Social media isn’t as organic or effortless as it may appear. Brands and, yes, even “social media influencers,” take a lot of time to plan out their social media.

With Instagram seeming to still be at the top of the charts, that’s where most of their focus is centered. I started out by trying a bunch of different apps for planning and posting tools. Then, Kylee Ann, a marketing genius, shared Planoly with me, on her Our Photog Blog Membership website (which I highly recommend checking out). It was from then on that I have and will only use Planoly for planning and managing my Instagram account.

Planning

This app goes beyond just scheduling and planning your Instagram posts. You can upload photos and stories to the app and see how they look in any particular order before actually posting them. You can make your Instagram look all pretty and cohesive, which is an actual marketing tactic I was unaware of. Before you even post something to your account, ensuring everything is cohesive and falls right once the squares start to move.

You can choose the date and time you want each post to run. As well as, posting it to other social media sites like Facebook at the same time. You can crop your image to the proper Instagram size, tag accounts, add a location and add the first comment and hashtags.  Recently I discovered that Planoly now has an Introducing ShopLink function where you can tag products in Planoly to make a shoppable gallery with your Instagram posts.

The calendar helps you to plan, while the left column allows you to arrange the flow how you wish.

Analytics

The tool’s analytical part is also an added bonus — it is similar to Instagram Analytics with a Business Account, however, you are able to go back further than a week.

These include seeing your follower gain count for that period. You can also see the top liked and top commented post for the week, month, a year or a specific date period.  You have the ability to measure a brand’s or client’s most liked and most commented on posts. This information alone can help your client or brand identify trends, and patterns when it comes to the type of content that is performing best in a certain span of time.

From one brand manager/social media manager to another, do yourself a favor and go play around on Planoly. I promise it will make your life easier and your Instagram will flow more successfully.