When you are a freelancer or when you run a small business – your time and your money are linked. The time you need to spend on things like social media, responding to emails, and posting those beautifully edited images is the time that would be better spent working on your business.
There are several advantageous options when it comes to creating and scheduling your Instagram posts.
It is worth noting that these will only work if you have a business profile. The business profile allows the tools to send the posts automatically.
Zoho Social
You have probably heard of Zoho already, as it has so many great apps that can be used to help your business run much smoother. Zoho Social has the ability for direct publishing to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn company pages. There is a free plan that will manage one of each of the social platforms. Sign up for free and have a play around with the available tools.
Buffer
This might be the market leader. It is recommended by bloggers, influences, and companies alike. As well as having a range of tools that will allow you to post to Instagram directly, there are a plethora of other platform options. It is worth looking at the paid account options as that opens up the possibility to post more to more platforms. Which is ideal if you are creating a social media campaign.
Planoly
Not only does Planoly look beautiful, but it is easy to use and has the option to integrate shopping links into the content when you upgrade. The free plan is limited, but you can preview your feed with ease and move things around to make it more aesthetically pleasing. You can also save a range of different hashtags and put them into name categories.
Hootsuite
This is more of a one-stop-shop for everything you need when it comes to social media management. And ideally, you are building full social media campaigns. So, with the option to post to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, Hootsuite is pretty handy.
Preparation
While having the right social media tools in place is a must, you are going to need to batch edit and have the right hashtags all the time. Do some research into the hashtags that are most often viewed and the most valuable to your content. The idea is to maximize your visibility.
When it comes to editing the photos, there are a few things that you can do. ColorStory has a batch edit option. Which means if you find a filter or color ‘feel’ that you like, you can edit your photos in bulk with your mobile phone and use something like Planoly to create the grid.
Alternatively, you can create your own lightroom preset and apply and adjust them individually. This is the perfect combination with any of the tools above, remember that there are some limitations with size and shape when you are auto-posting to Instagram.
To keep your Instagram running well, research the hashtags, create the content (Canva is an excellent option for creating graphics without hassle), and spend time scheduling it. Always remember to check in on the engagement and reply to comments too.
