How to schedule Instagram content

Do you want to know how to schedule posts on Instagram?

Businesses, brands, and agencies love this option since it helps them save time to manage other day-to-day tasks and get on with their work faster and more efficiently.

To schedule a post on Instagram, either a story, reels, or videos, you need a tool to help you: let’s start with Meta Business Suite, and then with Metricool.

Schedule posts on Meta Business Suite

To use Meta Business Suite, you need to connect your business Instagram account to your Facebook page or Facebook profile by following the steps indicated by the platform, or by navigating to this Facebook Help link. 

Once your account is linked, you can start scheduling your content on Instagram by following these steps: 

• Tap on Create post: When you are inside the tool, click on ‘Create post’ button which you will see at the top right. Inside this new window, select Instagram. 
• Choose the type of post: You can choose between a fixed feed post, or a video of up to 60 minutes, or even a video from a template. 
• Edit the post: Write the caption, tag accounts, tag products, add emojis, hashtags, or a location. If you are editing a video, add a title, caption, and choose the cover photo.
• Schedule the post: When you have everything ready, choose the date and time the post will go out and click Schedule. 

✅ If you click on ‘Activity Moments’ Instagram proposes the best times to post, when your audience is more active. 

And that’s it! You also have the option to see a calendar with the posts you have scheduled. 

Now, what you’ve been waiting for. How to schedule Instagram content with Metricool!

Schedule Instagram Posts with Metricool

Programming Instagram is one of the best allies for businesses, brands or agencies. This gives you more time to manage other day-to-day tasks and get on with your work faster.

To program without complications, the first step is to find a partner that offers you all the functionalities you need on a daily basis to manage your networks.

That allows you to:

✅ Schedule posts

✅ Obtain all your metrics

✅ See how your ads are performing

✅ Create and generate reports

✅ Add links to your publications or add buttons to drive traffic to your site

✅ Tag products from your Instagram shop on posts

✅ Analyze competitors

✅ Reply to comments

And, that it is always available to you.

Because programming Instagram is useless if you can’t measure your marketing strategy.

So here you have your Swiss army knife: Metricool, the definitive tool to program Instagram and also measure what is happening.

Schedule Instagram content automatically

You can automate your posts with images, videos, Stories, Reels and carousels on your Instagram feed. Program your post and it will be published on your profile the day and time of your choice. This option is available for business accounts and creator accounts.

The allowed formats are:

✅ Unique images in JPEG or PNG format: remember that you can edit your image by cropping it, including stickers or a frame, among other options.

✅ Videos in MOV or MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14 format)

✅ Carousels with images, videos or both format combined.

✅ Reels.

✅ Stories 

Creator accounts that want to schedule Stories can do so by enabling the push notification and posting manually, as auto-publishing for these accounts is not yet available.

For videos longer than one minute, you have to use push notifications, or email notifications. Since this type of Instagram format doesn’t allow auto-publishing. 

Schedule posts on Instagram automatically

• Click on New Post and select the day and time that you want your content to be published.
• Then, add the image, Reel, video or carousel and also the text that you want to appear in the publication.
• In the preview option, you can see how it will display in your Instagram feed.
• Now click on the auto-option to have your content automatically posted on Instagram.
• Tag other users (this option is only available on images and if it is a carousel, only on the first photo), add locations or mention other accounts.
• Choose the cover of your video or Reel from the planner. This function is only available if you activate the auto-publish option.
• Use the hashtag search engine to find the ideal tag for your post: write the keyword and choose the hashtag from the ones recommended.
• Schedule the first comment that will appear on your published post from the planner.

If you have a Metricool Premium plan, you can use the hashtag search engine to find the ideal hashtag for your post.

Then, write the keyword and choose from the hashtags recommended by the platform.

If you only have the free version Metricool shows you the hashtags but you cannot perform a search.

What type of content can you schedule from Metricool so it can be published on Instagram automatically?

✓ IMAGES IN JPEG or PNG FORMAT that meet the following requirements:

• Maximum file size: 8MB
• Aspect ratio: Must be within a 4:5 to 1.91:1 range
• Minimum width: 320 (will be scaled up to the minimum if necessary)
• Maximum width: 1440 (will be scaled down to the maximum if necessary)
• Height: Varies, depending on width and aspect ratio

✓ VIDEOS IN MOV or MP4 FORMAT that meet the following requirements: 

• Container: MOV or MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), no edit lists, moov atom at the front of the file.
• Audio codec: AAC, 48khz sample rate maximum, 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo).
• Video codec: HEVC or H264, progressive scan, closed GOP, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
• Frame rate: 23-60 FPS.

✓ CAROUSELS WITH IMAGES, VIDEOS OR BOTH FORMAT COMBINED.

Picture size:

• Maximum columns (horizontal pixels): 1920
• Minimum aspect ratio [cols / rows]: 4 / 5
• Maximum aspect ratio [cols / rows]: 16 / 9
• Video bitrate: VBR, 5Mbps maximum
• Audio bitrate: 128kbps
• Duration: 60 seconds maximum, 3 seconds minimum
• File size: 100MB maximum

Reels:

• Container: MOV or MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), no edit lists, moov atom at the front of the file.
• Audio codec: AAC, 48khz sample rate maximum, 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo).
• Video codec: HEVC or H264, progressive scan, closed GOP, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
• Frame rate: 23-60 FPS.
• Aspect ratio: 9:16 to avoid cropping or blank spaces.
• Duration: 90 seconds maximum, 5 seconds minimum.

