It’s a busy time. In fact, it’s always a busy time. And we don’t know about y’all, but we are constantly looking for shortcuts and ways to save time, be more efficient. We’re also keeping our eyes peeled for apps that save us (and you) time. Today, we’re bringing you safe & secure apps that allow you to schedule your Instagram posts.
I told my little sister, an avid Instagrammer in her own right, that I was writing an article on scheduling Instagram posts. She replied, “I didn’t even know you could do that.” Well, you can. And we’re gonna show you how. So read on to learn how to schedule your Instagram posts like a boss…of a major corporation…who’s all up in the marketing and branding department…yeah…like a boss. Or maybe even like the boss. “Who’s the boss?” you ask? Tony Danza, of course. But you will be, too. Soon.
Better three hours too soon than a minute too late. — William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, Scene II, v. 294.
How to Schedule Your Instagram Posts
Instagrammers of the web! We know you love Instagram. What’s not to love? Whether you’re a professional photographer, an aspiring artist, a small business or a large corporation, or you just wanna see cute pics of your nieces and nephews who live a thousand miles away, Instagram is a both fun and useful app in which you can share photos and short videos.
This must be shared.
While Instagram is not quite as ephemeral as Snapchat, the app’s focus is posting life as it happens. As such, Instagram not only discourages users from scheduling their posts, they flat out forbid it. Instagram does not currently offer a way through the app to schedule your posts and clearly states in their API Terms of Use that “you shall not use the Instagram APIs to post automated content…” (More on that later.)
But look, we’re not pushing anything here that would cause you to lose your account. (Which is to say, having played with these things ourselves we’ve had no ill effects — and our friends who have been using these for a while have only had positive experiences — but I can’t making any claims about what Instagram’s policies are going to be from here unto eternity.) We want to show you these apps that play nice with Instagram (we’ll explain shortly) and their API Terms of Use. There are some permissible third-party apps that you can use to schedule your Instagram posts.
So, first, we’d like to outline some reasons / situations which would give you cause to want to schedule your posts. Then, if you feel like that’s the route you want to take, we’ll introduce you to a few apps that are safe and secure and okay to use to schedule Instagram posts. Finally, we’ll talk about how it is that these apps allow you to do what Instagram explicitly says you can’t do.
Why Would I Even Want to Schedule My Instagram Posts?
We freely admit that scheduling Instagram posts is something that appeals to a niche group of people. After all, some of the fun of Instagram is checking it periodically, scrolling through, commenting and liking as you please. Another part of the fun is going through the process of taking your photos, editing them at your leisure, posting, and waiting and watching eagerly to see how it all unfurls. A large part of the joy of the app lies in the spontaneity, and the sincerity that that spontaneity implies. But scheduling might be more handy than you think.
You certainly would never want to schedule everything; after all, Instagram is meant to represent the spontaneity of a life being well-lived. Your followers follow you for a reason; they want to see what’s going on, the latest in your life or business. Where scheduling posts comes in handy is when you can’t be there for your followers. No one can be on Instagram all day.
Say you’re on a plane or traveling in a place that doesn’t have Wifi or good connection. You can schedule little videos or pics to tell your audience where you are, or ask them for travel recommendations to get them involved. Say you need to be away for an extended period of time. Absolutely, this a great time to schedule a few posts just to let people know what’s up. Perhaps you’re attending a conference. Make a number of little videos about sessions, take plenty of pics and schedule them to post while you’re in session and then reply, etc. when the session is over.
These are just a few examples of why and when you might consider using one of the following apps to schedule your Instagram posts. We’ve chosen to list them in alphabetical order. Each app has a little bit different flavor and function, not to mention price. So read up and decide what best meets your needs. And now the apps!
Four Apps for Scheduling Instagram Posts
Latergramme: Available on your PC, tablet, iPhone and Android, this FREE (with paid options) app allows you to upload and post individual photos. With the paid version you can also upload videos. Other features of the free version are up to 2 Instagram accounts can be managed but you are limited to 30 posts thru the app a month. With the paid version, starting at $16 a month and up to custom pricing, you can (depending on the package) have up to unlimited posts and unlimited accounts. The bottom line of Latergramme is that it acts more like a managing tool, in which you can schedule posts and manage your accounts but Latergramme is not for actually posting. You still do the posting yourself. Latergramme sends you reminders according to your schedule.
Onlypult: Formerly Instapult, this app has only a week-free trial and then 4 plans that range from $12 a month to $65 a month. Onlypult offers in app editing and filters, so that’s cool. Like Latergramme, the number of accounts and how much you can post depends on what tier of plan you have. Onlypult is only accessible from it’s website.
ScheduGram: ScheduGram is kinda awesome because whereas with the previous two apps you’re limited to working with a single photo at a time, ScheduGram allows you to upload multiple photos and videos. This app is not free (another 7-day free trial, with accounts starting at $20 a month for scheduling for a single Instagram account — you pay by number of accounts with savings coming when you buy in bulk), BUT this app really does take the guess work out of posting. ScheduGram lets you “Worry about the content. Not the posting.” They actually do the posting for you. Their website is really nice and user-friendly and answers all the questions.- TakeOff: TakeOff is a great option if you’re looking for an app that not only has iOS and Android versions, but also includes some analysis of posts. Whether they’re letting you know when to post or suggesting hashtags so loads of non-followers can become followers when they see your Instagram prowess, TakeOff is pretty cool in that respect. Once again, this app is limited to managing and scheduling posts. TakeOff also does not let you apply filters or play with effects within the app. But it is free with upgrades starting at $9.99.
How Is This Even Possible?
First of all, although it skirts the line, it is not technically against the terms of service for a user to schedule an Instagram post. The problem (and thus, the thing that may get your account flagged) is (according to our sources) when a third-party app’s API (Application Programming Interface) specifically uses methods that have been flatly proscribed by the Instagram terms of service. Usually, this is because a lot of the shadier apps out there that claim to schedule posts do so by storing your login information in the app. It’s that act of storage that’s really against the Instagram Terms of Service, not so much the scheduling. These apps that I’ve mentioned here make the cut because they don’t do this. Also, bear in mind that even for the totally great apps that I’ve mentioned, discretion is key. The idea here is for you to be able to schedule the occasional post, not to make you the Spam King of Instagram, which I think is what Instagram is really trying to shut down.
Closing Thoughts / Honorable Mention
One last service I wanted to mention, even though it’s not one that will let you do delayed posts, is Hootsuite. Like I said, this doesn’t do quite what the others do (hence why I didn’t mention it sooner), but it is nonetheless a really useful site. Hootsuite is a social media manager — something that you may really want to consider if your primary reason for using your social media accounts (or even, certain accounts from among your social media stable) is for business reasons. One of the functions possible within Hootsuite is the ability to schedule posts. Now, Hootsuite will not post for you, but it will remind you to make posts that you have scheduled for yourself, which can be very helpful if the professional group that you are social media managing for is rolling out with some new campaign or some other big event.
Anyway, those are some of the big apps and sites that are really good for scheduling your Instagram posts, or generally managing your social media presence(s).
If you have any questions about any of these, or if you have any apps or services that you favor and we haven’t mentioned, feel free to mention them in the comments.
