Yes - you read that right! You can now schedule Reels to Auto-Post for FREE!

We about spit out our coffee when we saw the notification! This is a feature that we have literally been waiting YEARS for. YEARS!

That said, the scheduling feature is not perfect because there are limitations BUT given the types of Reels that Instagram is prioritizing right now we really don’t think that it is that big of a deal. The limitations existed when using 3rd party tools too so not really that much of a change, except for your wallet!

How do you schedule Reels for free?

Creator Studio!

Instagram made an announcement a few weeks ago that all videos posted were going to be Reels. Since that announcement happened they have updated the sizing on Creator Studio uploads and you can now upload a Reel that is less than 60 seconds as an Instagram feed post or a video that is longer than 60 seconds as an Instagram video post.

From here, select which video length you need based on your video length. Then add your caption, hashtags and location to your post.

Once your video is fully uploaded, you’ll want to either select a good image from the video for the cover photo or upload a separate jpeg file for the cover photo.

To select the cover photo from the video you uploaded you’ll need to go over to the right-hand side and select the next step "Cover Photo”. From there you’ll see your options to select from the video or upload a custom photo.

From here you’ll be able to either turn off comments from the Advanced Settings or move on to publish the post or schedule the post.

Scheduling the post is the same as it was before with scheduling regular posts so we’re not going to bore you with those steps - but if you need a tutorial on that, leave a comment below, and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.

We do not suggest scheduling the Reel to your Facebook page from this screen. Whenever we try to schedule the post from this screen to our Facebook Page, it posts immediately, ignoring the date and time we selected. If you want to schedule for your Facebook Page, it’s best to repeat the steps but on the Facebook side of Creator Studio.

What are the limitations?

Just like using a 3rd party scheduling tool, you cannot schedule Reels with trending audios or audios that are not original. If you want to post a Reel that uses trending audio or audio by another creator, it is still best to create the Reel, save it to your camera roll without the sound (in case you lose your drafts), add the caption, save it as a draft and post when it’s the right time.

This is our absolute LEAST favorite way to do reels.

We have lost so much work in the past if the app does an update overnight and we get logged out. Also, drafts are device specific and not account-specific, so if you have a team, they cannot post the Reels you have created. This might seem minor, but this has happened to us multiple times, and hours of work have been lost.

To combat this, we record the video, save the video, screen record the sound, add the video and the sound to InShot, match the two, and take a screenshot of the audio page (for future reference) and add it to Canva. Then we put the Canva link to our Google Calendar with the caption and the hashtags with a date and time of when to post.

Once it is time to post, the person responsible for posting will download the sound from Canva, create the Reel, find the sound based on the screenshot, trim the footage of the sound from the video, copy the caption, and hashtags and then post.

This might seem like more steps than necessary for a Reel using trending audio, but this is the only way we have all been able to stay on top of posting with trending audios.

What is the Instagram Algorithm Favoring?

We aren’t too stressed about not being able to schedule Reels with audios from other creators because right now, as of August 2022, Instagram is favoring original audios. That means, audios you have either uploaded or recorded directly to your Reel.

This makes scheduling your Reels a breeze and a really efficient and strategic way to grow. If you make your Reel audios short, sweet, relatable and shareable more people will use the audio from your account to create reels. This brings more visibility to your account, content and services.

See why were’ not too concerned?!?

This is not to say that you shouldn’t utilize trending audios in your Reels - there is a place and time for this type of post. However, using original audio is a great way to strategically help build your visibility!