Instagram Stories are the perfect tool if you work in social media and want to improve your online presence and engage effectively with your audience. Stories are a simple yet powerful way to update your followers and promote your brand.
For marketers, sharing stories manually is another burden over planning. Up until 2021, Instagram Stories could not be scheduled. Since May 2021, it has been possible to schedule Instagram Stories using SocialPilot or Meta Business Suite, so you are no longer bound to share your Stories manually.
Why Schedule Instagram Stories?
For busy marketers, influencers, or small businesses, scheduling Instagram Stories can save time and help maintain a consistent online presence.
This is because Instagram Stories appear at the top of the Instagram feed and can attract followers, and staying consistent with stories can generate higher engagement and awareness.
Time-Saving
The whole purpose of scheduling is to allow you the time to plan so they are well thought out and researched. Giving you more time for other productive parts of the job.
Consistent Brand Voice
When manually sharing Instagram Stories has disrupted your brand’s voice and aesthetic, scheduling is an option that can reinforce the brand identity, making it easier to get recognized for better planning.
Flexibility
Scheduling Instagram Stories relieves you from manual sharing at unreasonable hours. You can schedule any story at the most convenient time without the need to be online all the time.
No Last-Minute Errors
When you learn how to schedule Instagram Stories, you ensure that nothing goes out without a double-check and that there is no room for last-minute errors.
Analytical Insights
When you schedule Instagram Stories using a third-party scheduling tool, you get additional features like analytics and reports. Most scheduling tools have this feature, which helps you understand how the audience likes the stories.
Here are a few more reasons to schedule your Instagram Stores:
Now, let’s learn how to schedule Instagram Stories using Meta Business Suite in four easy steps.
How to Schedule Instagram Stories with Meta Business Suite?
To schedule Instagram stories using Meta Business Suite, here are four easy steps that you can follow.
Step 1: Log In to Your Meta Business Account and Click “Create Story.”
Step 2: Upload Media and Select the Profile to Schedule the Story
Step 3: Click on Schedule and Pick a Suitable Date and Time
Step 4: Schedule Your Instagram Story
Drawbacks of Scheduling Instagram Stories with Meta Business Suite:
- It lets you schedule stories for only one month in advance.
- It does not let you schedule GIFs for Instagram Stories; only images and videos.
- Meta Business Suite does not allow you to edit the story before scheduling.
- It only allows the scheduling of individual images (one or more) and does not support image layouting or layering.
- It does not allow you to schedule content for tools other than Instagram and Facebook.
This is why you need a third-party schedular that offers these features and more. So, let’s learn how to schedule Instagram Stories with the Best Social Media Scheduling Tool.
How to Schedule Instagram Stories with SocialPilot
SocialPilot is a social media scheduler that lets you publish and schedule stories directly to your Instagram profile. Here’s how you can schedule Instagram Stories with SocialPilot:
Step #1: Log In to SocialPilot Account
Log in to your SocialPilot account and connect your Instagram profile. Click on Accounts > Connect Account > Connect Instagram Account.
While you connect your Instagram profile, make sure to give SocialPilot the necessary permissions to avoid scheduling issues in the future.
Step #2: Go to Posts and Create Post
Over the dashboard, navigate to the left side panel and click on Posts > Create Posts.
Step #3: Pick Instagram and then Story
Merienda the “create post” window opens, select Instagram as the platform and Story as the content type.
Step #4: Upload Media and Select Account
Now, upload images, videos, or GIFs from your device or SocialPilot. You can export media from your Canva or upload it using Unsplash.
Step #5: Schedule the Story for a Suitable Date and Time
Merienda you’ve completed everything, you can select your scheduling option and the suitable date and time you want it to get published on.
Finally, click on Schedule, and your Instagram Story will be successfully scheduled.
With this five-step procedure, you can easily schedule your Instagram Stories for any time in the future. If you are a mobile person, just install the SocialPilot mobile application for Android or IOS and schedule Instagram Stories for Push Notifications.
This way, when the publishing time is near, you will get a mobile notification, and then you can share it on your Instagram profile with just one click.
