“Some of our early feedback from the market was, ‘This is too good to be true!’ Potential customers were naturally skeptical,” according to David Walsh, Head of Digital, CX & Marketing at pay.com.au.

As a result, traditional marketing channels like paid search struggled to gain traction. The team needed a better way to educate audiences about the validity and credibility of their products, and social gave them a meaningful path forward.

Turning social intelligence into action

The team created a series of authentic customer success stories for social media, brought to life through structured video content. pay.com.au identified customers across various industries that represented its broad customer base. Each story was captured in a two-minute video highlighting how customers overcame inefficient payment processes using pay.com.au to achieve tangible travel and cost savings, as well as capturing rewards for required business expenses. To maximize reach, these videos were repurposed into 30, 15 and 6-second clips for distribution across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok.

pay.com.au supported these channels with platform-optimized paid media, to directly address customer doubt with specific messages and approaches per channel. To do this with precision, the team leveraged Sprout Social for rich, granular insights that helped them go beyond basic engagement data. By analyzing content themes, audience sentiment and emerging customer questions, the team gained a deep understanding of how business owners and advisors responded to their messaging, and used those insights to inform and iterate their paid media strategy.

These social insights do more than just refine content; they inform the entire business. Key takeaways regarding audience motivation and confusion were shared across pay.com.au’s Product, Customer Support, Partnerships and Growth teams. Through regular summaries and campaign readouts, social intelligence now directly shapes the company’s FAQs, onboarding processes and product decisions.

This agile, data-driven approach led to an impressive 529% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2022 and 2025.

With the help of Sprout’s Publishing, Listening and Reporting, we were able to quickly test, learn and optimise our content format across a range of social channels.

David Walsh
Head of Digital, CX & Marketing

This iterative approach enabled the team to find content that broke through skepticism and built a lasting foundation of trust.

Optimizing conversions through care

Social media offered business owners a direct line to the company for quick eligibility checks and to ask detailed questions about how rewards work.

The team quickly recognized that their ability to capture, classify and respond to these inquiries would be critical to scaling their growth. They began measuring and benchmarking their response rate as a key service metric to improve the speed and quality of support. Before implementing Sprout, their response rate was just 20%. After using Sprout for just one week, their response rate dramatically improved to 98%.

“Using Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox monitoring and response handling, we were able to improve our response rate all the way up to 98%,” Walsh explained. “We see this as an essential part of how we support and guide businesses through their initial contact.”

This proactive monitoring and response using the Smart Inbox not only improves customer experience, but also delivers substantial business impact by reducing the immediate load on the sales team and dramatically increasing the overall conversion rate to sign-up. A proactive, Smart Inbox-driven workflow cut down the noise and manual load on the sales team and increased the overall conversion rate of new customers progressing through to sign up.

Scaling content for global ambition

As pay.com.au’s social strategy scaled up, the end-to-end process of scheduling and publishing content across channels became a major workflow bottleneck. By activating the Sprout Social and Canva integration, the team streamlined their creative production by pulling final assets directly from Canva into Sprout for scheduling and publishing. This eliminated manual steps like saving and re-uploading files, and enabled faster, more efficient content delivery.

Off the back of its Australian success, pay.com.au launched a new brand, PayRewards, to embark on an ambitious mission to become the number one business rewards platform in North America. The team used Sprout Social Groups to clearly separate the Australian and US social accounts, allowing them to manage region-specific content, workflows and reporting so each market receives locally relevant messaging without cross-posting or operational overlap.

Scaling trust into a global blueprint

By unifying their social presence within Sprout Social, pay.com.au has transformed social media from a simple communication channel into a high-velocity growth engine. What began as a mission to dismantle market skepticism has evolved into a data-driven culture where real-time audience sentiment guides everything from product roadmaps to their ambitious North American expansion.

For Walsh and his team, Sprout is more than a management tool—it’s a strategic partner that proves social intelligence is a core driver for decision-making across the entire enterprise. As they scale PayRewards globally, they’re leveraging a proven blueprint of customer trust, fueled by the insights that only social can provide.

Unlock the benefits of social intelligence for your business. Request a demo with Sprout Social today.

The post How pay.com.au built trust and fueled massive growth with a social-first strategy appeared first on Sprout Social.

When it came to social media, American Honda needed more than just a publishing tool. Tasked with transforming the company’s digital presence, Allie Coulter, Enterprise Social Media Practice Lead, sought a partner to help establish social as the primary engine of two-way dialogue between the brand and its customers. To overhaul the existing social content engine, Coulter and her team needed to do more than routine maintenance. They needed a partner to help lay the foundation for social engagement to become a core strategic asset, driving the company’s future.

A stalled social practice required a bold shift

Coulter was tasked with ensuring American Honda’s social practice measured up to the lofty standards of a global leader—a high-stakes mandate for a brand that prides itself on continually redefining automobile industry standards.

The social media team was trapped by a previous platform that was clunky, outdated and required ongoing manual maintenance. Honda’s four-person team needed technology that allowed them to prioritize customer conversations over technical troubleshooting. Meanwhile, the number of those customer conversations on social media was growing quickly. These began to pick up speed during the pandemic, when customer communication relied primarily on social media. The existing technology simply couldn’t keep up with the demand of so many messages, and forced the team into survival mode with a critical consequence: Community management was deprioritized entirely.

The existing relationship fractured further when vendor support failed alongside the technology shortcomings. Coulter’s team struggled with a lack of vendor responsiveness, putting in repetitive customer service tickets and not getting responses back. For a team tasked with moving at the speed of social, the lack of support was a breaking point.

“If we don’t have vendors that are able to support us at the speed that we need, that’s hard,” Coulter explains. It was clear: If Honda was going to iterate and innovate, its technology stack had to change as well.

Grabbing the keys to true partnership with Sprout Social

Coulter sought a solution that was intuitive, ready to go out of the box and being fed by ongoing innovative updates and feature releases. The decision to switch was strongly influenced by organic peer feedback that consistently praised Sprout’s ease of use and superior customer service. Once implemented, the entire Enterprise Social Media team, including Senior Social Strategist Heather Epstein, were able to shift their focus to being purely customer-centric. The unified nature of the Sprout products allowed Honda to coordinate multi-platform publishing alongside on-brand customer community building and responsive care, and proved indispensable.

“Most of our team is in Sprout every single day, whether it’s clearing queues and responding to key customer questions or scheduling content and pulling metrics. Sprout is there for whatever we need,” shares Epstein.

The Sprout platform’s intelligent queue management and Tagging created fast, measurable relief for the small team. This shift from time-consuming triage to decisive action was monumental. Epstein details the shift in daily operations: “We reduced [inbox management] from about five hours a day to two hours a day, and are still able to answer all of our critical customer questions.”

Co-creating the future of social

What truly solidified Sprout as a partner was the dedicated, two-way relationship that mirrored Honda’s commitment to its own customers—and the strategic dialogue that became Sprout’s greatest differentiator. Sprout didn’t just hand over a tool. The product team listened to feedback and worked alongside Honda to build a solution tailored to their complex business needs.

This partnership was proven when Sprout approached Honda about the opportunities of engaging in influencer marketing. Although Honda initially declined to proceed with Sprout Social Influencer Marketing, their team sat down with Sprout’s engineers and walked them through Honda’s robust, in-house influencer vetting protocol. Sprout took these notes seriously, and incorporated elements of Honda’s unique process directly into the updated Influencer Marketing product.

This collaborative effort led Honda to adopt Sprout Social Influencer Marketing, centralizing all of their social media efforts in one cohesive platform. The result: an ecosystem that simplifies and accelerates Honda’s ability to evaluate major partners, including Olympic athletes, alongside its social community management and customer support programs.

The fact that the Sprout team listened and really understood our process, which then helped influence certain integrations and enhancements to the tool—that’s a game changer. That’s truly a partner listening to their customers.

Allie Coulter
Enterprise Social Media Practice Lead

This spirit of collaboration was evident during implementation. As Epstein confirms, “When it came to our influencer marketing tool, that was something newer to our team … the Sprout representatives were really helpful in onboarding us. We had someone walking us through each step of the process, making sure that it was a seamless transition for us.”

Accelerating audience engagement and strategic impact

The shift to Sprout immediately restored Honda’s ability to connect with its customers. In the first year, Honda achieved a massive 251% increase in community engagement. In year two, with the foundation set, the team leveraged Sprout’s automations and filters to move their focus beyond the growing volume of conversations.

By prioritizing high-value engagements like shares, comments and direct messages, the team was able to decrease time spent in the Smart Inbox by up to 40%, freeing up 40 hours a month for valuable content strategy work and proactive data analysis. This focus on engagements also resulted in an impressive 91% high-quality engagement action rate for the Honda brand, significantly outperforming the 75% industry standard.

Social becomes a powerhouse data source

With its core functions running efficiently on Sprout, the social team leveraged Sprout Social Listening capabilities to elevate its role in the organization to strategic business partnership. The team began proactively sharing social trends and insights with internal stakeholders from R&D to marketing about customer sentiment on innovative products like electric vehicles.

