Later.com (affiliate link) is an Instagram tool that lets you schedule posts and even automatically post to Instagram. You simply connect your Instagram account to Later, and then you can upload and manage & schedule your next posts. If you have an Instagram Business account (free for anyone to get in the Instagram app) you can even have your scheduled posts automatically posted to Instagram. If you don’t have a business account you’ll instead use the Later app to post your schedule posts. For me it’s been great to be able to schedule posts for the week and have them auto-post throughout the whole week, I’m not the best Instagramer and with Later, I don’t have to think about what I should post to Instagram every day.

Later, it has a free version that lets you schedule posts. There are also paid plans starting from 10/month that let you post more and unlock other features too. (For me the free plan has been more than enough)

Later alternatives

• Hootsuite is another social platform management tools, here you can schedule and manage a range of different platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube & many more). Hootsuite is more suited if you want to manage a large amount of social platforms. (Hootsuite cost 20$/month)

Zapier is a tool that lets you automate and connect different social platforms & apps with each other. There are thousands of different solutions and automation that you can create with Zapier. I use it with my Instagram so that when I post something new that post also gets posted on my Facebook page, if I wanted it to I could have it post on Twitter, my blog, on Pinterest, or any of the other platforms supported by Zapier.

Zapier has a free option that’s limited to 5 different zaps and 100 tasks/month, there are also premium options that start from 20$/month.

Zapier alternatives

IFTTT is a similar service like Zapier that let’s you automate and connect different platforms. If you’re looking to use Zapier’s free plan but feel it’s a bit limited I would suggest you also create a IFTTT account and use both services for different things, take advantage of both their free services and upgrade later on if you feel like you need more options.

Repost is a IOS & Android app that let’s you post other people’s images on your own Instagram. The app is easy to use and also free, the free version will attach a watermark to every image you repost (showing where the original content is coming from), if you want the option to remove that watermark you can pay a few dollars to unlock that feature, but keep in mind that you should always include a link to the original source when reposting!

As an artist reposting someone’s post can be great in numerous ways, for me it’s been great to use the repost app when I found customers that has bought my illustrations and sculptures then shared it on Instagram, I always ask for permission before reposting stuff like that, but it can be really fun to have photos of your work in another persons home. Reposting can also be great if any company you worked with has published your work somehow, then you can easily use the repost app and get that content on your feed.

You’re only limited to one link on your profile on Instagram and that can be quite limited. With Linktree you can create a link with multiple destinations. You can customize where your Linktree page should be linking to, it could be to your portfolio, your shop, contact info, a recent project or anything ells.

I don’t personally use this tool but I know many that do, I don’t really need it because my portfolio is optimized and easily navigated on mobile, but if you’re after a cleaner & easier way of sharing links though your Instagram profile this could be something for you.

Boomerang is a Android & IOS app that let’s you create short videos (a few seconds) that loop back and forth, it’s a very simple app and “boomerang” effect of the video is a good starting point for any eye catching Instagram post. I use Boomerang when I’m out of ideas on what to post, I can then just take a sculpture or illustration of mine and create a piece of content that looks good, it’s just a nice tool to have when creating posts.

The app is free and made by Instagram itself, so you can expect full integration with Instagram and Boomerang.

Adobe Spark post is a great app if you’re looking to add text or simple graphics to a image or video on your mobile device, the app is designed to make content creation and editing for social media as simple as possible. I occasionally use Spark to add my logo on image to watermark it for Instagram, or to add text to any of my patterns to post when I have any news updates about my work.

Adobe Spark post is free to download on the app store (IOS) and should be available for android soon (as of April 2018, it might be released “now”)