How to Schedule Instagram Stories: An Easy Guide

Instagram Stories are a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. They allow you to connect with your audience in a more personal and immediate way. However, creating and posting Stories consistently can be time-consuming.

In this blog post, I’ll show you how to schedule Instagram Stories so that you can be done with a month worth of stories in a day. I’ll also explain the benefits of scheduling Stories and share some tips on how to improve your Instagram marketing beyond Stories.

How to Schedule Instagram Stories

You can effortlessly schedule Instagram Stories using Meta Business Suite or the best Instagram post planners. For more advanced features, consider exploring third-party tools, each offering unique benefits.

Tool	Description	Pros	Cons
Meta Business Suite	Official tool from Facebook for managing Instagram and Facebook.	Free, integrated with Facebook and Instagram.	Basic features, less intuitive interface.
Third-Party Tools	Various tools like Recurpost, Hootsuite, Buffer, etc., for advanced scheduling.	Advanced features, comprehensive analytics, visual planners.	Can be expensive, varying learning curves.

Schedule Instagram Stories on Instagram Web and App

Instagram currently does not offer a native feature to schedule stories directly through the Instagram web or mobile app.

Schedule Instagram Stories on Meta business Suite Web

Here’s a consolidated step-by-step guide for scheduling Instagram Stories for free using Meta Business Suite Web:

1. Open Meta Business Suite:

• Web: Visit the Meta Business Suite website.

2. Log In: Sign in to your account if you aren’t already logged in.

3. Select or Connect Accounts:

• If your Instagram account is not already connected, link your Instagram and Facebook accounts within the Meta Business Suite.

4. Create a Story:

• Navigate to the “Create Story” section.
• Choose your Instagram account from the list.

For more detailed instructions on creating engaging Instagram Stories, check out our guide on How to Create an Instagram Story.

5. Add Media:

• Upload pictures or videos you want to include in your story.

6. Customize Your Story (Optional):

• Add text, stickers, trim and resize and other interactive elements.
• However, Meta business suite web does not provide some options like polls, links and GIF’s

7. Schedule Your Story:

• Set the date and time you want your story to be posted. [Best Posting Times in the US]
• Review your story and confirm the schedule.

By following these steps, you can easily schedule Instagram Stories for free using Meta Business Suite on web.

Schedule Instagram Stories on Meta business Suite Mobile App

Here’s a consolidated step-by-step guide for scheduling Instagram Stories using Meta Business Suite mobile:

1. Open Meta Business Suite:

• Web: Visit the Meta Business Suite website

2. Log In: Sign in to your account if you aren’t already logged in.

3. Select or Connect Accounts:

• You shall connect your Instagram account to Meta Business Suite in order to be able to schedule the post.

4. Create a Story:

• Navigate to the “Create Story” section.
• Choose your Instagram account from the list.

5. Add Media:

• Upload pictures or videos you want to include in your story.

6. Customize Your Story (Optional):

• Add text, stickers, GIFs, trim, resize and other interactive elements.
• Also, Meta business suite app provides some more options like polls, links and GIF’s

7. Schedule Your Story:

• Set the date and time you want your story to be posted.
• Review your story and confirm the schedule.

By following these steps, you can easily schedule Instagram Stories for free using Meta Business Suite mobile platform.

For a detailed guide on how to schedule Instagram posts and stories directly using the Instagram app without relying on third-party tools, check out our comprehensive blog post.

RecurPost Instagram Scheduler for Scheduling Stories

To schedule Instagram stories you need RecurPost. RecurPost is an Instagram scheduler that supports posting to an Instagram business as well as a personal profile. It will even give you the best time schedules so that you can reach maximum users with your posts. Looking for more tools to streamline your Instagram strategy? Check out our guide on the best apps to schedule Instagram posts

Here are the steps to schedule Instagram stories with RecurPost:

1. Create a RecurPost Account

To begin the scheduling process, you will need to create a RecurPost account by entering your name and email address. Once you have created an account, you will be able to log in and schedule Instagram posts in no time.

