Scheduling Instagram Reels: The Complete Guide

It’s frustrating erstwhile I intend to station an Instagram reel connected a definite time and clip and simply forget. Life happens, and posting to societal media isn’t ever nan priority.

However, it’s devastating if nan reel is peculiarly culturally applicable — i.e., wanting to station thing during a institution arena aliases astatine a run launch. To debar missing retired connected large marque moments, it’s basal to schedule reels.

Read nan pursuing guideline to study much astir nan benefits of scheduling reels and really to schedule them pinch various tools.

Table of Contents

• The Benefits of Scheduling Instagram Reels
• How to Schedule Instagram Reels connected Mobile
• How to Schedule Instagram Reels With Meta Business Suite
• How to Schedule Instagram Reels With Other Tools
• 4 Best Apps for Scheduling Instagram Reels

The Benefits of Scheduling Instagram Reels

If you’re still unconvinced astir scheduling reels, I’ll stock six awesome benefits of readying ahead.

1. Posting astatine nan correct clip garners much engagement.

According to a SocialPilot study that monitored engagement connected 50,000 Instagram accounts’ reels crossed industries and locations, these are nan champion times (in EST) to station an Instagram reel:

• Monday: 6 AM and 10 PM
• Tuesday: 3 AM, 4 AM, and 9 AM
• Wednesday: 7 AM and 9 AM
• Thursday: 12 AM, 9 AM, and 7 PM
• Friday: 5 AM, 2 PM, and 4 PM
• Saturday: 12 PM, 7 PM, and 8 PM
• Sunday: 8 AM, 11 AM, and 4 PM

Unless you eat, shower, work, exercise, and slumber pinch a telephone successful your hands, it’s difficult to instrumentality to these nonstop clip slots without scheduling posts successful advance.

If you want nan astir engagement, I highly urge scheduling Instagram reels erstwhile your assemblage is astir progressive connected Instagram.

2. You’ll beryllium elastic and accordant pinch contented creation.

Inspiration often strikes astatine nan astir inopportune times. Just because I person an thought doesn’t mean I should movie and station it immediately.

For instance, if I conscionable posted a reel 1 hr agone and person an thought for different one, I tin movie it and station it astatine 1 of nan recommended people times tomorrow aliases later successful nan week.

This way, I won’t confuse nan Instagram algorithm pinch excessive posting.

Hootsuite recommends brands station 3 to 5 posts connected Instagram per week for nan champion scope complaint per post. If you person nan bandwidth to station more, past great!

But, value is amended than quantity, truthful it’s amended to people 3 awesome pieces of contented than 10 mediocre posts.

3. You tin scheme your trading campaigns upfront.

Having a awesome thought for a reel is only half nan battle.

It’s arsenic important to take to either station it instantly arsenic portion of a larger taste inclination aliases hold to necktie it into a larger campaign.

If your marque has upcoming merchandise updates, seasonal sales, and different planned trading activities, nutrient promo contented beforehand.

I propose preparing your reels during quieter periods, scheduling them for nan future, and enjoying seamless campaigns.

4. You tin station moreover erstwhile you’re retired of nan office.

The hardest portion astir societal media is that consistency is cardinal to getting much impressions. In betwixt calm and engaged weeks, I whitethorn return immoderate well-deserved vacations.

If I tried to perpetrate to filming, producing, and posting nan aforesaid magnitude of contented each week forever, I would ne'er beryllium capable to return a time off.

By scheduling reels successful advance, I tin hole for clip disconnected and remainder assured that nan impressions and engagements will travel successful while I’m tanning connected nan beach.

5. You tin thrust income and ROI.

A global EssenceMediacom study recovered that adding reels to business-as-usual approaches, including in-feed posts and Stories, was associated pinch a 17.5% higher assistance successful advertisement recall.

In addition, adding reels to campaigns was associated pinch a 44% higher action intent, which accrued to 65% pinch nan summation of creator business reel ads.

Reels tin thief income teams scope their goals and thief summation wide marque consciousness and acquisition intent.

How to Schedule Instagram Reels connected Mobile

If you don’t cognize how to usage Instagram well, don’t worry!

Instagram has a built-in scheduler connected its mobile app that’s very intuitive and cleanable for brands who only request to schedule reels occasionally.

You must person a master relationship to do this.

1. Open nan Instagram app.

In nan Instagram app, I tapped nan + motion astatine nan bottommost halfway of nan surface to create a caller post.

Image Source

2. Upload a video.

The app automatically brought maine to nan Post option, truthful I toggled to Reel. I tin movie a reel successful nan app aliases upload an existing video.

3. Go to “More options.”

After adding edits to nan video, I clicked Next. This brought maine to nan Post Settings screen, wherever I tin tag people, adhd a caption, and more. I scrolled down to find More options.

