Finding out what is the best time to post on Instagram can be very beneficial for those who want to increase the engagement of their posts.
It is well known that Instagram’s algorithm is updated frequently, changing the weight of shares and metrics that dictate the order in which posts are displayed in the feed.
The logic is that the algorithm prioritizes the delivery of content to followers close to your account, which it measures through interactions such as:
- Likes,
- Shares,
- Stories, Reels and IGTV views,
- Comments and more.
For this reason, it is recommended to know what is the best time to post on Instagram. That is, the time when your audience is most likely to see your posts in their feed.
Especially because it is understood that a publication that receives many interactions soon after it has been published, is more likely to be promoted in the “Search” tab and to appear in the feed of followers who interact little with that account.
When is the best time to post on Instagram?
Looking at data from studies to determine the best times to post on Instagram we realize that there is no consensus.
The reason is simple: most of these studies are very limited, as they are done based on posts from certain regions or take raw global data with little analysis, without pondering that people from different countries or regions have different behaviors, so these studies will hardly portray the exact behavior of your target audience.
Consider that there are many characteristics can influence how often people use Instagram. Namely:
- Region,
- Work schedule,
- Profession,
- Marital status, etc.
There is no magic formula, and you will only be able to define the best times to post on Instagram if you know your target audience very well.
Below, we present the data from a global survey conducted in 2021 by Later, one of the most recognized social media management companies. It analyzed around 12 million posts worldwide.
Their conclusion is that, in general, the best time to post on Instagram is from 8 am to 1 pm.
But don’t rush! The choice of time should be much more judicious than it seems as there are many factors to take into account in consumer behavior.
According to Later, this is how the best day and time to post on Instagram and achieve greater reach and engagement are divided:
- Monday: 5am, 9am and 9pm.
- Tuesday: 1h, 2h and 8h
- Wednesday: 6h, 9h and 22h
- Thursday: 8h, 11h and 18h
- Friday: 4h, 12h and 18h
- Saturday: 3h, 11h and 19h
- Sunday: 6h, 7h and 15h
Consider that the times shown correspond to Eastern Standard Time in North America or EST.
Instagram posting schedule according to Later
Another Social Media management platform, Sprout, also shares its calendar with the best time to post on Instaran each day.
- Monday: 9am to 3pm
- Tuesday: 3am and from 7am to 4am
- Wednesday: 3am and from 9am to 1am
- Thursday: 3h, 9h and from 13h to 14h.
- Friday: 3h and from 7h to 2h.
- Saturday: 9h
- Sunday: 8h to 12h
You will notice coincidences and discrepancies, which enhances the point of the differences of content consumption in different regions, as their study is based on samples taken from Instagram only in the US.
That’s why we’ll now show you how to find the best times to post on Instagram based on your target audience’s preferences.
Don’t forget that finding the best time to post on Instagram isn’t just about posts to the feed, it’s also about Stories, IGTV and Reels. The more reach and impact your account has, the more likely you are to have a verified account.
Find the best time to post on Instagram based on your audience.
From specialized tools to quizzes, there are several ways to study the best day and time to post on Instagram. Here’s the list:
Step 1: Use Instagram for business
Instagram has changed since its launch, with one of the most noticeable changes being the inclusion of several features for those who want to use the platform to become entrepreneurs. It’s not just for businesses, but for small brands in even personal brands.
If you are still using Instagram as a personal account, you are missing out on a very important functionality of the platform.
By switching your account to an Instagram business account, you’ll gain access to the Insights tool. Content creators and influencers can also gain access to the Insights tool.
It gives you access to very important information about your followers, such as: engagement, views, etc… from the last 7 or 30 days.
But the great advantage of this tool for those who want to know what is the best time to post on Instagram is that Insights provides the following data about your audience:
Location of your audience: cities and countries.
Age group: age of your audience separated by gender.
Gender: the distribution of your followers.
Most active periods: days and times when your followers access Instagram the most.
Maximizing this tool provided by Instagram is a step for you to run some tests based on the above data.
