Instagram Finally Launches In-App Content Scheduling
Source: Instagram
Instagram has started rolling out an in-app content scheduling tool. Creators and businesses with a Professional account can schedule Reels, Photo, and Carousel Posts for up to 75 days in the future directly from the app.
How Scheduled Posts Work
Once the post has been created, creators and businesses tap Advance settings and toggle the “Schedule this post” on. They can then select a time and date for posting and then navigate back to the post creation screen and tap Schedule.
A “Finally Feature”
As Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in his announcement video, scheduled posts are a "finally feature" — something that Instagram should have launched long ago. The ability for users to schedule posts in advance within Instagram has been long overdue, especially considering how several third-party apps like Later, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social have been supporting this for years.
A Win For Creators & Brands, A Win For Instagram
The days of Instagram being a place where users post content in real-time has mostly passed. Nowadays, creators and brands often batch-create content, outline when specific pieces of content will go live on a content calendar, and schedule it accordingly.
Now, creators and brands can do this right in the Instagram app. In addition to being convenient, this can also save them time and money, depending on their scheduling tools. By scheduling content for a future time and date, creators can push out more content without worrying about posting it in real-time. Instagram also benefits from this, since more content leads to increased user engagement and time spent in the app.
A Sign For More Practical & In-Demand Features?
Scheduled posts is one of a trio of new features that Instagram has officially rolled out or is testing with select users. The other two are Creator Portfolio, a media kit feature for creators, and support for multiple links. These are all wins for Instagram in its mission to better support creators.
Despite this, it's taken Instagram a relatively long-time to roll them out. Instead, it has focused on more headline-worthy features like Subscriptions and NFTs. These have been positive moves since they can help creators monetize, but they came ahead of more practical and in-demand features like post-scheduling. Hopefully, this is a signal of the platform rolling out more “finally features,” like the ability to rearrange posts on your Profile Grid and create Highlights without having to post a Story first.
