With more than two billion monthly active users worldwide, the Instagram app is a cornucopia of potential new business. Getting users' attention is a different story. Since most companies are active on more than one platform, scheduling social media posts keeps things from getting overwhelming.
We're going over everything you need to know about using Instagram scheduling tools, including some of the best tools on the market to automate and simplify the process of maintaining an Instagram account. Here's what you need to know to make Instagram scheduling logical, doable, and maintainable.
What is Instagram scheduling and why is it important?
As a business, it's challenging to manually upload Instagram posts and ads while maintaining a consistent, high-quality tone for the brand. Scheduling posts provides a way to build a cohesive presence, as well as reach your ideal audience when they're actually online.
Even more importantly, using social media tools to manage content creation, publish posts, and generate post ideas frees up time so that your team can be creative and plan both content strategy and relevant ad campaigns. When you automate many of these rote tasks, your team has a lot more space to focus on content creation and subsequent engagement.
Benefits of scheduling Instagram posts
There are multiple benefits of using Instagram scheduling tools instead of manually uploading image and video posts:
- Scheduling allows you to plan and batch-create content, so you don't have to interrupt your day to post. Practices like first-comment scheduling also help encourage engagement right at the beginning.
- Regular, relevant posts help maintain audience interest and grow your follower base.
- Tools often provide analytics to help you post at times when your audience is most active.
- Advanced tools offer visual planners to align your content with your brand's aesthetic.
- Many scheduling tools support multiple users, making it easier to coordinate with your team.
Save time with these 10 Instagram scheduling tools
We've compiled ten different social media management tools that give you the ability to manage your Instagram and even your social media effectively. Let's go through them.
1. Brandwatch
Brandwatch offers an Instagram scheduling tool and content planner in one intuitive user interface. Teams can use its built-in analytics tools, easy-to-read dashboards, and competitor analysis so teams can collaborate on content for an Instagram account and measure its impact. It's a comprehensive tool for managing your Instagram account and other social media.
It also gives you the unique ability to explore how your brand is perceived on Instagram. You'll have access to 12 months of public Instagram data, and you can connect your account to find out how users perceive your brand and Instagram posts. This is a powerful insight into how your Instagram posts really perform beyond simple metrics.
Brandwatch is an excellent option for large businesses and enterprises that need comprehensive tools to manage complex social media campaigns and schedule multiple posts. It enables larger teams to collaborate effectively without overlapping tasks or getting lost in email chains and successfully integrates most major social networks.
2. Sprout Social
Sprout Social's tool offers companies in-depth analytics along with more seamless scheduling. A built-in content calendar lets you visualize the progression of posts for an Instagram business account throughout a campaign and visually organize them to help your team collaborate. If you need to fine-tune your messaging, you can target a specific audience and enable message tagging.
It's best for medium to large businesses with a fairly mature marketing strategy. It provides advanced audience engagement tools to maintain and build followers, as well as good collaboration tools.
3. Planoly
Planoly is a visually focused interface that lets you drag and drop multiple posts to plan content in chunks. It allows you to fine-tune and prioritize the aesthetics of your Instagram feed by showing you a mock-up version of all your Instagram posts within the tool. It will also suggest hashtags, help you manage comments, and schedule Stories.
It's a great tool for business Instagram accounts with an aesthetic focus, such as lifestyle brands and those offering digital products. It also helps creatives with personal Instagram accounts build a cohesive feed that highlights what product or service they offer, including themselves as influencers.
4. Tailwind
For businesses that batch create a lot of content, Tailwind specializes in simplifying bulk uploads and hashtag research. It also automates posting by using a feature called SmartSchedule, which automatically selects the best posting times based on your audience engagement patterns.
It's best for small businesses and content creators that want to focus mostly on automation to free up time to be creative. It also simplifies choosing hashtags, something helpful for those growing an audience.
5. Sendible
Sendible is a UK company with a versatile, flexible platform for managing multiple social accounts. Its Instagram scheduling features include auto-posting, analytics, and content previews. Additionally, its collaboration tools allow teams to review and approve posts before they go live, and it includes a separate client dashboard with commenting. You can also auto-send metrics to both your team and clients.
Sensible works well for agencies and social media managers administering multiple Instagram accounts from different businesses. It can streamline those workflows so that there's time to devote to content creation on multiple fronts while maintaining consistency in posting.
