What Is The Best Time To Post On Instagram In 2024: A Complete Guide

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13 Jun, 2024

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Many businesses and marketers feel that the content isn't reaching its intended audiences, no matter how much time and effort they spend crafting Instagram posts. The key factor here is ensuring you post at strategic times - hit all the right moments to get your message seen by more people! Let us help you understand what is the “Best Time To Post On Instagram!”

The time of posting content on Instagram is one of the key elements behind how great is your user engagement rate. If you are perplexed by the thought of enhancing your follower base and gaining traction on Instagram, don’t worry! The solution is quite simple - ensuring that your post goes live at the exact time when a substantial number of your target audience is active on Instagram is the key.

So, what time to post on Instagram?

To build a sizable Instagram following, you must make convincing content your crowd is really looking for. Be that as it may, in the event that you don't post your content at the opportune time, the more significant part of people will never observe it. Lots of research and experiments are being performed to increase the visibility of the posts on Instagram, and all you need to know is the best time to post on Instagram. 

Some were successful, but some failed. You need to understand Instagram utilizes a dynamic algorithm which makes things a little more complicated. A social media marketing company will help you create goal-driven messaging and campaigns based on industry best practices.

Let us first answer – IS TIMING ACTUALLY IMPORTANT?

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Why Does Finding the Best Time to Post on Instagram Matter?

This question - when is the best time to post on Instagram? may have popped up in your mind a lot. Feedback from users usually states that ‘Content Matters,’ which is actually correct. But this doesn’t mean that timing isn’t necessary.

Content definitely gives you an edge, but correct timing gives you a chance to make the first impression. Below are the various reasons why timeliness is important

  • If your content is recently posted at peak time, then your post will get more engagement than other posts. This gives you a definitive edge.
  • Posting at the peak time will also get you the most hits and help you stay on top of the feed throughout the day. It also creates a spiral effect, and the users will definitely follow you if they like your content.

Months ago, Instagram also shared how its algorithms work. Key aspects are:

  • RELEVANCE - A user will see those types of content which they have seen in the past. This means, if you are able to get a user to like your content, then there is a chance that they will see your content again.
  • RELATIONSHIP - Users who interact with you will be shown more content of yours.
  • RECENCY - Recent content will be given more priority. This is the reason why timing is important. 

Let’s answer the second question - What is the Best Time To Post On Instagram for Likes?

What are the best times to post on Instagram?

You need to find what is the best time to post on Instagram. This is a lot easier said than done. Even if you know the most suitable time to make your posts, it doesn’t guarantee a success rate. So, below are a few tips you should keep in mind before making a post on Instagram. 

This discussion is lengthy and involves a lot of factors that need to be gauged before posting something on Instagram. Therefore, the blog has been divided into the following sections-

Let’s Discover that Perfect Timing!

No matter what the research says, the best time to post a picture on Instagram is always related to your target audience and the content of your post. However, there are some general times to post on Instagram. Below are the data if you want to know:

When is the best time to post on Instagram according to the days of the Week?

Have you ever wondered if you can find the best day to post on Instagram? To cut a long story short, depending on all the data gathered by numerous brands, it could be said that it's always best to post on weekdays as follows-

  • Before and after usual work hours, i.e., 6:00 am to 9:00 am & 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm - well, no wonder, people are likely to check their Instagram news feed when driving to work in the early hours of the morning or when returning to home.
  • At lunchtime, i.e., 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm - People can more likely check their Instagram posts during the downtime, so posting during this period is also a good chance. 

Another assumption around the best time to post on Instagram for likes recommends skipping to post on weekends because -

  • Weekends are the least favored days to post any content on Instagram. Most of your audience is usually out, occupied with personal lives. Still, you can post your content till 2:00 pm. 

Do you still have questions about what is the best time to post today? Fine, we’re breaking down the avg best times, in PST, to post your content on Instagram for every single day of the week - 

  • Monday: 9:00 am to 10:00 am
  • Tuesday: 9:00 am to 10:00 am
  • Wednesday: 5:00 am, 11:00 am, and 3:00 pm
  • Thursday: 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm
  • Friday: 9:00 am to 10:00 am and 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
  • Saturday: 8:00 am to 12:00 pm
  • Sunday: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Note: Watch out there is something called WORST TIMING!

The above data are just the general timing most people use to get more followers and like on Instagram. You can also run Instagram ad campaigns with the help of social media advertising to increase visibility. But to understand this better, you need to know the worst times to post on Instagram. 

