As business use of Instagram has exploded, social media marketers have clamored for this feature.
Instagram finally announced direct publishing for business pages on January 30, 2018. Instagram says the new Graph API that allows auto-posting is available to all of Facebook’s Marketing Partners and Instagram Partners.
Read on for a list of partners which allow Instagram scheduling, and their prices.
What’s Instagram Direct Posting?
Up until now, any tools that didn’t break Instagram’s Terms of Service allowed you to schedule posts in advance, but couldn’t actually publish them. They sent a push notification to your phone, so you completed the post manually.
Auto-posting with a non-approved service was never, and is still not, okay with Instagram, and could get your account closed. Beware!
Now that Instagram will be phasing out their old API, I suspect even more of a crackdown on unapproved apps and services. Look for an approved partner.
My favorite is Tailwind App! Automated posting has just been released on Tailwind.
Why I Prefer Tailwind for Instagram Posting
There are a few Instagram Partners which will offer auto-publishing to Instagram. Why choose Tailwind?
- Tailwind knows visual marketing! They’re experts in Instagram and Pinterest.
- Tailwind is your best buy if you need a paid posting tool for Instagram only.
- Tailwind analytics rock – no upcharges to access valuable stats on your IG performance.
- Tailwind Smart Schedule posts when your audience is most engaged.
- Hashtag Finder! Save time and increase engagement with a perfect collection of hashtags.
- Finally, Tailwind is a small business of dedicated, hardworking folks like you and me. I love to support small business, don’t you?
Try Tailwind with the Smart Schedule and Hashtag Finder – schedule 30 posts for FREE!
• • • Click here to try Tailwind for Instagram FREE• • •
I’m an affiliate for Tailwind and will receive a referral fee if you purchase a paid plan.
Approved Instagram Scheduling Tools: Compare Prices
I’ve listed all the approved schedulers I could find, in order of pricing.
If you’re interested in a particular tool, contact the company to ensure the availability of direct posting to Instagram. Most partners are currently working on implementing it, but I don’t know all that offer it yet. *Asterisked ones are confirmed available.
These tools offer various features included their pricing. Contact companies directly for more details. Multi-user and upgraded features are available at higher cost.
I’m an affiliate for Tailwind and will receive a referral fee if you purchase a paid plan.
Iconosquare: $9 per month or $81 paid a year in advance for 1 account. 100K follower limit, email support only. *Auto-posting enabled.
Planoly: $9 per month or $84 paid a year in advance for 1 account. No word on auto posting.
Tailwind: $15 per month or $120 paid a year in advance for 1 account. Includes Smart Schedule and the amazing Hashtag Finder. *Auto-posting enabled.
HootSuite: Monthly payments not available. $228 paid a year in advance. Add up to 10 social profiles. 1 user. *Auto-posting enabled.
More options below, from $24 to $99 per month.
Oracle Social: $24 per month or $288 paid a year in advance. Add up to 4 social profiles. 1 user.
AgoraPulse: $49 per month or $468 paid a year in advance. Add up to 3 social profiles. 1 user.
Sprout Social: $99 per month per user. Add up to 10 social profiles.
SocialFlow: No prices revealed. Rumored to start at $99 per month for 2 social profiles.
My first choice is always Tailwind, because it’s a small business with real people – who really care.
I personally use Tailwind for Pinterest, and Missinglettr to automate my other social media marketing. I can’t wait to try the Instagram auto-posting feature on Tailwind ASAP.
HootSuite is great tool used by millions, but as you might imagine, the service is pretty impersonal. I was a paid user for a couple years though, and it works well. I switched to MissingLettr because it’s the perfect hands-off tool for bloggers. We all need more time!
HootSuite costs more than Tailwind if you only use it for Instagram. However, if you post frequently to the other platforms, it could be best for you. You won’t have Tailwind’s proprietary SmartSchedule and Hashtag Finder, so you’ll have to spend some valuable time figuring the best time to post, and the best hashtags to use.
More News about Instagram Automated Posting
Hootsuite was one of the first partners to implement the API.
“The scheduling and publishing of Instagram content has been the number one request for our 16 million customers,” said Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes, in a statement. “Now, they can manage large volumes of content, multiple team members and multiple Instagram accounts with ease and security. Hootsuite is excited to partner with Instagram to make this happen.”
Other social media software applications that are official partners include SocialFlow.
