How to Schedule Instagram Stories for Free

In this guide, we'll walk you through the simple steps to create stunning Instagram Stories using your phone.

Ready to level up your Instagram game?

Instagram Stories are a fantastic way to connect with your audience, share behind-the-scenes glimpses, and boost your brand's visibility. The best part? You don't need a dime to create captivating Stories.

In this guide, we'll walk you through the simple steps to create stunning Instagram Stories using your phone. No fancy editing software required! Let's dive in and start crafting stories that will captivate your followers.

Why You Need to Schedule Your Instagram Stories?

Scheduling your Instagram Stories offers a multitude of benefits for both personal and business accounts. Here's why you should consider it:

Time-Saving

Pre-scheduling your Stories can significantly save time and effort by automating the posting process. This allows you to plan your content in advance and focus on other tasks.

Additionally, maintaining a consistent posting schedule is crucial for building a dedicated audience. By adhering to a regular posting rhythm, even during hectic times, you can keep your followers engaged and anticipate your content.

Strategic Planning

Creating an organized content calendar allows you to plan your content in advance, ensuring a cohesive and strategic approach. By aligning your content with your overall social media goals, you can effectively target your audience and drive desired outcomes.

Additionally, identifying peak engagement times is essential for maximizing visibility and interaction. By scheduling your posts during periods of high audience activity, you can significantly increase the impact of your content.

Increased Reach

Maintaining a consistent presence is crucial for keeping your audience engaged. By scheduling Stories regularly, even when you're offline, you can ensure that your content remains visible and top-of-mind.

Additionally, reaching a global audience can be achieved by scheduling Stories at times that cater to different time zones. This strategy allows you to connect with a wider audience and maximize your content's impact.

Stress Reduction

Eliminating the last-minute rush to create and post Stories allows you to focus on other tasks and maintain a calm workflow. Knowing that your content is scheduled and ready to go provides a sense of security and frees up your time.

Best ways to schedule Instagram Stories for free

In this section we will know the best ways to schedule Instagram Stories for free

Meta Business Suite

Meta Business Suite is a comprehensive tool designed to help businesses manage their presence across Facebook and Instagram. It offers a unified platform to create and schedule posts, engage with your audience, track insights, and run ads.

With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, Meta Business Suite simplifies social media management, saving time and effort for businesses of all sizes.

As of now, Meta Business Suite doesn't have a direct feature to schedule Instagram Stories. However, you can still indirectly schedule them using a workaround:

Here's how:

Create Your Story

To create visually appealing Stories, consider utilizing design tools like Canva or directly designing them within Meta Business Suite. Once your Story is designed to your liking, download it as an image or video file to prepare it for scheduling.

Schedule as a Post:

To schedule your pre-designed Story, navigate to the "Create Post" section in Meta Business Suite and select your Instagram account. Upload the downloaded Story image or video, then schedule the post for your desired time and date.

Planable

Planable is a comprehensive social media management tool that simplifies the process of creating, collaborating, and scheduling content. It offers a user-friendly interface for planning, organizing, and approving content across various social media platforms, including Instagram.

With features like drag-and-drop scheduling, content calendars, and real-time collaboration, Planable empowers teams to work efficiently and maintain a consistent brand voice.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to schedule Instagram Stories using Planable:

Create a Planable Account:

Connect Your Instagram Account:

Add your Instagram Business account to your Planable workspace.

Create Your Story:

Click the "Compose" button.
Select "Story" as the content type.
Upload your image or video.
Add text, stickers, or other creative elements as needed.

Schedule Your Story:

Click the "Schedule" button.
Select the desired date and time for your Story to be posted.
Confirm the schedule.

Key Points to Remember:

Direct Posting: Planable can directly post your Story to Instagram, eliminating the need for manual intervention.
Easy-to-Use Interface: Planable's user-friendly interface makes scheduling a breeze.
Free Plan: Planable offers a free plan with basic features, allowing you to schedule a limited number of Stories.

Buffer

Buffer is a versatile social media management tool that helps you streamline your content creation and scheduling process. With Buffer, you can easily schedule posts across multiple social media platforms, including Instagram.

Its user-friendly interface and intuitive features make it easy to plan and execute your social media strategy. Buffer also offers analytics to track the performance of your posts, enabling you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your content.

Here's how to schedule Instagram Stories using Buffer:

Connect Your Instagram Account: Ensure your Instagram business account is connected to your Buffer account.
Create Your Story: Use Buffer's composer to create your Story. You can upload images, videos, and add text, stickers, or other creative elements.
Schedule Your Story:

Automatic Posting: If your Story meets Instagram's specific requirements (e.g., aspect ratio, file size), you can schedule it for automatic posting.
Notification-Based Posting: For Stories that don't meet automatic posting requirements or if you want more control, you can schedule a notification to your phone. When the scheduled time arrives, you'll receive a notification to manually post the Story on Instagram.

Remember:

Instagram's Limitations: Instagram's API has certain limitations, which is why Buffer relies on notifications for some Story types.
Manual Intervention: You may need to manually add certain elements (like music or specific stickers) to your Story on the Instagram app.

Feedlink

Feedlink is a versatile link-in-bio tool that allows you to create a custom landing page for your Instagram profile. With Feedlink, you can organize your links, add buttons, and even schedule posts.

This tool is ideal for businesses and individuals who want to streamline their online presence and direct their followers to specific content or offers. By using Feedlink, you can enhance your Instagram profile and drive more traffic to your website or other online platforms.

Here's how to schedule your Instagram Stories using Feedlink:

Create a Feedlink Account: Sign up for a free or paid Feedlink account.
Connect Your Instagram Account: Link your Instagram business account to your Feedlink account.
Create Your Story:

Navigate to the "Publishing" tab.
Click "Create Post" and select "Instagram Story."
Upload your image or video.
Add text, stickers, or other creative elements as needed.

Schedule Your Story:

Click "Schedule Post."
Select the desired date and time for your Story to be posted.
Confirm the schedule.

Key Points to Remember:

Direct Posting: Feedlink can directly post your Story to Instagram, eliminating the need for manual intervention.
Easy-to-Use Interface: Feedlink offers a user-friendly interface for scheduling and publishing.
Free Plan: Feedlink offers a free plan with basic features, allowing you to schedule a limited number of Stories.

Conclusion

While Instagram doesn't offer a built-in scheduling feature for Stories, you can leverage third-party tools to automate this process. Tools like Planable, Buffer, and Feedlink provide user-friendly interfaces and robust features to streamline your content planning and scheduling process. By using these tools, you can save time, maintain consistency, and improve your overall Instagram strategy, all without spending a dime.