You all may think that “Weekends” are the best day to post something on Instagram. However, it is usually noticed that on weekends, few posts can get attraction and gain likes and followers. Many aspects need to be kept in mind before posting something on Instagram. For example, protests are happening in the country, and you post something related to a movie. In such a scenario, your post won't be able to make an impact as the audience is already captivated by the other side.

Another thing that needs to be kept in mind is the time zone. Most of us don't know the time zone for international audiences. This is why weekends get the most petite love because, for you, it is the weekend, but for someone living outside the country, it is the Monday morning blues.

So, the worst time to post on Instagram is seen on weekends, i.e., Saturdays and Sundays, especially in the morning and at midnight. Generally, people are less active from 1:00 am to 5:00 am. Finally, It all comes down to your particular audience and when they are highly active on Instagram.

This leads us to a question, ‘’How To Judge the Best Timing For Yourself?’’

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Key Components When Deciding For The Best Time To Post On Instagram

1. Day of the Week

You can find a few differences in user engagement on Instagram, even at one time on various days of the week. For instance, you might be amazed to see 5:00 am being added to the aforementioned list. The reason behind this is that people mostly look at their phones for messages once they wake up during working days. 

Simply put, people are more apparent to check their Instagram accounts early morning- Monday to Friday - than at weekends. Still, you might see lower user engagement on Monday because people are in a hurry to start their week and have less time to check their Instagram ahead of work. 

2. Breaktimes in the Workday

Often, you’ll see several people like to check their Instagram during break times in a workday, especially at lunchtime. Likewise, people focus on their work lags in the late evening, and most turn their focus to Instagram.

3. Make Use of Time Zones to Your Benefit

Broader the geographical distribution of your audience, setting posting times becomes less complex. Despite that, if your audience is in one geographic location, ensure you make use of that time zone as the foundation for setting Instagram posting times, although if it is a different time zone from yours. 

4. Follow Your Target Audience

It's all right to follow these best practices for posting times; still, if your target audience is not similar to the typical audience, then these posting timings could be irrelevant to your Instagram account. 

If you have an Instagram Business account, you can access Instagram Insights. Under that, navigate to the “Followers” section, and you’ll find information about your highly active audience on Instagram. So it’ll be great if you structure your posting timings accordingly.

5. Frequency of Posting Content on Instagram

If you wish your Instagram account to look fresh, you must post the content regularly. You can post as many as 1 to 3 posts every day which are a mix of various post types, ensuring that you don’t appear too obsessed with making sales only. So focus on creating quality posts instead of posting extensive content.

6. Various Industries Prefer To Post on Instagram at Different Times

One more important thing to remember when you are looking for the best time to post on Instagram is the industry or sector where you work -

For instance, data from different sources show an apparent variation:

  • Best time to post on Instagram for Media Companies is: Wednesday at 8:00 AM
  • Best time to post on Instagram for B2C Companies is: Saturday at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM
  • Best time to post on Instagram for Educational Organizations is: Friday at 10:00 AM
  • Best time to post on Instagram for Healthcare Organizations is: Monday at 1:00 PM
  • Best time to post on Instagram for Non-Profit Organizations is: Weekdays between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM
  • Best Times to Post on Instagram for Consumer Goods Companies is: Saturday at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM
  • Best Times to Post on Instagram for Tech Companies is: Wednesday at 8:00 AM and Friday at 10:00 AM

Best Time to Post Reels and Stories on Instagram

The current favorite on Instagram is - Reels! Everyone is using it, and if you, as a business owner, are using Instagram Reels, you must know that it offers a fantastic reach and visibility. And on the contrary, because of the increasing popularity, the requirement to post at the best times has also increased for Instagram Reels. 

The best time to post reels on Instagram is based on various factors such as geographical location, sector, and target audience. But having said that, you can jumpstart with reel optimization, using the average best times mentioned below -

  • Monday: 3:00 am, 7:00 pm, 7:00 pm
  • Tuesday: 12:00 am, 1:00 am, 6:00 am
  • Wednesday: 4:00 am, 6:00 am, 9:00 pm
  • Thursday: 6:00 am, 4:00 pm
  • Friday: 2:00 am, 11:00 am, 1:00 pm
  • Saturday: 9:00 am, 4:00 pm, 5:00 pm
  • Sunday: 5:00 am, 8:00 am, 1:00 pm

Another most important factor which needs to be considered is - Instagram Stories! And there’s no specific best time to post Instagram stories. 

But as a business, if you wish your followers to view your story and visit your Instagram business page, then there’s a favored time interval. 

It brings in 2 to 3 times more user engagement than usual Instagram posts, and the best time to post Instagram stories is on -Weekdays - at lunchtime, - 11:00 am - 2:00 pm.

Let’s answer how much time you can spare.

More Detailed List of Best Posting Times Can You Spare?

Almost all Instagram users log in every day. But it doesn't necessarily mean that you can choose to post any time you want, and you are the moment of attraction. For that, you need to get the timing right. 

Here comes the most important question, what is the best time to post something on Instagram? Everyone may not like an answer, but it still remains the same; you’ve to find that yourself. You can do that by experimenting with different timing of posts on Instagram. But here's the catch: many surveys and research data are available to guide you in selecting when you wish to post something on Instagram.

Hubspot found that Mondays and Thursdays are, by and large, the most significant days to post on Instagram, other than between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

If you are posting videos, you would need to post them between 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., any day of the week.

Not all studies will have the same finding. Latergramme, an administration that gives clients a chance to oversee and plan Instagram posts, dissected 61,000 presents on discovering when they get the most likes and remarks and observed Wednesdays as the greatest day.

Sprout Social also did the same analysis and interpreted that posts tend to get the most engagement on different days of the week as follows. All these findings are expressed in Pacific US Times and ignoring sectors:

  • Monday at 11:00 am
  • Tuesday at 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
  • Wednesday at 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
  • Thursday at AM-noon
  • Friday at 10:00 AM-noon
  • Tuesday & Wednesday are the overall best days

In Sprout Social analysis, posts usually have high engagement on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays during the day, from 9:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. to about 5:00 p.m. Or 6:00 p.m., and from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

In short, you can use these timings:

  • The morning commute: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
  • Late-nighties: 2:00 a.m.
  • End of the 9-to-5 workday: 5:00 p.m.

Here are the findings by Later [Note- all these findings are expressed in Pacific US Times and ignoring sectors]:

  • Monday:  12:00 AM, 1:00 AM, 3:00 AM - 7:00 AM
  • Tuesday: 12:00 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Wednesday: 12:00 AM, 2:00 AM - 7:00 AM
  • Thursday: 12:00 AM, 2:00 AM, 3:00 AM, 5:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 11:00 PM
  • Friday: 12:00 AM, 5:00 AM - 8:00 AM
  • Saturday: 12:00 AM, 1:00 AM, 3:00 AM, 11:00 PM
  • Sunday: 12:00 AM - 2:00 AM, 5:00 AM - 7:00 AM, 11:00 PM

Now that we’ve given you some ideas about the best timing for your post and connecting with your followers, but the main concern is, would you be able to connect with your followers all the time? Most of us have some or other things to do, like jobs, schooling, college, etc., so how much time do you have to make your content and post them on Instagram at the best time possible?

It’s not easy to stay up at night and post something for your followers, but doing this might give you satisfaction. It’s totally up to you how much time you can spare for Instagram. It may be a hassle, but we all anyway stay up until late at night and post something or the other.

Let’s find an answer to What Should I Do If I Have a DIVERSIFIED Audience?

What time to post on Instagram if I’ve got a diversified audience?

Top Social media platforms have shrunk the globe, and people can easily connect with each other. Even if your target audience is very far, you can still connect with them. You can connect with people from different time zones or stay very far.

In such cases, it is difficult to keep track of timing, and there is a good chance you won't see any particular peak posting time. But you can definitely try testing it out and see which time suits you the best. If you really want to reach out to a diversified audience, there are two things that you can do-

  • Try to stagger the posts in order to reach diverse audiences
  • Follow specific steps to increase the reach

When is the best time to post on Instagram by staggering the posts in order to reach diverse audiences?

If some of your audience is online at 9 AM and you have theories that audiences in another part of the world would be online at 10 at night, go ahead and regularly post at both times. Post unique content each time so that you can cover content methodologies and even content with new pictures. Try to cover as much of the audience as possible by engaging with them. You can keep a record and see what results you are getting.

Focus more on your most valuable follower: You may have a lot of followers, but there are also those ones who are very close and most valuable to you. Try to find out which follower is available at which particular time. This is just like marketing. Try to retain the most valuable followers by creating good content and posting them on Instagram.

Create your strategy according to your most engaged audiences: In the event that your posts are getting higher commission rates at specific hours and OK impressions, ensure you're posting at that point. As we've discussed previously, those high commission rates will build the life expectancy of your post, so it's a need to center around, regardless of whether they're not the most high-esteem groups of onlookers.

As you're running tests, watch out for commitment and impressions and how they interface. A great deal of impressions is good. However, the commission rate is also essential. Keep in mind, posts with higher commitment rates (commitment/impressions)  will perform better and help you achieve in the long haul, so look for posting times that give you the most ideal mix.

What else can I do to increase reach?

Peak posting times are just a single method to expand your general reach. In case you're here to find out about the best occasions to post on Instagram, there's a decent possibility you're searching for other achieve-building procedures, as well. 

