How to Schedule Instagram Posts for Free Using Planoly

Planoly makes it easy to schedule Instagram posts and visualize what content will look like before it posts. There are several other Instagram schedulers you can use. Planoly is my current favorite because of how simple it is – and it’s free!

Watch The Video Tutorial:

For this example, I need to schedule a post that’s a pretty big deal for my family :

My mom’s new podcast, the Happy Life Podcast with Angela Monica, launches on April 9, 2020!

Planoly has both a desktop version and a mobile app. I usually like to do all of my post creation from my laptop, so I’m going to be giving instructions for how to use the desktop version.

When you open Planoly on desktop, you’ll see a preview of what your Instagram account’s grid looks like on the left, and a calendar with scheduled posts on the right.

To add a new post to the grid:

1. Click the ‘+’ icon above the grid preview.
2. Then, choose the graphic that you want to upload for your post. 

Scheduling a post + caption:

Now that my graphic has been added to the grid, I’m going to click and drag it to the calendar. 

In the next window, I am now able to write my post caption and schedule the post. 

One neat thing that I really like about Planoly is that you can save groups of hashtags and add them directly to your posts by clicking this ‘#’ icon in the bottom right corner of the caption box.

TIP: Saving groups of hashtags makes it easy to add hashtags to each post.

If you prefer to add your hashtags to the first caption of your posts, Planoly also has an option for this, but it’s a paid feature.

Now, I’m just adding some more hashtags that weren’t in my saved group, but are relevant to this specific post.

It’s time to schedule the post! This part is pretty straight-forward. When you click the date box, a calendar and time slot options will appear.

How to Tag Other Users in Scheduled Posts

One last thing – I want to tag my mom’s Instagram account in the post.

To do this, I’ll:

1. Click the ‘Tag Users’ option underneath the post graphic.
2. Add her username – @angela.monica.blog, incase you were wondering 😉
3. Drag the tag to where I want it to appear.

All done! Now, I’ll just hit ‘Save’ and my post is scheduled.

TIP: You know that a post is in the scheduled queue when the blue “S” label appears on it in the Instagram grid preview. 

The paper airplane symbol let’s me know that this post is set to automatically post for me. This is important because Planoly also has an option where it reminds you to manually post at a scheduled time.

I hope you found this quick tutorial helpful! Choosing to schedule Instagram posts has been a time saver for me and has helped me be more intentional about what I post & when.

If you have any questions, or ideas for tutorials you’d like to see in the future, please leave them in the comments!

And don’t forget to check out the Happy Life with Angela Monica Podcast!

Take Care!

P.S. I designed Angela Monica’s beautiful website using Showit! If you are a creative professional in need of a custom website design, check out my Brand + Showit Web Design services.