Can You Schedule an Instagram Reel While You're In Another Time Zone?
We've all seen this meme, haven't we? And while we love to joke that being a social media manager means interrupting your own vacation, wedding, baby shower, etc., to hop on a trend, we don’t actually want to live like that.
Since the end of summer vacations are in the midst and social media managers actually want to take time off too, leaning on our tools comes into play — especially, especially Instagram's scheduling Reels tool.
Don't be like me and schedule a Reel while you're on a cruise, and end up with it posting at 5:00 am. I'm a night owl, I didn't even realize there's a 5:00 am...
Learn from my mistake! In this post, we’re diving into how to schedule Reels properly, including what to know about time zones so your content goes live exactly when it should.
How Do I Schedule a Reel on Instagram with Trending Audio?
At this time, this can ONLY be done through the Instagram app directly, and not scheduling tools. If you have a trending audio, this is a great feature to lean on.
Select the "+" arrow on your Instagram home screen.
Once you complete your content (editing, caption writing, etc), scroll down to "more options" on the caption-writing screen.
Toggle on "Schedule this reel."
Set the time and date you'd like, and select "Done"
Hit the back arrow, and select "Schedule" at the bottom of the screen.
What to Know About the Time Zone:
Instagram scheduling uses the time zone of your device at the time you schedule the post, not where you are when it actually publishes. So, if you're in EST and schedule a Reel for 9:00 AM, it will post at 9:00 AM EST, even if you travel to a different time zone.
And, of course, if you're scheduling from the time zone you traveled to and want to post for your viewers back in your home timezone, ensure that you do the math!
Best of luck with your Reel scheduling and get back to actually enjoying your vacation, wedding, baby shower, or simply sitting in front of your TV with your favorite snack and not thinking about socials.