This proactivity in connecting social data to business strategy has propelled social media marketing from an afterthought to a core data source. Today, American Honda relies on its mature social practice as a key driver in major business initiatives, including its proud partnership as a founding partner of the 2028 Olympics—fondly known as “LA28”—and Team USA.

We’re really grateful for the hard work that Sprout put into changing and refreshing our technology stack with us. Our relationship has really paved the way for us to operate in a better, more efficient way.

Allie Coulter
Enterprise Social Media Practice Lead

Put the pedal down on your own social authority

Honda proved that making social a strategic business asset starts with finding a true technology partner who understands and supports your needs. By leveraging Sprout’s intuitive platform and dedication to customer conversations, the team eliminated operational bottlenecks and secured social’s role as an essential data source—defining what best-in-class social execution looks like for a global leader.

Accelerate your own business through social with a platform that delivers instant efficiency and acts as a true innovation partner. Request your free Sprout Social demo today.

The post How Honda shifted social into a strategic asset appeared first on Sprout Social.

But building visibility, sparking engagement and nudging people closer to becoming customers takes creativity, planning and timing. Brands with a strong Instagram marketing strategy and consistent publishing see the best results.

This beginner’s guide shows you how to use Instagram to share content like photos, videos, Stories and Reels. It also provides practical tips on captions, publication times and tools that make posting easier.

How to post photos and videos on Instagram’s mobile app

Most people post to Instagram directly from their iPhone or Android. The process is simple, but small details like aspect ratio, captions and hashtags make the difference between a post people scroll past and one they engage with.

You can also post on Instagram from a PC or Mac, but the walkthrough below focuses on the steps and advanced settings for posting photos and videos from mobile.

Choose your media type

Open the Instagram app and tap the “+” icon at the bottom of the page to add one of the following:

• A single photo: Upload one image to highlight a product or share important information. Single photos are ideal for quick updates and clean visuals.
• A carousel: Share up to 20 images or videos in one post (rolling out; some users may still have a 10-item limit). Carousels work well for tutorials, step-by-step guides and before-and-after reveals. They also tend to drive higher engagement than single-image posts.
• A video: Use videos to add motion and storytelling to your feed. Short clips match how people watch on mobile, which makes them ideal for product demos, how-tos or customer stories.

Instagram offers clear guidelines for every format. Here are the Instagram file specifications to consider when uploading:

• Photos: JPG or PNG, up to 8 MB for feeds or ~30MB maximum for ads (depending on the placement)
• Videos: MP4 or MOV, up to 4 GB, with a recommended resolution of 1080 px
• Aspect ratios: Anything between 1.91:1 and 4:5 (square and vertical formats usually perform best on mobile feeds)

Preparing new posts using these specs avoids awkward cropping or poor quality after upload.

Edit, filter and crop

Once you select your media, the next step is making sure it looks its best in the feed. Instagram’s built-in editor lets you crop images, adjust brightness, sharpen details or trim clips. You can also add music, filters, text and overlays.

This stage matters because how your content appears in the feed directly affects engagement.

Here are some common aspect ratios:

• 1:1 (square): Keeps posts consistent across devices
• 16:9 (landscape): Works for cinematic visuals but looks smaller in-feed
• 4:5 (portrait): Takes up more vertical space in the feed, which often leads to higher engagement

Because vertical images tend to stand out, some brands build their entire aesthetic around them. For example, fashion brand Damson Madder leans on 4:5 across its grid. Consistent vertical framing creates a cohesive look and maximizes visibility in the scroll. Even playful images, like styled socks or outdoor lifestyle shots, feel bold and attention-grabbing because they fill the feed.

Source: Instagram

But editing isn’t just about filters and crops. It’s also about consistency. Brands with a clear, recognizable visual identity build stronger recall.

For instance, LoveShackFancy’s posts consistently feature soft lighting, pastel tones and airy compositions, creating a vintage-inspired look that feels cohesive across images, carousels and videos.

Source: Instagram

The effect is unmistakable: Followers recognize LoveShackFancy posts instantly, even before checking the username. That level of consistency boosts both brand identity and engagement.

However, if you’re managing a social team, maintaining a cohesive look can be complicated. Different people might not crop or filter images the same way and approving edits across channels takes time. A centralized workflow simplifies this process.

With Sprout’s Compose editor, you can crop content to the right dimensions, apply edits and route posts for internal review before they go live.

Instead of bouncing between editing apps and email threads, your team can collaborate seamlessly on both look and approval.

Write captions, hashtags and tags that boost reach

Imagine posting a photo of your new fall collection with the caption, “New arrivals are here.” It gets a few likes, then disappears in the scroll. But if you change it to, “Pumpkin spice isn’t just for lattes. Meet our fall knit, made to keep you cozy all season. Tap the link in bio to shop 🍂” Add Instagram hashtags like #FallStyle and #CozyKnits and you may see your reach extend beyond your followers.

Captions and hashtags can turn a good visual into a post that sparks real engagement. Here’s how to make them work harder:

• Lead with a hook in captions: Instagram allows captions up to 2,200 characters, but only the first 125 show in the feed before users have to tap “…more.” Since short, direct captions often outperform longer ones, grab attention early by opening with the detail that matters most. Research from SocialInsider found carousel posts with captions under 30 words generate the strongest engagement.
• Use hashtags strategically: To increase visibility beyond your followers, aim for three to five relevant hashtags per post. Try mixing broad tags (#FallStyle) with niche or timely ones (#NYCFashionWeek) to balance discovery and relevance. Just don’t forget to refresh your list often so you’re not recycling the same set.
• Tag people, brands and locations: Every tag adds another discovery path. For example, a restaurant that tags its chef and a featured farmer—and takes the time to hit “add location”—increases its chances of showing up in new audiences’ feeds.

Not all hashtags drive the same results. Some are better for boosting impressions, while others fuel more meaningful actions like profile clicks, saves or shares. To see what’s actually working, review your post-level performance data. And if you want even deeper insight, social listening tools let you spot trending hashtags in your industry before they peak.

Consistent tagging can be tricky when you’re managing posts as part of a team. Tagging workflows help prevent mix-ups by letting you pull approved hashtags, product tags and location tags from a shared set. They keep campaigns accurate and consistent without unnecessary back-and-forth.

How to post Stories on Instagram

Stories sit at the top of the app and stay live for 24 hours. Compared to feed posts, they appear more casual and are more effective for real-time sharing. These attributes make them a powerful tool for community building.

Smaller accounts in particular see strong results from Stories. One study found that brands with fewer than 10,000 followers saw Story reach rates climb by 35%, showing how Stories can help smaller brands gain visibility without relying on paid promotion.

Here’s how to post Stories on Instagram:

Select media and design your Story

To create a Story, open Instagram, tap the “+” icon and select “Story” from the bottom of the page. From there, hold the shutter button to record a video or tap it once to take a photo. If you already have content saved, swipe up (or tap the gallery icon in the bottom left) to upload it from your phone’s camera roll.

Once you upload your Instagram Story, you’ll get access to the following creative tools to invite participation:

• Polls to gauge audience opinions
• Questions to spark conversation
• GIFs and stickers to add personality
• Music to set the mood

Brands often use these features to turn a passive view into an active interaction. For example, a bakery might use a poll sticker to ask followers to vote on their favorite donut flavor.

Source: Instagram

This simple interaction makes the Story more engaging and gives the brand instant feedback.

And with the Compose editor, you can plan and preview Stories before publishing to eliminate last-minute edits and guesswork.

Make your Stories accessible

Stories reach wider audiences when they’re accessible by giving people different ways to engage. For example, many users scroll Stories in public with sound off and others rely on screen readers to interpret visuals.

Here are some tips for making Instagram Stories more accessible:

• Add captions to all videos so the message is clear, even without audio.
• Write alt text for images so screen readers can describe them.
• Stick to the right file specs to avoid awkward cropping or cut-off text. Stories should be vertical, with a 9:16 aspect ratio (1080 by 1920 pixels).

Publish and highlight your Stories

Once your Story is ready, tap the arrow to share it directly.

Stories automatically disappear after 24 hours, but you can save your best ones in Highlights (found under your profile bio). Brands often group Highlights by themes like “New Arrivals,” “Events” or “FAQs.”

For individual users, posting is simple. But when teams are involved, with different people creating, editing and publishing Stories, the risk of mistakes increases. An approval workflow solves this by letting your team draft, review, approve and schedule Stories in one place. Nothing goes live until it meets brand standards, which keeps content consistent across contributors.

How to post Reels on Instagram

Instagram Reels are short-form videos up to 3 minutes long designed to grab attention with music, effects and quick edits. They show up not only in your Instagram feed but also in the Explore and Reels tabs, giving you more ways to reach people who don’t follow you yet. Unlike Stories, Reels remain on your profile instead of disappearing after 24 hours.

Here are step-by-step instructions to help you post Reels on Instagram:

Choose your clips and design your Reel

Open Instagram, tap the “+” icon, then select “Reel.” From here, you can either record video in the app by holding the shutter button or upload existing clips from your phone’s gallery.

After you choose your footage, Instagram gives you a full set of editing tools to shape the final piece. You can trim and reorder clips to control pacing or merge multiple shots into one seamless video. For audio, you can add trending sounds from Instagram’s library, include your own original audio tracks or create original voiceovers.

