Have you wanted to drive more traffic and engagement on Instagram but found your posts keep getting lost in the shuffle of the busy feeds? Adding reminders to your Instagram posts can help cut through the noise.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about reminders on Instagram posts – what they are, how to create them, tips for using them effectively, and real examples that maximize their impact as part of your Instagram marketing strategy.
What Are Instagram Post Reminders?
Instagram post reminders are notifications that followers opt into to be alerted before an event or specific post you‘ve shared. When creating an Instagram post, there is an option to "Add Reminder" which allows you to set a name, start time, and end time.
You can get creative with what constitutes an event – it could be going live, a giveaway, promoting a discount or sale, releasing a new product, or prompting engagement around an educational post.
Once followers see the familiar alarm bell icon on your post, they can opt to have your post shown more prominently and receive up to 3 notifications:
- 24 hours before
- 15 minutes before
- At event start time
This positions your content to stand out versus regular posts that may get overlooked. Especially if you have a lot of followers, reminders help create anticipation and urgency that something is coming or happening.
How to Add a Reminder to an Instagram Post
Adding a reminder when sharing n Instagram post is simple, especially once you‘ve done it the first time. Here is the full step-by-step process:
Step 1: Access Post Creation Screen
As usual, tap the "+" icon at the top of your Instagram feed or access your profile and tap the "+" button to start creating a new post.
Step 2: Create Your Post Content
Build your post using images, video, carousels etc. The content of the post isn‘t affected by adding a reminder – you create it the same way as usual, choosing media and adding any text, locations tags or people tags.
Step 3: Tap "Add Reminder"
You‘ll now see the familiar options along the bottom like Tag People and Add Location, with the new "Add Reminder" button. Tap here to open the reminder setup screen.
Step 4: Give Your Reminder a Name
Come up with a short, descriptive name for your event or post so you know what this specific reminder is for. You‘ll likely create multiple reminders over time so having unique names makes them easy to distinguish.
Step 5: Set a Start Time
Choose when you want the event notification sequence to begin. The time must be at least 1 hour from the current time. You can set reminders up to 3 months in advance, so you could hype up a product launch very early.
Step 6: Optional – Set an End Time
While not required, you can set an end time for your event as well. This gives followers more context around how long your post will be relevant or what the duration of an event is.
Step 7: Share Your Post as Usual
Finish up creating your post, add any last tweaks and share it out!
And that‘s it – you‘ve now successfully created an Instagram post with a built-in reminder. Quite painless, right?
When Should You Use Instagram Post Reminders?
Adding reminders is useful any time you want to notify followers about time-sensitive content or prompt engagement around an specific post. Here are some ideal use cases:
Instagram Live Broadcasts
Alert your audience ahead of a planned Instagram Live video. The notifications can serve as reminders to tune in and watch live.
Giveaways & Contests
Generate excitement for an upcoming giveaway or contest. The reminders get the event on followers‘ radars early.
Product Launches
Count down to the launch of a new product, service or promotion you are debuting. This creates anticipation and urgency to buy.
Webinars & Virtual Events
Drive registrations and attendance for webinars, summits or workshops, even if held off Instagram on other platforms.
Store Sales
Promote an upcoming sale you have coming up to boost traffic and conversions.
Lead Magnets
Remind followers to download that new lead magnet you spent weeks creating and are now giving away.
Educational Content
Schedule reminders around posts focused on tips, tutorials or trains – anytime you publish must-read content.
As you can see, the use cases for reminders are nearly endless. The key is picking content you believe your audience will find highly valuable when it goes live.
Tips for Using Reminders Effectively
Now that we‘ve covered how reminders work and when to use them, let‘s talk about some best practices making the most of reminders.
Kick Off a Series
If you are publishing a series of content focused on a theme, start with a post using a reminder to build momentum and visibility.
Match to Content Pillars/Themes
Align reminders to your core topics and content areas. These likely resonate most with your audience.
Personalize Message
When naming the event/reminder, write a short hook or value proposition tailored to why the user would care about your post specifically.
Promote Your Promotion
Share additional posts across Instagram Stories and feed counting down to your reminder post. This amplifies the reach.
Follow Up Afterwards
Check back on your initial post once the reminder expires. Respond to questions, follow up with people who engaged, recycle evergreen content related to the topic, or add new info as needed to keep momentum going.
Analyze Performance
Dive into your Instagram Insights to see how reminders impacted reach and engagement vs. your average posts. Look for wins to replicate and gaps to improve.