“It’s always been very time-consuming to create Instagram posts,” SocialFlow CEO Jim Anderson told TechCrunch. “That’s not necessarily a problem for individual consumers, but when you’re a media company that creates more than 100,000 posts a month, it’s simply impossible to do everything manually.”
The change is part of a revamp of Instagram’s API platform which will deprecate the older Instagram API Platform over the next two years.
The newer Instagram Graph API includes the ability to:
- Analyze metrics and insights about the business’s performance on Instagram.
- Moderate comments,.
- Access the business’s mentions and add responses to those.
Some of the things not yet supported in direct scheduling and posting to Instagram include:
- Posting videos.
- Using filters.
- Adding location data and shopping tags.
- Multi-image posts.
Instagram says that support for non-business profiles is in the works for an early 2019 release. For now, non-business profiles are limited to using a scheduling tool that sends push notifications, or setting up Drafts right inside the IG app itself.
I haven’t heard anything to suggest that Instagram will include a scheduling feature inside the app. You can schedule posts for free on Facebook, though. Maybe this will come to IG eventually. I know we all love free options!
WrapUp: How to Schedule and Post to Instagram
What do you think of this new feature? Have you tried it yet?
If you’d like to give it a whirl, I recommend you try Tailwind to post to Instagram directly.
Try Tailwind with the Smart Schedule and Hashtag Finder – schedule 30 posts for FREE!
• • • Click here to try Tailwind for Instagram FREE• • •
I’m an affiliate for Tailwind and will receive a referral fee if you purchase a paid plan.
Freddy G. Cabrera says
Hey Louise!
I have not tried tailwind, yet. I recently started posting more on my instagram profile. Not a big fan of it but I know it has the potential for free traffic. Using such automation tools definitely help save time and work.
Thank you for sharing this!
Best regards! 😀
Louise Myers says
Hey Freddy!
If you’re looking for blog traffic, IG will be labor intensive for little traffic. It’s more of a place to connect and engage with your audience.
Lisa Kalner Williams says
Hi there Louise,
I’m over at Agorapulse and I love what Tailwind can do. In fact, I still use it to track one of my Pinterest accounts. Thanks for including us both on the list. (We’re both small businesses competing against giants!)
Lisa
Louise Myers says
Hey Lisa, thanks for stopping by! That’s good to know, I’m not too familiar with Agora Pulse. Please let us know if / when you add auto posting.
Lisa Kalner Williams says
It’s here: https://www.agorapulse.com/instagram-direct-publishing
Feel free to email me if you’d like to try it out 🙂
Leah says
I was using Hootsuite’s auto-posting feature and noticed that I got less engagement on those posts. I’ve gone back to the old way of scheduling posts and my engagement has increased. While I like the convenience of auto-posting it hasn’t been worth it for me. Wondering if anyone has seen the same thing happen when using Tailwind’s feature.
Louise Myers says
I haven’t used TW auto-post yet, but did see this with HootSuite. It doesn’t surprise me. Typical FB thing.
Stephanie Kunder says
Onlypult has been offering Instagram autoposting for at least 2 years.
Louise Myers says
Right, but it’s not approved and can get your account shut down. And I did write about it at least 2 years ago. But I don’t recommend taking the risk.
Albert Fernandez says
Hey Louise,
great article! As far as I know, Instagram still testing their new scheduling API and for now it is only open to their biggest partners which to be fair I do not believe is Tailwind. For now, only Hootsuite and Buffer are confirmed.
Louise Myers says
Sorry, that’s not correct. Tailwind is 100% confirmed and has had it available for months.
I also don’t allow promotion in comments so it’s been edited.
lisa says
I have used some of the above, however I use Plann to grow/schedule my Instagram. Rather than just a scheduling tool they also give “your personal best time to post” (+ competitors best time to post), what hashtags that *really works* and all their filters are free 🙂
+ The full version is $6/ month!
Louise Myers says
If and when they become approved as an Instagram partner I’ll check them out. I can’t recommend apps that might put my readers accounts at risk.
Sonia says
I’m using tailwind free plan for now and loving it but not sure if I will pay for it yet or not. I miss commenting option like later but I do recgoznice their hashtag feature is amaaaazing.
I have a few days yet to keep testing it. Thanks for the post!
Louise Myers says
You’re welcome! Enjoy deciding 🙂