If you want your Instagram profile to be good, post every day.
If you want your Instagram to be great, post every day – and at the ideal time.
Working out exactly when is the best time to post on Instagram could make all the difference in your likes and engagement. There’s no point posting in the middle of the night when nobody is on, and there’s also no point posting in the middle of the day when the majority of people are at work and not looking at their newsfeed.
Getting it just right is a critical factor in growing a successful Instagram account, so it’s worth doing the research. Let’s take a look what people say about the best time to post on Instagram.
Best Days to Post on Instagram
First, let’s take a look at the best days to post on Instagram. You might churn out one post a day, but maybe you won’t have the time or resources – so it’s worth noting which days are going to give you better engagement.
Research suggests that Wednesday is a good day for posting, but the best days to post are on Mondays and Thursdays.
The worst day for posting is Sunday.
Best Times to Post on Instagram
Now let’s take a look at the best times on these days to post. Remember, these times vary according to your demographics time zone, so be wary of this and don’t be afraid to align the two so that you’re hitting your audience at the right times.
Tuesday at 2 pm is the best time out of the whole week to post on Instagram. Other research suggests that posts published between 7 pm and 9 pm receive the lowest amount of engagement. The best time to schedule those posts is between 6 pm and 7:30 pm on weekdays and 11 am on the weekends.
Another thing worth remembering when it comes to these specific times is when you’ve built up a strong enough brand, you can disregard these guidelines for the data collected in your algorithms. You’ll slowly get to know your followers and when most of them are online, so once you’ve got enough to start seeing consistent trends you can adjust your posting times to suit their online activity.
Let’s take a look at a couple of ways to finding your best times to post on Instagram.
Find your most Popular Time Zones
One thing you’ll want to find out initially as you start to see your followers growing is where the majority of them are from. They might be all over the place at the beginning, but as you develop your brand, you’ll start to see trending areas where your business is reaching. Once you know where most of your followers live and what time zone they are in, you can post accordingly.
There’s no point posting according to the time zone you’re in if it means it’s 3 in the morning for them.
Experiment with Posting Times
There’s more to be said for algorithms and data than you think.
Instagram will automatically gather this kind of information for you, so it’s worth using this tool to your advantage to know exactly when to engage with your followers.
Another great way to get a feel for the right times for your page is to experiment. Consistency is key, and regularity is excellent, but it’s also worth playing around with the times initially and figuring out exactly which ones receive the most engagement. You might find the ideals times for you to be utterly different to the ones that were seen through research.
The concept of taking a photo and posting it is pretty simple, but Instagram is a confusing and complicated game to play when it comes to building a brand. There is a definitive list of do’s and don’ts, but within these rules, you can feel free to find your ground and work out what’s going to be best for you and your brand.
Getting posting times down is essential, but it’s not everything.
Just don’t make the mistake of posting day after day when everybody has finally decided to put their screens up for the night.