Scheduling Instagram Post: Why is it necessary?

It’s 7 PM on a Friday and you’re stuck in a meeting that has lasted way too long. You start to panic because it is your scheduled time to post on Instagram and you cannot wait a minute longer because then your engagement will go down the drain. You can’t believe that you painstakingly crafted the perfect post only for it to get derailed by a meeting that could have been an email! 

I’m sure we have all experienced something of this sort at least once in the past. Well, you can cast your worries aside, because I’m going to give you the perfect solution to this problem- scheduling your Instagram posts!

[Pexels]

How To Schedule Your Instagram Posts 

Instagram allows you to schedule your posts in advance so that you don’t run around at the last minute praying that your wifi comes back on. It also helps you save time and you can focus on what’s important- creating content.

However, Instagram itself doesn’t provide a scheduling feature; you need to use third party apps to do the scheduling. Let’s learn how!

The first step is to make sure your Instagram account is a “business” or “creator” account. Switching to these types of accounts is free and easy. You can do it with just a few clicks. Go to Settings → Account → Switch Account Type.

The next step is to connect your Instagram profile to your social media management platform like Hootsuite, Hubspot, or Later. If you don’t have one, it is best to invest in a platform because you won’t be able to schedule your posts without one. 

You can just sign up to your chosen platform and connect your Instagram account to it right away. Easy peasy! Do keep in mind that you will have to log in to your Instagram account via the platform for this. 

The third step is, well, scheduling. This involves creating a post within the platform and scheduling it. Upload your image or video, write an engaging caption, add hashtags, and pick a date and time for your post to go live. And.. your work is done! The post will automatically go live at the scheduled time.

 Source: Later

The really cool part is that these platforms offer many features that make your work easier. Such as analyzing your account and giving you very valuable information such as the best times to post and letting you crop your photo to the right size (we all know how important that is, right?) You can also schedule your posts weeks in advance! That’s certainly a huge weight off your back.

Now that we’ve covered the “how,” it is time to focus on the “why.” 

Why Should You Schedule Your Instagram Posts Anyway? 

Did you know that your Instagram page is just as – if not more – important than your website? And scheduling your posts can help make your Instagram page better. Let us look at the benefits it has to offer.

1. It saves your precious time. 

This is the most obvious benefit. Let’s say you post five times a week. When you schedule all the posts at once, you don’t need to dedicate time everyday for this. This helps you be more efficient. 

You also don’t have to worry about setting reminders or rushing online every day at your planned time to post on Instagram. Time saved is time spent being less anxious!

2. You get to plan out your feed. 

Ever seen an aesthetic Instagram feed with an obvious theme? It could be a minimalist theme, or a B and W theme. For example, something like this-

Source: Jason Bowen on Instagram

It may not be obvious, but Instagram feeds that look visually pleasing tend to have an advantage over ones that don’t. Humans are, after all, visual creatures, right? Your feed is the first thing that will decide whether someone wants to stay on your profile or not.

So if you have a planned out feed, you’re more likely to get more followers. Scheduling your posts lets you do exactly that! Some of the social media management tools also give you a preview of what your future feed would look like.

3. Scheduling posts help you be consistent. 

If you are serious about building traffic on your Instagram page, consistency is key. Miss posting for one day, and your whole engagement rate is thrown off. 

But staying consistent is hard, right? You need to plan a post every single day AND carve out some time to manually post it. It can get exhausting sometimes, which is when scheduling posts comes to the rescue. 

Spend one day per week and get all your Instagram planning and scheduling done with. You no longer have to feel the stomach-sinking dread about missing a day. Not to mention the fact that you will NEVER miss posting brand campaigns on important holidays ever again.

4. It gives you more time to increase the quality of your posts. 

If you want to save yourself the trouble of coming up with an engaging caption at the last minute, scheduling posts well in advance is your friend. Because if there is anything more important than posting at the right time, it is making sure that your post is stellar. 

When you schedule posts, you get to spend more time focusing on the quality. This helps you come up with engaging captions, gives you time to edit your photos to your liking, and also helps you find out any minor mistakes. 

5. Streamline your publishing process. 

Probably one of the biggest advantages of scheduling your posts is that you get to do it on your laptop! You know what this means- a more streamlined planning + publishing process because you no longer have to use your phone. You can keep everything organized neatly on your laptop. Your whole process just gets 10x easier. 

Moreover, you also get to enjoy a birds-eye view of your feed and some time away from your phone.

6. It drives more engagement to your page. 

Mosting more consistently and filling your feed with well-thought out posts definitely contribute towards increasing your engagement rate. The analytics feature that these management tools offer also work to your advantage. 

Another huge benefit is that since you’re not spending time every day manually posting, you can use that time to focus on what matters- networking or coming up with insanely brilliant campaigns! You can also engage with your followers to add a human touch to your brand. 

Some Things To Keep In Mind While Scheduling 

1. Don’t schedule too far out in advance. A week is good. A month? Not so much. You need to make sure that your posts are relevant to the current climate, and scheduling weeks in advance is counterproductive to that.

2. Take a look at your posts just before or after they are published to make sure everything is good!

That’s it, folks! Ready to take your brand to the next level by scheduling your posts?