Source: Instagram

Once your basic edit is in place, you can layer on effects, stickers or text overlays to emphasize important details or clarify anything that might not be obvious from the visuals alone. When everything’s ready, select a cover image to represent your Reel in your grid. A clear, well-framed cover will make your profile look organized and encourage more people to tap and watch.

Create engaging captions and hashtags

Even the best video needs context. Strong captions help highlight key takeaways and guide viewers toward the next step, whether that’s saving the Reel, sharing it or tapping the link in your bio.

Once your caption is set, consider discoverability. As with image posts, hashtags expand your reach beyond followers, so pair broad tags with niche ones that are relevant to your Reel’s content.

For a bit of inspiration, check out the captions your competitors use or try an AI tool like Sprout’s AI Assist, which can help you draft caption or hashtag options tailored to your tone and brand fit.

Choose the best time to publish

Timing also matters. If you publish when your audience is inactive, the feed can bury your Reel before it has a chance to gain traction. Posting during peak activity windows increases the odds that Instagram’s algorithm will push your video further, giving it more reach in Explore and beyond.

Rather than guessing the best time to post on Instagram, use social media tools with features like “Optimal Send Times” to analyze when your followers are most likely to engage. With Sprout Social, you can drop posts into the Sprout Queue and let the platform auto-publish at optimized times without manually picking timestamps.

How to boost your engagement and reach on Instagram with Sprout Social

If you’re still publishing straight from Instagram or Meta’s native tools, you may be missing opportunities for better reach, consistency and collaboration.

To bring publishing, scheduling and analytics into one place, it’s best to leverage a social media management platform like Sprout Social. With everything centralized, you can post at the right times, maintain a consistent feed and measure what’s working without juggling different apps.

Here are some ways Sprout Social helps you boost your engagement and reach on Instagram:

1. Post when your audience is most likely to engage

Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes recency, so publishing when your audience is online gives you a better chance at surfacing in their feeds.

The challenge is knowing exactly when that window is. Sprout’s Optimal Send Times analyzes up to 16 weeks of your engagement data and recommends time slots when your followers are most active.

2. Publish Instagram-native formats

Instagram rewards brands that lean into its various formats (Reels, carousels and Stories) because they keep users engaged. Reels drive the highest reach of any content type, with Meta reporting users now spend 20% of their time on Instagram watching Reels.

For brands posting at scale, managing all of these formats can be tricky. Scheduling tools like Sprout make it easier by letting you plan Reels (with cover images and captions), carousels (up to 20 images or videos) and standard posts in advance. You can also plan Stories on desktop, then publish via mobile notification at the right moment. This approach keeps your workflows centralized while respecting Instagram’s API rules.

3. Curate a feed that looks intentional

Your grid isn’t just a collection of posts, it’s your digital storefront. According to Sprout research, 65% of consumers say they’re more likely to interact with brands that maintain a strong, consistent presence on social media, highlighting the importance of posting high-quality content regularly.

For an intentional and aesthetic feed, try out Sprout’s Instagram Grid Planner. It gives you a drag-and-drop view of scheduled posts so you can see how they’ll look together. That way, your seasonal campaign won’t clash with evergreen content and your grid feels deliberate instead of pieced together.

4. Nail the hashtag and first-comment strategy

Hashtags are still one of the simplest ways to boost discoverability beyond your existing followers. They can help your content surface in searches, show up on explore pages and join trending conversations. But managing hashtags well, including deciding which ones to use and avoiding repetition, can be a challenge.

Scheduling tools simplify this process. In Sprout, for example, you can schedule the first comment, which is especially useful for dropping in a block of hashtags without cluttering your caption. You can also reuse saved snippets and store branded hashtag lists in the Asset Library, making it easier to apply hashtags systematically instead of recreating them for each post.

5. Prove what’s working and double down

Gut feelings aren’t a strategy, meaning you need data to guide decisions. Recent research backs this up. Rival IQ’s 2025 Benchmark Report shows median Instagram engagement dropped 16% year-over-year. The brands still seeing success aren’t relying on instinct but doubling down on formats that continue to perform, like Reels and carousels.

To make those kinds of decisions with confidence, you need visibility into your own performance. Tagging and reporting capabilities, such as Sprout’s Tag Report, let you group posts by campaign or theme and compare results side by side. If you pair that with competitive benchmarks for Instagram, you can calibrate your goals against your market as well as your past performance.

Turn your Instagram strategy into impact

Posting on your Instagram account is no longer just about getting content out quickly. To grow, you need to combine the following strategies:

• Publish at peak times.
• Keep visuals consistent and accessible.
• Use captions, hashtags and tags to boost discovery.
• Track what’s working and double down on formats driving reach.

Managing all this, especially as a team, can be overwhelming. Tools like Sprout simplify the process by providing one place to plan, publish and measure. This saves you time and helps you deliver consistently polished, on-brand content.

Ready to see how a streamlined workflow can help you optimize and scale your Instagram strategy? Try Sprout Social’s free 30-day trial today.

The post How to post on Instagram: A step‑by‑step guide for feed, Stories and Reels appeared first on Sprout Social.

If you are manually posting videos you are spending hours each week on a repetitive task that can easily be automated with a social media scheduling tool.

Scheduling TikTok videos in advance helps you post consistently, hit peak engagement times and focus on creating quality content. All of which will keep TikTok’s algorithm happy so your brand can rake up views, likes and shares.

Follow these step-by-step instructions on using TikTok’s native tool, then see how Sprout streamlines scheduling and can optimize your TikTok marketing strategy for better visibility and reach.

How to schedule TikTok posts with TikTok’s Video Scheduler (desktop only)

To the delight of social media managers, TikTok introduced its Video Scheduler in the spring of 2021 for both Creator and Business accounts. This feature makes it possible to schedule content from 15 minutes to a maximum of 10 days in advance.

Here’s how you can schedule TikTok content natively:

Step 1: Log in to TikTok on a web browser

The scheduler is only available on desktop, so have your computer handy. Log in and click the +Upload button in the top right corner.

Step 2: Upload and prep your post

In the upload video window, you can do everything you normally do before publishing. Add captions, TikTok hashtags, mentions, choose a cover image, run a copyright check and pick your settings.

Step 3: Schedule TikTok posts

Once you schedule a video, you can’t make edits. So take time to do a thorough typo and settings check before hitting Schedule. When you’re ready, click the toggle next to Schedule Video so it turns green. Two boxes will appear where you can set your publishing date and time. The time zone defaults to your computer’s, so double-check your settings.

Step 4: Do a quick double check

Mistakes happen. Cut out Murphy’s law and schedule your content at the right time. Find scheduled posts in the Drafts section of your Profile.

Source: TikTok

Once you click Schedule, sit back and relax—you’ve officially created a TikTok posting schedule.

You’ll get a push notification when your post goes live, as long as your notifications are on.

How to schedule TikTok videos using Sprout Social

TikTok’s desktop-only native scheduler offers limited scheduling flexibility. If your business has a larger social strategy, you need a tool that makes it easy to manage content across multiple networks.

Sprout provides the robust flexibility your team needs, with full support for both mobile and desktop workflows. Social teams can plan ahead, assign Mobile Publishers and manage approvals, all from a unified content calendar.

Sprout transforms basic scheduling into a scalable workflow. By streamlining collaboration and enabling edits even after scheduling, Sprout helps teams save time, reduce errors and stay consistent across channels.

Choose your scheduling workflow: Mobile or desktop

Sprout supports both mobile and desktop workflows. That means you can schedule TikTok videos the way that fits your team best, whether you’re on the move or managing multiple accounts from your desk.

How to schedule TikTok videos on mobile with Sprout Social

Mobile scheduling lets your team publish content on the go, capture live moments and coordinate campaigns in real-time. With Sprout, you can schedule TikTok videos in advance from your desktop and assign teammates to publish them through the Sprout mobile app.

This workflow gives you control over planning while enabling native publishing through TikTok, making it ideal for mobile-first teams or time-sensitive posts.

Not using Sprout yet? Start your free trial with your work email to follow along with these steps.

Step 1: Assign a Mobile Publisher 

Assigning a Mobile Publisher is a critical first step that ensures your scheduled TikTok videos publish smoothly from the Sprout mobile app.

Mobile Publishers receive notifications on their devices when it’s time to publish a post. They open the TikTok app, finalize the post and publish it natively, helping your team maintain platform integrity while working on the go.

Remember, your team will need to decide who will publish on mobile before scheduling a post.

To assign a Mobile Publisher, follow these setup steps:

• Download the Sprout Social app on a mobile device.
• Enable push notifications for the app.
• Enable the publishing reminders option in the notification preferences screen of the app.

Need help with setup? Read through the Mobile Publisher instructions to ensure your team can receive publishing prompts without any issues.

Once setup is complete, upload your TikTok video from a desktop. Then, write your caption, select your privacy settings (allowing comments, Duets or Stitches), assign a Mobile Publisher and schedule your post.

Click Send or Schedule, and Sprout takes it from there.

Step 2: Schedule your TikTok post 

After assigning a Mobile Publisher, you can schedule your TikTok video from the Sprout desktop app. This workflow allows you to plan content in advance, even though the final publishing step happens on the TikTok mobile app.