4. Schedule nan reel.

Here, I had nan action to Schedule this reel. I toggled this action “on,” which fto maine prime a day and time. I selected Set time and navigated backmost to nan Post Settings screen. When my video was ready, I clicked Schedule.

This is simply a awesome action for a elemental scheduler, but it’s not my preferred action since it each has to beryllium done 1 by 1 connected mobile. If you for illustration handling this process connected a desktop for illustration me, publication connected for much options.

How to Schedule Instagram Reels With Meta Business Suite

Meta Business Suite is simply a societal media guidance instrumentality that allows businesses and professionals connected Meta platforms to negociate their societal media presence.

This includes messages and comments, advertizing tools, analytics and insights, automated responses, and contented creation and scheduling.

For this post, I will attraction connected nan contented creation and scheduling feature.

1. Log successful by connecting a Facebook aliases Instagram account.

I first opened Meta Business Suite. I hadn’t utilized this instrumentality before, truthful I was prompted to log successful by connecting a Facebook aliases Instagram account. I’ve created a dummy master IG relationship to show this process.

This brought maine to nan homepage connected nan dashboard.

Image Source

2. Prepare your reel utilizing Instagram.

I created and edited a reel connected Instagram. I was capable to adhd sounds, take ocular effects, and use filters.

When I was happy pinch nan reel, I deed nan Download fastener to download it to my phone. I past Airdropped it to my laptop truthful I could entree Meta Business Suite connected a desktop, but consciousness free to entree it connected mobile.

3. Create a station and format it pinch Meta Business Suite.

I returned to Meta Business Suite and clicked Create reel astatine nan top.

On nan Create reel page, I made judge I had nan correct relationship selected nether Share to. Then, I clicked Add video under Media to upload nan reel I conscionable created.

Once I uploaded nan video, Meta performed a speedy cheque to guarantee location were nary copyright issues.

Next, I added matter successful nan Caption reel section (which is optional) and selected a Thumbnail image, which is nan framework visible earlier watching nan reel. Then, I deed Next.

The adjacent surface is an editor, but since I already edited nan reel to perfection connected nan Instagram app, I didn’t request further embellishments. However, if you request to adhd immoderate last touches, specified arsenic audio aliases text, present is nan abstraction to do so.

Then, I deed Next.

The last page is wherever I scheduled nan reel. I had nan action to Share now or Schedule up to 1 period successful advance. I scheduled my reel for a Thursday astatine 9 AM since that was 1 of nan precocious engagement times mentioned successful this post.

Finally, I deed Schedule in nan bottommost correct corner, and that’s it! The reel will beryllium posted astatine my desired day and time.

How to Schedule Instagram Reels With Other Tools

While Meta Business Suite is simply a awesome prime if your business only has Meta accounts — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — it won’t see different platforms.

Therefore, if you negociate respective accounts, you whitethorn use from utilizing a third-party societal media guidance platform.

The process for scheduling a reel is similar, sloppy of platform. For this example, I will show really to schedule reels utilizing Later.

1. Create an relationship connected Later and link your Instagram.

I tested retired nan 14-day free proceedings and created an account. Later prompted maine to link my societal profiles, truthful I connected my master Instagram relationship and dummy Facebook page.

Image Source

Note: The auto-scheduling characteristic useful only for Instagram Business accounts connected to a Facebook Page. You cannot usage Creator aliases Personal profiles for scheduling reels owed to Instagram regulations. Here is how to group up a business relationship connected Instagram.

2. Record a reel.

I utilized nan video I had already created connected Instagram and downloaded to my machine for nan erstwhile steps successful this guide.

3. Upload nan video to Later and create a post.

As soon arsenic I created my account, Later prompted maine to Upload Media pinch a pop-up box, but you tin ever find this fastener successful nan apical bar.

Once my video was uploaded, nan almanac position changed to look for illustration this:

I past clicked Create Post to statesman scheduling nan reel.

4. Edit nan station settings.

Clicking Create Post brought maine to this window:

I first clicked Add Media and dragged my reel in. Then, I deed Save Changes.

Returning to nan main window, I was capable to alteration nan Post Type from Page Post to Reel. Then, I switched accounts from my Facebook Page to my Instagram relationship successful nan apical near corner. Lastly, I added a short caption.

5. Schedule nan reel.

My reel was ready, truthful I clicked nan downward arrow beside nan day and clip astatine nan apical of nan window. If you don’t take a circumstantial schedule time, Later automatically schedules it for 5 minutes from completion.

Once again, I selected a Thursday astatine 9 AM. After checking complete everything, I clicked Schedule Post, past scrolled to nan correct week successful my Calendar position to guarantee nan reel was scheduled to people connected nan correct day and time.

