Have you heard about the new social media marketing feature that allows you to schedule content that will automatically post to Instagram? I must admit, when I first saw this pop up in my Tailwind notifications, I thought this would be huge for independent designers and other small business owners.

First let’s go over why you might want to automatically post to Instagram.

Since Instagram is a visual tool, it’s the perfect medium for you to be able to showcase your physical product. People are scrolling their feed, looking for beautiful images and you are one of the lucky few that actually have a specific product to show. Yeah!

But as the Instagram algorithm has changed, you might find that you are getting less likes, comments and clicks through to your website.

The new functionality could be an amazing way for you to set up a month of content and then have it all automatically post for you. No more, notifications and dropping what you’re doing to post.

But wait, you’re probably thinking, A MONTH WORTH OF CONTENT?!?!?

How the hell am I  supposed to come up with a month worth of content at one time?

That’s why I’ve also created a monthly Instagram planner including prompts so you can generate content ideas that are specially built with your clothing line in mind. Click through below to get your copy now!

Ok, so now that you have a workbook to help you build out your content, I wanted to test out the tools.

I knew that only official Instagram partners were getting the functionality but I wanted to see which one was the best.  I must admit I was surprised at my findings.

Of the six different apps that I looked at, I was only able to automatically post to Instagram with two.

So what’s the deal? Why are most apps not offering automatic posting to Instagram yet? You can either watch the video or scroll down for the highlights.

1. Tailwind

So this is where I first got the note that it’s possible to post automatically to Instagram. I personally use Tailwind to support with sharing my blog posts to Pinterest but I hadn’t been using it to schedule posts to Instagram. Yet.

I found scheduling through Tailwind to be the easiest of all of the apps. I also really liked that they automatically schedule your post for the next available “optimal time” based on when your followers are engaging with Instagram. I’m a bit of a analytics nerd so I love to take advantage of this kind of stuff whenever I can.

Also, they’re hashtag selector was the easiest to use. It allowed me to see which of my commonly used  hashtags were the best in getting my post in front of more people. All I had to do was click on them and they were automatically added.

One piece of functionality I didn’t like with Tailwind was that they don’t have any auto correct on the app when you’re typing in your caption. This is lame for a girl (like me) that smashes the keyboard when typing and hopes for the best. Not super professional but super real. Sorry about the typos.

If you sign up through this link, you’ll get one free month of Tailwind and I may earn a small commission. Hope you like it as much as I do 🙂

2. Buffer

Buffer was originally created as an app to help people publish directly to twitter. Over time, Buffer has added in a bunch of different social media platforms that you can post to automatically (Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest). With the announcement from Instagram that you are now able to automatically post through approved partners, I checked out what Buffer had to say about their ability to automatically post to Instagram.

Well I was disappointment. They are currently building in the functionality to schedule directly to Instagram but it’s not ready yet.

For now, you can use their free plan to schedule 10 posts that hold in your que but you have to turn on notifications so that the app sends you a reminder when it is time to post. So, no change here. Just lots of notifications at inopportune times.

3. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one of the largest social media management platforms with over 16 million users. Based on that alone, I checked them out to see if they had the ability to automatically post to Instagram.

Based on my limited tinkering, I wasn’t able to get it to work. Twice I scheduled posts thinking that they would automatically publish and both times, I was sent notifications that I needed to go in and do it myself.

I also wasn’t able to find any documentation on their site on whether or not they offer the functionality. For such a large organization, I was surprised with how difficult it was to find up to date, relevant information.

I ended up reaching out to them to ask straight up if they offer the ability to automatically publish to Instagram. At the time that this was published, I hadn’t received a response.

If you’ve had luck with automatically posting to instagram with Hootsuite, drop me a comment.

4. Later

Later is another popular app with over 1 million brands using it. Again, I assumed they would have the functionality available. I signed up and tried it out and again, I was confused that I was getting notifications instead of having my content push straight through.

When I dug around on their site last week, I couldn’t find any information about the new functionality but today, I was able to find an updated post stating that:

“Instagram has recently released a new version of their API (Application Program Interface) that allows for automatic posting, with some restrictions; Later is working around the clock to implement this as our top priority.”

In my opinion, a company of this size should have this information more visible but at least it got updated. So Later is another one that can’t automatically post to Instagram, yet.

5. Iconosquare

Iconosquare was the second app that I found that had implemented this new functionality which they addressed in this post. Yay!

That being said, when I created my account, it took a really long time to complete the set up and link to my Instagram account. But it was worth it. Once I was in, it gave the best look at my Instagram analytics out of any of the apps that I tried out.

Iconosquare doesn’t have a free version but they do offer a 14 day free trail. Their cheapest option is $9 a month which may be worth it for your business. Check out all of their pricing options here.

6. Plann

This was the only company that seemed to make it clear from the start that they don’t have the automatic publishing feature available yet. Which I really appreciated!!

They still offer the ability to schedule and have a notification remind you of when to post. They are working on adding the ability to post automatically to Instagram. Check out the details here.

To watch the full video click the link below.

And don’t forget to download the FREE workbook to help you create a month worth of Instagram content for your clothing line.

I’d love it if you left me a comment to let me know if you’re using any social media management tools to promote your clothing line and if so which ones.

And don’t forget to check out my weekly Facebook Live every Friday at 12pm PST on my Facebook Page.

Want to learn more about how to use Instagram to promote your clothing line? Check out my post on Five Things To Do Today To Increase Your Instagram Engagement.