Instagram’s Heaven-Sent Scheduling Feature (For Businesses)

Breaking news – thanks to Instagram’s updated API, it is now allowing users to schedule their posts ahead of time. But don’t quite celebrate just yet. Like all things too good to be true, there’s a catch. This feature is only available for business accounts, and through third-party social management platforms, such as HootSuite and Sprout Social (which both require some kind of subscription). The good news is AVX Digital is a Sprout Social Partner!

It seems like this addition has been long awaited by many active users. Before, the only alternative was to manually set up notifications on when it was time to post, and still manually go to the platform and post. Although this is only limited to businesses at the moment, we can assume Instagram will eventually integrate this feature to non-business accounts in the future.

What does Instagram Scheduling mean for large businesses? Content can be managed more efficiently and consistently. Brands with multiple accounts can be monitored by multiple people with ease. Therefore, this will be a game changer for people who are often busy, out of town, or away from their phone. However, the real-time aspect may be lost as a result, which is why it’s important that content quality isn’t sacrificed for quantity. Other new features include a Business Discovery Mode, which lets businesses view profile information and media of other businesses. Businesses can also review Mentions, which will allow them to respond to posts they are mentioned/tagged in. These changes are all part of Instagram’s shift to its new Graph API, which is good news for marketers. This will be a step towards a greater ease of use for the platform and for businesses, we can’t wait to see what’s in store.