Previously you could only schedule Instagram posts using a social media management tool such as Hootsuite. You would get a push notification reminder at the time the post was due and you would then have to manually post to Instagram. Now Instagram has added support for this feature to its API so social media management tools such as Hootsuite, ContentCal, Sprout Social, Buffer and others have the ability to add this to their platforms.
At Concise Training, we have been using Hootsuite for a number of years and they were one of the first to add the ability to schedule Instagram posts.
To schedule posts:
Activate it on your Hootsuite dashboard. If you’ve not added Instagram to Hootsuite yet have a look at the help section here.
Ensure that your Instagram account is a business account and that it is connected to a Facebook Business Page. If you need help with this have a look at the Facebook help page.
Make sure you are logged into Instagram with the profile you wish to schedule posts for on Hootsuite.
Go to your Hootsuite dashboard and act like you are going to schedule a post to Hootsuite. You should see a notification in blue regarding publishing photos directly to Instagram. Click on ‘set up direct photo publishing’
Click ‘Get started’
Click ‘set up’on the popup that is displayed.
A pop up will appear asking you to authorise Hootsuite to integrate with your Instagram account. Click ‘ok‘ and then click ‘Done‘. You are now set up to publish from Hootsuite to your Instagram account.
Interestingly, Instagram has announced that this feature will be added to personal profiles from early 2019.
What do you think? Will this development change the way you are using Instagram – or perhaps you will start using Instagram? Let us know.
Do you want to get more out of Instagram? Why not have a look at our Instagram for Business online course?