Would you like to save time creating and scheduling posts for your Instagram account?
In this post, we’ll show you how we use Canva for Instagram to create and schedule a month of posts. Creating a batch of content eases our overwhelm and frees up our time to work on other stuff in our business.
** Disclaimer: This post is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something we’ll receive a small commission.
What I will discuss in this post
- The How-to Video Tutorial and Instructions
- 5-step Content Creation Framework
- How to Schedule your Instagram posts
Video Tutorial of Creating Instagram Posts in Canva
In the (7-minute, 49-second) video below, we show you our process of creating a month of Instagram posts.
The video was originally recorded May 25, 2020. There have been several updates to Canva since then. Subscribe to my YouTube page to be alerted of new videos.
We also include a step-by-step instruction below the video.
The 5-step Framework to Creating a Month of Posts Using Canva Quickly
Step 1: Choose 7 different Social Media Template for each day (alternate photo, text, graphic, etc.)
Step 2: Customize with templates brand colors and font
Step 3: For content, theme your days (such as Motivational Monday, Testimonial Tuesday, Wisdom Wednesday, etc.) or theme your weeks based on topics you mainly talk about.
Step 4: If you decide to theme your days, create all your Mondays at one time, then Tuesdays, etc.
BUT, if you theme your weeks, create a week of content at a time, then copy all 7 days and duplicate them for the 2nd week (Note, you can switch out photos or alternate colors with the same messaging. This not only saves time, but gives you a bit of consistency of content and branding.
Step 5: You can either download all content and schedule using your preferred scheduling app OR you can scheduling directly from within Canva.
Step-by-Step Instructions as mentioned in the video
- Log in to your Canva account (on the desktop)
- At the top Left of the page, click on the “Templates” tab.
- Under the “Social Media” Section, select Instagram Post.
- Choose a layout that you want to use. Then select “edit this template”.
- You can then rename the file in the top right of the page.
- Then you want to select ‘add a page’ under the first graphic, then select one of the templates on the left of the menu (under templates).
- Repeat step 6 until you have about 7 pages.
- You can then add your branding and messaging.
- Click on Page Manager in the lower right of your screen so you can see all your images created.
- You can then select all images (click Command A on a mac or Control A).
- Then in the upper right corner of your screen, click on the copy icon. And you will now have 14 more images
- You can duplicate step 11 to create more images til you get 28 or more.
- When you finished editing your images with your content, you can select to download all images, a few or one at a time.
Now the fun part of scheduling your posts.
How to Schedule Instagram Posts
Would you like to schedule Instagram posts on Canva?
Option 1: Use Canva’s Content Planner
And as a Canva Pro user, you can use the Content Planner to schedule posts to Instagram, Facebook Groups and Pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Option 2: Schedule thru the Facebook Creator Studio (now Business Suite) inside the Facebook Publishing Tool
- You can find the Publishing Tools at the top of your Page.
- From the column on the left, click Published Posts, Scheduled Posts or Drafts to see who published, scheduled or drafted Page posts. You can also see who published or scheduled posts in your Page’s activity log
Option 3: You can use a third-party platform like Buffer.com, Later.com or Hoosuite.com to schedule your Facebook and Instagram posts.
Why I like Canva
I like Canva because it is easy to use. I can start a project on my desktop computer, then finish it on my phone. I use Canva to create graphics for my website projects, social media, Youtube video thumbnails and more.
I started with the free plan, but upgraded to the Pro plan over a year ago so that I could access their brand kit feature.
Having a brand kit that includes my logos, fonts and brand colors saves me time when I’m creating graphics.
Why You Should Use Canva
Canva is for everyone who needs something designed for personal and business use. You don’t need to be techie or even a professional graphic designer to use it.
The FREE version of Canva is great! However, if you want to schedule your posts, access their brand kit or work with a team of people, you might want to try out the Canva Pro option.
In Conclusion
We hope this article helped you learn how to use Canva to create a month of posts for your Instagram account. You may also want to see our article on How to Set Up Your Canva (Pro) Brand Kit Set Up on Desktop and Creating Instagram Posts in Canva for Hair Stylists.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for Canva video tutorials.
