Instagram stories are the best when it comes to getting the most out of your Instagram marketing efforts. They still have great organic reach and you can add links to them without paying for Instagram ads. But can you schedule Instagram stories from your desktop computer for free?
Yes, in this Instagram marketing tutorial, we are going to show you how to schedule Instagram stories for free without using your mobile phone.
If you prefer to watch a video tutorial on how to schedule Instagram stories for free, check out this one:
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
Can You Schedule Instagram Stories for free?
Yes, there are two fundamental ways of scheduling Instagram stories:
- schedule Instagram stories from the Meta Business Suite (100% free)
- schedule Instagram stories from a social media scheduler software (not always free)
First, let’s see how you can schedule Instagram stories from the Facebook Business Suite (which used to be called Facebook Business Manager). This is a free method and can also make it really easy to cross-post the story as a Facebook story.
How to schedule Instagram stories in Meta Business Suite?
Here is how to schedule Instagram stories in the Facebook Business Suite:
- Open the Facebook Business Suite account.
- Select ‘Posts & Stories’ from the left sidebar
- Click on ‘Create Story’ in the top right corner
- Click ‘Add Media’ to add images and videos to the Instagram story
- Once you have added the images/videos, you can also add
- text to the stories
- stickers
- and the swipe-up link to the Instagram story
- Finally, click on the down arrow
- Select ‘Schedule Story’.
- Select the date and time you want the IG story to be scheduled.
- Click on ‘Schedule Story’
Can’t schedule Instagram stories in the Facebook Business Suite
If you can’t schedule Instagram stories from the Facebook Business Suite, here are the most common issues that you most likely face.
First, it is possible that you haven’t been switched to the new Meta Business Suite yet, or you have switched back to the classic Facebook Business Manager. In this case, try to reach the Publish Tools from anywhere else and you might be able to schedule Instagram Stories from there.
Secondly, you also have to add the Instagram account to the Facebook Business Suite if you want to schedule Instagram stories from the Business Suite.
Last but not least, you also have to have the right Business Manager permissions to be able schedule Instagram stories.
How to schedule Instagram stories using an Instagram scheduler?
If you need more functionality (like scheduling Instagram stories to multiple Instagram accounts), you have to use a social media scheduling tool.
These Instagram schedulers usually have more functionality than the Publishing Tool in Meta Business Suite, but their free version is also usually quite limited, so you might have to upgrade to a paid premium plan.
They also enable the Instagram admins to be able to schedule Instagram stories from a desktop computer.
Here is a list of social media schedulers that support scheduling Instagram stories:
