When Is The Best Time To Post On Instagram?
When is the best time to post on Instagram? This is a question that people often ask, maybe you have yourself, when a post doesn’t get as many likes as they were expecting.
And this isn’t an unusual question. Everyone who puts in the effort to take and edit a picture, write a caption, and find popular hashtags, wants to get rewarded with as much engagement as possible.
The social engagement can feel very good after you’ve put in the time on a post. Everyone wants that feeling of being liked.
The public feedback is often the reason for posting in the first place!
Be it a billion dollar international clothing brand, local business, influencer, or your soccer mom neighbor, people who post content appreciate likes and engagement more than anything else.
So how do you get the most likes? Besides having awesome content (that’s always the first step) you have to be mindful of the time you are publishing your posts.
Timing is very important to maximizing your post’s reach and engagement. What’s great is once you get the hang of posting at the right time, your Instagram likes and followers will soar.
It is actually quite astounding as to how effective your timing can be.
Let’s discuss why timing is important.
Why Knowing When To Post Matters
If you are an avid Instagram user then you may already know why posting at the right time matters so much. For some users it is just a game of likes. For businesses, it is a marketing strategy.
I use Instagram just for fun and it is addicting when you rack up those likes. However, I will post at random times without taking my timing into consideration. There have been days where I’ve regretted not posting my content at a time when more of my followers were online. I could have had 100 more likes if I had been more attentive.
You have probably wondered why some of your friends or competitors have received more likes on their posts than yours. If your content is great (which I’m sure it is) then you may need to check the differences in timing.
This could be the deciding factor for many viewers.
And for business accounts the timing can be the difference between gaining new customers versus losing them to your competitor across the street. Why post content if you are not mindful of your timing?
Instagram Marketing For Businesses
The point of a business posting is getting people to see it, which leads to likes, people tagging their friends and more importantly people clicking the link in the bio to purchase your products or services.
The use of Instagram for marketing purposes has never been so important. Knowing this information now will give you a head start on your competitors.
The Instagram business network is growing fast. In 2016, only 48.8% of US companies used Instagram for marketing purposes. This number has almost doubled in two years with an estimated 71% of businesses now using Instagram.
This increase in numbers has a lot to do with the release of Instagram Business profiles that include new ad platforms. Instagram is a vital marketing tool for businesses, so posting content correctly will increase profits and revenue.
The newest Instagram stats show that there are currently 800 million monthly active users and many experts believe it could reach a billion in 2018. More statistical evidence shows that 80% of users follow businesses on Instagram, with 60% hearing about a product or service through the platform.
With all of these users following businesses on Instagram that means there will be more competition with your posts. According to these numbers, however, there are higher chances that users could see your posts.
These users can be your customers with the right knowledge and execution. More views on a post will directly lead to more customers.
How do you get your posts to be seen by more viewers though? Even if you have thousands to one hundred thousands of followers, many of them will most likely not even see your most recent post.
Among the social networks, Instagram has the highest engagement rates. However, Instagram also deals with content overload. Over 95 million photos are shared on Instagram daily, which means your content could get lost among the other posts. This makes it hard for users to find your content. In fact, 70% of Instagram posts go unseen.
This is a very daunting number I know. Do not panic. Many of these unseen posts have one thing in common: they were not posted at the right time.
The Exact Time You Should Post On Instagram
On Instagram you want to maximize engagement. In order to achieve this you have to take many things into consideration.
The best time to post on Instagram depends on a variety of factors, such as the location or region you’re targeting, the type of information you include on your content, and the audience you’re targeting.
Since all of these factors determine the best timing, we will look at what are the best times of the day and which days of the week usually have more engagement.
There have been numerous studies done on this topic. Analytical sites have used Iconosquare, which is an Instagram analytics tool that has a feature to help you understand when to post to Instagram to reach more followers. Here are the sites that have done this.
Elle & Co: The best day to post on Instagram is Monday. Posting throughout the day would be fine since Instagram users are consistently active. However there is a slight dip in activity from 3-4 p.m.
Huffington Post: The best time to post on Instagram is 2 a.m. and 5 p.m. The peak time and day is Wednesday at 7 p.m.