Follow these instructions to schedule your TikTok post:

• Upload your TikTok video in the Sprout post composer.
• Write a caption and add hashtags or mentions.
• Set your preferred privacy options (allowing comments, Duets, Stitches).
• Select your Mobile Publisher from the dropdown menu.
• Choose the publishing date and time.

Click Schedule, and Sprout will queue the post.

At the scheduled time, Sprout will send a push notification to the Mobile Publisher’s device, prompting the assigned team member to open the app and complete the post.

With Sprout’s TikTok scheduling, your team gets the best of both worlds. This desktop-to-mobile workflow helps your team to plan ahead with clarity and control, thanks to a structured and collaborative calendar. You still publish directly in the TikTok app, ensuring your posts achieve engagement and reach by following native publishing requirements.

Step 3: Finalize and publish from the TikTok app

You’re almost there. The mobile publishing process will be completed within the TikTok app.

If you use an Android device, your video will automatically load when TikTok opens.

If you’re an iOS user, you’ll have to select the video from the camera roll. You’ll also have the option to polish up the video by adding any effects and options before tapping Next. After that, you’ll paste the prepared caption from your clipboard.

At this point, take a final review for any typos or errors. If you’re happy with how your post appears, tap Post to publish your video. You’re all done.

Step 4: Review and edit on the go

Social media moves fast. Mistakes can happen and the need for quick adjustments is common, from fixing wrong times and overlapping posts to making last-minute caption changes. Sprout provides social teams with the flexibility to catch and correct these issues (and more), even after scheduling.

Use the Sprout mobile app to:

• Double-check scheduled TikTok posts before they go live.
• Spot typos or formatting issues.
• Make quick edits or reschedule posts in real time.

This flexibility sets Sprout apart from TikTok’s native Video Scheduler. Unlike TikTok’s native tool, which offers no edits once a post is scheduled, Sprout empowers you to change captions, update times and even make video swaps after your post is scheduled.

By reviewing and updating content on the go, you can maintain a clean, accurate and stress-free publishing calendar.

Curious to see how scheduling TikTok posts on mobile will level up your social media marketing strategy? Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Sprout’s TikTok management tools and experience TikTok scheduling that adapts to your workflow.

How to schedule TikTok videos on desktop with Sprout Social

Managing TikTok alongside other social networks can become chaotic, particularly since TikTok’s native scheduler doesn’t support multi-account workflows, post-scheduling edits or centralized planning.

Sprout’s dedicated social media publishing tool simplifies the process by letting you schedule TikTok videos on desktop within a unified content calendar. You can collaborate with teammates, assign approvals and make edits from one place at any time.

Not using Sprout yet? Start your free trial with your work email to follow along.

Step 1: Log in and create your post

Start by logging in to Sprout in your favorite web browser on your desktop.

To create a post, tap the blue notepad and pencil icon in the top right. Or, click Publishing on the left and click on the day you want to post.

To avoid over-posting or double-posting, schedule in the weekly or monthly calendar view. This screen provides a high-level view of your upcoming posts across social networks, helping you avoid overscheduling on a given day or time period.

Step 2: Select your TikTok account 

If you’re managing content for multiple brands or clients, account selection becomes a critical part of your publishing workflow. Choosing the correct TikTok profile at the start helps prevent publishing errors, ensures content aligns with the right voice and keeps campaign reporting clean.

Whether you’re working across clients or internal teams, Sprout makes switching between accounts quick and error-free.

In the New Post window, open the account dropdown in the composer screen.

Select the TikTok profile you want to publish from. You can also choose additional platforms—like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook Pages or Instagram—if you’re going to repurpose your video across channels.

Sprout keeps all your connected profiles in one place, helping you save time, avoid mistakes and manage multi-brand publishing without confusion.

Step 3: Upload, prep and optimize your video 

This step lays the foundation for a smooth and strategic publishing process. Sprout makes it easy to upload your TikTok video, add essential details and organize your post to align with broader marketing goals.

Here’s how to optimize your post:

• Upload your video: Add your final cut directly into the composer, which ensures your content is ready for scheduling and review.
• Write an engaging caption: Draft a caption that captures attention. Use mentions and hashtags to increase visibility—these become interactive once your video goes live.
• Set audience engagement options: Choose whether to allow comments, Duets or Stitches. These settings let you control how users interact with your content.
• Assign internal tags and campaigns: Tag your post by theme, objective or initiative. Assign it to a campaign to keep your content calendar organized and aligned with team strategy.
• Use Message Approval Workflows (if needed): Add an approval layer to avoid errors and support collaboration, which is especially helpful for teams managing multiple accounts or stakeholders.

By using these features, you can catch errors before publishing and ensure every post aligns with your TikTok marketing campaign goals. This process also creates a clear structure for teammates to track, approve and report on content, whether they’re exclusively managing TikTok or working across multiple social channels.

Step 4: Choose the best time to post

Posting at the right time can dramatically improve engagement. But figuring out when your audience is most active isn’t always obvious.

Sprout simplifies this process with its Optimal Send Times capability. It analyzes your audience’s behavior and recommends time slots based on real performance data, rather than guesswork.

You can schedule your TikTok videos manually or let Sprout automatically queue them for high-engagement windows.

By posting when your audience is most likely to engage, you avoid trial and error, save time and improve content performance with less effort.

Step 5: Finalize your post and schedule it 

After you prepare your branded TikTok post, choose how you want to schedule it based on your timeline, approval process and publishing goals.

Here are your options:

• Save as a draft: Use this option to hold posts that require further editing or are pending approval. Drafts also serve as flexible placeholders on your calendar when you’re still finalizing your content plan.
• Auto-schedule with the Sprout Queue: Don’t know the exact time to post? Sprout Queue uses audience engagement data to determine the ideal send times within the time windows you specify.
• Submit for approval: Need a second opinion? If you’ve enabled an Approval Workflow, the Schedule button changes to Submit. Use this to route posts through your review process before publishing.
• Publish immediately: Confident and ready to go? Select this option to publish your TikTok post instantly.

Each option supports a specific publishing need, whether you want more control, more automation or more reviews. Sprout helps you move quickly without losing accuracy or visibility.

Tips for creating your TikTok schedule

You’re almost ready to schedule and promote your content on TikTok. As you fill your content calendar, it’s important to think about how your TikTok schedule fits into your larger social strategy. With 50% of consumers having a presence on the app, according to The 2026 Social Media Content Strategy Report, refining your team and content strategy as you post is key if you want to keep up.

Here are a few tips and best practices to keep in mind:

Maintain a shared, unified content calendar

Managing multiple platforms and posts can result in a lot of moving parts and silos.

Maintain a content calendar to see your scheduled posts across all of your social platforms in one centralized place. This calendar keeps you organized, helps you track whether you’re over- or under-posting and creates an easy-to-share resource for your team.

Create a calendar of your own, or use Sprout’s social media calendar as an all-in-one content calendar and scheduler.

Track your best posting times

The TikTok algorithm is quite different compared to most social media platforms, so you really need to have a TikTok-specific posting strategy if you want your content to be seen on the app.

According to TikTok, recency is a factor in determining which videos show up in the coveted For You Page—one of the best places to get discovered and grow on the platform.

While it’s important to post both frequently and consistently in addition to keeping your TikTok video ideas fresh, the key is to be online when your audience is most active.

We already mentioned that Sprout has data to help identify when you should schedule posts for maximum engagement opportunities.

You can take it a step further and track your posting times. Do any of your peak times surprise you? What posting times and days can you experiment with?

You can also do this on TikTok. To identify when your TikTok audience is most active in the app:

• Tap the three-line icon at the top right of your Profile view
• Tap Business Suite
• Tap Analytics
• Tap Followers at the top of the screen
• Scroll down to Follower Activity to identify what days of the week and times your audience is most active

Your best posting times might be at odd, outside-of-working-hours time blocks—all the more reason to schedule your content ahead of time.

Set a smooth approval process for you and your team

Whether you’re a solo social media manager or part of a team, having another pair of eyes is always helpful.

Defining a structured review process for your TikTok content—and all of your content—helps maintain quality control while limiting the number of contributors. It also ensures that every post aligns with your broader engagement goals and gives you more opportunities to get more views on TikTok.

Sprout makes this easy by providing you with built-in, customizable Message Approval Workflows. Create and select different workflows for specific posts or networks to easily streamline your approval and collaboration process.

Measure the success of your profile and posts

Measuring and tracking your TikTok marketing strategy, posts and posting times is crucial if you want to turn creative content into meaningful business insights—on TikTok and beyond.

Regularly look at TikTok analytics to see what you’re doing right and where you need improvement. Don’t be afraid to experiment and test until you find out what works for you.

With Sprout, analyze how your TikTok profile and content is performing—on its own, and compared to your other social profiles. Use the Cross-Network Reports, like Profile and Post Performance, to turn the metrics that matter most into insights that can fuel your strategy and create a deeper connection with your audience.

To truly make informed decisions and optimize your strategy, you need to analyze your TikTok performance over time, not just over days or weeks. If you’re a creator beginning to see a lot of success with TikTok, you may be in a position to earn money from your account.

