PipeflowWhy scheduling pays off
In the daily routine of a small business, there is rarely a right moment for an Instagram post. In the morning the building site is waiting, at noon the kitchen, in the evening the bookkeeping. If you want to make every post spontaneously, you end up hardly posting at all.
When you schedule posts, you do the work in one go, for example once a week in peace. Instagram then publishes at the set time, even while you are at a customer's. The result: your account stays regular without you having to think about it every day.
What you need
You can schedule posts directly in the Instagram app even with a normal account. But if you want to use tools on your computer or programs from other providers, you need a business or creator account. Switching is free and takes a few minutes. How to do it is covered in the guide to the Instagram business account. Which of the two account types suits you better is explained in the article Business or creator account.
Four ways to schedule posts
There are several options. Which one fits depends on how much you want to do yourself:
- Directly in the Instagram app: When creating a post, you will find the option to schedule it on the last screen under the additional settings. The exact name of the menu item may change with app updates. Good for individual posts.
- Meta Business Suite: Meta's free tool for Instagram and Facebook. On your computer you see a calendar and can schedule several posts at once.
- Scheduling tools from other providers: They connect to your account via the official interface and often offer a calendar for several channels, team features and approvals. You supply the content yourself.
- Tools that also create content: They suggest texts and images and schedule them straight away. You review and approve. An overview of the different types is in the guide on social media automation tools.
Prepare a week in one hour
This is what a fixed planning hour can look like, for example every Monday at eight, before the phone starts ringing:
- Choose topics (10 minutes): Which three topics fit this week? A project, a tip, a look behind the scenes. A content plan helps, more in the guide Creating a content plan.
- Pick images (10 minutes): Go through last week's photos. Get into the habit of taking two or three photos on the side while you work.
- Write captions (25 minutes): For each post, a strong first sentence, a few lines of content and a simple invitation at the end. Tips in the guide Writing Instagram captions.
- Schedule (10 minutes): Set the posts with date and time and briefly check that everything is right.
- Buffer (5 minutes): Is there a public holiday, a company holiday or a special promotion this week?
An everyday example
A small physiotherapy practice in Steyr schedules three posts every Monday. On Tuesday an exercise for the neck appears with a photo from the treatment room, on Thursday a team member introduces herself, with her consent of course, and on Saturday there is a short tip for people who sit a lot.
The owner needs about an hour a week for this. When patients ask questions under a post, she replies in a few minutes in the evening. What such a week can look like in practice is also shown in the Instagram weekly plan example.
Which time you should set
There is no time that suits everyone. A good starting point is the time when your customers are typically on their phones: in the morning before work, at lunchtime or in the evening. Choose a time, stick with it for a few weeks and then compare in your insights. More in the guide on the best time for Instagram.
What scheduling doesn't do for you
Scheduled posts appear on their own, but Instagram remains a social network. These things stay with you:
- Replying: Comments and messages need answers, ideally on the same day.
- Spontaneous moments: The first snow on the terrace, the new apprentice, the full display on Saturday. You can share such moments additionally as a story or a spontaneous post.
- Checking: Look now and then whether a scheduled post still fits. A cheerful promotion on a day with sad news from the region feels out of place.
Typical scheduling mistakes
These mistakes happen often but are easy to avoid:
- Planning too far ahead and forgetting: Better to plan two to four weeks ahead than three months.
- Links in the caption: Links in captions are not clickable on Instagram. Point to the link in your profile instead.
- Always the same type of post: Alternating between project, tip and people keeps the profile lively.
- Disappearing after posting: If you never react to comments, you waste the conversations a post starts.
Scheduling Instagram posts automatically
Anyone who hunts for pictures and writes captions every week soon notices: scheduling is the smallest part of the work. If what you mostly lack is time for content, you can have posts planned automatically. Pipeflow, for example, reads your website and plans feed posts with an image, text and a fixed time every week. You check them, swap a photo if needed and approve. For this you need a Business or Creator account, and you keep making Stories and Reels yourself. What runs automatically and what stays in your hands is shown on the page Automate Instagram posts.