- How to Direct Publish Instagram Posts
- Use Multi-Image Publishing with Push Notifications
- FAQs
- Learn More
How to Direct Publish Instagram Posts
You can directly publish single-image and video messages scheduled for Instagram business accounts through your Marketing Calendar or Marketing Suite account.
Review Instagram’s photo and video recommendations below:
- If the aspect ratio falls outside what is noted, we’ll automatically crop before publishing.
- Instagram limits each account to 25 directly published posts per 24-hour period.
- If you exceed that limit from publishing through CoSchedule and/or another other third-party, your social message will fail to publish.
Photo Requirements:
- Maximum file size: 8MiB
- Aspect ratio: Must be within a 4:5 to 1.91:1 range
- Minimum width: 320
- Maximum width: 1440
- Height: Varies, depending on width and aspect ratio
Video Requirements:
- Format: MOV or MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), no edit lists, moov atom at the front of the file.
- Audio codec: AAC, 48khz sample rate maximum, 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo).
- Video codec: HEVC or H264, progressive scan, closed GOP, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
- Frame rate: 23-60 FPS.
- Picture size:
- Maximum columns (horizontal pixels): 1920
- Minimum aspect ratio [cols / rows]: 4 / 5
- Maximum aspect ratio [cols / rows]: 16 / 9
- Video bitrate: VBR, 5Mbps maximum
- Audio bitrate: 128kbps
- Duration: 60 seconds maximum, 3 seconds minimum (Note: If your video is too long or too short, it will fail to publish)
- File size: 100MB maximum
Use Multi-Image Publishing with Push Notifications
You can publish multi-image posts to your Instagram business account using push notifications.
Before Posting
- Download the CoSchedule mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
- Log in to the app using the email address and password tied to your CoSchedule account.
- Tap on the Instagram icon in the lower right-hand corner of the CoSchedule app.
- The Ready To Post window will appear.
- Click on the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of your phone screen.
- You’ll see the Notifications Settings window.
- Make sure the box next to the Instagram profile is checked to receive push notifications.
- You will be asked to allow notifications. Tap Allow.
Publish your Scheduled message
After you schedule a multi-image Instagram post, you will receive a push notification on your mobile phone when the scheduled time is reached. Follow all of the steps below to successfully publish your post to Instagram.
- Tap the push notification on your mobile phone.
- You will see a Preview Message screen. Tap Post Now to Instagram.
- Posting To Instagram instructions will display. Click Continue. This will redirect you to the Instagram app.
- If you manage multiple Instagram accounts, toggle to the correct account if needed.
- From Instagram, click + to create a new post.
- Select your images (the media you scheduled will show up first in your library). You can then edit your image if desired. Once you have finished editing your post, click Next.
- In the caption field, long-press on your screen until the Paste option shows up. Click Paste to add the text you scheduled, then click OK.
- When you are ready to publish your post to Instagram, click Share.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I missed the push notification?
If you missed a push notification or scheduled a post before enabling push notifications you can still publish the post. In the CoSchedule mobile app, navigate to the Ready to Post page by clicking on the Instagram icon in the bottom right-hand corner of your phone screen. Click on the unpublished Instagram post, then follow steps 4 through 11 in the section above, “Post your Scheduled Message.”
Can I upload multiple images (Carousel) to a post?
Yes! You add up to 10 images per Instagram post.
What types of posts can I schedule?
You can schedule single-image, multi-image (Carousel), and video posts to Instagram through CoSchedule.
Is there a limit to the number of hashtags allowed?
Yes, captions can contain a maximum of 30 hashtags.
What is the recommended image size?
- Maximum file size: 8MiB
- Aspect ratio: Must be within a 4:5 to 1.91:1 range
- Minimum width: 320
- Maximum width: 1440
- Height: Varies, depending on width and aspect ratio
How long can my videos be?
Instagram videos need to be at least 3 seconds and cannot be longer than 60 seconds.
Recommended Video Specifications
- Minimum aspect ratio [cols / rows]: 4 / 5
- Maximum aspect ratio [cols / rows]: 16 / 9
- Duration: 60 seconds maximum, 3 seconds minimum
- File size: 100MB maximum