While TikTok only offers 60 days of data, Sprout doesn’t limit your TikTok data after you’ve connected your account. This means you can analyze your profile’s growth and success quarter over quarter, year over year.

Engage with your audience often

Once your posts are live, remember to regularly engage with your audience in TikTok comments. After all, it’s called “social” media for a reason. Engaging with your audience strengthens your connection with them and shows you’re listening. Engaging with your audience is crucial across all social media networks.

Lighten the load and schedule your TikTok posts now

Scheduling your TikTok content ahead of time ensures your content and publishing are “always on,” while also allowing you to disconnect and sign off.

You’re well-equipped to create your TikTok schedule—now all you need is to get started and to breathe easy.

If you’re ready to streamline your TikTok scheduling process and your social strategy as a whole, then you’re ready for Sprout.

Try Sprout free for 30 days to see how it can power better insights for your social strategy and business.

The post Schedule TikTok posts from mobile and desktop appeared first on Sprout Social.

You’re not alone. Post too much and you risk overwhelming your audience (and your team). Too little and you might miss timely opportunities or slip off their radar.

So what’s the “right” cadence? Our 2025 Content Benchmarks Report shows that scaling back your publishing volume can create room for more unique, high-value content. And the Sprout Social Index™ found that before people hit “follow,” they care more about originality and how you interact with them, over how many times you post.

If you’re looking for hard numbers to guide you, keep reading. Our data science team analyzed nearly 3 billion messages from 1 million public social profiles to find the industry average for the networks you—and your audience—care about most.

How often to post on social media for business in 2025

Industry average: 9.5 posts per day

Don’t worry, social media managers—that’s across all platforms, not per channel.

This number is down from 11 posts per day in 2022, continuing a steady decline over the last few years. It’s a clear signal that brands are embracing a ‘quality over quantity’ approach to social.

It’s exactly the kind of shift digital marketing expert Ann Handley celebrated in her recent LinkedIn breakdown of our data. She called “posting less” a power move that gives teams room to create more meaningful, resonant content.

Understanding how often to post on each platform can help you focus your efforts, prioritize channels that matter most and build a social media plan that works for your goals.

In the following sections, you’ll find the average posting frequency benchmarks for each major social media platform, backed by fresh 2025 data. Keep in mind these are industry averages. Your posting sweet spot depends on your audience, industry and resources. Use these numbers (and the best times to post on social media) as a starting point, then test and refine to see what works best for you.

How often should you post on TikTok?

TikTok recommends: 1-4 times per day

While we don’t yet have our own posting frequency data for how many times to post on TikTok (stay tuned), TikTok’s official guidance is one to four posts daily. In reality, most brands post far less. A 2024 RivalIQ report found the average is about two videos per week.

That gap reflects the tension between what the algorithm favors and what’s sustainable for marketing teams. Multiple posts a day give you more opportunities to test formats, sounds and themes. But without a clear content strategy, it’s easy to burn through ideas without building momentum.

Our recommendation? Tie your TikTok posting cadence to campaign objectives. Every post should have a job, whether that’s fueling a launch, sparking conversation or testing creative before a paid push.

Beyond posting frequency, here are a few TikTok marketing musts for 2025:

• Optimize for search: Our Q2 2025 survey found that Gen Z now turns to social before Google or traditional search engines. Use keywords in captions and text overlays to make your content more discoverable.
• Go deep into niche communities: Hashtag hubs like #FinTok or #CleanTok are powerful entry points for building relevance and authority.
• Use social listening for insights: Tools like Sprout Social can surface trending conversations in your industry, helping you jump in early and create content that resonates.

How often should you post on Instagram?

Industry average: 1-2 posts a day

With more than two billion monthly active users, Instagram is still one of the most popular social networks around. And according to our 2026 Social Media Content Strategy Report, 60% of consumers interact with brand content at least multiple times per week on the platform.

Even though it’s a crowded space, you don’t need to post every hour to be heard. As far as how many times to post on Instagram, 1-2 times a day is the average. But this can vary by company size. For example, enterprise brands post 54% more than mid-size companies, likely because they have more resources to support this volume.

Here’s how to make your Instagram posts count in 2025:

• Turn product tags into purchases: Instagram is the top platform for product discovery, with 61% of social users finding their next purchase here, according to The 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report. Use social commerce features like Shops and link stickers to turn inspiration into sales.
• Lead with short-form video: Among brand content, users are most likely to engage with short videos—and the shorter the better. Reels under 15 seconds often earn the most attention.
• Diversify your content: Static images still hold their own alongside video, so mix them into your calendar for variety and balance.
• Partner with the right creators: Instagram is the top platform consumers use to engage with influencers. Gen X and Millennials are nearly twice as likely as Boomers to engage with influencers here, making it a powerful space for targeted campaigns.

How often should you post on Facebook?

Industry average: 5 posts per day

With just under 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook still dominates the digital space.

Our Q2 2025 survey found that 87% of consumers have a profile, and nearly half (44%) interact with brand content daily. It’s also the top platform for customer service, with 55% of consumers using it to contact brands.

The industry average is five posts per day, which is a high bar for most teams. To hit that volume sustainably, consider building a repurposing workflow. Turn one video into a text update, an image quote and a short clip. Also mix in curated content and user-generated posts to lighten the load.

Here are a few tips on staying ahead in the Feed:

• Lead with text-first content: Of all brand post types, consumers are most likely to engage with text posts, according to The 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report. Yes, even more than short-form video or static images.
• Make customer care visible: Since Facebook is the go-to social channel for service inquiries, use timely, public responses to build trust and loyalty.
• Tap into current events: Facebook remains the most popular social network for news and current event updates. Add your brand’s perspective to trending topics to boost visibility and engagement.

How often should you post on LinkedIn?

Industry average: 1 post per day

LinkedIn has evolved from a strictly business bulletin board into a place where professional updates meet personal reflection. It’s now a platform where employer branding, thought leadership and genuine community building all live side by side.

Most brands post no more than once per day, and according to Copyblogger, 91% of LinkedIn creators publish at least once every three days. Business Insider’s expert consensus? Two to five posts a week strikes the right balance. It’s enough to stay visible without oversaturating your audience.

Wondering what to post on LinkedIn? According to The 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report, the #1 way social users want brands to show up on LinkedIn is by sharing educational product information. That could mean:

• A short carousel breaking down a new feature release
• A text post with data-backed insights from your product team
• A short video showing how customers use your product in real life

More tips for maximizing your LinkedIn presence:

• Prioritize text and static images: On LinkedIn, these posts still see the most engagement, so keep them in your content mix.
• Try out LinkedIn video: Native video uploads are up 45% year-over-year, according to LinkedIn insights. Keep them short (15–30 seconds) and sound-off friendly with captions or on-screen text. Seventy-nine percent of LinkedIn videos are viewed without sound.
• Blend education and entertainment: Sixty-six percent of social users say “edutainment” is the most engaging brand content, even outperforming memes or serialized posts.
• Engage strategically: According to Business Insider, comments can earn as much visibility as posts. Spend 15–30 minutes a day adding thoughtful comments to others’ content and responding quickly to comments on your own—especially within the first hour.

How often should you post on X (Twitter)?

Industry average: 2x Tweets per day

The birthplace of the hashtag remains a go-to platform for trends and emerging news stories.

X’s fast-moving feed still rewards timeliness, but that doesn’t mean you need to post constantly. In 2022, brands averaged three to four Tweets a day. Now the industry average is just two.

You also don’t need to add too many bells and whistles to your content here. X’s conversational, “stream of consciousness” nature makes it an easy place to create lighthearted posts without sacrificing your voice or brand persona.

Here are some more tips to get the most out of your posts and time:

• Lead with concise, visual posts: Users are most likely to engage with brand text posts and single images. Single-image posts make up 47% of brand content across industries.
• Experiment with short-form video: Video posts on X have grown by two percentage points since 2023. To maximize reach and engagement, keep clips under 30 seconds, add captions for sound-off viewing and use a strong hook in the first few seconds.
• Cross-post with intention: Repurpose high-performing Tweets, like relatable or meme-based posts, on Instagram or TikTok to extend their lifespan and reach.
• Join the conversation early: Tap into trending topics while they’re still gaining traction, especially around news or cultural moments relevant to your audience.
• Make customer care visible: According to internal X data, 80% of social customer service inquiries start on the platform. Use social listening to spot brand mentions—tagged or not—and respond quickly to build trust.

How often should you post on Pinterest?

Industry average: 1x a week

Pinterest is where people go to dream big, plan little joys and collect ideas that make life better. Knowing this, it’s no surprise that the 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report revealed that 51% of all social users say Pinterest feels more positive than other platforms. Among Gen Z, that number rises to 60%.

In 2022, we recommended posting on Pinterest once a day. For 2025, that’s shifted to once a week. Why the change? Pinterest’s Business blog puts it simply: “Focus on the content itself.” A single, high-quality, fresh Pin can keep driving traffic for months, so the emphasis should be on creating content worth saving and sharing—not hitting a high volume.

