How to schedule posts on Instagram – for free

Plus tips, news & Buffer updates for your social media journey ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­  

Hey there 👋🏾 We're leaning into asynchronous work over the next quarter, meaning we're doing away with meetings over the next couple of months — mostly.   It's an adjustment, but one that I'm glad we have the chance to experiment with through what we're calling the "Deep Work" quarter. It also has me thinking a lot about time and prioritization. Documenting everything forces me to think about framing my messages for clarity and getting better at providing context.   I have a feeling I'll be learning a lot about myself and my communication styles over the next few weeks. And I won't keep it all to myself, either — we'll all be repurposing our communication and experiences into social posts. If you're interested, follow Buffer on LinkedIn!   I know this isn't super relevant to social media, but it was too interesting not to share. Fortunately, the rest of the newsletter is very social-forward, as you'll see when we get into it.   Have a lovely weekend, and we'll see you next Friday! Warmly,    Tami & the Buffer team P.S. If you use Buffer, you might have experienced us having more downtime than usual recently — we apologize. Here's what we're doing about it. 👇 The latest from the blog Here are ten top About Us pages of creators and small businesses to take inspiration from. Get everything you need to know about the ideal Facebook cover photo size — and 11 ideas to stand out Learn how this health startup founder raised $463,000 with equity crowdfunding We're sunsetting Pablo, Remix, and Stories Creator — here's what you need to know 🖊️ Deep dive: How to schedule Instagram posts — for free Scheduling Instagram posts is among the best productivity hacks for busy creators, social media managers, and business owners today who prioritize the platform.   There are 2(.5) great ways to schedule your Instagram posts to improve posting consistency and content performance:   1. Schedule natively on Instagram: Tap the Create post '+' button at the bottom center of the Instagram app to start a new post. Choose your media, then tap 'Next.' Edit your video (if posting an Instagram Reel), and add text, stickers, and more elements by tapping the buttons at the top of your screen. Write your caption, and add hashtags, collaborators, location, and any other necessary details to your post. When you're happy, scroll down to tap the 'More options' button. Toggle 'Schedule this reel' on. Choose your desired date and time for the Instagram post to be published, then tap 'Done.' Tap the back arrow to go back to the post composer. When you're happy with your Instagram post, tap 'Schedule.' And voila! Your post will be automatically published at your chosen time. 2. Schedule Instagram posts with Buffer auto-publish: Click on the '+ New' create post button on the top right-hand side of your screen, then choose 'Post.' Choose Instagram from the channels list at the top of the post composer and add any other channels you have connected to cross-post your content elsewhere. Choose 'Post,' 'Reel, or 'Story, ' depending on what content you want to post. Upload your media and add your caption. Don't forget the hashtags! To auto-publish your post at a specific time, make sure the 'Automatic' option is selected. Click on 'Add to Queue' to post in the next available slot in your queue, 'Share Now' to post immediately, 'Share Next' to post in the next available queue slot, or 'Schedule Post' to select a specific time. 2.5. Schedule Instagram posts with Buffer notification publishing We introduced notification publishing to give you even more flexibility. The idea is to have your content ready and waiting to go but still be able to add the last touches that the Instagram algorithm seems to love — that is, text, stickers, and trending Instagram sounds or music. Tapping on the Buffer notification when it pops up will allow you to automatically open your preloaded content in the Instagram composer and easily copy over the caption you previously wrote. You can add notes to your post about the text you want to overlay on the image or video, the location, topics, and even the music you plan on using. With all that done, getting the post published will only take a few minutes — helping you work smarter, not harder, on Instagram. Dive deeper 📹 Check out our latest YouTube video ⌛ "We grew a client's accounts by 400 percent" We pride ourselves on being an excellent tool for creators and business owners to grow on social media — and our users are more than happy to back us up.    Jayak at redpigeonmedia says: "Over the past 3 months we've managed to grow one of our client's social media accounts by 400% from 6k to over 23k followers!"   Want to skyrocket your growth? Get started with Buffer today! Try out Buffer for free today 📱7 days of content prompts for your next post We've been sharing content prompts as part of Creator Camp, and I thought you, our dear newsletter audience, might find some inspiration.   Bookmark this newsletter so you can revisit these throughout the week! Share three things you were able to achieve in Q3 and three things you haven't made much progress on. Share your plans for Q4 – goals, projects, to-dos… Here's exactly how I'm learning (or re-learning) to [skill or topic]. Let me break down the steps that actually work. Share something that makes you optimistic about life, your career or industry. This routine transformed [how I task/activity] – here's what I do. Share a time stepping out of your comfort zone didn't work out for you – and what you learned from it. Here are 3 habits that helped me [accomplishment], and why you should develop them too. 🤳 What's happening in social? Meta is testing a feature to let you post Instagram Reels directly on Threads Meta shares tips on how to grow your Threads presence Threads is working on a Communities feature Mastodon rolls out revamped notifications, a refreshed look and more Thanks for reading! 💟 What would you like to see more (or less) of in the newsletter? Give us all your feedback in this form or let us know on all our social channels @buffer! Unsubscribe | Update my mail settings    Sent by the team at Buffer 2443 Fillmore St #380-7163 San Francisco, CA 94115 USA