In a major addition for the social media management platform, Hootsuite has announced that Instagram will now be supported by the Hoostuite dashboard. While users have been able to monitor and track Instagram content for some time via third-party apps, Instagram will now be fully integrated into the Hootsuite experience, enabling users to schedule and publish Instagram content, monitor and engage with Instagram audiences and create team workflows - including shared access with team members - all from the one platform.

The ability to schedule Instagram content will be a major boost for Hootsuite users. Users of Sprout Social, a rival social media management tool, have been able to monitor and comment on Instagram content for the last month or so, though Sprout doesn't allow users to publish content via the platform. Instagram's integration with Hootsuite will enable posting functionality - users will be able to edit and schedule content alongside their regular networks within the dashboard, providing content oversight and ease of use. In the official release, Hootsuite notes that Instagram integration has been one of their most requested features for some time.

To set up and use Instagram within your Hootsuite dashboard, you first need to add your Instagram account/s to your Hootsuite dashboard:

Once added, you can set up streams to monitor your home feed to see what users you follow are posting, you can monitor your own posts to track your own content, you can set up a stream of your scheduled posts or you can search Instagram for a specific hashtag or keyword. Basically, everything you can do in Instagram, you can now do within Hootsuite.

Hootsuite has been steadily growing and expanding its core user-base in recent years. Founded in 2008, the social media management platform now serves more than 10 million users across 175 countries. With Instagram adoption growing at a rapid rate, the additional functionality will no doubt drive more users to the Hootsuite platform to assist in their social media management and content planning strategies.