6. SocialPilot
SocialPilot is a budget-friendly app that also gives companies review management. For service businesses especially, this option allows teams to control social media and build relationships by creating quality content and also encouraging reviews of the business itself.
It's scalable and offers good functionality for companies that need multi-platform management and reliable scheduling across the board.
7. CrowdFire
CrowdFire's standout feature is its ability to curate content from various sources, making it easier to schedule posts that align with your niche. The tool also includes post-performance analytics and keyword tracking to help refine your Instagram strategy.
CrowdFire is best suited to brands with one strong niche focus and solopreneurs or influencers with targeted outreach goals.
8. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a very popular choice for companies managing multiple social media accounts. It has tools for scheduling, monitoring, and analyzing Instagram content, along with several other popular platforms. Hootsuite Insights uses AI to uncover trends and sentiment analysis, giving you a deeper understanding of your audience.
It's well-suited to larger companies requiring advanced analytics and cross-platform integration. It's also one of the original scheduling tools on the market capable of organizing multiple platforms.
9. Buffer
Buffer offers a user-friendly interface and strong analytics features, making it perfect for solopreneurs and small teams. Its engagement tools allow you to respond to comments and direct messages directly from the platform, saving time and streamlining interactions.
Freelancers and small businesses that want a scheduling tool without a lot of extra features that they won't use can find just the right functionality in Buffer.
10. Sked Social
Sked Social provides analytics, planning, and scheduling tools for multiple social media platforms, including Instagram. It supports image editing and advanced content previews, enabling you to perfect your posts before publishing. It also offers social listening and AI assistance for managing Instagram content and following up with metrics.
Sked Social is a good option for marketers and agencies focusing primarily on Instagram content and scheduling.
Key features to look for in Instagram scheduling tools
No matter what tool you choose, there are a few non-negotiable features included in the best Instagram scheduling apps.
Automation
It is extremely difficult to manage today's social media presence as a company without making use of automation. Your teams will end up spending all their time manually scheduling and coordinating posts when they could be creating campaigns from a long-term perspective.
The automation feature is key for any Instagram scheduling app. It ensures that posts go live when your audience is most likely to be online, even if that doesn't always align with when the team is in office. If you're watching your analytics closely, automation helps you align your content with what your audience wants to see and when they want to see it.
Content development
A quality tool will also have content development capabilities to make the creation process more smooth. Choose tools that assist your team with brainstorming new ideas and providing tailored hashtag suggestions. Some platforms offer keyword tracking so that you can optimize captions and discover trending topics in your niche.
It should also enable better collaboration among your team. It might include a content calendar teams can edit and follow, as well as stored specs for both brand guidelines and platform best practices. Even better, content curation tools such as a visual content calendar feature can help make the specifics of the campaign clear.
Visualization
Marketing teams don't work in a vacuum. They have to report activities and progress to other departments and decision-makers. One of the best ways to convey this information is to visualize it.
A strong visualization feature provides more than just a drag-and-drop grid. Look for platforms that offer dynamic content previews, enabling you to see exactly how your Instagram feed will look over time. These tools often allow you to rearrange Instagram posts, match color palettes, and ensure visual consistency across campaigns.
Analytics
Analytics gives you an inside look at what your audience really wants. It tells you everything from when they want to see posts, what kind of content they love, and what performs well on each individual platform. If your tool has nothing else, it needs robust analytics capabilities.
These are 12 analytics that can make a real difference in your Instagram strategy:
- Engagement metrics: Track the number of likes per post to gauge content appeal, understand audience interaction and conversation levels, measure how often your content is shared, and monitor how often posts are bookmarked for later.
- Reach and impressions: Assess the number of unique users who see your post and the total views of your post, including repeat views by the same user.
- Follower growth: Daily, weekly, and monthly growth trends to assess your overall social media strategy's effectiveness.
- Audience demographics: Insights into follower age, gender, location, and active hours to refine targeting.
- Hashtag performance: Metrics to evaluate which hashtags drive the most engagement or reach.
- Content performance: Identify top-performing posts based on engagement, reach, or other key metrics and analyze different content types like carousel posts, stories, and videos for performance trends.
- Click-through rates: The percentage of users who click on links in your bio or Story swipe-ups, indicating successful call-to-actions.
