Instagram was created to solely be a mobile application, which means you are unable to edit and manage your posts from your computer.
Thankfully, some software solutions have been developed to help you manage and automate all of your Instagram posts straight from your…wait for it… computer!
So before you upgrade your phone’s internal storage to accommodate all of your future coffee cup art posts, consider the top 3 Instagram software options we have reviewed that will make your ‘Instagram-ing’ MUCH easier.
These software options are not listed in any particular order
Hopper HQ
Hopper HQ allows you to create, schedule and publish posts across multiple Instagram accounts.
This is a great option to have for Instagram marketers and also for entrepreneurs with multiple Instagram pages.
What’s particularly great about this software is that it gives you the option of designing and editing your posts within the actual platform.
You have the option of adding frames, text overlays and adjusting picture settings.
The software integrates with multiple photo storage solutions so you can upload and edit photos from Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, and Google Drive.
The software offers an excellent clear overview of all your schedules posts by week or month.
If you want to change the order of scheduled posts, it’s as easy as dragging the posts over to a different day or week.
The ability to write captions for future posts means that you no longer need to waste time writing a caption for each post as you publish it – so no more messy copying and pasting hashtags saved in your phone notes!
If you are looking for a complete end to end post designer AND scheduler, Hopper HQ is a definite win!
Pricing starts at $16 per month per user (billed yearly). They also offer a 14-day free trial.
Later
The software Later allows you to plan an entire week’s worth of Instagram posts in only 20 minutes!
The speed of post scheduling is a result of their highly responsive and intuitive platform.
I particularly like their feature of easily rearranging the photos in your profile by just clicking and dragging them over to your preferred position.
Though the software does provide in-depth analytics to the performance of your posts, it does not offer a post design feature like Hopper HQ.
Without an inbuilt post design feature, you would be forced to use 3rd party software such as Canva to design your Instagram posts and then import them into Later.
A unique feature to Later is the solution they offer to add external links to each of your Instagram posts.
It works like this:
Once a user clicks on the unique link in your bio, they are taken to a landing page that replicates your Instagram feed.
You can then add links to each of your posts to whatever external webpage you like.
This feature does not seem like much of a unique offering as it could easily be replicated by designing your e-commerce store in a similar tiled fashion like your Instagram feed and then adding your e-commerce web link to your bio.
The benefit of this workaround is that you would not have to worry about any landing page ‘middle-man.’
Price starts at $9 per month for an individual profile.
Buffer
Buffer is a comprehensive social management solution for multiple social platforms – including Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, twitter, etc.
You can add comments to each of your posts that will be displayed throughout all social media platforms when published.
Its analytics dashboard provides invaluable engagement data such as likes, retweets, and replies.
I love its collaboration feature which allows you to invite multiple team members to edit and manage posts.
Though this software also lacks an inbuilt post design feature, it does offer an extension for your browser that allows you to push posts into the platform straight from your browser.
Posts can also be scheduled via the Buffer mobile application (available on both android and apple devices)
Pricing starts at $15 which includes the management of 8 social media accounts.
Keep in mind that Instagram, as well as other social media applications, are predicated on creating a REAL engaging community between creators and followers.
So though it is a great thing to take advantage of software solutions that automate your daily mundane tasks, never pursue too high a level of automation at the expense of genuine people interaction.
Keep it real, genuinely engage with your followers, make them feel special and leave the boring admin to the robots.