Here are a few tips to make your Pins count and stand out:

• Use the right keywords: 97% of top Pinterest searches are unbranded, making the platform a huge discovery engine. Weave relevant keywords into your Pin titles, descriptions and alt text so people searching for ideas can find you first.
• Inspire and educate: These are the top reasons people interact with brands on Pinterest, according to The 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report. Show your product in realistic settings, offer how-tos or share ideas that spark creativity.
• Tap into aspiration: Pinterest is the internet’s vision board. People use it to plan everything from weddings to weeknight meals. Align your content with these moments by providing practical, inspiring resources for planners and dreamers alike.
• Leverage trends: Use Pinterest trends to identify seasonal and cultural moments your brand can authentically join. Timely, trend-aligned content can quickly gain traction in search results.

Find your brand’s ideal posting frequency

Knowing how often to post on social media is just one part of your strategy. Your content still needs to be high-quality and relevant to your audience. But nailing the posting frequency that works for you can help you stand out without being spammy. This is where marketers can leverage social media scheduling tools, like Sprout Social, to optimize posting frequency and save time.

You know the answer to “how often should you post on social media?” Your next step is to experiment with these averages to find out what your frequency sweet spot is.

How we gathered the data

We understand that these reports can raise questions about just where the data is coming from. That’s why we want to be clear about the data we pulled and how we got here.

The insights in this article come from a mix of trusted external statistics and original Sprout Social research, including:

• 2025 Content Marketing Benchmarks Report: We analyzed nearly 3 billion messages from 1 million public social profiles active between February 1, 2024 and January 31, 2025. This data covers posts from Facebook, Google My Business, Instagram, LinkedIn company pages, Pinterest, TikTok, TripAdvisor, and X.
• 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report: Conducted online by Cint on behalf of Sprout Social, this research included 4,400 consumers across the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia—each with at least one social media account and following five or more brands.
• Pulse Surveys: Run online by Glimpse, a global market research firm, on behalf of Sprout Social. Participants included both social media users and marketers across the US, UK, and Australia.

Now’s the time to test your content calendar. Are you posting at the right frequency for your audience? Start your free trial of Sprout Social and discover your best posting frequency on social media today.

The post How often to post on social media appeared first on Sprout Social.

That’s why we put together this guide on 16 Facebook posting tips and post ideas to inspire you. Let’s take a look.

1. Ask questions

One great way to start conversations with your audience is by simply asking questions. It seems so basic, and you shouldn’t use this for every post, but it’s still a powerful strategy.

Think creatively about the types of questions you can ask. You can work to get genuine audience and customer input on business decisions. Or you can ask random questions that are relevant to your industry in an attempt to get more engagement on your post.

Notice how Bloom Nutrition asks followers what they’re most excited about this summer. The question comes with a post promoting its new summer energy drinks.

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Consider how you can also ask your audience relevant questions that are fun and easy to respond to. You may even generate future content ideas from their responses.

2. Go behind-the-scenes

Another great Facebook content idea is sharing behind-the-scenes (BTS) photos of your business. There are many ways to do this. Show how products are made, introduce your employees or include bloopers of other videos or campaigns.

This helps to boost transparency, allowing you to get on a more personal level with your audience. So you can effectively build trust and connection.

ColourPop Cosmetics chose to share a short video clip showing the BTS of its new Shrek collection campaign.

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3. Engage in trending topics

An effective way to increase reach and engagement is to post about trending topics people are talking about. Not only can this increase your chances of appearing in feeds, but people will be more likely to comment on and share your posts as well.

Sprout Social created relevant content based on the “Jet2 Holiday” trend that’s taking over the internet.

The post included some interesting analytics insights about the topic. This opened an opportunity to creatively position our predictive media intelligence solutions.

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4. Create branded graphics

Like most social networks, Facebook is a highly visual platform. In fact, images account for 48% of brand content on the platform, according to the 2025 Content Benchmarks Report.

So whatever message you want to convey is more likely to resonate through visuals. That’s where your branded graphics come in, giving you the perfect format to convert text into images.

These are graphics incorporating your company’s logo, fonts and colors. So they can help you maintain visual consistency and improve branding.

And these don’t all have to have the same style, either. Bring various shades of your brand colors into the graphics to help them all look unique. Add shapes, icons, photos or illustrations to help visualize what your text says.

Don’t forget to optimize your graphics based on each platform’s optimal image sizes.

Branded graphics are perfect because they’re so versatile! Use them to share quotes, memes, motivational sayings, relevant tips and more. Burger King makes it fun by sharing graphics portraying different styles of fries for National Fries Day. It encourages the audience to “choose (their) fighter” to drive interactions.

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5. Tell stories

Get personal with your audience by telling stories that resonate. Brand storytelling is a great way to connect with your Facebook followers on a different level.

Tell stories about how your business came to be or share the challenges of running a business. You can even get your social media manager to have fun with their role and be real about their own jobs (to a point).

These help to humanize your brand, allowing you to build a more personal connection with your audience.

You can also tell other types of stories to leave an emotional impact on your Facebook followers. Charity Water often tells real human stories of the communities the organization is supporting.

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But stories can also be highly impactful, even from a marketing angle. See how OLIPOP tells the childhood story of musical artist Tanner Adell to promote its new Cream Soda flavor.

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6. Create more videos

Facebook loves when users post videos. It even dedicates an entire “Video” section to this format.

This is why videos are excellent Facebook post ideas to improve your strategy. The 2025 Content Benchmarks Report even found that video content is gaining traction in certain industries. This includes sectors like retail, consumer product manufacturing and industrial manufacturing.

So having a robust Facebook video marketing strategy is essential, especially for brands in these sectors.

Create videos to educate audiences, demonstrate your products, tell brand stories and more. If it aligns with your brand identity, you can even focus on comedy content to entertain your audience.

You don’t need a whole video production crew to create video for Facebook either. Brands like Chewy repurpose user-generated videos and influencer content for their Facebook. Similarly, curate high-quality videos from your brand community to create engaging Facebook posts.

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7. Share product photos

This one probably seems obvious. Of course, you want to share your product photos on your business Facebook post.

But you need to level up from generic product shots to make your posts more engaging. Get creative with the way you present and highlight your products. Think about flatlays, themed photoshoots and close-up texture shots. Mood boards and color-coordinated shots are also a great way to make your products look even more appealing.

Here’s a captivating example from Fenty Beauty. Notice the strategic use of props that blend with the product in focus.

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8. Create enticing shoppable posts

Take it a step further and turn your product photos into shoppable posts. These are posts with product tags that users can click to get more product info. So your followers can easily find out what the product is, how much it costs and more. If you have a Facebook Shop set up, they can even buy the product directly within Facebook.

This shortens the buying journey, allowing you to drive more conversions. See how Dossier shares eye-catching visuals with shoppable product tags.

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9. Develop infographics

Infographics are historically known for complex data visualizations. But with the right design, they can also be an engaging Facebook content format. In addition to being visually appealing, they provide value by sharing important information.

Share your own informational charts and graphs on Facebook to help educate your audience on various industry topics. At the same time, don’t just limit yourself to charts and numbers. Take a cue from Chewy and use infographics to share bite-sized info that would be useful for your community.

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10. Show your personality

Your business Facebook Page doesn’t have to be all business all the time. In fact, it helps to show some brand personality throughout your posts and post captions.

The best way to honor this content idea while posting on Facebook is to ensure you have brand voice guidelines. So everyone putting together social media content for your company knows how far they’re able to go in terms of personality.

For brands like Wendy’s, unhinged and relatable humor resonates with its Millennial and Gen-Z audience. So the brand isn’t afraid to show off a comical personality through its Facebook posts.

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11. Promote blog posts

A tried-and-true Facebook post idea that will never go away: sharing your company’s blog posts.

Doing so helps you keep your Facebook Feed filled with fresh content. This is great for engaging your audience, especially since you’re sharing content that adds value to their lives. It also supports your content marketing efforts as you simultaneously promote the latest posts from your blog.

So your social media marketing and content distribution efforts go hand-in-hand.

PetLab Co. regularly shares the company’s latest blog posts on Facebook. So followers get updates on valuable information about caring for their pets. At the same time, the company gets to maintain a consistent publishing schedule.

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While it’s a good idea to share your blog posts on Facebook, make sure to mix things up a bit. Alternate between different content formats, such as graphics, photos and videos to diversify your Feed. So you’re not boring your audience by sharing the same type of content over and over again.

Make the most of Sprout’s content calendar to visualize your content mixture. Then use the drag-and-drop editor to easily switch things up and optimize your content plan.

12. Share industry tips

Sharing tips and tricks of the trade is a great way to increase engagement and reach with your audience. They’re likely always after more intel, so the more you can provide, the better.

Provide tips, ideas and how-to instructions that will benefit your audience in their daily or professional lives. At Sprout, we regularly create Facebook posts to guide industry practitioners and decision-makers. See the following post where we share three must-have qualities in an AI social media tool.

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13. Create contests and giveaways

Want a surefire way to grab user attention and increase engagement? Host a contest or giveaway that your target audience would be interested in. It’s a great way to increase reach, brand awareness, engagement and overall followers.

We say relevant to your target audience because if you give something like an iPad away, literally anyone could be interested in entering. Instead, if you’re a bodybuilding-focused gym, you might want to select a prize that’s much more niche. For instance, an entry into a local competition or a year’s supply of protein powder.

