Looking to keep your brand fresh in your audience’s mind through Instagram Stories? Maintaining consistency is crucial, but juggling numerous tasks may leave you short on time to manually design and post Stories content throughout the day.
Manual posting comes with its own set of obstacles. What happens if an image gets oddly cropped? Or if the sticker link you provided malfunctions? Instead of concentrating on other responsibilities, you find yourself tangled in tech issues. Nevertheless, scheduling Instagram Stories can circumvent these problems.
We’ve crafted this comprehensive guide to demonstrate how to schedule Instagram Stories. You’ll discover the advantages of scheduling and detailed steps for utilizing the scheduling tools of Sprout Social and Facebook Business Suite.
Why is it important to schedule Instagram Stories?
In short, scheduling Instagram Stories makes life significantly easier for social media marketers. Here are some of the most significant advantages.
Save time
According to Harvard Business Review, employees spend less than four hours a week readjusting after switching between apps and websites, which amounts to 9% of their total annual work hours. By scheduling Stories, marketers can concentrate on one task at a time instead of derailing their workflow to post, thereby conserving time, energy, and attention.
Establish scheduling consistency
Stories are positioned prominently at the top of the Instagram feed, making them typically the first thing users notice upon opening the app. By scheduling your content, you can ensure consistent visibility at designated times throughout the day or week. It also enables you to capitalize on the optimal posting times on Instagram to enhance visibility.
Gain more opportunities for strategic content planning
Distributing various types of Stories (e.g., promotions, behind-the-scenes glimpses, user-generated content) can aid in engaging your audience and sustaining their interest in your brand. Maintaining a balanced content variety is significantly simpler when Stories are scheduled in advance, allowing for a broader view to address all aspects rather than posting haphazardly without a strategic framework.
Ensure cohesive branding with templates
Due to their ephemeral nature, many brands’ Instagram Stories tend to be less formal and refined compared to their Feed posts. Marketers can still adopt a more relaxed approach when scheduling Stories, but having a planned timeframe allows for content preparation ahead of time, promoting a more uniform appearance with design resources such as Instagram templates.
Prepare for large campaigns
If you’re gearing up for a widespread marketing initiative, you will have various deliverables to produce and distribute before, during, and after the event. Taking the initiative to set up as much content as feasible in advance, including scheduling Stories, will assist in organization and free up more time for real-time interactions while the campaign is active.
Align with other marketing strategies
Imagine you’re unveiling a new product. You’re running ads on Meta, have an email blast ready for your subscribers, and have posts prepared for your Instagram and TikTok feeds. Scheduling your Instagram Stories to be released simultaneously guarantees that your entire digital audience receives the same message across all platforms. When someone sees the advertisement, checks their email, or browses through Instagram, these cohesive efforts reinforce your message and bolster your product launch.
How to schedule Instagram Stories with Sprout Social
Do you want to optimize your time, ensure consistency, and engage with Stories when your audience is active? Utilize Sprout Social’s Instagram Story Scheduling workflow to simplify content creation and scheduling.
Here’s how to schedule Instagram posts, specifically Stories, utilizing Sprout Social on both desktop and mobile.
How to schedule Instagram Stories on desktop with Sprout
- Step 1. Open the Compose box and choose the profile you wish to post on.
- Step 2. Activate This is a story.
- Step 3. Select and upload media to the Compose box from your desktop, Bynder, Canva, Dropbox, or Google Drive, adhering to the following specifications:
- Video:
- File type: .mp4, .mov
- Max file size: 650 MB
- Max duration: 2 minutes 30 seconds
- Image:
- File type: .jpg, .png
- Max file size: 20 MB
- Video:
- Step 4. Optional: include an Approval Workflow in the Publishing Workflows section for added accountability.
- Step 5. Schedule the Story. You have four options:
- Choose your intended publishing date and time
- Create a Draft to save to your social media calendar for later scheduling
- Queue the Story to post automatically at a designated time
- Publish immediately to share the Story right away
- Step 6: Click Schedule or Submit. Your Story is now scheduled and will be reflected in the Publishing Calendar.
How to schedule Instagram Stories on the Sprout iOS app
- Step 1. Open the Compose box and select the profile to post on.
- Step 2. Activate This is a story.
- Step 3. Choose and upload media from your iOS device or Asset Library to the Compose box. Select up to 10 images or videos following the desktop scheduling specifications.
- Step 4. Tap Done, then add Mobile Publisher Notes or a Link Sticker URL for each Story frame. You can also attach story notes and text for easy copy when you’re ready to post.
- Step 5. Tap Notify and select a publishing date and time for your Story. You can create a Draft, add it to your Queue, or Send it right away.
- Step 6: Tap Save. Your Story is now scheduled and will show on the Publishing Calendar.
How to schedule Instagram Stories with Meta Business Suite
- Step 1. Go to your Meta Business Suite and select Create story.
- Step 2. Choose where your post will be visible: Facebook, Instagram, or both.
- Step 3. Select and add visual assets to the Media section. Choose up to 10 images and videos to review before scheduling your post.
- Step 4. Select a scheduling option for your post. Click Share now to post immediately, Schedule to choose a future date and time for publishing, or Active times for sharing when your followers are most engaged.
- Step 5. Click Schedule (the blue button located at the bottom right of your screen) to finalize your scheduling option and publish or schedule your post.
Begin scheduling your Instagram Stories
Since its introduction in 2016, Instagram Stories has become a favored feature for social media marketers. Due to their 24-hour lifespan, brands frequently adopt a more genuine and imaginative approach with their Stories content compared to their Feed. With features such as polls, questions, and quizzes, they also provide excellent opportunities for real-time interaction.
Incorporating scheduling tools like Sprout Social or Meta Business Suite into your Instagram Stories content creation process allows you to fully enjoy the benefits of this engaging feature at your own pace. It also ensures that you share the most impactful content at optimal times for your audience.
However, to utilize Stories effectively, you cannot always post spontaneously. Pre-scheduling your content will help you appear at the best moments with the most compelling messages. While this guide is designed to facilitate that process, Instagram Stories represent just one aspect of the broader Instagram strategy. To dominate this platform, you need to adopt a more expansive outlook. Check out our Instagram for Brands guide to elevate your Instagram strategy and future-proof your approach.
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