Timeliness, all things considered, is just a single factor in the calculation. Here are a couple more strategies you can use to get more impressions (and ideally more outcomes) on Instagram:

A) Use correct hashtags: Hashtags can help you a lot in increasing your reach on Instagram. Now, lots of people are following hashtags that interest them. So, you can use your original hashtag in your content which would put you right in front of the audience. For example, the given screenshot. The moment you type a web design, this is the picture you see on Instagram, with the correct hashtags.

Use correct hashtags

B). Focus on interaction-building techniques: Approach users for their opinions. Urge users to tag a friend in a comment for a chance to win a prize. React to all comments to make your social proof look considerably better, and to keep the comments coming. Most of this will help keep your post at the top of the feed. See the Instagram handle of holly chollon.

interaction-building techniques

C). Share more stories: Longer the user watches their stream, the more the probability of your post showing up. What's more, there's less rivalry in Stories, by and large, than in the feed all the time. So utilize more Stories to expand your range and get your message out more regularly to your intended interest group.

Here is a screenshot taken from the Instagram handle of another famous chef Jamie Oliver; the best part about it is that his page reflects a combination of food pictures, recipes, and photographs of his family and private life. 

Food pictures

D). Keep an eye out for your analytics: You will be able to get better reach if you grab higher engagement rates. Check out your analytics using Instagram’s analytics or third-party tools like Hootsuite to watch for trends in high-performing content in terms of post type (video, multiple image post, etc.), topic, and even description length. See what works, and do more of that.

E) Best Time to Post on Instagram: Industry-Wise

As per the information mentioned above related to the “When is the best time to post on Instagram?” It is a great starting point for increasing an engaged Instagram audience. But in case you desire to get a more engaging audience. If you want some more audience then here we have mentioned the best times to post on Instagram based on the industry type including the technology sector, restaurant, healthcare, non-profit industries, and many more.

FAQs

1. What is the best time to post on Instagram on Sunday?

User engagement on Instagram posts on Sunday is pretty steady, and the best time to post on Instagram on this day is 7:00 pm. 

2. How many times should I post on Instagram weekly?

According to a survey carried out from January 1, 2022, to October 12, 2022, and analyzing  more than 22M Instagram feed posts, Later found that users with

  • Nano accounts, i.e., having 0-10K followers, can post an average of 3 feed posts per week. 
  • Micro accounts, i.e., having 10K-100K followers, can post an average of 3 feed posts per week. 
  • Mid accounts, i.e.,100K-500K followers, can post an average of 5 feed posts per week. 

3. How many times a day should you post on Instagram?

It is suggested that you can post three stories per day, evenly timed around peak viewing times for your target audience.

4. Should I post every day on Instagram?

Usually, it's said that you can post at least once a day to increase your brand visibility and user engagement. But having said that, if you’ve more time and resources in your hand, you can post several times per day or week.

5. What is the worst time to post on Instagram?

As said earlier, Sunday tends to be the worst day to post on Instagram because people just don't use their devices as much as on other working days, and also, people are more focused on spending their time with their families.

Conclusion

Instagram has launched a few changes to its algorithm over the last few years, making it much more difficult for you to share some visible posts on Instagram. It offers top priority to the posts made by users’ friends and family, with less likelihood of business posts being added to the queue.

However, to get the effect you should know when is the best to post on Instagram. And what is the best time to post on Instagram? In the end, we would just like to say that it is good to gain popularity but don’t let that social media quotient be the “Be all or end all” for everything that you do. Promote your business, promote your hobbies, and promote your DIYs. You now know the tricks, use it for the best. 

If you wish to take your Instagram followership a notch higher, you need social media experts who could help you unravel great but cost-effective marketing strategies for Instagram! You can also refer to social media marketing tips for small businesses to save money and time!

Feel free to share your thoughts on your Social Media Marketing Strategies in the below comment section!

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Brian Taylor

This topic- best time to post a picture on Instagram, right here is the best source of a broad range of discussions. I’m going to follow your tips over the next month and compare it to what I’ve been doing.

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Louis Anderson

A really wonderful post on the best time to post a picture on Instagram. There’s a lot of data in this post & I’ve bookmarked it for reference.

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Caden Thomas

Thanks for sharing information about best time to post a picture on Instagram or social media post timing frame.

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Maximiliano Jackson

I’m rescheduling the posting time after reading your extensive tutorial on the best time to post a picture on Instagram.

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Holden White

According to my experience the best time to post a picture on Instagram depends on your time zone. My account has people from the US and UK, and the best time around 11am when I get most engagement.


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