Why Schedule Instagram Stories with SocialPilot?
- SocialPilot lets you schedule Instagram Stories on both desktop and mobile.
- It has advanced scheduling features like repeat post, add to queue, etc., which are missing in other schedulers.
- SocialPilot scheduler supports scheduling on all major social media channels, a plus point that Meta Business Suite does not offer.
- It allows you to schedule a story for any time or date in the future, unlike Meta Business Suite, which allows scheduling only one month in advance.
- SocialPilot also has built-in editing software, allowing you to edit the media, add watermarks, crop images, stickers, and more to your story.
- SocialPilot has approval-on-the-go and team collaboration features. To improve workflow, you can assign different stages of the task to different team members.
- Unlike the complex dashboard of other schedulers, SocialPilot has an easy-to-understand dashboard that smooths the scheduling process.
Compared to Meta Business Suite or any other tool, SocialPilot stands out as the best Instagram scheduler. The comprehensive capabilities that SocialPilot has can enhance the scheduling experience making it the best choice for your Instagram Story scheduling.
7 Top Tips to Schedule Instagram Stories
Scheduling Instagram Stories isn’t a huge task when you know the best practices. Here are some of the best ones you must follow to schedule Instagram Stories effectively.
Follow Strategic Timing
Even though Instagram Stories are visible for 24 hours, they should be shared when your audience is most active. Depending on the industry, your active hours can vary; it could be at dawn or in the middle of the night.
You can schedule your story using SocialPilot Instagram Scheduler to share it anytime. A heatmap can help you determine the best time to post on Instagram and increase your engagement rate.
Tip Sharing 2-3 Instagram stories daily and increasing on weekends is advised for better reach.
Maintain Content Calendar
Creating a content calendar will always keep you organized. It is a smart way to plan your stories and ensure they go live at the right time.
When you get into the habit of scheduling Instagram Stories, having a calendar will keep you informed about future schedules. It ensures that your posting schedule is consistent and executed seamlessly. You can stay organized by creating a Content Calendar with SocialPilot.
Want to streamline your Instagram Stories Scheduling?
SocialPilot Intuitive Content Calendar can help you visualize all your scheduled stories in one convenient interface. This allows you to stay organized and effortlessly plan ahead of time.
Schedule Instagram Stories for Free!
Use Professionally-Designed Templates
Third-party scheduling tools like SocialPilot offer free templates for stories. These professionally designed templates will also make your stories look clean.
It can also save time and help maintain a theme throughout the timeline. They make your stories visually appealing and save designing manpower.
Share Content Variety
Sharing similar and monotonous stories will bore the audience. Give them what they want to see and share an interesting variety of content regularly so they would engage with your stories.
Keep your scheduled stories diverse: Add music and use images and videos to effectively capture the audience’s attention. This increases engagement and prevents monotony in your content.
Connect Instagram Stories with Feed
Indeed, what works on feed does not work on stories and vice versa. However, it is also necessary to keep your Instagram stories in sync with your feed posting.
Having your schedule on a content calendar helps you visualize what your brand is talking about on the feed and then plan and schedule your stories to stay relevant at both places. This will maintain consistency across the profile and keep the brand experience cohesive.
Analyze Performance
The primary purpose of scheduling Instagram stories is to boost your online presence. After putting so much effort into automating your schedule, you should analyze how scheduling benefited you in a timely manner.
When you schedule Instagram stories with SocialPilot, you get Analytics and Reports on your story’s performance. You can decide your future strategy based on metrics like reach, replies, tap back, tap forward, exits, etc.
When you implement these top tips, scheduling Instagram stories becomes seamless. It ensures you never miss a beat when achieving higher reach on your Instagram stories.
The Bottom Line
The analytical results are also positive when you post right on time, keep your stories interesting, align them with feeds, and visualize strategy with a content calendar.
All this is possible only when you use the advanced scheduling features of SocialPilot. You can manage and schedule Instagram stories more effectively and reach your marketing goals by keeping your social media schedule on point.
If you are ready to take your Instagram strategy to the next level, start scheduling with SocialPilot today.