Driving Traffic with Reminders
A major benefit of reminders is they present another opportunity to lead your Instagram followers to other channels and sites. Some ideas include:
Link to YouTube Videos
Upload videos to YouTube that align to your reminder post theme and share the link to drive traffic.
Host a Webinar
Remind people to register for a related webinar you‘re hosting on Zoom, GoToWebinar etc.
Drive Podcast Downloads
Plug a podcast episode publishing soon.
Link to Blog Content
Insert links to long-form articles on your site expanding on reminder post topics.
Promote Landing Pages
Design custom landing pages like giveaways and product launches to promote through reminders.
With some creative thinking, you can easily leverage reminders to achieve secondary goals like email list growth, increasing blog subscribers and podcast downloads and nurturing influencer relationships.
The key is mapping related content across platforms back to the Instagram post with the reminder enabled.
Reminders vs Scheduled Instagram Posts
You may be wondering how reminders differ from the ability to schedule Instagram posts to publish at a certain date and time. Post scheduling definitely has its place, but it serves a different purpose.
Scheduled posts set content to automatically publish in the future without any additional work by you. You essentially "set it and forget it".
But scheduling alone doesn‘t provide the extra nudge to your audience that a post is coming attraction. This is where reminders fill the gap in generating anticipation and buzz.
You generally wouldn‘t combine scheduling and reminders, as that defeats the purpose of nudging followers just before fresh content goes lives at the date and time you designated.
However, you can use scheduled posting to plan all of the supporting content that aligns with your reminder post. For example:
- Schedule reminders post to publish March 1st
- Schedule Stories March 27th teasing launch
- Schedule multiple themed posts for March 1-7
- Schedule Stories following up on engagement for March 2nd-4th
As you can see, having a social media content calendar you manage with an Instagram scheduler allows you to map out reminder posts alongside complementary content before and after.
This builds momentum, extends reach beyond just those who engaged initially and nurtures your audience.
Recommended Post Scheduling Tools
If you want to get serious with planning Instagram content that converts, couple reminders with an Instagram scheduling tool.
Here are our top picks:
- Later – Robust scheduling, visual calendar, Linkin.bio integration
- Preview – Excellent hashtags research features
- Planoly – Easily manage and collaborate with a team
Check out our full roundup of the best 7 Instagram scheduling tools for 2024.
Analyzing Reminder Post Performance
As with all parts of your Instagram strategy, you need to track performance of your efforts to determine efficacy and optimize. Reminder posts are no exception.
The key metrics to analyze include:
- Reach – How many unique accounts saw the post with the reminder enabled?
- Impressions – Total number of times reminder post was seen.
- Engagement Rate – Likes, comments, shares and saves divided by reach.
- Link Clicks – If included, how many clicked away to other sites?
- Follower Growth – Did more users opt to follow you?
First, compare reminder post metrics versus your average non-reminder post performance. Look for a meaningful lift across reach, engagement rate and traffic to determine if reminders are worthwhile to invest your time in.
Secondly, optimize the timing and messaging of future reminders. Analyze when you saw the most impressions and clicks – was it the 24 hour, 15 minute or actual event notification that resonated most? This shows prime opportunities to engage users.
Continue tweaking reminders around content pillars and themes you know already get high performance. Over time, you gain helpful data that illustrates when and how reminders convert users most effectively.
More Instagram Tips and Tricks
While reminders are extremely useful, they represent just one Instagram best practice to incorporate as you level up your marketing approach.
Be sure to also check out our guides covering additional ways to maximize your Instagram presence:
- How to Repost on Instagram
- Increase Reach with Instagram Power Likes
- Ideal Instagram Image Sizes Cheat Sheet
Ready to expand your Instagram marketing education? Browse our full Instagram archives here.
Add Reminders to Boost Instagram Engagement
As this guide has illustrated, reminders are an easy yet strategic feature to incorporate if you want an added nudge to increase eyes and engagement on your Instagram content.
With just a few taps in the posting workflow, you can prompt your audience about "events" – whether an actual live broadcast, content launch, special coupon or simply a educational post you believe provides value.
Couple reminders with scheduling complementary Instagram content across captions, Stories and IGTV for maximum impact over time.
What types of posts do you think would work well with reminders for your target audience? Brainstorm a few possible ideas that would excite your followers and get them engaging.
The only way to fully realize if reminders can take your Instagram game to the next level is to continually test, tweak and analyze performance. Use what you learn about your audience‘s preferences to determine where to double down with reminders vs. other tactics.
What questions do you still have around setting up and benefiting from reminders or Instagram marketing broadly? Let me know in the comments!
