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Back during Black Friday I decided to purchase Grum, a desktop Instagram scheduling tool, for $39 lifetime access.
(Click here to check out their current pricing.)
What Is Grum.co?
In a nutshell, this third-party Instagram tool lets you upload images, add your captions, and schedule the content to be posted at a future date all from your PC or Mac desktop.
And you're able to publish and schedule photos on multiple accounts simultaneously.
If you're at all familiar with Instgram, you probably know that most Instagram desktop posting solutions require that you get notified to manually post your content. So this is a pretty useful tool.
How Does It Work?
According to the Grum founder, it uses virtual android emulators to do the posting on behalf of users. And in this way it skirts Instagram TOS violations, preventing you from getting banned.
So if you're looking for how to post to Instagram from PC or Macintosh computers, this is the easiest way to do it. Though there are some free workarounds that work by accessing your browser's Developer mode- but you won't be able to do any scheduling using this method.
Using It
Below, you can see the Grum dashboard.
Simply upload or drag-and-drop your image. You'll then be prompted to choose a posting date. And that's it!
Click To Add Media
Add Caption & Schedule
Will You Get Banned?
Digging around online, the Lindsay & Co. blog published a response from the Grum Founder, Ivan, regarding Grum's compliance with Instagram:
“There are no reasons to worry as Grum doesn’t violate any of Instagram TOS. We have no connections with Instagram’s API and posting is initiated by the user. The algorithm of posting is like if someone posts instead of you from a different phone with Instagram. That’s why you won’t be banned. We use virtual android emulators for posting. Instagram sees that you post through the third party application, but posts don’t go on the automated way. You create them and choose the date or click “post now” by your own initiative. We have a huge number of IPs and when you create an account, Grum chooses the IP which is the closest to your location. It prevents banning because of IPs and doesn’t violate the Terms.”
A Better Option
While Grum is somewhat barebones at the moment, it does its one thing very well: all Instagram posts are automatically posted on your behalf.
Without having to manually approve anything- which is a big deal considering how annoying it is to have to manually approve your posts if you use a third-party app like Buffer.
The process looks like this if you use Buffer:
- Upload the Instagram image to Buffer
- Schedule It
- Buffer will send you a message on your phone (you need the app installed) to approve the post
- It will redirect you to the Instagram app with the image ready and the caption text copied and then you paste it in and post it
Buffer does a really good job of getting this to work- but it's a real hassle. Especially if you're trying to post at optimal times. Instagram research has shown that optimal posting time is sometimes 2 a.m.!
In my never-ending quest for pure automation, I decided that since I HAD to buy another internet marketing tool on Black Friday, I might as well splurge on the $39 life-time deal.
Read More Of My Niche Reports
Does It Have Analytics?
At the time of this writing, January 2018, Grum does not have any Analytics. But according to their help center within the app, it will be part of their next update.
Final Thoughts
If you are a marketer, or just a devoted Instagram user looking to automate your content flow from your computer, this is an affordable solution. It's pretty inexpensive and though it's kind of bare bones right now, it does work, and there are future updates pending to make it a more robust Instagram scheduling solution.
Last Updated on March 13, 2021 by j3teq