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So your business has finally caught up with the times and decided to create an Instagram account. All jokes aside, adding another social platform for marketing purposes can be a major challenge for any business. Even if you or someone within your business has prior experience with Instagram, it’s time-consuming to host a relevant account, as well as to get your business off the ground with a new platform.

Opening a new Instagram account can bring many challenges. You will need to find the right audience and create content that will be engaging. Gaining followers and discovering the most effective ways to build your brand on Instagram will happen through trial and error efforts.

Scheduling Tools as Part of a Strategy

As with anything, your business’ Instagram account will require a strategy. Determine goals for your Instagram account such as:

• how frequently you will post
• how much customer/fan engagement you would like to see
• how many followers you hope to attract and by what time
• And what you’re seeking to get out of Instagram as a whole (more user-curated content, better organization for your photos and media, the broadening of your target market, etc).

With all of this in mind, you’ll need to find a way to keep on track with your goals.

While users with personal Instagram accounts can get away with posting at the most sporadic of times, that “method” doesn’t work well with a business’ profile. This is where an Instagram scheduling tool comes into play. These scheduling tools exist to help successful business accounts.

Don’t place all of your dependence on an Instagram scheduling tool, though. The tools exist to help with your strategy but cannot take over the entire process. An Instagram scheduling tool will work best with a company that has a come up with a plan and determined their goals for the profile.

Which Instagram Tool Should my Business Choose?

There are many tools to choose from and while having options is a good thing, it can also make the decision-making process more daunting. While they all perform similar tasks, there are some scheduling tools that are going to work much better for you and your business than others.

The amount of money you’re able to allocate to Instagram marketing efforts will also dictate which platform you choose to help with scheduling. Although there are many tools available, some may be free while others have multiple tiered plans you can purchase for a monthly fee.

It will most likely take a little research and testing of the waters, but after awhile you should be able to find an Instagram scheduling tool that works best for your wallet and marketing needs.

The Tools Available

As stated above, there are so many different Instagram scheduling tools available, we couldn’t possibly tell you which one to choose for your business. Below are some popular scheduling tools for Instagram:

Onlypult (formerly Instapult)

7-day free trial and plans ranging from $12 to $65 per month

Later.com (previously Latergramme)

Business plans ranging from $19 to $49 per month

Hootsuite

Plans ranging from $9.99 to $99.99 per month

Buffer

7 or 14-day free trial and plans ranging from $10 to $399 per month

Crowdfire

Understanding Instagram’s API and What This Has To Do With Scheduling Tools

Instagram’s application program interface (API) has to do with the social network’s software and protocols. Instagram is a platform that was built to be used in real time, but this is not always possible when it comes to a business’ account. This is why technically the scheduling of Instagram posts from third party sites goes against the application’s terms of use and could lead to a business profile’s (or any profile) being taken down. Some third party scheduling tools do this, so beware.

On the other hand, scheduling tools that follow Instagram’s API act more like calendars for a business and its content. With these rule abiding “scheduling” tools, a business can store their visual content and post text until they get a notification to go into the third party app and hit ‘publish.’ With that loophole, a post isn’t technically being scheduled by a third party app, but instead, posted in real time by an actual person.

Titan Web Marketing Solutions based in Murfreesboro, TN provides Social Media Services to businesses throughout the United States. If your company needs social media help Contact Us today.