TrackMaven: The best time to post videos is between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. with picture posts consistent throughout the week with slight peaks on Thursday and Monday.
MarketingProfs: Posting on Instagram between 1-2 p.m. is best for engagement. Monday is a great day to boost your engagement, and specifically from 8-9 a.m.
Quick Sprout: Instagram engagement is fairly steady, with slight increases on Monday and decreases on Sunday. Overall, though any day of the week can be good.
Later: Avoid posting during work hours, especially between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Instead post when people are more likely enjoying their leisure time.
If you thought Sunday was a great day to post then you were wrong. Most people thought this. I used to think posting on Sundays would get me more likes but this is simply not true. Studies have shown that there is very low engagement on Sundays.
Actually, the best days of the week to post content are Monday and Thursday. Instagram audiences are engaged throughout the week but posting on Mondays should get you more attention.
Posting in the evening can be a good idea but the studies have shown that this is not always the case. I still do this but if you are a business profile then you need to post in the morning between 8 and 9 a.m.
Avoid posting at 3-4 pm. Most people will check their Instagram feed early in the morning before they go to work or after work. Posting during work hours is never a good idea, unless it is around lunch time.
Other statistical evidence shows that 2 am and 5 pm have also shown a lot of engagement.
Do not post in the evening around dinner time, but late at night many people will look at Instagram before they go to bed. Users will often look at Instagram once they are done with work so this is why 5 p.m. could be a good decision.
Overall, you should post content more during off work hours than during the work day.
If you are an international brand then you have to take time zones into consideration when posting content. I have a decent amount of followers in Spain. They are 6 hours ahead of my time zone. If I wanted to maximize their engagement on one of my posts then I will post at 4 a.m. so they will see it before they head to class or work in the morning.
These time changes are very important for international companies. They will have to post content meant for customers here in the US and abroad.
Remember that there are time zones in the US! 50% of the population in the US is in the Eastern Time Zone. The Eastern and Central combined represent almost 80% of the population. There are also Mountain and Pacific Time.
Business accounts are not just looking for likes. You want to possibly get a customer out of a post so if you want to appeal to an international audience must take cultural differences into the discussion.
As for businesses here in the US, timing can be a decisive factor, especially if you are a small business competing against a larger one.
Even big companies need to test their waters to find a suitable time to post that acquires the most engagement.
If you are a pizza place on a college campus such as Domino’s then you would have to take your audience into consideration. Most college students will order Domino’s later in the evening. This is why posting content past the usual dinner time would be smart for those locations.
If you are a popular lunch spot, post your deals and offers around 10-11 in the morning before most of your customers arrive.
The right timing for your business may change according to your industry and your region.
How To Remember When to Post
There is so much to consider when posting content that we often forget to post anything at all. This is why scheduling your posts is a great idea.
You can manually set up a reminder on your phone or you could use a paid service like Hootsuite where you can publish a post in advance and schedule it.
With Hootsuite you can easily schedule and publish Instagram posts directly from the dashboard and mobile app.
You can plan and execute campaigns across multiple Instagram Business accounts, assign messages to team members, and engage with followers using a single, secure, and integrated workflow.
It allows you to keep track of customers, competitors, industry hashtags, and photos tagged to locations.
And you can also measure the performance of your content. This way you can prove the effectiveness of your content strategy with visual reports that show you exactly what’s working on Instagram and why.
Hootsuite offers a 30 day free trial so if this is a service that interests you then look into it.
Experiment Posting at Different Times
Just like you would experiment to lower CPC on your Google ads, it never hurts to experiment with your posts until you find the perfect time to post. This is definitely something that you should do if you are a fairly new account.
More established accounts have found their niche and their audience. New business accounts will have to test the waters and find what times will foster more engagement than others.
For some businesses posting at night will work better. For others maybe the morning posts will get more engagement.
Try posting at times that were mentioned earlier as well as ones that contradict those studies because you never know what could work best for your account.
In conclusion, you should post at different times within the recommended window for starters. Then adjust for best results by tracking when you posted and the engagement.
Remember: your Instagram content matters, whether it is a picture or a video—so go for high quality. However, often it is all about timing.