Step 2: Study the behavior of your audience
Knowing the Insights data is excellent, but consider that it is limited and that the most important thing is to know what to do with that information.
One of the most effective recommendations is to create personas based on your target audience (Buyer Persona). When creating these profiles keep focused on trying to answer questions such as:
- What is their routine?
- How many hours do they work?
- What do they work on?
- What are their hobbies?
- What type of content do they interact with within Instagram?
- What time are they online?
The answers will help you understand what your audience is looking for on social media and what times and days you should offer them content.
Chances are you can improve your sales or content strategy based on this information.
Step 3: Conduct surveys
Developing surveys is helpful in understanding the behavior of your followers. You can practice polls on Instagram Stories or even create complete forms on Google Forms and share them in your bio.
But be careful when doing this type of actions, try not to be invasive, nor too direct.
Offering something in exchange for the answers, such as free gifts or discounts, helps your audience feel motivated to give you those answers. Something that’s done a lot now is to make the form a requirement to enter an Instagram giveaway.
With this concise data you can make a concrete analysis of your consumer profile.
Pay attention to working hours and holidays.
Let’s say you’ve discovered that your audience is mainly made up of workers who follow the most common work schedule.
Although it is highly variable in Latin America, many businesses and entities follow a work time slot that goes from 8 AM to 6PM.
With that in mind, you may want to ask yourself: What time do these people access social networks? It tends to be in the morning, for those who use public transportation, at lunchtime, mainly, and on the way home.
We can also take into account that some people have the habit of accessing social networks before going to bed.
So keep this kind of details in mind as well, as it says a lot about your audience’s access to the platform.
Dates off work should also be taken into account, as they change audience behavior within Instagram.
Step 4: Where is your audience located?
When looking at the behavior of your audience, especially if you have or are pursuing an international pubic, you must take into account the time difference.
The ideal is to optimize the time of your posts by covering everyone’s needs, but it is not always possible, so you can prioritize the region where you have a larger audience. In case you choose this path, also identify the audience growth potential before deciding.
Step 5: Test, test and test again
Because of the many variables that affect your audience’s behavior, especially their content consumption patterns, you will need to do more than one test in order to optimize your posting schedule.
It doesn’t matter if you have a large amount of data or variables; consider that the more data, the better the accuracy, so by testing what is the best time to post on Instagram you will slowly get your answer.
To perform this test, you just need to make the same publication at different times and days.
But be careful not to saturate your audience by posting the same post so often, post a maximum of five times each day.
To perform this test, choose 5 different times per week and 5 different days. For example:
After accessing Insights, you’ve identified that your followers are most active from 9 AM to 1 PM.
So it suits you to post at those times of 9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM, 12 AM and 1 PM; that’s on different days of the week.
Monday at 9 AM, Tuesday at 10 AM and so on with the rest of the days of the week and times.
Make a chart to compare how many likes and comments each post received and switch schedules the following week.
If on Monday of the previous week you posted at 9:00 AM, now post at 10 AM this week, Tuesday at 11 AM and so on.
While time consuming, it is a very useful way to find out what day your post gets the most engagement, which will help you gain followers. This type of testing is called A/B testing, and you can run it as many times as you want.
Step 6: use social media management tools
There are many tools on the market that make it easy to deliver data so you can analyze it faster and more conveniently.
Some tools automatically analyze the best times to post on Instagram and make you suggestions based on that. But the most important thing is that they allow you to create a calendar of publications and schedule them to facilitate your work.
An additional element is that they allow you to integrate different social network accounts.
Do you already know the best time to post on your Instagram?
Now you know that there are many studies on what are the best times to post on Instagram; you also know that blindly following those schedule suggestions might not be the best for you.
There are many variables to consider and the characteristics of each audience are unique. You can rely on survey information as long as you build an audience large enough for Insights data to be reliable.
Analyze your target audience in detail and test to find out the best time to post on Instagram and win their affection, which is measured in engagements, likes, views and more.