2. Connect Your Instagram Profile

Since you want to schedule a story on Instagram, the next step would be to connect your Instagram profile with the RecurPost interface. The below window will appear on your screen when you click on the “Add social account” option:

Choose the option saying “Instagram business profile”. Once you click on that, you will be taken to the Facebook login screen since Instagram and Facebook accounts are connected. Enter your username and password there.

After this, you need to grant certain permissions to the RecurPost app to operate your account.

You do not have to worry about the privacy of your personal information because RecurPost guarantees the safety of your details. Select the option “Allow” and your account will be ready for scheduling and posting.

3. Start Creating Your Instagram Story

On the RecurPost main dashboard, there is an option to “share a post.” Click on it to start creating your story.

Once you do that, a box will open up wherein you can add all the details about your post. Add the description in the form of text or link. There is also the option of adding media like GIFs, images, or videos.

On the left side, you will see the list of accounts added. Select your Instagram account from the list on which you want to schedule the story.

Once you have added all the details, click on the “Customize for each platform” button on the top right.

You’ll see the Instagram tab appear alongside the ‘Original’ tab. Click on it. 

Select the option of ‘Story’.

4. Schedule Your Instagram Story

Next, you simply need to toggle on the ‘Schedule for later’ option and select the preferred date and time. You can also choose ‘Auto-schedule for best time’ for RecurPost to identify the best time to post on Instagram when your story is most likely to receive the maximum views and engagement.

After all the details are set, simply click on the ‘Schedule’ button and you’re done! Your story will go live on the selected account as per the timings selected. 

Canva’s Instagram scheduler is an excellent option for designing stories and scheduling them in advance. It allows you to create visually appealing content with Canva’s design tools and plan your posts to ensure consistent and timely updates.

Pro Tip: Use an Instagram automation tool to schedule your Instagram Stories in advance, ensuring timely posting and consistent engagement with your audience, even during busy periods.

How to Improve Instagram Marketing Beyond Stories

Instagram Stories are a great way to connect with your audience, but there are other things you can do to improve your Instagram marketing. Here are 7 tips to do so:

1. Use high-quality images and videos

Your Instagram feed is a visual platform, so it’s important to use high-quality images and videos. Your content should be well-lit, well-composed, and engaging. You can use a variety of photo editing apps to enhance your images and videos.

Here are some tips for creating high-quality images and videos for Instagram:

• Use good lighting. Natural light is always best, but if you’re shooting indoors, try to find a spot with bright, even lighting.
• Use a tripod or other stabilizing device to avoid blurry photos and videos.
• Use a variety of angles and perspectives to make your content more interesting.
• Edit your photos and videos to improve the brightness, contrast, and color.
• Additionally, incorporating music into your Instagram posts can elevate the overall impact of your visual content.

2. Write engaging captions

Your captions are just as important as your images and videos. They should be informative, engaging, and relevant to your target audience. Use your captions to tell stories, ask questions, and encourage interaction.

Here are some tips for writing engaging captions:

• Start with a strong hook. This could be a question, a statement, or a funny story.
• Keep your captions concise and to the point. Instagram only shows the first two lines of your caption, so make sure your most important information is at the beginning.
• Use relevant hashtags to help people find your content.
• Ask questions and encourage your followers to interact with your post.

3. Use relevant hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to get your content seen by more people. When you use relevant hashtags, your content will show up in the search results for those hashtags. Be sure to use a mix of popular and niche hashtags.

Here are some tips for using hashtags on Instagram:

• Use a mix of popular and niche hashtags. Popular hashtags will help you reach a wider audience, but niche hashtags will help you target people who are more likely to be interested in your content.
• Use relevant hashtags. Don’t just use popular hashtags that aren’t relevant to your content.
• Use a limited number of hashtags. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags per post, but it’s best to use 10-15 hashtags per post.

