‘What is the best time to post on Instagram?’
This is one of the frequently asked questions by millions of Instagrammers all over the world.
A casual search on the internet reveals conflicting information on the best time to make your Instagram posts. Some articles claim that 9:00 am to 11:00 am is the ideal time to post on the platform, whereas others recommend posting in the early afternoon. With so much conflicting information, it’s often difficult to establish when the most suitable time to post on Instagram is.
Generally, the best time to post on Instagram is when your posts can receive maximum exposure and engagement. And as you shall find, there’s really no one-size-fits-all solution. It largely depends on the nature of your account (whether personal or business account), the nature of your audience, and your time zone.
Read on for more insights on the ideal time to post on your Instagram account.
Why Is Posting On Instagram at Specific Times Such A Big Deal?
As we’ve just highlighted, posting on Instagram at specific times could increase the exposure and engagement that your posts get. Which is the primary objective of having an Instagram account in the first place. No one wants to make a post that takes forever to attract likes or views.
It’s important to note that like other social networking platforms, Instagram uses powerful algorithms that tend to favor posts that receive an initial spike in likes. You may have realized that many of your Instagram posts that go viral are usually those that receive likes and views within the first 20 minutes of making them.
That’s because Instagram algorithms are intuitively designed to view such posts as high-quality. Therefore, those algorithms will attempt to maximize the exposure of these posts by pushing them high up the feed so that many of your followers can view and possibly react to them.
Best Time to Post on Instagram (On Average)
According to a survey conducted by the Instagram growth service, Later, the following are some of the best times to post on Instagram.
• Monday – 6:00 am, 10:00 am, and 10:00 pm EST
• Tuesday – 2:00 am, 4:00 am, and 9:00 am EST
• Wednesday – 7:00 am, 8:00 am and 11:00 pm EST
• Thursday – 9:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 7:00 pm EST
• Friday – 5:00 am, 1:00 pm, and 3:00 pm EST
• Saturday – 11:00 am, 7:00 pm, and 8:00 pm EST
• Sunday – 7:00 am, 8:00 am, and 4:00 pm EST
Another popular Instagram growth tool, Sprout Social, paints a more or less similar picture. According to a survey by Sprout Social, you’re likely to get more engagement if you post on Instagram at the following times each day:
1. Sunday: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, EST
2. Monday: 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 2:00 pm, and 5:00 pm, EST
3. Tuesday: 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, EST
4. Wednesday: 5:00 am and 11:00 am – 3:00 pm, EST
5. Thursday: 5:00 am and 11:00 am – 4:00 pm, EST
6. Friday: 5:00 am, 9: 00 am – 10 AM, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm, and 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, EST
7. Saturday: 9:00 am – 11:00 am, EST
But as we’ve already indicated (and it warrants repeating), the above data isn’t cast in stone. However, what we can deduce from the two sets of data above is that your Instagram posts will likely receive maximum engagement around the following times of day:
• In the early morning – People tend to check their phones first thing in the morning and while taking breakfast.
• Mid-morning – Most people eat brunch and hang out around this time. In the meantime, they’re also likely to log in to their social media accounts.
• Around lunch hour – The often long lunch break is an ideal time to relax and hang out. It also happens to be one of the most popular times of day that people catch up with their Instagram updates.
• In the late evening – Again, many people will check their Instagram accounts right after work or shortly before bed.
While the above averages may clue you in on the best time to post on your Instagram account, you’ll still need to conduct further research on the nature of your business and audience.
How to Determine the Best Time to Post on Instagram
1. Experiment with different posting times
One of the most effective tips for determining the ideal time to post on Instagram is to experiment with different posting times. All you need to do is write posts at different times of day, preferably after three-hour intervals.
You’ll realize that certain posts receive more engagement than others. Which basically indicates that most of your followers are online around that time.
But it’s also important to remember that some of your Instagram posts may receive higher engagement depending on how captivating they are. So, to make this technique work for you, consider writing near-similar posts at different times of the day.
Experimenting with different posting times may be a time-intensive strategy. However, if you follow up on it diligently, it’s one of the cheapest ways to hack Instagram algorithms.
But what if you don’t have that kind of time?
Well, there’s no need to fret, as you can leverage Instagram’s in-built functionalities to establish when your followers are mostly online. You’ll need to Go to Insights ? Audience, and then scroll down to see the days of the week and the average times that your followers are most active.
Even better, there are tons of Instagram scheduling services that you can use. Basically, these are software that let you post on your Instagram account automatically. You only need to choose the times you’d like the posts to be published and let the tools do the rest.
2. Understand the nature of your business
As you shall find, the levels of engagement on Instagram vary significantly depending on the nature of your business. For instance, Fridays around 10:00 am seems to be the best day to post on Instagram for businesses in the education sector, with Sundays ranked as the worst day.
The following are the average times to post on Instagram for different businesses:
• Businesses dealing with consumer goods: Best times are Tuesdays through Fridays, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm
• Healthcare businesses: Tuesdays around 8:00 am
• Tech businesses: Tuesday evenings through Wednesday afternoons, as well as Fridays from midnight till 10:00 pm
• Businesses in the financial sector: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the afternoons
• Recreational businesses: Mondays through Thursdays, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm
• Nonprofit organizations: Mondays through Fridays, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Media-related businesses: Mondays through Fridays, from 8:00 am to 10:00 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Bonus Tips
Knowing the best times to post on Instagram isn’t enough. There are various other tips you can implement to maximize engagement further.
Some of those include:
• Creating unique and compelling content each time
• Posting on the platform more regularly
• Posting content related to your niche
• Engaging with other Instagram users, especially after publishing a post on the platform, to drive more attention to your own post
• Understanding how Instagram algorithms work
Conclusion
There’s no hard and fast rule that dictates when the best time to post on Instagram is. As we’ve highlighted, it all comes down to the nature of your business and the activity pattern of your audience. Also, it’s important to understand how Instagram algorithms work and keep abreast of any changes in those algorithms.
Reference Links:
- https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/01/how-instagram-feed-works/
- https://thinkmaverick.com/7-best-time-saving-instagram-scheduling-tools/
- https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/
- https://later.com/blog/best-time-to-post-on-instagram/
