Instagram on Hootsuite
You can now schedule posts to Instagram on Hootsuite! But, I'm not popping any champagne yet because while it's nice to be able to schedule posts, they still don't post automatically so you still have to actually post to Instagram when the scheduled time arrives.
After connecting your account to your Hootsuite dashboard, make sure you've turned on notifications (do this by going to Settings in the Hootsuite app on your phone and turning it on for the Instagram accounts you're using).
When the time hits, you're get a notification on your phone:
Then this happens
So you tap on Open in Instagram, and another thing pops up that tells you that your caption's been copied, you just have to paste it into Instagram which is nice. It even reminds you to be logged into the right account - Thanks, Hootsuite!
So it's not the perfect solution but it's still somewhat useful and hey, now you can at least manage your multiple accounts in one place! I just wouldn't advise scheduling all the posts to go out at the same time. On top of that, there will be fewer (if any) moments of "SHIT! I meant to post that picture an hour ago!" In a perfect world, and in a world where Instagram's APIs allow for seamless scheduling and automation, we'd be able to schedule and semi forget about it like we do with other accounts. But if you don't already use Hootsuite, it's free up to 5 social integrations. If you already have a Hootsuite account you shouldn't have to pay any extra for this service. The only other Instagram scheduling I know of is Schedugr.am and that's $20/account/month up to a certain number of followers and I don't know about you but I had a bit of trouble using it so I just stopped.
And there you have it! Someone's worked on a solution that's a step in the right direction and that's better than what we currently have so I will take it! Maybe I WILL go drink a little bubbly!