4. Run Instagram ads

Besides creating and scheduling posts and reels, running Instagram ads is a great way to reach a wider audience and promote your products or services. You can target your ads to specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. Instagram ads can be very effective, but it’s important to create compelling ad copy and images.

Here are some tips for creating effective Instagram ads:

• Use clear and concise ad copy. Your ad copy should tell people what you’re selling and why they should care.
• Use high-quality images or videos. Your ad visuals should be eye-catching and relevant to your ad copy.
• Target your ads to the right audience. Instagram allows you to target your ads to specific demographics, interests, and behaviors.
• Set a budget and track your results. It’s important to set a budget for your Instagram ads and track your results so you can see what’s working and what’s not.

5. Collaborate with other users

Collaborating with other users is a great way to cross-promote your content and reach a new audience. You can collaborate with other businesses in your industry, influencers, or even your own customers.

Here are some ideas for collaborating with other users on Instagram:

• Host a joint giveaway or contest.
• Do a guest takeover on each other’s accounts.
• Create a co-branded product or service.
• Cross-promote each other’s content in your captions and Stories.

6. Post consistently

It’s important to post consistently on Instagram in order to keep your audience engaged. Aim to post at least once a day, but more often is better. You can use social media bulk scheduling to plan and schedule your posts in advance.

Here are some tips for posting consistently on Instagram:

• Create a content calendar to plan out your posts in advance.
• Use a social media scheduling tool to schedule your posts in advance.
• Experiment with different posting times to see when your audience is most active.
• Repurpose your content from other platforms, such as your blog or website.

7. Interact with your audience

Instagram is a social platform, so it’s important to interact with your audience. Respond to comments, answer questions, and participate in conversations. You can also use Instagram Stories to interact with your audience in a more personal way.

Here are some tips for interacting with your audience on Instagram:

• Respond to all comments promptly. This shows your audience that you value their feedback and that you’re paying attention.
• Answer questions thoroughly and informatively. This helps to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
• Participate in conversations in a genuine and authentic way. Don’t just be a salesperson.
• Use Instagram Stories to give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at your business and to connect with them on a more personal level.

To take your Instagram marketing to the next level beyond Stories, check out our detailed guide on the Best Instagram Tools for Marketers 2024. This guide will provide you with essential tools to enhance your overall Instagram strategy and achieve better results.

Troubleshooting while Scheduling Instagram Stories

While it can be extremely helpful to schedule stories on Instagram, at times it can also be very challenging with the kind of glitches that we encounter with social media features on a daily basis.

Although it is difficult to avoid such technicalities altogether, a few steps or measures can certainly be taken to deal with these issues better which are as follows :

• System freeze- If your system crashes or freezes while attempting to schedule an Instagram post, you may try logging out and back in after some time. And if that does not help either, one may even try installing and reinstalling the app. 

• Technical glitches- If the glitch seems more complex than the usual ones, you may want to check if the account has expired, there is a spam risk, or there are some ungranted permissions; and if the issue turns out to be one of these, you shall not rush to publish it and first make it a point to minimize or shut down any applications, links, or websites that you find spammy and problematic.

If you want to know more reasons and solutions for the common problem of Instagram schedule posts not working, please visit here.

Conclusion

Scheduling Instagram Stories is a great way to save time and ensure that your content is published consistently. By following the steps in this blog post, you can easily schedule your Instagram Stories in advance. 

Apart from these, there can be quite a few other ways to interact with your audience actively, and also be more consistent on social media, such as creating engaging content, posting consistently, using relevant hashtags, interacting with your followers, using Instagram Stories, leveraging Instagram Live, using Instagram Insights, collaborating with influencers, and running paid ads.

There can be some glitches that may come our way as we make our way through social media, but with just a few mild measures, they can be overcome too!

So, don’t forget to take RecurPost’s free trial to experience the scheduling features!

Frequently Asked Questions