Scholastic and The Magic School Bus collaborated on a giveaway contest where the prize is a Ms. Frizzle sweatshirt. The rules also require participants to share their favorite quote from the iconic fictional teacher. So the people who are most likely to participate are those who are actual fans of the cartoon.

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The best prize for a contest or giveaway is product or a subscription to your service. But if your business runs a bit differently, consider what else only your specific audience would be interested in.

14. Promote discounts and sales

In the same vein, share any major sales or offering discounts you may be running. This can be especially fun if you create flash sales or Facebook-only discounts for your followers. It’s a great way to reward people for liking your Facebook Page.

Because this type of content also converts well, discount and sale alert posts are great ideas for promoting on Facebook as well.

Spoonflower shared an enticing Facebook post promoting the website’s summer sale.

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15. Post at optimal times

One of the best Facebook posting tips is to get your timing right. Make sure you share your posts at times when your audience is online and engaged, or you could miss out on a lot of interaction.

Sprout’s Facebook integration makes it easy to perfect your post timings. You can schedule your posts to automatically publish at your audience’s most active times. That means: no more setting alarms to manually push out posts and no more forgotten drafts.

It even suggests Optimal Send Times based on how your audience has interacted with your content. This takes the guesswork out of planning your publishing times, helping you drive more engagement.

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16. Test various posting frequencies

When it comes to social media marketing, there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for every business.

There may be some overarching best practices that apply to everyone. But beyond this, there will always be some content ideas and tactics that work better in some industries over others.

This applies to your posting frequency as well. While some brands may benefit from posting less, others might need to post multiple times a day. That’s why it’s a good idea to test different posting frequencies to see what works for your business and your audience.

Understanding audience preferences and behaviors through Facebook monitoring can enhance your audience engagement.

Use the Post Performance Report on Sprout to understand how your Facebook posts are performing. See how the metrics change as you experiment with different publishing frequencies. This will help you figure out the ideal number of posts to drive more visibility and engagement.

Turn these Facebook posting tips into a powerful strategy

The content ideas and posting tips shared above should give you a head start to create engaging Facebook posts. Want to put them to the test? Use Sprout’s scheduling and management tools to perfect your timing and manage all your content in one place. Get started with a free 30-day trial.

The post 16 Facebook posting tips to increase engagement appeared first on Sprout Social.

“We exist to help Australian farmers increase their profitability and sustainability,” said Danielle Gault, Communications Manager – West for GRDC. “We help them do that by investing in RD&E projects and communicating the outcomes of this research back to them through various channels, including social media. They use the information to improve their farming systems and make them more profitable and sustainable.”

Communicating to a seemingly niche audience might sound straightforward, too—but that’s not the case for GRDC. “We serve all grain growers in Australia, which means our primary audience is demographically broad—from young growers straight out of university to experienced growers in their 60s and 70s,” Gault explained. “All these groups use social media in very different ways. So, our main challenge is to communicate messages in a multilayered way, from 30-second Reels to in-depth, 1,000-word articles, so that we can deliver value to our entire audience, which also includes researchers.”

How can Gault and two other colleagues effectively meet this challenge, given that none are focused solely on social media management for GRDC? They rely on Sprout Social, which the organization has used for nearly a decade. “Sprout lets us post at a high frequency across multiple channels, but in a structured and considered way that is based around our specific goals for each platform,” Gault said.

Sprout isn’t just supporting our social strategy—it’s making it happen. Sprout allows us to perform at a level above what you might expect for a small social team with limited resources. We get a lot of high-quality content out to our audiences every week. We trial, test and measure. And we track and adapt to trends quickly.

Danielle Gault
Communications Manager - West

Using Sprout’s reporting to identify top-performing content and track audience feedback

Grain growers in Australia have more than a passing interest in GRDC’s work. They help fund it through levies on the agricultural products they grow, including wheat, coarse grains like barley, pulses such as chickpeas, and oilseeds like canola. The Australian government also invests in GRDC by matching growers’ levy contributions up to a certain percentage. It has a similar co-investment model for the 14 other Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) in the country, including Dairy Australia and Wine Australia.

Gault, GRDC’s communications manager for the entire western region of Australia, said she is amazed “by the scale and breadth of what the organization does.” As of early 2025, that work includes investing in more than 800 different RD&E projects, many of them multiyear in scope and conducted in collaboration with universities or science agencies.

Keeping grain growers and other interested parties informed about these projects and other news and topics of interest requires GRDC to publish fact sheets, videos, podcasts, its flagship magazine, Groundcover Online, and other content online and offline. It also hosts numerous events throughout the year, from webinars to workshops. GRDC’s channels on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and LinkedIn play a crucial role in helping the organization to promote its wide and diverse range of content and events—and also, elevate brand awareness.

“Part of our organizational success metric is ensuring that grain growers are aware of the projects we do, and the work their levies are funding,” said Gault. “We monitor both traditional and social media to gauge attribution for the projects that GRDC invests in.”

Tagging and Reporting in Sprout helps Gault and her cohorts to identify which content is hitting the mark with audiences on social and easily share results with key stakeholders, including GRDCs executive team. “Our leadership team is particularly interested in understanding the specific content that is getting the most engagement—especially since we changed our strategy from primarily pushing out information to our audiences to trying to engage more with them.”

That shift in approach includes finding opportunities to use humor when appropriate. One win that Gault highlighted to leadership in a Post Performance Report from Sprout was a punny post from 2023 about “cropping.” It went viral, earning a reach of 3.5 million and 60,000 engagements.

This post was an installment of GRDC’s “Friday Funny” series, which Gault and her team launched in 2022 to engage audiences by offering a lighthearted take on grain growers’ vocation. The series is also intended to help GRDC take a break from its content offerings that are typically technical and dense.

“At the end of a busy day, people may not be in the headspace to read Ph.D.-level content about plant breeding,” Gault said with a laugh. “So, we need to package up what GRDC does in a way that’s easy for our primary audience to absorb and that also helps build awareness for our brand and attract new audiences, too.”

With Sprout’s Reporting, we can bundle insights from across channels and understand what is working well and what’s not. The reports have become essential to informing our content and social strategies. I even generate reports specifically on our podcast and video social performance.

Danielle Gault
Communications Manager - West

Measuring success and making plans to optimize content for different platforms

For the past few years, Gault and her team have been on the front line of helping GRDC to transform its social strategy and social brand voice to a more engagement-focused, content-driven strategy. And according to Gault, that includes using more storytelling, in addition to more humor.

“Grower stories and case studies are absolutely, by far, our most popular content,” she said. “It’s that peer learning element. Farmers want to know what other farmers are doing, and what their successes and challenges are. And they want to learn about new technology or new research in the language that growers use.”

Gault said GRDC has also been experimenting more with video, especially short-form video. “We’ve had to work very hard to bring that strategy into social with our team’s limited time and resources. But in the past 18 months, we’re much more active in the Reels space on Instagram and with Shorts on YouTube. We’ve already had some successes, like our video for National Agriculture Day that had sweeping shots of paddocks and farm machinery, farmers at work and rock music.”

Gault said that video received a lot of positive feedback, including from people who took the time to send emails to GRDC to say how much they loved the content. “That was such a nice outcome,” she reflected. “It doesn’t often happen that you get social feedback outside of social! It signaled to us that we are heading in the right direction.”

More proof of success came in the form of performance metrics for 2023, which showed that the GRDC was realizing strong overall returns from its new social media strategy. Gault shared some of these metrics, which were gathered using Sprout:

• 101% growth in video views
• 79% increase in impressions
• 63% boost in engagements

“We essentially doubled our video views, which we were excited about,” said Gault. “In 2023, we also saw audience growth of 13.9% across all the channels we use. And for some specific channels, the rate was significantly higher. For example, our audience growth on LinkedIn was 37.5% in 2023.”

Looking ahead, Gault says she is eager for GRDC to take a more rigorous approach to optimizing content for each social media platform it uses and experimenting with strategies that appeal best to the different generations of growers the organization needs to reach through those various channels.

“Sprout is very good at helping us to be strategic with our approach. It gives us such a nice clear snapshot of what’s happening across our channels,” Gault said. “Sprout helps us choose optimal posting times and ensure that we don’t put out too much content or overlap efforts. We’d have to do all this manually otherwise, which I just don’t think would be possible for our small team.”

To find out how Sprout Social can help you make the most of your resources to optimize content and increase audience engagement across all your social channels, request your free demo today.

Sprout’s core features for publishing, community management, reporting and listening are essential to our team. And because we publish a high volume of posts—3,615 in 2024 alone—we find the publishing and scheduling tools in Sprout exceptionally useful.

Danielle Gault
Communications Manager - West

The post How Sprout helps GRDC increase engagement with multiple generations of Australia’s grain farmers appeared first on Sprout Social.

A Facebook blue check mark indicates to your audience that your Page is legitimate and trustworthy. This makes it a must for public figures, brands and companies that are well-known and susceptible to being replicated or parodied.

In this post, you’ll discover some essential steps on how to get verified by Facebook. We also walk you through a few additional details to give you a thorough understanding of how Facebook verification works.

Let’s get started.

What is Facebook verification?

