Best Practises: Instagram Posting
Sendible and most third-party social media management companies connect to social sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc., through a connection method called an API.
Instagram applies certain restrictions to its API that you will not encounter when using Instagram directly.
Instagram Business
Only Instagram Business accounts allow direct publishing from a third-party tool such as Sendible. You must connect an Instagram account to a Facebook Page to be converted into an Instagram Business account.
Although direct publishing is allowed, the following restrictions are still applied:
Publishing: 25 updates per rolling 24 hour period.
Over the course of a rolling 24 hour period, only 25 updates can be sent from Sendible to an Instagram Business account. Posting more than this can stop the posts from being published by Instagram.
Characters, Hashtags and @tags: Instagram allows a maximum of 2200 characters, 30 hashtags, and 20 @ tags.
Instagram Multi-image carousels
A maximum of 10 images per Instagram carousel is currently supported.
The post will not be published where one or more images do not align with Instagram's image restrictions. If you're using our Smart Compose Box to create a multi-image post, we'll highlight any images that need to be updated under the 'Instagram' tab:
As we don't currently provide the same post validations for Profile Lists. If you want to double-check your images align with Instagram's image restrictions, we recommend doing the following:
- Open the Compose Box and select the Profile List you're looking to publish to and an individual Instagram Business profile.
- Attach your images on the 'Original' tab.
- Check if there are any image validation warnings under the 'Instagram' tab and update your images if needed.
- Remove the Instagram Business Profile from the profile selector.
- Add your copy, etc. and schedule or send your post as needed.
- Posting mixed media carousels (images and videos)
- Posting multi-video carousels
We're working on this and hope to provide support in the near future.
Other points to note are:
- Images will be displayed in the carousel on Instagram in the order you attached them when composing your post on Sendible. Currently, they cannot be re-ordered within the Compose Box or similar.
- When multiple images have been added in the Post Preview for Instagram, we will display only the 1st image.
This is something we're also looking to work on in future updates to enhance our support for Instagram carousels.
Instagram Creator accounts:
Not currently supported via Instagram's API. Consider using our Instagram Reminders to help publish to Instagram Creator accounts.
Instagram Stories
Not currently supported via Instagram's API. Consider using our Instagram Reminders to help publish Story posts.
Instagram Reels/Instagram TV
Not currently supported via Instagram's API. Consider using our Instagram Reminders to help publish Reels.