Best Time To Post On Instagram, When it comes to creating an Instagram account, most people want a Kardashian-style following that will allow them to build a brand, promote a product or service, and enter the world of social stardom, where people will see them as an expert, influencer, and role model.
Knowing when to post on Instagram allows you to be seen and recognized as the rockstar you want to be. When trying to make a name for yourself online, it always works in your favor and never against you. Don’t worry if you’re unsure about the best time to post on Instagram.
Most people are unaware of this information when they first create an account because it is not a knowledge base that Instagram makes available to all of its users.
It’s nearly impossible to get things right on Instagram unless you time them perfectly, which is why we’ve done the legwork for you by compiling the absolute best time to post on Instagram by slicing and dicing them into several categories. There you have it!
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When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?
During the days of a chronological feed, users guessed and experimented with the best time to post on Instagram. Many people attributed their increased Instagram engagement to carefully timed Instagram postings. This was before everyone’s goal became finding ways to “outsmart” the algorithm.
According to Later’s analysis of 35 million global Instagram posts, the best time to post on Instagram (in local time) is 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday are the best days to post on Instagram, with posts published at 6 a.m.
on Sunday receiving the highest average engagement. Posts published on Wednesday between 10AM – 4PM and Thursday between 9PM – 11PM, on the other hand, receive the lowest engagement rates on average, making them the worst days to post on Instagram.
To gain more Instagram followers today, you must create and share compelling content that other users will want to see. Because Instagram’s algorithm is constantly changing, if you don’t post at the right time, your followers may never see your posts. So, how do you determine when is the best time to post on Instagram?
Later, the ultimate Instagram engagement test was conducted, and the following best Instagram posting times were determined:
- Monday: 6 am, 10 am, and 10 pm EST
- Tuesday: 2 am, 4 am, and 9 am EST
- Wednesday: 7 am, 8 am and 11 pm EST
- Thursday: 9 am, 12 pm, and 7 pm EST
- Friday: 5 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm EST
- Saturday: 11 am, 7 pm, and 8 pm EST
- Sunday: 7am, 8am, and 4pm EST
When is the best time to post on Instagram based on your industry?
As previously stated, the best time to post on Instagram varies by account; however, certain industries have more ideal times for posting on Instagram. To maximize engagement, it’s critical to adjust your Instagram posting times based on industry.
These Instagram posting times are a good starting point, but Sprout Social conducted research to determine the best time to post on Instagram based on the following industries: retail, media, technology, non-profit, education, healthcare, professional services, food and beverage, and travel & tourism.
Retail
Instagram posting is critical for those in the retail industry. Instagram is being used as a shopping platform by more people than ever before. If you want to reach a retail audience, you should pay attention to the following best and worst Instagram posting times.
Wednesday afternoon (3 p.m.) and Friday midday (11 a.m. – 12 p.m.) are the best times to post on Instagram.
Wednesday is the absolute best day.
Sunday is the worst day. It makes sense because most people are present in real life on weekends.
Late Nights and Early Mornings Have the Lowest Engagement – During these hours, the majority of people sleep and are not on social media.
Tech
Posting on Instagram for Technology can be difficult to predict because peak times on Instagram for this industry vary globally. To increase Instagram engagement on tech posts, pay attention to the time frames listed below.
Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. or 9 a.m. is the absolute best time.
Wednesday mid-morning from 10-11 a.m. is the best time to post on Instagram.
Saturday mornings from 7-11 a.m. and Friday mornings from 7-10 a.m.
Worst Day: Sunday—In this industry, most people do not check social media as frequently on weekends.
What Does This Tell Us?
We were surprised as a team to discover that the best times to post were so early in the day. We’ve been researching the best times to post on Instagram since 2018, and we’ve noticed a significant shift in the data this year!
We used to believe that posting when your audience was most active was the most effective strategy — and while this appears to have a positive correlation, it’s not the only factor that influences engagement.
We know that Instagram’s algorithm considers timeliness, but perhaps not as much as it used to. We also know that Instagram recently confirmed that a post’s ranking in the Home Feed is not determined by the number of interactions in the first 30 minutes.
As a result, the pressure to publish your posts at the peak of your audience’s activity has been relieved. Instead, an engagement strategy based on “early to rise, early to post” emerged.
By posting earlier in the day, accounts benefit from less competition (most posts are shared between 9 AM and 1 PM every day), while also capturing traffic from users during their first scroll of the day — even if it’s a few hours after the post was shared.
By being among the first to post each day, you increase the likelihood that your content will be seen by your target audience, regardless of when they are most active on the app.
Best Time To Post Reels On Instagram
In 2021, Instagram reel content is already becoming a significant part of both brands’ and influencers’ content strategies. It is critical to post four to seven reels per week in order to capture Instagram’s attention.
This will eventually increase the visibility of your account and lead to more engagement. While four to seven reels may appear to be a manageable number, the ultimate growth of your Instagram account can only be achieved when combined with the optimal posting time.
Instagram reels are set to explode on the platform. Choosing the single best time to post on reels on Instagram can be difficult, but here’s what studies have discovered after analyzing over 100,000 reels on Instagram to find the highest engagement rates.
Why Is It Important to Find the Best Time to Post on Instagram?
On every network, posting at the optimal time is critical. However, because of the way Instagram’s algorithm and feed work, it is even more important.
The amount of engagement (likes, comments, clicks, etc.) your post receives as soon as it is published is extremely important on Instagram. This is because Instagram initially shows it to a percentage of your active followers.
The interactions they generate will then be used to determine how many more people should see it. As a result, if a larger proportion of the followers interact with it at first, more people will see it. Another feature of Instagram is its explore page.
If your post generates a lot of engagement quickly, it is more likely to make it onto this page. Increasing your number of likes will also increase your chances of ranking for hashtags on Instagram. People can also follow hashtags.
This is why publishing your post at the appropriate time can make a significant difference. You will get more engagement if you publish at a time when more people are online and ready to engage with your posts. When you rank for the hashtags and move onto the explore page, this initial engagement will multiply many times over.
As Instagram’s engagement declines, getting on the explore page and ranking higher for hashtags is more important than ever.
As a result, if you take steps to improve engagement, you will continue to generate the same levels of engagement, if not exceed them. Another thing to keep in mind is that the amount of engagement your previous posts received will influence how much engagement your future posts receive.
Because Instagram decides how many people to show your post to based on the engagement levels of your previous posts. So, if you consistently publish at the best times, you should benefit in the long run.
Now that you understand why it is critical to find the best time to post on Instagram, I will go into detail about when to post on Instagram during the week and on weekends.
Conclusion: Best Time To Post On Instagram In 2021
Organic Instagram engagement and a regular posting schedule complement each other. Because each industry has natural peaks and valleys of engagement throughout the day, your Instagram strategy should follow suit.
Use this handy cheat sheet to plan your social media calendar for the coming quarter and see your engagement rate skyrocket.
As much as we dislike admitting it, many of us check social media first thing in the morning to catch up on what happened the night before.
It’s then time for a lunch break scroll. Finally, before going to bed, we take one last look at what our friends and favorite brands are up to. It stands to reason that the peak engagement hours correspond to how our audiences live their lives.