- Story analytics: Metrics like taps forward, taps back, and exits to understand how users engage with Instagram Stories.
- Conversion metrics: Track how many users take a specific action after viewing a post, such as visiting a website or making a purchase.
- Competitor analysis: Comparative metrics to understand your performance relative to competitors in your niche.
- Sentiment analysis: Insights into how audiences feel about your content or brand derived from comments and mentions.
- Peak engagement times: Data on when your audience is most active to optimize posting schedules.
Collaborative workflows
Collaborative tools are indispensable. Multi-user access allows teams to share responsibilities and readily see where digital marketing projects stand. Tools with draft review and permission levels give other stakeholders the opportunity to view the latest drafts of content while maintaining responsible version control.
In some cases, tools offering the chance for users to comment directly give teams better communication without the hassle of email threads.
How to schedule Instagram posts effectively
Once you've decided on your tool, there are three steps to using it to improve posting.
Step 1: Plan your content
Planning content is key, and think long-term here. You're not only aligning content with your brand guidelines but also with any overarching marketing needs. Ideally, you'll have your Instagram feed viewable through the tool, giving you the chance to see how it creates a story for users over time.
An overarching Instagram content strategy also helps you understand key dates like product launches or relevant holidays and gives you a framework to add in opportunities that pop up — think trending topics — without seeming incohesive.
Step 2: Choose the right time to post
If you've been following your analytics, you'll have a good idea of when your audience is online. Schedule posts for those times using your Instagram scheduling tool.
However, if you're just starting out on social media, you can follow our guidelines for the best time to post in general. We've compiled some guidance for when platforms like Instagram tend to be most active, and that will give you a good place to start.
You might also take a look at two or three competitors in your space to see when they're posting. See when their posts experience the highest engagement and also if there are any gaps you might fill.
Step 3: Use a scheduling tool to schedule posts
Manually uploading posts won't be the best use of your team's time. Instead, use your chosen Instagram tool to schedule posts to go live during peak engagement times. Consider different time zones as well as relevant conversations happening around events or trending topics.
First, upload your content, including images, videos, or carousels, directly to the tool's library, ensuring everything looks the way you want it to and is ready for scheduling. Once your content is prepared, add captions and targeted hashtags to enhance discoverability and engagement.
The next step is to decide on the best timing for your posts. Many tools offer analytics or AI-powered recommendations to determine when your audience is most active, making it easier to optimize visibility. After setting your post times, preview your feed to ensure consistency in aesthetics and branding.
Finally, regularly monitor your scheduled content to make adjustments as needed, ensuring your social media efforts remain aligned with your goals and audience preferences.
Frequently asked questions
Let's take care of any final questions.
How can Instagram scheduling help grow my audience?
Scheduling posts during times when users are online can improve your early engagement. Engagement is a significant part of how the algorithm suggests content to new users.
If you can get a lot of engagement from existing followers on each new post, the algorithm is more likely to designate that post as valuable and therefore suggest it to new users.
Can I schedule posts for multiple Instagram accounts at once?
Yes, a worthwhile tool allows you to schedule posts even if you handle multiple accounts. A tool might even make it easier to manage more than one account.
How do I know the best time to post on Instagram?
Watching your analytics will tell you so much about your audience's preferences, including when they're most likely to be online. There's also general guidance for when platforms experience the most engagement, but ultimately, this is unique to your target audience.
What should I include in my Instagram content calendar?
Your content calendar ought to have all the information you need at a glance to create, post, and monitor content. This includes things like Instagram post topics, campaign information, relevant hashtags, and visuals.
Are Instagram scheduling tools compatible with all devices?
A good Instagram scheduling tool should be compatible with the specific devices that you use. We'll stop short of saying they're compatible with all devices, but you should be able to connect your content calendar and other frequently-used files.
Building an effective strategy for Instagram
Using a scheduling tool can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend performing all the manual tasks associated with posting on social media. Your team can funnel more of their energy into content creation and planning and spend less time trying to coordinate with each other or remembering to upload content at just the right time.
Our tips can help reduce the overwhelm associated with social media marketing and get you on the right track to meet your Instagram goals. And with a tool like Brandwatch, you'll have all the features you need to remove the guesswork and start implementing social media that matters.
