes new audiences into an experience that helps them understand who you are and what you do. 

Your posts could use a grid that integrates complementary colours or one that offers a mix of lifestyle and meme content.

It Saves Your Precious Time 

Saving time is vital in all aspects of our life, but it is especially important in business. If you’re a small-business owner, a seasoned creative, or a social media manager, you’re probably juggling multiple tasks with limited time. It is for this reason that you should schedule your Instagram posts ahead of time. 

Scheduling allows you to devote time to precise planning, quality content creation, and other business requirements.  Plus, you don’t need to rush when making posts in real-time. Because you’re not creating a post immediately, you can take your time and plan adequately.

It Keeps Your Content Calendar Organised 

Who doesn’t love an organised and well-structured content calendar? It gives you a comprehensive birds-eye view of your content and helps you spot any gap or opportunity for the upcoming weeks. 

Scheduling posts is a quick and easy technique to make sure you’re not just posting for the sake of posting. It also gives you time to ensure that your uploads are always meaningful.

Gives You Time to Generate Better Captions

Crafting captions on the go isn’t as easy as it looks. You can make an error out of haste or even suffer writer’s block. Plus, if you create in a hurry, you may not be able to present your brand’s story in the most strategic way possible. 

Planning and scheduling your posts in advance gives you confidence and control. You can make time to properly research and write solid captions. Also, you get ample room to optimise your post by including SEO keywords to help increase reach. 

It Gives You Consistency

Posting consistently is the life force of every social media brand or content creator. It not only gradually builds engagements but sets a standard that triggers success.

To be honest, you don’t have to post every day. After all, for most people, that’s not particularly realistic. It is more important to post content weekly, which gives your audience something to engage with over a period. As with every marketing strategy, consistency is key.

Instagram has over one billion monthly active users and at least 25 million business profiles. So, saying the competition for attention is tough would be an understatement. 

To rise above common practices and succeed with Instagram marketing, dedication, organisation, and consistency are necessary. And this is why you need to schedule your Instagram posts.

How To Schedule Your Posts On Instagram: Step-by-step Guide

The most popular way to schedule your Instagram posts is through Facebook’s Creator Studio. Everything can be accessed on the Creator Studio dashboard. You get to edit your images, add captions and tags, set the location, and then schedule the exact date and time for the posts to go live. 

The steps to schedule posts on Instagram are:

STEP 1. Create an Instagram Business Account

If you want to use Facebook’s creative studio, you’ll need an Instagram business account. To open a business account, follow these steps:

• Open the Instagram profile and select the top-right icon next to your profile information.
• It will open a window with settings as one of the options. Click on settings.
• Then click on the account option.
• Scroll down to find “switch to a professional account” among the options provided. Click on that, and you’ve created your business account. 

STEP 2. Find the Best Posting Times on Instagram

Once you have a business profile, the next step is determining the peak periods for Instagram posting. With the help of Instagram analytics, track your Instagram followers to know when they are most active. 

The Instagram algorithm has a way of prioritizing posts with high engagements. Through Instagram post scheduling, you can get even more engagement.

STEP 3. Create and Curate Your Instagram Content

The next step is to create your content. It is best to stick with content that generates more engagements. You may have to look at your Instagram analytics to see what kind of posts perform the best. Do this by Tracking posts that attract many likes, views, shares, and comments. 

Ensure you have the right themes to give a brilliant presentation that guarantees favorable engagements.

STEP 4. Design a Compelling Instagram Feed

The next step on your Instagram post scheduling journey would be planning the Instagram feed. The Instagram feed is a big picture that should be well thought out and accurately timed. Stick to your Instagram marketing strategy and design a compelling Instagram feed!

STEP 5. Schedule Your Instagram Posts With Facebook’s Creator Studio

Here’s how you schedule Instagram posts using Facebook’s Creator Studio:

• Connect your Instagram account to Facebook Creator Studio.
• Tap “Connect to Instagram.” Then follow the instructions to log into the Instagram account you want to connect.
• Choose the posts that you want to schedule
• Crop your image if need be
• Include your Instagram caption 
• Select “Schedule” by tapping the arrow on the right of the “Publish” button.
• Choose a date and time.

Now, you’re done. If you’ve followed all of the steps correctly, your Instagram post will be published to your account at the chosen date and time without further activity from you.

This scheduling feature will come in helpful for all social media managers. However, there are a few points to keep in mind. The first is that you won’t be able to tag products in your posts. Also, you can’t schedule posts to reels. 

Keep in mind that scheduling Instagram posts is only available for business accounts linked to a Facebook page. So be sure to meet this criterion if you don’t want to use a third-party app.

Bottom Line

Instagram post scheduling is a vital strategy in today’s business environment. It is useful for balancing day-to-day schedules while managing your online strategy. Instagram post scheduling also makes sure your audience remains engaged, and it is a sound approach for keeping fresh content on your Instagram feed. 

With the above guide on scheduling Instagram posts, you should be free of rush hour posting preparations and experience the joy of consistency and audience engagement.