Growing your Instagram following isn’t as easy as it used to be since the platform has been blessed with a rapidly growing user base of over 77 mil. strong. This makes Instagram a (literally) awesome place to find followers who will engage with your content. Downside? You’re competing with over 77 million users trying to also grow their following. The best way to break through the noise is to, obviously, post more well-polished pics and vids accompanied by thoughtful descriptions and well-researched hashtags – and not just when you feel like it either. If you truly want to gain a massive following, you need to post at the right time every day. Which, if you work a 9 to 5, probably isn’t the easiest thing to remember and do.
If this sounds inconvient for someone to do manually every day, that’s because it is. Enter instagram scheduling tools.
While many companies have jumped on the bandwagon of Instagram posting tools since Instagram reopened their API to developers (after much hullabaloo from said developers requesting Instagram open their API), here are our favorite Instagram reposting tools:
1. Buffer
Buffer: 4.5 out of 5 stars on Android or iOS
Buffer has arguably become one of the most popular social scheduling tools since the massive marketing campaign that took them from 0 to 100,000 users in 9 short months. If this doesn’t prove their marketing prowess, we don’t know what does. Through their users, they’ve garnered millions of data points to help you hone in on the perfect social media message – from the length, to time and on what day – the list goes on. While they do offer a free version, it’s rather limited as to how many posts you can schedule at one time (10 max.) We think their Pro Plan ($15/month) is a good deal for scheduling 100 posts at a time.
2. Hootsuite
Hoosuite: 4.5 out of 5 stars on Android or iOS
Hootsuite vs. Buffer is a hotly debated “Who did it better?” for most, it’s a matter of how many extras (and which ones) you’re looking for from a social media scheduler. Their free version is more generous than most, allowing up to 30 social media messages to be scheduled at one time. However, if you’re looking for more, their paid plans start getting pricing, their lowest tier being $29/month – but with unlimited scheduled messages.
3. RecurPost
RecurPost: 4.2 out of 5 stars on Android or iOS
RecurPost is a great option for people who want to automatically reschedule content (as in, the same content gets published automatically.) However, if you’re looking to consistently add variety to your posts and never republish, it may not be the most logical option for you. Their free plan allows for up to 100 scheduled posts and their paid plans start at $15/month – but here’s the kicker – the post limit is the same as the free. To schedule up to 1,000 posts per month, you’re looking at $25/month.
4. Regrann
Regrann: 4.6 out of 5 stars on Android
Let’s start with the bad: Regrann is only available on Andorid (sorry, iOS!) Second downside: there are basically two different apps (free and paid) so your info is basically non-transferrable if you decide to switch. They do, however, have a very user-friendly interface and offer a free trial with their pro version so you can test it out for 7 days. If you’re looking for an inexpensive no-frills app for just Instagram, Regrann is a good option to look into.
5. CoSchedule
CoSchedule: 3.6 out of 5 stars on Android or iOS
CoSchedule is packed with a ton of features and while, no, it’s not just for social media scheduling, we felt we should include it. CoSchedule is different from every other app on this list because it gives you a snapshot view of all of your marketing activities – from blog posts, to emails, to social media, to webinars, and images – you get it. With that said, CoSchedule is one of the heaviest hitters price-wise on this list, as it has no “free forever” plan option. And, to boot, the app has left a bad taste in some user’s mouths by not basically acting as a “view only” form of the web app. Their individual plans start at $40/month if paid yearly, $49 if monthly. But if you use multiple apps to monitor all your marketing activities, you can save a ton with this one app, and they do have a killer referral program if you have the right audience for it.
6. Social Pilot
Buffer: 3.4 out of 5 stars on Android or iOS
Once upon a time, Social Pilot offered a free forever plan but has since discontinued it. Their cheapest plan starts at $25/month when paid annually ($30 monthly.) They only allow you to schedule up to 50 posts on this plan, but they do allow you to manage your social media messages on their higher-tier plans (starting at $41.33/month.) All of their plans come with a free 14-day trial with no credit card required though, so it might be worth a look if managing messages sounds like something you’d need.
7. Sprout Social
Sprout Social: 4.5 out of 5 stars on Android or iOS
Sprout Social is a social media powerhouse of a software. It comes chock-full of features like inbox management, keyword and location tracking, different reporting levels and groupings, amidst a host of other features. With that said… you get what you pay for (or in this case, you pay for what you get?) Their lowest plan comes in at a whopping $99 a month. But… on the up side… they offer a 30-day free trial.
While scheduling yourself a #latergram doesn’t exactly make it any easier to create the content, it does save you a ton of time and, when done correctly, you see better engagement from your efforts. By sitting down for, say, two hours a month, many social media schedulers claim to have saved upwards of 20 hours a month on their social media efforts.
So if you’re on the fence about it, we say at least give it a free trial and see what happens! And if you want more social media tips, check out our article on 10 tips and tricks for Instagram!
