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The Complete Guide to Instagram Scheduling (Stories, Posts, Reels and more!)

In today’s guide, we’ll walk you through how to schedule Instagram posts, optimize your calendar to successful posting times and analyze your results.

Posted last year
instagram post scheduling guide

Written by

Julia Cohen
Posted last year
According to research by the Pennsylvania State University, the best times to post your content on Instagram are between 8-9 PM. Content posted during this timeframe always receives more interactions.
So, whether you’re a business or a Creator, scheduling your Instagram content can help improve your profile performance. When you plan your Instagram posts in advance, you don’t have to constantly worry about whether or not you’re posting at the right time, if you posted at all, or how much content you have left before you have to create a new batch. Plus, your content will always arrive at your audience’s screen the moment they come online!
In today’s guide from Flick, we’re going to walk you through how you can schedule your Instagram posts, optimize your calendar to your most successful posting times, and analyze your results – all in one! Let’s go.

Jump to a section ✨

  1. Is it safe to schedule Instagram posts?

Is it safe to schedule Instagram posts?

In short, the answer is yes – as long as you are using a tool that plays by Instagram’s rules (like Flick!). Learn more about the safety of scheduling Instagram posts here.

How do you schedule Instagram posts? 🤔

There are two different ways you can schedule posts for Instagram – either by using a third-party automation tool, like Flick, or by using Facebook’s own desktop scheduler, which should be linked to your Facebook page and Instagram account.
You may wonder: “Why should I buy third-party schedulers when Facebook has one for free?”
It’s not without reason that many successful Instagram influencers and content creators prefer to use third-party schedulers. Although they are (usually) charged services, they come with better features and support than Meta’s freemium tool.
Within these two options, there are also two different ways to schedule: auto-posting and push notification posting. A post can be set to go live at a specific time, without you having to manually post anything (auto-posting), or you can be reminded via notification to publish a post (push notification posting).

Can you schedule Instagram Stories and Reels? 📹

Yes, you can schedule both Stories and Reels! You can now auto-schedule your Instagram Stories inside Flick. Want to auto-publish your Stories? Here’s how to do that:
  • All you have to do is log in to your Flick account
  • Click on “Scheduling” on the left-hand side of the screen
  • To upload your Story, click on “New Post”
  • Make sure you’re only uploading to Instagram, and click “Story”
  • Upload your content or select content from your media library
  • Select the date and time you want the Story to post
  • Click “Schedule” and you’re done!
Want to auto-publish your Reels? Here’s what to do!
  • Go to your Flick account and click “scheduling” on the side
  • Upload your Reel to Flick’s Media Library
  • Write out your caption, add hashtags, location, and more
  • Crop the video if you need to
  • Select the date and time to schedule your Reel
flick's best time to post
Et voilĂ ! Flick will automatically push the Reels onto your Instagram account at the exact time and date you set!
💡 Flick tip: Due to API restrictions, only original audio can be used for auto-publishing. Flick doesn’t have access to music, so be sure to add the sound to your Reels before uploading to our Scheduler.

How to schedule Instagram posts using Flick ✅

To schedule a post using Flick, you’ll need to have your Facebook account connected to the app (if you’re already subscribed, this should be the case anyway!).
You can then navigate to the post scheduler, where you should see a blank calendar, just asking for content to be scheduled into it.
flick scheduler calendar
The calendar can be set to “Week” or “Month” to suit your posting schedule.
To the left side is your Media Library. You can upload and store all the contents you want to share on your Instagram account. Just drag and drop files from your computer!
Each file can be marked with “Used” and “Unused”, and you can filter the Media Library as such. That way, you won’t accidentally post the same picture twice.
In the scheduler, to make a new post, press the blue “+ New Post” button at the top right-hand corner of the screen.
Alternatively, you can drag and drop the picture you want to upload onto the calendar, automatically turning it into a new post. All you have to set the precise time and add the metadata, like captions and hashtags!
instagram scheduler multi post
In this screen, you can choose to upload either onto one or many social media platforms.
At the moment, Flick supports scheduling for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
Next, import your favorite hashtags saved in your Collections in Flick. All the hashtags generated by Flick are optimized to have the highest chance of Reach and view.
Wish to know more about finding hashtags with Flick? See this article here.
The next step is to finish up your post! Trim the video or image, edit the thumbnail, add captions, location tags, etc.
Now that you have gotten a finished post, you can choose to schedule it for auto-post (or push notification post) or save it as a draft. Saving it as a draft can be useful if you don’t have the content to upload yet and are merely using a placeholder.
instagram schedule create posts
When you start to choose the upload time and date, Flick will suggest—based on live view data—the best time to upload your content to maximize view and reach.
If your post, for some reason, can’t be properly scheduled, we will notify you of the issue via email. And even if you set the upload mode to “Auto”, we’ll still send you a notification when your content goes live. This way, you’ll always stay on top of your Instagram account operation!
Running multiple accounts? You can also connect them to Flick! That way, Flick can serve as the “central command” for your social media accounts and keep all your data and posting schedule in one place!

