How do I use the mobile publishing workflow for Stories and Carousel posts?
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Use Sprout's Instagram mobile publishing workflow to post Instagram Stories and Instagram Carousel posts.
Using this workflow, create your posts in Sprout's desktop app, then assign a Mobile Publisher to publish the content to your Instagram account based on the time/day you specify.
Note: If you're posting a single photo or video, you don't need to use the mobile publishing workflow. Follow this how-to instead.
This article contains the following sections:
- Instagram publishing workflow
- Publishing an Instagram Story
- Mobile Publisher actions on desktop
- Previewing your Instagram Grid
Instagram mobile publishing workflow
You can schedule posts and Instagram Story posts using Sprout's mobile app publishing workflow.
Using this workflow, you'll create your post from Sprout’s desktop, and then send that post to your Mobile Publisher on an iOS or Android device.
A notification appears in the app for the Mobile Publisher to complete the process.
Mobile Publisher
Your Mobile Publisher is the person who is responsible for publishing posts to Instagram. If a user shows up in the Mobile Publisher dropdown list in the Publishing Workflows section of the Compose window, it means they have both Full Publishing permission for that Instagram profile and enabled push notifications in their Sprout mobile app.
If a team member disables Sprout push notifications on their mobile device, they won’t show up in the Mobile Publisher list to avoid missing a timely post.
Note: You can only select one person as Mobile Publisher. You can change publishers prior to the scheduled posting time by editing the post.
When an Instagram post is ready for publishing, the Mobile Publisher receives a push notification on mobile device.
Publishing an Instagram Story
To publish an Instagram Story, you have to use the mobile publishing workflow. What this means is that you'll need to assign a Mobile Publisher for the post, so they can complete posting in Sprout's mobile app.
Note: You CANNOT post Story posts via desktop.
Posting a Story with iOS
To publish a Story on Instagram using Sprout's iOS app:
- Create your Instagram post in Sprout.
- Assign a Mobile Publisher in the Publishing Workflows dropdown.
- Click Send.
As a Mobile Publisher:
- Open the Instagram publishing notification in the Sprout app.
- Tap Share on Instagram at the bottom of the screen. A prompt appears reminding the publisher to check the Instagram Profile to verify its correct.
- Tap Ok I’m ready to post once the profile is verified.
- Tap Story to share the content to the profile’s story.
Use the Post Performance Report to verify that your post was published successfully.
Note: If publishing wasn't completed, but the post was opened in Instagram, you can access and resend the post from Sprout in either the Reminders tab in Publishing or in the Notification Center.
Posting a Story with Android
To publish a Story on Instagram using Sprout's Android app:
- Create your Instagram post in Sprout.
- Assign a Mobile Publisher in the Publishing Workflows dropdown.
- Click Send.
As a Mobile Publisher:
- Open the Instagram publishing notification in the Sprout app.
- Tap Post to Instagram at the bottom of the screen. A prompt appears reminding the publisher to check the Instagram Profile to verify its correct.
- Tap Ok I’m ready to post once the profile is verified.
- Tap Story to share the content to the profile’s story.
Use the Post Performance Report to verify that your post was published successfully.
Note: If publishing wasn't completed, but the post was opened in Instagram, you can access and resend the post from Sprout in either the Reminders tab in Publishing or in the Notification Center.
Mobile Publisher actions on desktop
Mobile Publishers can delete, resend or mark notifications complete on Sprout desktop.
If a push notification is sent to the Instagram Publisher, but not passed to the Instagram app, a purple clock icon notification appears at the bottom with the name of the publisher.
Once the Instagram Publisher sends the post to Instagram via the Sprout mobile app, the purple clock icon switches to a green paper airplane, letting you know that the post was shared.
Note: Instagram Publishers can’t change after the notification is sent. If you need to choose a different Publisher after a notification has been sent, delete the notification and recreate the Instagram post.
Previewing your Instagram Grid
From Sprout's mobile app, you can get a preview of what your Instagram Grid will look like once your scheduled posts go live.
From the Content Calendar in the mobile app, tap 
under the post to see what your Instagram Grid will look like on that given day.
