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How to Use Tailwind for Instagram

Now you can use Tailwind for Instagram scheduling!

If you haven’t heard of Tailwind and you have a blog, you NEED TO. Tailwind is an amazing auto-scheduling tool that saves time by scheduling out all your Pinterest Pins and Instagram posts from one spot. And time is money in my books.

I’ve left this as a totally separate post from my previous one about How to Schedule Your Posts to Pinterest because I’m so darned excited about it!

So, why should you choose Tailwind to market your Instagram posts for your business? Here are some stats generated by the Tailwind team.

More followers, more likes and more posts published! I can’t see what’s to lose?


Instagram Stats by Tailwind - How to Use the Tailwind App to Automatically Schedule Your Instagram Posts
Typical Tailwind App Results

Anytime I can use something like Tailwind to schedule out my pins and Instagram, it frees up my time for collaboration, training, and other marketing techniques. I’ll take any opportunity to carve out a slot for “free” time.

You can try Tailwind for free using this link for your first 100 Pinterest pins and for your first 31 Instagram posts. I imagine they gave 31 so that you can have a whole month worth of daily posting before you decide you can’t live without it in your business.

New Automatic Posting to Instagram

Being that I’m not that savvy with Instagram to start with and that my current media sharing plugin does not work with Instagram at all,  the new features from Tailwind are going to make sharing posts even easier!

You now have the option to choose between automatic posting or notification reminders for super easy Instagram scheduling!

Other auto schedulers I’ve been using only allow to posting to Instagram through notification reminders, which is tedious and quite frankly,  irritating. This new feature eliminates the need to go back to your Instagram post and actually press send.

All you do is set your post up and BANG. It posts when you want it. How easy is that?

How to Link Your Instagram to Your Tailwind Account

You will have to do a little configuring to attach your Instagram account to your Tailwind account before you can get going on posting. The setup is simple and Tailwind walks you through the whole process. 

First, click on your picture in the top left-hand corner and click on Manage accounts. Click on Add Instagram account and type in your username and password.



Verify your Instagram using Facebook

Verifying your Instagram account is really simple. A red banner will pop up on the top of the screen to connect your Instagram account through Facebook. 

This new connection will allow your Instagram posts to be uploaded automatically, eliminating the need for the notification that I discussed before.

Change your Tailwind Dashboard to Instagram

Your Tailwind account is automatically set up to default to your Pinterest account. Once your Instagram account has been attached, you will need to go back to your picture in the top left-hand corner of the screen and click on it.

You should see your Instagram account as a drop-down option. Click on that. This will take you directly to the Draft menu in your Instagram Tailwind dashboard where you can start loading your posts into the queue.

Upload Your Photos and Smart Cropping

There are two ways you can upload your Instagram photos to Tailwind. The first way is to go to Publisher and then Drafts and click on Upload Images. You will get to choose your images from your computer files. You can also drag and drop multiple files at one time.

The other way, which is super cool, is to go straight to your website, click on the Tailwind App in Chrome, and choose the pictures that you would like to add right from your website. The beauty in this is that you will already have descriptions in the pictures, saving you time. 

Smart Cropping Tool for Instagram Posts - How to Use the Tailwind App to Automatically Schedule Your Instagram Posts
Tailwind Smart Crop for Instagram Uploads

The newly advanced auto-cropping from Tailwind will automatically set a “smart” crop if you upload a photo that’s too wide or too tall for Instagram, so you don’t have to create additional graphics! Yahoo!

And, if you don’t like how it’s automatically cropped, you can customize its position before posting too by clicking on the crop icon in the top left-hand corner of the picture and adjusting the layout.

Using the Hashtag Finder and Hashtag Lists

Next, you’ll want to add your captions and hashtags that will appear on your post. Tailwind has a built-in hashtag finder and you can create reusable lists with it so that you don’t have to memorize or copy and paste from a master list.

This is a really cool feature. Especially if you are not very hash-tag literate, like me. 


Tailwind's Instagram Hashtag Finder Tool- How to Use the Tailwind App to Automatically Schedule Your Instagram Posts
Using the Hashtag Finder and Hashtag Lists

Before you add your caption, first, add a hashtag that compliments the keywords in your post. For example, type in #tailwindapp hashtag for a post related to Tailwind. Tailwind will automatically populate a list of suggested hashtags that will work with that keyword.

You can simply click on the ones that fit your post. Keep in mind that the dark green hashtags are the best to use and will give you the most bang for your buck.

Once you have a list of hashtags, you can click on the hashtag symbol and then click on the copy from caption to create a reusable hashtag list for the future so you don’t have to do it again! Genius.  Use the hashtag generator and save for future posting to save TIME.

REMEMBER, TIME=MONEY! 

Set the Scheduler to Your Preference

The next thing you should do is decide how many posts per day you would like to schedule. On the bottom right half of the screen, there will be a link to Add/Remove Time Slots. Click on this. Then click on Generate New Smart Schedule.

You can set how many open post slots you would like Tailwind to populate for you as well as the time span that you would like them to be posted in. Save your preferences when you are finished.

Schedule Either Specific times or Add to Queue

Once you have updated all your preferences how you would like them, you can go ahead and schedule out your posts. You have a choice of either scheduling in intervals which start at a specific date and time and are spread out or scheduling all, which will set your posts back-to-back in the queue.

If you do not like the way your posts are set, you can simply drag and drop them to the spot you want them to post and can lock each one in place by changing the toggle at the bottom of the thumbnail so that they do not get shuffled in the future.

Scheduling Instagram Stories

Another new cool feature that Tailwind has come up with is a way to schedule your Instagram stories from an iOS device. In your Tailwind app, click on iOS Notification when uploading your story and your story will be held in the queue until it is ready to be posted. You will be notified on your device when you have scheduled your story to load and can authorize it.

I would guess that in the near future, Tailwind will be gearing toward automatic posting on this one as well as stories have become so popular in Instagram. 


How to Use the Tailwind App to Automatically Schedule Your Instagram Posts

So easy! Instagram Scheduling Magic!

If you liked this post, you might like these two other posts on Tailwind and Pinterest Marketing:

How to Use Tailwind for Pinterest

How Pinterest Ninja Skyrocketed my Blog Traffic

Have you tried scheduling your Instagram posts with Tailwind yet? Tell me what you think in the comments!

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