How to schedule a post using Facebook ✅

To schedule an Instagram post using Facebook, you’ll need to have a Business or Creator account, and a Facebook page that is linked to said account. Click on the page, then select ‘Publishing Tools’ from the lefthand column. Here, you will be able to draft a new post on either your Facebook or Instagram page, by selecting the ‘create a new post’ button. You can upload a photo or video, add your caption & location, tags and schedule for your selected date and time. Facebook’s native scheduler doesn’t offer the best times to post, or suggested hashtags, so you’d still need to do this manually.

How to schedule Instagram posts on your phone 📲

On the go, or just not feeling a Desktop scheduler? You can also schedule posts directly from the Flick or Facebook Business Suite Mobile Apps.
Within the Flick app, you’ll still be able to follow the exact same process as on the desktop, in order to schedule your posts, and you’ll also get a view of upcoming content in case you need to swap things around or make a caption tweak at the last minute.
Compare the usefulness of Flick to Facebook’s own app, and you’ll see that Flick is considerably more intuitive.
In Facebook’s Business Suite Mobile App, you’ll also be able to publish your content in a similar way to their desktop option, you’ll just have the same, limited access to your content library, options for hashtags, and auto-commenting.

Tips and tricks to grow your account with Instagram scheduling

Scheduling your posts is an excellent way to improve your profile’s visibility. But this only applies when you use the scheduling function correctly. But there are a few rules of thumb when it comes to Instagram scheduling if you want to see the best results possible:

Pay attention to the best times to post ⏰

Posting at a time when your audience is online will give you the most engagement, and will likely push your posts more rapidly to new audiences. If you post at a time when no one is online, you won’t get the momentum you need to rank on hashtags, have your content promoted, or gain the opportunity to reach new audiences. So, how do you know when the best time to post is?
It’s different for everyone, but you can either find out through your scheduling tool or directly on Instagram. If you’re using a platform like Flick, it can calculate and suggest your best times to post, based on previous post success, and when your audience is most frequently online. You can also see these analytics within Instagram’s insights tab, however, they aren’t as granular and are thought to be less accurate.
Once you have known the posting time, all that’s left to do is create your content and queue it up in the schedule for automatic upload!
flick hashtags seo

Use the right hashtags #️⃣

Specific hashtags will increase your posts’ performance, depending on how easy or difficult it is to rank on them. Certain hashtags can improve the performance of your posts, depending on how easy or difficult it is to rank on them. The more competitive the hashtag, the harder it will be for you to rank on.
Your ability to rank depends on how competitive a hashtag is, in comparison to your account. As a result, easy yet relevant and popular hashtags are always sought-after by Instagrammers.
Fortunately, Flick can give you a headstart by combing Instagram’s data and finding these hashtags for you.
For more information, you can read this post about finding and selecting the right hashtags with Flick via this link.
💡 Flick’s tip: Want to get the best hashtags for your caption without scrolling through endless hashtags? Flick’s AI Assistant will do the heavy lifting for you! All you have to do is enter your caption and the AI Assistant will discover the best hashtags for your caption—in seconds. Start your free 7-day trial with Flick to get started.

Track your performance 📈

Within Flick, you have access to your Analytics, where you can directly compare the results of your scheduled posts, to find out which days bring you the most growth and engagement. This can help you make decisions as to how often you post on a given day, as well as whether it’s worth shifting your strategy to publish on certain days and not others. This will also help you plan out your Instagram content.

Remember to still engage with your audience 💬

Just because your posts are going out automatically, saving you time and stress, doesn’t mean you should forget about them altogether. It is still vitally important to keep track of and respond to your comments and DMs after you post if you want to grow a dedicated community. When you get a notification that your content has been successfully published, why not check in every 30 minutes, to ensure you’re up to date on your responses?
Plus, being able to schedule and automate the publication of your content can be a huge time-saver. You can use your spare time to do other things, like creating new content for your viewers or engaging with them!
We hope you loved getting stuck into our guide on how to schedule your Instagram posts. Now you’ve got everything you need in order to get scheduling, start saving time by being more organized and grow your following as a result. If you’d like to check out another of our handy Instagram guides, just click here!

Content

Is it safe to schedule Instagram posts?

How do you schedule Instagram posts? 🤔

Can you schedule Instagram Stories and Reels? 📹

How to schedule Instagram posts using Flick ✅

How to schedule a post using Facebook ✅

How to schedule Instagram posts on your phone 📲

Tips and tricks to grow your account with Instagram scheduling


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