Create and publish Instagram posts, reels, or stories

Manage your Instagram presence from HubSpot to coordinate your social media strategy with your wider marketing efforts. For example, draft content for multiple social networks, then customize social posts for your Instagram accounts while maintaining brand consistency. Use the social composer to draft, schedule, and publish:

• Photo and carousel posts: share single images or up to 10 media files as a carousel.
• Reels: publish video content as reels.
• Stories: share image or video content that expires after 24 hours.

This article covers how to create social content specifically for Instagram. To draft social posts for multiple networks simultaneously, learn how to create social posts for all networks.

Before you get started

Before you begin publishing, review the requirements and limitations. Ensure your media files meet the image and video requirements for Instagram.

Requirements

• Connect your Instagram account to HubSpot.

Limitations and considerations

• Once published, Instagram posts cannot be deleted through HubSpot. They must be deleted directly through Instagram.
• Links included in Instagram captions will display as plain text and are not clickable when published.
• Tagging other Instagram accounts is available for reels, single-media posts, and on photos within carousel posts. Tagging is not available on videos within carousel posts or for Instagram stories.
• Collaborators can only be added to feed posts, carousel posts, and reels. Instagram stories do not support collaborators.

Create an Instagram post or reel

Create single-image and carousel posts for your Instagram feed. Publish reels to share video content. 

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Social. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Social directly.
2. In the upper right, click Create post.
3. To customize your content for Instagram, click the socialInstagram Instagram icon.

4. In the Content Type section, select Post or Reel. Your social post is published as a feed post or reel based on the media you’ve attached:

• • Post: the post includes images only or more than one media file. This is the default content type when publishing to Instagram.
  • Reel: the post includes only one video file that meets Instagram's reel upload requirements and video requirements.

5. To upload media to your post, click the Select media dropdown menu and select Select [media]. You can also drag and drop media files into the composer.
   • If you add two or more media files to your post, your post will be published as a carousel on Instagram. You can add up to 10 media files.
6. To tag an Instagram account, navigate to the uploaded media and click the tag tag icon.
7. Click anywhere on your image or video thumbnail.
8. In the dialog box, enter the account name you want to tag, then click Tag.
   • When entering the account name, exclude the @ symbol. For example, to tag @HubSpot, enter HubSpot.
   • Only public Instagram profiles can be tagged.
   • You can add a maximum of 20 tags to each photo or reel.
9. Click Save.
10. To add a caption to your post, in the text field, enter your caption using up to 2,200 characters.
    • When @mentioning other users in the post's caption, mentions aren't auto-completed. However, Instagram will include the mention in the published post.
11. To customize the post details, click to expand the More options section:
    • Instagram first comment: enter the first comment that displays once your post is published. This field has a limit of 2,200 characters and 20 @mentions.
    • Location: enter the location of the post.
12. Continue to associate a campaign and schedule the post.
    

Invite collaborators to a post or reel

Invite up to three Instagram accounts to co-author a feed post, carousel post, or reel. When collaborators accept the invitation, the post appears on each collaborator's profile and is shared with their followers. Adding collaborators to your Instagram content helps you expand your reach and measure performance from a single set of metrics. Learn more about collaborative posts on Instagram.

To invite collaborators:

1. In the social composer, create your Instagram post, carousel post, or reel.
2. In the Collaborators field, enter up to three Instagram usernames.
   • Collaborators must be public Instagram Business or Creator accounts.
   • When you add a collaborator, HubSpot verifies their account. Once confirmed, a confirmation checkmark displays in the Collaborators field and their username and profile image are added to the social post preview.

3. In the top right, click Review & Publish or Review & Schedule. Then, click Publish or Schedule.

After the post is published, Instagram sends each collaborator a notification to accept or decline. Once accepted, the post appears on the collaborator's profile.

Review collaborator status

After publishing your Instagram post with collaborators, review the status of each invitation in HubSpot. The collaborator status may take up to 15 minutes to update in HubSpot.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Social. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Social directly.
2. On the Manage tab, hover over your published post and click Details.
3. At the bottom of the Social details panel, in the Collaborators section, review all collaborators and their invitation statuses: (e.g., pending, accepted, declined, or no response).

Please note: if a pending collaborator doesn’t accept or decline within 48 hours of a social post being published, their collaborator status is marked as no response. Collaborators can still accept the invitation on Instagram after 48 hours, but their collaborator status won’t update in HubSpot.

Create an Instagram story

Create an image or short video post that lasts for 24 hours after publishing.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Social. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Social directly.
2. In the upper right, click Create post.

3. To customize your content for Instagram, click the socialInstagram Instagram icon.

4. In the Content Type section, select Story.

5. To upload media to your post, click the Select media dropdown menu and select Select [media]. You can also drag and drop the media file into the composer. Instagram stories can include a single image or video.

   • To prevent cropping of your image or video, upload media with a 9:16 aspect ratio. Learn more about image and video requirements for Instagram.

6. Continue to associate a campaign and schedule or publish the post.

Review published Instagram posts

After publishing your Instagram content, review the post details and engagement metrics. Learn more about reviewing your published social posts.

Please note: Instagram story metrics are generated 25 hours after publishing. Your story must reach a minimum of 5 interactions for data to become available.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Social. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Social directly.
2. On the Manage tab, hover over your published post and click Details.
3. In the right panel, review the following engagement metrics. Available metrics vary based on the content type (e.g., feed post, reel, or story).
   • Likes: the number of times the social post was liked.
   • Comments: the number of comments on the social post.
   • Video views: the number of views a video in the social post received.
   • Saves: the number of times the social post was saved.
   • Reach: the number of unique users that have viewed the social post at least once.
   • Impressions: the number of times the social post was viewed.
   • Exits (Instagram stories only): the number of times a user swiped out of the story.
   • Tap forward (Instagram stories only): the number of times a user tapped on the right to move to the next story.
   • Tap backward (Instagram stories only): the number of times a user tapped on the left to return to the previous story.
4. To view the post on the social network, click Actions and select View on Instagram.

Next steps

• Manage social interactions and reply to Instagram direct messages.
• Analyze Instagram performance using the social analyze tab.
• Create custom social reports.