Are you wondering when you should share your post on Instagram to draw the most engagement? This is the ideal article for you as we’ve covered some tested tips to help you reach the most audience on Instagram.
Instagram, like most social media marketing tools, is an ever-changing ecosystem. You must understand your target audience and the sector you create content for to get the highest Instagram engagement. Also, to achieve an effective and efficient Instagram content strategy, you may need to take a couple of trials and errors.
When producing content for Instagram, you need to take time and create perfect images, identify the appropriate hashtags, and write engaging copy. Therefore, it can be a downer if you put all this work into an Instagram post only to get 10 likes and a few spam comments.
So, how can you better your Instagram content strategy to drive optimal user engagement? As an expert social media manager, I have spent countless hours researching and reviewing my trial-and-error strategy. Doing so has helped me compile some insights and tips about the best times to publish your Instagram post.
This guide aims to shed light and provide comprehensive background details and post times to help you win high engagement rates while connecting with your Instagram target audience.
Topics Covered
When Are Most Instagram Users Active?
The first thing you should remember is the world’s various time zones. You should understand time zone disparities when dealing with a global target audience. Once you know that, think logically to determine what people in that region do daily.
In most cases, when people wake up from bed, they look at their social media newsfeeds and watch Instagram reels for a few minutes. So, between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. is an excellent time to post your Instagram post.
Another period when more people are glued to their phones is during lunch break. So, posting between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. will likely make your post go on top of the audience’s feed. They will likely view and react to the post before returning to work after lunch.
However, you should keep in mind that more people work remotely. Therefore, the suggested times may be flexible.
Also, people tend to check their Instagram accounts immediately after work and before going to bed. Therefore, you should consider assessing the audiences’ work patterns and time zone to determine when it’s best to post your Instagram content.
On Sundays, posting around 6 – 8 p.m. may generate the most engagement. This is because it is peak time when users are highly active on Instagram.
Generally, there are three periods of the day to post your Instagram content:
- When people are about to start their day (7 – 8 a.m.)
- During or around lunch hour (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.)
- When people are about to sleep (in the evening)
However, you should be aware that the posting times may vary depending on the target audience’s industry, demographic, and age. This particularly applies to evening Instagram posts.
Make sure you conduct in-depth research to understand your audience before becoming an evening poster. Of course, some target audiences may not get time to check out their social media accounts in the evening because of various commitments, such as family bonding.
The Most Ideal Times to Publish Your Instagram Post
Having discussed varying global time zones, this article will major on Eastern Time Zone. The initial guide above should serve as the foundation for creating your Instagram content strategy. Afterward, you should adjust the post times based on your followers’ activity and time zone.
Another crucial element worth mentioning is Instagram’s algorithm, which promotes the latest posts. Therefore, exploiting the times when users are most active is essential.
So, let’s give you a list of days and the corresponding best times to post your Instagram content:
- Monday: 6:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m.
- Tuesday: 8:00 – 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m.
- Wednesday: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
- Thursday: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m.
- Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
- Saturday: 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.
- Sunday: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
When Not to Post Your Instagram Post
Let’s dive back into the typical routines of your target audience. While weekends tend to get lower social media engagement levels, do not dismiss them all at once. Saturdays can be great for posting your Instagram content – but only if you do it at the correct time.
Companies that provide consumer goods often get the highest engagement on Sunday evenings. However, the norm has been that Sundays are generally the worst days to post Instagram content because people are preparing for the upcoming week or are decompressing. Therefore, the assumption is they will spend minimal time on social media. But see… you can still get great engagement on Sundays, depending on your industry.
Mondays? Oops! Most of us hate Mondays.
You are likely to experience lower engagement levels as weekdays go. This is because more people are tied to their work routines
When Should You Post Instagram Reels
In the current TikTok era, video-based content has become the norm. Want to engage more followers on Instagram? Try Instagram Reels. You can receive the highest engagement from your Reels when you post them at:
- Monday: 6:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 10:00 p.m.
- Tuesday: 2:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m.
- Wednesday: 7:00 – 8 a.m., 11:00 p.m.