Stories:

• Photos in vertical format.
• Videos with a maximum duration of 60 seconds. 

In the end, these are specifications required by Instagram when it comes to publish videos and images in the feed.

In the event that you check the auto publication option and you use different formats that are not available for auto publication, you will receive a notification so you can do it manually.

Schedule and publish post on Instagram via email or push notifications

If you are using different formats that you can’t publish automatically or simply prefer to have your content planned ahead of time but like to publish it manually, the notification option is for you.

→ Plan your content on Instagram. Choose the image and plan the content.

→ Upload videos. Remember that the format is MP4 or mov. 

→ Schedule stories and Metricool will publish them automatically. Creators account auto-publishes all content except stories, which must be done manually.

→ Publish videos longer than one minute. Schedule the content in the Planner and receive the notification at the date and time you chose. 

You can choose where to receive the notification when it is time to publish on Instagram, via push-notification on your phone or by email.

Remember that you can also choose the type of post in the planner, so when it is time to post, Metricool will take you directly to the content that you want to publish.

Push Notification → If you have Metricool’s app downloaded on your phone

If you have the Metricool app installed on your phone, you can activate push-notifications. That is, a message will arrive on your phone to remind you that the time to publish on Instagram has come. 

✅ Download the app here for iOS and Android. 

Along with this notification you will receive the images and text that you have programmed beforehand:

• The programmed image or video will be automatically saved in your photo application.
• The text that accompanies the publication will be saved to the clipboard.
• The application takes you to content to upload the content: Story or videos. 

It’s that simple!

When this message arrives you will see a red button to post on Instagram so you can publish the content you had programmed.

To set up these notifications you have to access Metricool from your computer and go to the Planner. Go to notifications, at the top-right corner and select where you want to receive the notifications. Remember that if you want to receive push notifications on your phone, first you need to download our app on your device.

Email notification

Choose the email address where you want to receive the message and we will notify you.

When you receive the message you will know that the time to publish has come. You will receive the images or video and text that you have programmed. The following steps will take a few seconds:

• Click on Post on Instagram
• Choose where you want to publish the content. (for example, post feed)
• Choose the image from your gallery.
• Copy the text from the clipboard

⚠️ Important

When you select the autopublication button for videos longer than one minute, automatic publishing is disabled.

Best hours to publish on Instagram

The best time to publish is based on your followers. On the calendar planner, you can check which hours most of your audience is active which will help you to increase your reach. 

Select the Instagram icon on Best Time On and you will discover those worthwhile hours to publish and share your photos and videos, according to the data and activity of your followers.

If the shade of the pink color is darker, it means that your followers are more active. You can also see it in figures by checking this option: a percentage of active followers for a specific time slot.

Feed preview

How many times have you uploaded a post to Instagram and deleted it because it didn’t convince you how it looked in the feed? With Metricool, this won’t happen again with the Instagram feed preview feature.

With this functionality, you’ll make sure your feed looks good. That is, all the posts are well organized. Check whether an image looks good or not, or simply see how the Instagram feed will display with all the scheduled and draft posts. 

Calendar and autolists

Use the calendar to schedule and not lose the rate of publications that you have used to your audience. You can also generate your own autolists to facilitate the task of sharing posts on Instagram.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT INSTAGRAM…

Do you want to know how to improve your Instagram strategy?

Read our guide on Instagram Marketing and get started now!

Benefits of scheduling and automating Instagram

Social media tools have one main purpose: to make your life easier. These tools help you save time and allow you to pay attention to the tasks that require more interaction.

Here is the list of benefits of scheduling your Instagram content:

Keep your followers happy

Taking care of your followers on Instagram or on any social network is very important. Scheduling posts will help maintain your posting rate and also your engagement rate

Happy followers mean good results.

Avoid last minute mistakes

Rushing is not good, and planning ahead will help you avoid mistakes. When you schedule your posts on Instagram you do it with time, you can review, search for the most popular hashtags to include in your publication and even check it with colleagues.

In addition, you will see all the publications of your strategic plan in one place. This will help you detect errors and make your job easier.

It will improve your strategy on Instagram

Measuring and analyzing your results is the only way you have to design a winning strategy. In addition, with Metricool, you will see how your account grows and also:

• The photos, videos and publications that have worked best.
• The best hours to share on Instagram.
• The number of followers gained and lost.

You can also obtain a performance report of your strategy on Instagram for both you and your clients

You will become more productive

Scheduling on Instagram will help you:

• Earn extra time
• Have more time for tasks that really matter
• Increase results
• Keep your Instagram account always active

If you are a community or social media manager or agency, the feature to program and automate content on Instagram will come in very handy.

Start now to schedule your publications on Instagram and you will see how saving time and improving your results is possible.

Do you like this feature? Does programming on Instagram work well for you?

We will read your comments. 👇🏻

Sara Martín , 16 May 2023