Facebook verification involves getting your Page verified by Facebook. The main intention is to show that it genuinely represents you. A verified Facebook Business Page or account has a blue checkmark appearing next to the name. This puts a clear distinction between the real Page and the Pages run by fans or imposters.

Source: BarkBox on Facebook

Businesses and public figures may often see people creating Pages and profiles similar to theirs. This may either be to imitate them or to build a fan community. Even if there’s no malicious intent behind those Pages and profiles, there’s still a huge risk of other Facebook users mistaking them for the real thing.

In addition, Facebook prioritizes verified profiles and Pages in its search results. So Facebook verification ensures that your Page prominently shows up at the top of relevant searches. This could further improve your reach. See how the official verified Page for Workday gets top priority when you search for the company name on Facebook.

Source: Facebook

Who can get verified on Facebook?

In theory, anyone can get verified on Facebook using any of the two options:

• By subscribing to Meta Verified
• By applying for a verified badge

That’s provided they meet the strict eligibility criteria Meta has in place to verify Facebook Pages and profiles.

In both cases, you’ll need to follow the company’s terms of service and the Facebook Community Standards. Besides this, Facebook will consider your verified badge application if your account is:

• Authentic: It should represent a real person, entity or business.
• Unique: It should be the unique presence of the person, entity or business it represents. Facebook only verifies one account per business or person. The only exception is with language-specific accounts. And note that it doesn’t verify accounts for general interests. For example, it won’t verify a Page dedicated to healthy food. But it will verify a Page representing a registered publication that’s dedicated to healthy food.
• Complete: It should be active and have all the necessary details, such as an “About” section and a profile photo. In addition, it should have at least one post.
• Notable: The person, entity or business it represents should be well-known and get plenty of searches. Facebook is more likely to approve your application if it features in multiple news sources and publications.

The above requirements are only the bare minimum and don’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll get verified. To improve your chances of getting verified, make sure that your account looks highly credible. Start by publishing highly informative and engaging posts instead of sticking to the minimum requirement of one post.

The eligibility requirements for a Meta Verified subscription are more lenient. But you need to pay for any of the Meta Verified plans starting at $14.99 per month. To qualify for it, you must:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Live in a region where Meta Verified is available
• Have full control over a business portfolio on the Meta Business Suite
• Not max out the permitted number of changes in your business portfolio within the specified timeframe.

Why should you get verified on Facebook?

There are a number of reasons that getting verified is a good idea—let’s cover the bases.

Boosts credibility for your brand

Getting verified shows that you’re a legitimate, credible brand. The process isn’t easy (as you’ll see shortly) and many people/brands have tried to get verified and failed. Even if you pay for a Meta Verified subscription, you still need to meet certain eligibility criteria and provide a government ID.

So Facebook users know if they see that blue checkmark, it’s for real.

Protects against imposter accounts

Some people create fake accounts; others create fan accounts. Getting verified helps separate your Facebook Page from the rest. This assures customers that they’re following or reaching out to the real deal and not an imposter.

Facebook prioritizes verified profiles and Pages

The Facebook algorithm gives priority to verified Pages and public figure profiles. Having that blue check means you’ll show up at the top of search results. This helps boost eyes on your brand’s Facebook Page.

8 steps for how to get verified on Facebook

While most of the process for getting verified is simple, some parts are more complicated than others. If you’re opting for Meta Verified, you can easily sign up through the Meta Verified for Business page. Note that you’ll need to provide a government ID during the verification process.

If you’re applying for a verified badge, the process requires a few additional steps. Let’s show you how to get your Facebook verification.

Step 1: Open the verification request form

Start the verification process by logging into Facebook and making sure you have admin permission to the Facebook Page you’re trying to get verified.

From there, you can head to Facebook’s verification request form. This is where you’ll complete all of the following steps.

(Note: the link to the Facebook verification request form will appear broken unless you’re logged into Facebook with admin permissions to a Facebook page.)

Source: Facebook

Step 2: Choose your verification type

You have the option to verify your personal profile if you are a public figure. Or, as long as you’re logged into your Facebook account, you can select from a dropdown menu which business Page you’d like to verify. Each business Page you manage will appear, making it easy to complete this process for each of your businesses or clients.

Source: Facebook

Step 3: Confirm authenticity

The next step is proving that your Facebook Page is authentic. Remember, verification proves to your audience that it’s authentic. So it’s important that Facebook looks for credible documentation in order to approve verification.

The documentation options that you can upload a copy of include:

• Driver’s license
• Passport
• National identification card
• Tax filing
• Recent utility bill
• Articles of incorporation

Source: Facebook

Click the Choose files button and upload the relevant document.

Step 4: Confirm notability

This next step is called “confirming notability,” but essentially, you’re selecting a category for your business Page or profile. This is especially important when verifying profiles. Facebook wants to ensure that your profile or Page is something that people are actually interested in or searching for.

Categories to choose from include:

• News/Media
• Sports
• Government & Politics
• Music
• Fashion
• Entertainment
• Digital Creator/Blogger/Influencer
• Gamer
• Business/Brand/Organization
• Other

Source: Facebook

Step 5: Add your country

The next step is to add the country where you or your business is most well-known. Even if you have a global company, you’ll want to choose the country or region where you have the largest audience. If you’re unsure, you can easily discover this by looking at your website’s Google Analytics or your Facebook analytics.

Source: Facebook

Step 6: Add your audience and also known as

This step is completely optional. But the more information you provide, the easier it is for Facebook’s team to confirm your verification. We recommend inputting basic information about your audience demographics. If you have no other “AKA” names for your business, you can of course leave that section blank.

Source: Facebook

Step 7: Add 5 articles that show your Page or profile is in the public interest

This step is also optional, but take our word for it: do not skip this step. This is one of the best ways to help prove your case. Include some sort of proof that people are interested in, following or talking about your brand. It could be anything from popular social media accounts to articles that talk about your business or Wikipedia profiles. This helps you make a much more compelling argument that your Page should get the Facebook blue check mark.

Source: Facebook

Step 8: Submit the form

Hit the “Send” button, and voila! You’ve submitted your application for Facebook verification. The only thing left to do now is wait.

What happens if Facebook rejects my application?

Keep in mind that meeting the basic verification criteria doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get verified. Facebook might still reject your application without specifying a reason. When this happens, you’ll have the option to reapply for verification after 30 days. But make sure you put in some extra effort to improve your chances of getting verified this time around.

Here are the possible next steps in case Facebook rejects your application:

• Reach out to Facebook support and try to get more information about why your application was rejected. In case you can get this info, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to get verified the next time you apply.
• Create high-quality content and post regularly while ramping up your Facebook marketing efforts. If necessary, use Facebook automation to keep up with your posting schedule.
• If you have brand accounts on other social networks, make sure you boost your presence there as well. This will also help you improve your chances of getting verified on those platforms.

Top 4 tips for getting verified on Facebook (and staying verified)

Struggling to get verified? We’ve got four top tips to help you out. And, once you’re verified, you’ll want to continue these best practices to make sure you’re able to stay verified.

1. Keep your business information up-to-date

We mentioned that one of the factors for Facebook verification is having a complete Facebook profile. But you also need to make sure you keep up with any changes. If you get a new website, change store locations, adjust store hours, add new product lines, etc., you need to update those things on your Facebook Page.

2. Be strategic with your posting schedule

If you haven’t posted any new content on your Facebook Page in months, you’ve given the platform no incentive to offer you verification status. Make sure you’re staying active on Facebook and regularly posting new content to engage your followers.

But keep in mind that simply posting regularly won’t result in higher engagements, according to the latest Facebook stats.

Instead, it’s all about timing. You need to send out your Facebook posts at a time when your audience is active. This improves the chances that they’ll see and engage with your posts.

The best times to post on Facebook start from 9 a.m. during the weekdays. But this varies from Page to Page. Check your content performance to see when your audience is most engaged. Then schedule your posts to go out at those times.

Third-party Facebook tools like Sprout Social even come with optimal send time suggestions. Sprout’s ViralPost® technology helps automate the entire process. It automatically finds the best times to post for your brand and publishes your posts at those times.

3. Engage with the community

If you have an engaged Facebook audience, it proves to the platform that you’re a notable brand and people want to follow you. This increases your chances of getting verified.

Ramp up your Facebook engagement efforts to build an engaged community. Respond to comments, share content that your audience enjoys and hold live broadcasts to interact with them in real-time.

4. Stick to community guidelines

Just because you’ve been verified doesn’t mean you’re going to stay verified. If you’re consistently violating community guidelines, the platform can rescind your verification.

At the bare minimum, make sure you’re always compliant (which isn’t difficult to do). Besides this, strategically marketing your Page will also help you to stay verified. Don’t forget to protect your account with two-factor authentication. This will prevent unauthorized access by individuals who could violate the community guidelines.

Get verified on Facebook today

Meeting all the eligibility criteria is only the first step. Want to know the best secret on how to get your Facebook verification? It’s all about stepping up your game. Make sure you’re marketing effectively on the platform and growing your presence organically.

Use Sprout’s marketing tools to drive growth on the platform. Sign up for a free trial to see how the platform helps you boost your chances at getting verified by Facebook.

The post How to get verified on Facebook: Your step-by-step guide appeared first on Sprout Social.