- Thursday: 9:00 a.m., 12:00 noon., 7:00 p.m.
- Friday: 5:00 a.m., 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
- Saturday: 11:00 a.m., 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
- Sunday: 7:00 – 8:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m.
Hootsuite also suggests that you post your Instagram Reels on Monday to Thursday, between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Remember, trial and error can help you discover the perfect time to post your Instagram Reels, depending on your target market and industry.
How Many Times Should You Post on Instagram?
There’s no specific number of times you should post in a day, as it depends on various factors. But first, ensure you have enough ideas, content, and images to post on your Instagram timeline several times a day or per week.
The primary goal is to consistently publish ‘inviting’ Instagram posts that will drive audience engagement. Do not ghost your Instagram audience because they will unfollow your page or lose interest. So, always have something new for them.
However, you shouldn’t post just for the sake of being consistent. Instead, take time to perform a well-thought customer journey-based Instagram content strategy. While this may seem time-consuming at first, it will leave you with less to worry about as time goes by. As a result, you can invest more time in managing your Instagram page and engaging with your followers.
If you’re falling short of post ideas, post three times a week. After about a month, you can adjust the posting frequency depending on how well the current schedules work for the brand.
How to Identify the Most Appropriate Times to Post
Although we have laid the foundation on when to post, several tactics can help you discover when your target market is online. Let’s find out more about these tactics, shall we?
Instagram Insights
When you create your Instagram account as a creator or business, this social media platform offers an option to view Instagram insights. Once you hit 100 followers and above, you can view their demographics, including location, gender, and age.
What’s more, you can quickly analyze high-performing Instagram posts through Instagram Insights. From there, you can determine what worked. Is it the hashtags and copy? Is it the image quality or the post time?
With that information, you can create similar Instagram posts in the future. Also, it’s crucial to understand that not all posts will perform as well as you wish. Fortunately, Instagram insights help you analyze your post times and content to determine what’s performing well and the rationale. This way, you can improve on areas that underperform on poorly-performing posts.
Check Your Competitors’ Content
Checking your competitors’ posts helps you master the market dynamics regarding Instagram content marketing. For instance, did their Wednesday 2:00 p.m. posts perform well? Or did Friday’s 2:00 p.m. posts perform better than Wednesday’s posts?
Also, competitors serve as a benchmark. They can inspire you for future topics you may wish to consider.
Use Various Tools
Gone are the days when you blindly post Instagram content for marketing purposes. Tools like Iconosquare and Brandwatch can help you schedule Instagram posts and review analytics.
Suppose you frequently post on Facebook. In that case, you can use the Meta Business Suite to assess and schedule posts across Facebook and Instagram all in one place. Analyzing Instagram insights or utilizing a good content management system enables you to easily modify post times to suit your target audience’s time zones. Also, you can personalize your content to meet the needs of your target market.
Alternatively, if you cannot attract the appropriate target market, you can utilize Instagram insights to modify your content strategy.
Instagram Content Strategy
Having learned the tips to help you post at the right time, it’s time to build a new or adjust an existing content strategy for your Instagram posts. So, what’s the secret.
The process of creating this strategy must evolve and be flexible. Therefore, patience is crucial. Remain consistent by posting regularly and checking back to assess how the posts perform.
With time, you’ll have more content, giving you a breather. The more Instagram content you create, the more precise the Insights will be. Moreover, with accurate insights, you can adjust your content strategy depending on the systematic analysis of Instagram posts.
Eventually, you and your brand should define what success looks like. It can be more follows, comments, likes, or overall brand awareness.
Final Thoughts
Figuring out the best time to publish your Instagram posts is never a walk in the park. It involves a trial-and-error strategy. However, once you do, you can run an effective Instagram content strategy that meets your company’s goals.
Although posting times determine your Instagram post engagement, you still should find the most appropriate copy, visuals, and hashtags for the post. Also, pay close attention to promoted Instagram posts – they can affect how you look at your Instagram insights.
Eventually, you should balance all the discussed variables to increase your Instagram engagement and improve your follower base.
