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Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users just as Facebook now has over 2.7 billion monthly active users. One thing active social media users have in common is regular posting of text, pictures, video, etc.
Scant profiles smack of inactivity, and is often characterized by lack of or acute shortage of engagement which is an important social media metric, especially for businesses that hope to profit from Instagram.
Make no mistakes about it, being socially active takes time, creativity and effort. It may require developing a content calendar listing what type of content to produce, when, how; when to post, where to promote, hashtags to use, who to mention, etc. Depending on the size and scale of your business or schedule, this can be a herculean task, but thanks to social media automation apps and tools, this can be overcome.
With such a global platform, your Instagram followers, fans or customers are likely spread across different continents, time zones and ZIP codes. Time difference can have a huge impact on who sees your posts. There are best times to post on social media for maximum visibility and exposure, but due to time differences, this best time to post differs from place to place.
This is where an Instagram scheduling app comes in; to automate the timely delivery of your posts to any and every location possible.
Hence, even while you’re asleep your Instagram scheduling app is awake making sure your scheduled posts are delivered at the right time to all your followers worldwide irrespective of their time zones.
However, you need the best Instagram scheduling apps out there to achieve best results. In this post we’ll be highlighting ten top Instagram scheduling apps to help you deliver content on time every time.
So,
What is Instagram Scheduling?
It is important to understand first what Instagram scheduling is all about. IG is unlike Twitter or Facebook where you can plan your content ahead of time and publish automatically.
Instagram scheduling is the process of planning and automatically publishing your content at any predetermined time. With Instagram scheduling apps you don’t have to be active on Instagram each and every time you want to publish or share a post.
4 Importance of Instagram Scheduling
The following are four importance of Instagram scheduling:
Time Management
One of the benefits of Instagram scheduling is that it is time-saving! Sometimes it is inconvenient or impossible to always open your Instagram app, upload an image, write a caption, set hashtags, add a video and hit publish every single time you want to publish.
With scheduling apps you can upload and plan your content well in advance during your free or best time and set it to publish at a future date or time at which it will publish even when you’re asleep or in the middle of other activities.
You can also schedule multiple Instagram posts to publish at different dates and times. Even if your phone is switched off, it will still publish at the set times. This is how Instagram scheduling helps save time.
Constant Content
As earlier mentioned, constant posting is vital to Instagram success. You may have sufficient content for the year but if you don’t have enough time to manually post each such content, your Insta profile may suffer.
With Instagram scheduling you can now plan and publish multiple content, including all the hard earned content you’ve created for the year which translates to constant content on your profile, any day, any time, even while you’re on vacation in a remote island.
Content Organization
Instagram scheduling also helps you organize content effectively and with ease. It could be a big task to otherwise msnuslly organize content for posting, especially if you’re managing multiple accounts.
With Instagram scheduling, you can plan and organize your content plus determine what type of content mix to add to your line-up.
This helps to avoid stress or rush, which may lead to errors in the content you’re sending out.
Increased Productivity via Automation
With more free time and less stress, Instagram scheduling helps businesses reach their target audience with regular content, which translates to increased productivity.
It drastically reduces time spent planning, organizing and streamlining (bulk) content so you can focus on growing your business while your feeds are on autopilot.
Now, here are
10 Instagram Scheduling Apps You Should Try Today
Below are 10 highly recommended Instagram scheduling apps to try.
| App | Key features |
|---|---|
| Hopper HQ | ● Post content to Instagram automatically without reminders ● You can plan and schedule posts from desktop and mobile ● Instagram approves the app, so no spam-related issue ● Offers a 14-day free trial ● Price ranges from $19 per month (annual plan available at discounted rates) |
| ScheduGram | ● Allows photos and videos upload from the web ● Enables upload of multiples posts ● You can manage multiple Instagram accounts ● It can crop, add filters, text and rotate images ● Allows more than one user – that is you can create another account for someone that manages your Instagram account ● Offers a 7-day trial period ● Price – $20 per month/1 Instagram account |
| Later | Offers two types of accounts, free and paid Free account: ● You can add two Instagram accounts ● Allows 30 photos monthly ● Post only photos, no videos ● It can search and repost content Paid account: ● You can add two Instagram accounts ● Allows you to publish 250 content per month ● It posts photos and videos ● It searches and reposts content ● Price – starts at $20 monthly Note: Later does not post automatically but alerts you when it’s time to post, and you can post through the app to Instagram |
| TakeOff | ● Offers initial free account for one Instagram account and later moves you to $10 per month ● You can link two Instagram accounts ● Allows only one team member ● Mobile-friendly app with various functions |
| ViralTag | ● Schedules and post content to Instagram and also for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. That means you can use it to manage other of your social media accounts. ● You can customize your post according to your brand, plus, you’re able to add product links to your posts on Instagram ● The app suggests the best time to post your content for better engagement ● Offers unlimited posts ● Allows only one user ● It can curate content from RSS feeds |
| Onlypult | ● Lets you create multiple user accounts ● You can upload photos and videos from a computer ● Multiple Instagram accounts – up to 40 ● Multiple users ● Tracking and measuring of Instagram analytics ● You can track your competitors ● Schedule and post content ● Offers a 7-day free trial ● Price – $12 per month |
| Hootsuite | ● The app schedules both for Instagram, Facebook and Twitter ● Free account with three different social profiles ● Allows many other social profiles but you have to upgrade to pro plan – $9 per month ● Reports social media analytics ● It follows trending hashtags ● Offers a 30-day free trial |
| Machinegram | ● Lets you manage unlimited Instagram accounts ● Reposting of pictures and caption ● Sharing of Instagram updates to a Facebook page you own, and also Twitter ● Automates Instagram account management ● Unlimited scheduling ● Price – around $10 per Instagram account |
| Buffergram | ● Scheduling and posting of Instagram updates ● Allows you upload photos from Dropbox ● It tracks and measures how well your Instagram campaigns are doing ● Price starts at $5 per month |
| Buffer | ● Offers free and paid plan ● You can schedule up to 10 posts at a time with the free plan ● Lets you add photos and videos free ● Schedules up to 100 posts with their paid plan – begins at $10 per month ● Note: Buffer doesn’t post automatically, but notifies you when it’s time to post your uploaded content |
Conclusion
With over 1 billion monthly active users and counting, Instagram is the place to be for businesses that mean business, and with Instagram scheduling apps you can free up time to focus on other areas of your business.
Let us know which scheduling apps you have tried or intend to try.
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