[Method & better method needed] How to share content with clients & How do you preview your grid easily before posting?

Instagram Marketing
#1

Whitehat talk here, how do you guys preview multiple accounts grids manually? I have a couple of clients who are asking me to show them how the 30 new posts will look like in the next 30 days.

My current process is like this:

  1. Photographer does photos

  2. I run a photoshop script to resize below 1900x1900 and 4:5 either landscape or portrait

  3. I then number the photos 1-30 and add into google drive (1 being the first post, 30 being the last post)

  4. I send notification of content for approval to the client, he/she views it using google drive

  5. I tell them/send a docs file explaining how to view it in a grid format - resizing the browser see example below:

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  6. They confirm they are happy with pictures
    6.1 They tell me - change picture 4,7,24
    6.2 I update the files, remove 4,7,24 and replace with something better
    6.3 They complain about the order, I manually have to rename the pictures so it would be in order, refresh
    6.4 Finally theyā€™re happy

  7. I start writing the captions using google docs

  8. I submit the captions numbered 1-30, so they can view captions and pictures in IG grid See example below

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    image843Ɨ514 158 KB

Now this sort of works.

Problem 1 - I have to manually change numbers in docs file when moving around pictures
Problem 2 - I have to rename pictures 1-30 manually to have it order better
Problem 3 - 3/5 clients tell me they canā€™t figure it out and ask me to show it in IG format

I have been doing research on getting this done in a better way.

Hereā€™s what I found (potential solutions):

https://www.planoly.com/ - Free plan allows just 30 uploads, but 7$ gets me unlimited uploads. So I could still use my google drive, then throw all the pictures in planoly, screenshot the grid and send a picture of the grid to client. This seems to be the most attractive offer to me as it requires less amount of work.

I use hootsuite to then schedule content ( I used to use jarvee campaigns but there has been a lot of negative talk it being related to PVā€™s)

I know hootsuite/planoly/later and other apps allow multiple users, which would be ideal. But that can get expensive fast.

I toyed around with photoshop files and found this tutorial (in German, unfortunately) and that would work perfectly too. The issue with this is that I manually need to add every file. Which is also time consuming and annoying.

In short, this method is working for me right now. But I sense there must be an easier way to do this. Planoly is definitely a good option, but what would be even better is having client access the files as well or even adjust captions themselves from a dashboard but 5-10 users get 100$+ pricing on nearly all scheduling platforms. Most of these platforms offer 1 user for free most of the time though.

Should I create 10+ free accounts and log in/log out every time? That also sounds painful :smiley:

Would be cool to find out how you guys do this :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#2

I organize everything in Google Sheets. I use first sheet where we outline the date of the post, file name, the caption, accounts to be tagged, hashtags to use, and which geotag to use. On the second sheet, we plan out the grid by inserting the photos in the cells so we can see what the feed will look like globally.

3 Likes
#3

Hmm, I like google sheet idea, but it never seemed as ā€˜cleanā€™ to use for myself.

Also, Do pictures show good in excel sheet nr2? I know google now allows to insert picture into sheet, but I donā€™t know how well it works

When you move around pictures, how do you trace back the file name/location correctly when scheduling? I assume you post using Jarvee then? Thanks for your tip!

2 Likes
#4

yes, theyā€™re full quality. I make the cells big enough to where itā€™s about the size of the photo as you would see in the app.

You have to do this manually. And yes, always use Jarvee - never have issues with PVs as long as youā€™re deleting/changing the metadata before posting.

1 Like
#5

Sample please

#6

I like your method but use CSV file for captions, that makes importing easy to MP

#7

CSV file is the easiest fr importing, but itā€™s not as visually pleasing to look at IMO.

Thatā€™s why I was wondering if thereā€™s a better way. I played around with @intothenight method and it seems to look decent, but still sorting order of pictures may be more painful than renaming them.

I like this planoly place, but itā€™s very much a planner and then scheduler. And if I will only be taking a screenshot of upload, itā€™s not worth it :smiley:

1 Like
#8

Nice method @BruceSilduk :clap:
I mostly transfer the raw pics using wetransfer and make a ppt with 5-10 (depending on the agreement) pictures I feel reflects the best for the customer.

Along with the pics, I also jot down the suitable caption and hastags. In the last slide, I show them a preview feed of the pictures together in 1:1 thumbnails. This helped me to cut down on the number of revisions.

2 Likes
#9

Thanks! That sounds good, I think creating a feed like that could look cool.

Although this seems it would be as much work :smiley: I honestly think there must be a better way.

You know like:

  1. Select the pictures
  2. Upload
  3. Get feed like view
  4. Drag them around however I like
  5. Export
  6. Have captions when clicked on the picture (I understand it probably wouldnā€™t export)

I found a number of apps like Planoly, Preview & Garny that seem to do just that free of charge for personal use. On one device.

Iā€™m starting to sound like Iā€™m their salesman which Iā€™m not :smiley: But with my limited research, Planoly offers web uploads and I can do all of those things. 30 uploads free, pay for unlimited.

Iā€™m almost tempted to create ā€˜multipleā€™ accounts for each client and upload 30 pictures per month free. Have them access the same account to rearange pictures, captions etc. Would make this proccess a lot easier! Or pay 7$ for unlimited.

I was just wondering if someone else on this forum found a ā€˜quickā€™ approach like this with minimal investment required :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#10

Have you tried the app ā€œLaterā€ ?

#11

Personally I use the app Garny

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1 Like
#12

this isnt on ios :frowning:

1 Like
#13

This is Android yeah @Welsh_Magic

#14

Iā€™ll have a look, thanks!

I also found an app called unum that seems to do just that. Pretty cool but a bit buggy. And then planoly.com/ which is my favourite as again offers app/desktop and client can login too. Planoly however is paid if more than 30 uploads per month.

1 Like
#15

Desktop version is a nice one. I had Planoly back in the days but I canā€™t remember exactly. I will also take a look at this again because I donā€™t know if Garny has desktop supported. Would be amazing, for the app it works very smoothly.

#16

Unum was really buggy last time I tried to do something useful with it, but some people vouch for it. Planoly was the strongest. I was toying around with creating 1 account per client and we use the same login. They can even edit captions/hashtags/schedule time which is awesome. 30+ posts is 7$. Not terrible and this makes it much easier to use when planning content

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#17

Thanks mate! Could be useful in the future.
So you do Content Creation for your Clients?

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#18

Yes, 2 of them. But I also work with a photographer who takes pro pictures. Although with a bit of camera work I could probably achieve similar results :slight_smile: I work with bigger businesses and none of them want to deal with content so I find this to be the best selling point actually.

2 Likes
#19

UNUM is an app I have been using for quite sometime now. But I am pretty sure it would require you to send to your phone, save to your pictures, upload them onto the appā€¦ adding a couple of steps on there.

#20

Great! Yeah lack of content of businesses Instagram pages is a big issue is see often. I also thought about collaborating with few of my photographer friends for that :+1:

1 Like