How to Schedule Posts and Reels on Instagram

Social media

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Anyone remember #latergram, circa 2013?

If you don’t, not to worry.

Now, you can schedule Instagram posts (and reels) on the app itself. Perfect for small business owners and entrepreneurs!

By the end of this post, you’ll be able to schedule Instagram posts and reels for free, without using a third-party tool!

01 – Make sure you have an Instagram Business Account.

At the time of this posting, the ability to schedule Instagram reels and posts are only available through a Business Account.

To convert a personal account into a business account, follow the steps below:

How to start a business account on Instagram, taken from instagram.com: Here are the steps outlined on Instagram's Help Center: 1. Go to your profile and tap Menu in the upper right corner. 2. Tap Settings. For some accounts, the Switch to professional account option will be listed directly under Settings. 1. Tap Account. 2. Tap Switch to professional account. 3. Tap Continue. 4. Select a Category for your business and tap Done. 5. Tap OK to confirm. 6. Tap Business. 7. Tap Next. 8. Add contact details and tap Next. To skip this step, tap Don’t use my contact info. 9. If you'd like, you can follow the steps to connect your business account to a Facebook Page associated with your business. This step is optional, and will make it easier to use all of the features available for businesses across Meta. Note: At this time, only one Facebook Page can be connected to your business account. 10. Tap X on the top right corner to return to your profile. 11. To display or hide business information on your profile, go to your profile and tap Edit profile. Go to Profile display under Public business information to choose whether you want to hide or display your category label and contact info. Then, tap Done.
Taken from Instagram’s Help Center: https://help.instagram.com/502981923235522

02. Hop onto the Instagram mobile app and draft a post/reel.

At this time, scheduling posts and reels is only available on the mobile Instagram app.

No rocket science here—draft your post or reel. Copy/paste your caption and hashtags.

But don’t hit post just yet!

The real magic happens in the next step.

03. Before you post, click “Advanced Settings”.

04. Toggle the “Schedule this post”.

Under “Schedule content”, find “Schedule this post”. Tap the toggle to set it to “yes”.

05. Set the date and time.

Instagram will ask you to choose the date and time when your post should go live.

By default, the time zone is set to your current time zone.

Keep this in mind if some of your audience live in other parts of the world!

Once you’re good, tap “Set time”.

06. Schedule your post!

After you click “Share”, Instagram will schedule your post to be visible on the date and time you set.

No more panic posting on Instagram!

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