Image Source

Now that I’ve walked you done nan process connected 1 circumstantial third-party tool, I will stock nan champion devices to schedule Instagram reels.

4 Best Apps for Scheduling Instagram Reels

1. HubSpot

HubSpot has a broad societal media guidance instrumentality that allows users to tally each societal media campaigns from 1 cardinal place. Using this software, I tin build campaigns, people content, and schedule posts successful advance.

Users tin besides usage keyword monitoring to way societal mentions and straight pass income erstwhile prospects hunt those keywords. It’s besides easier to way capacity and person societal reports since HubSpot integrates into your CRM.

Some of nan AI features successful beta testing will beryllium revolutionary. For instance, HubSpot's AI-powered societal station generator will quickly draught and people contented to awesome platforms. You tin besides usage AI insights to understand marketplace sentiment and marque reputation.

Pricing

• Contact nan HubSpot squad for pricing.

2. Later

Later is an intuitive instrumentality for creators and societal media managers. It lets you plan, schedule, and analyse contented crossed each societal media platforms.

What I for illustration astir Later is nan Visual Planner. I tin schedule aggregate posts by dragging and dropping nan videos and images onto nan calendar. I tin besides adhd Notes to nan almanac pinch reminders and ideas for early posts.

Later’s in-depth analytics way nan capacity of each post, including impressions, reach, and audience, and erstwhile my followers are often online and engaged. This helps maine uncover nan champion clip to station reels.

Later besides has 2 features presently successful beta testing.

The first is Creator & Brand Collabs, which will beryllium a awesome instrumentality for brands to negociate influencer campaigns and observe creators. They besides person Ideas, which is an AI-powered instrumentality to thief brainstorm contented ideas.

Pricing

• Free 14-day trial.
• Starter plan: $16.67/month (billed annually) aliases $25/month (billed monthly).
• Growth plan: $30/month (billed annually) aliases $45/month (billed monthly).
• Advanced plan: $53.33/month (billed annually) aliases $80/month (billed monthly).
• Agency plan: $133.33/month (billed annually) aliases $200/month (billed monthly).
• Enterprise plan: Contact Later for pricing.

3. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is an all-in-one societal media guidance instrumentality champion for integer trading agencies and mid-to-enterprise-level in-house teams. It useful pinch each societal media platforms, including YouTube.

Hootsuite tin beryllium utilized for:

• Planning and scheduling posts.
• Running and optimizing advertisement campaigns connected societal media.
• Managing connection successful nonstop messages and comments successful 1 place.
• Monitoring marque mentions.
• AI-powered contented creation.

Pricing

• Free 30-day trial.
• Professional plan: $99/month (billed annually).
• Team plan: $249/month (billed annually).
• Enterprise plan: Contact Hootsuite for pricing.

4. Publer

Publer is simply a versatile instrumentality for societal media guidance and beyond. It enables users to create, curate, schedule, and analyse each upcoming societal media posts pinch unsocial features.

With Publer, I tin negociate respective accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google My Business, YouTube, WordPress, TikTok, Telegram, Mastodon, Threads, and BlueSky.

Features I Like

• Publer’s “Link successful Bio” feature makes Instagram posts clickable. Analytics are included.
• Integration pinch VistaCreate. Users tin creation illustrations, videos, and GIFs and move them into societal media posts pinch 1 click.
• Bulk scheduling. You tin trade up to 500 posts and schedule them successful advance.
• Recycling. Automatically rewrite your top-performing “evergreen” posts, create variations of posts, and schedule them automatically pinch a built-in Spintax Generator and AI Assist.

Pricing

• Free plan: For up to 3 accounts.
• Professional plan: $9.60/month (billed annually) aliases $12/month (billed monthly).
• Business plan: $16.80/month (billed annually) aliases $21/month (billed monthly).

Schedule Instagram Reels With Ease

While I’ve ever been acquainted pinch immoderate of nan third-party societal media scheduling devices connected this list, moving connected this station helped maine observe nan sheer measurement of options location are to complete this task.

On mobile, professionals tin quickly schedule one-off posts connected nan go. With Meta Business Suite, teams tin easy grip each their Meta societal relationship scheduling successful 1 communal space.

And software, for illustration Later and HubSpot, allows for much broad societal media guidance tools, greater flexibility, and higher entree for ample teams.

I deliberation nan astir important takeaway is that your clip is valuable.

This guideline should thief you adopt a caller method to schedule Instagram reels that lets you reclaim your clip and prioritize nan astir important societal media tasks: contented ideation and creation, and assemblage engagement.

Soon, you’ll beryllium 1 measurement person to your adjacent viral moment!

Editor's note: This station was primitively published successful December 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.