What Is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

Instagram is a great social media platform for growing your brand. With hundreds of millions of users worldwide, a good Instagram marketing strategy can help bring your brand to a whole new level.

But having great quality content and a strategy is no longer enough. You need to go the extra mile, by making sure that you post your content at the right time, or else, you’ll miss out on a ton of engagement and potential for growth.

With that said, what is the best time to post on Instagram?

Well, it depends. It can be hard to pinpoint the best time and day to post on Instagram as there are many factors to consider. However, there are things that you need to come to a conclusion about the best times to publish your own content on Instagram.

Read on to learn more.

What Is the Best Time and Day to Post on IG?

The best times to post on Instagram based on official data from Instagram are:

Monday: 6 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m.
Tuesday: 8-10 a.m., 2 p.m.
Wednesday: 9-11 a.m.
Thursday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 7 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m.-12 p.m., 2-4 p.m.
Saturday: 8-11 a.m.
Sunday: 6-8 p.m.

Out of all the times and days above, most people point to Wednesday at 11:00 AM as being the best time to post on Instagram. This is when most people are on the platform.

Again, keep in mind that these are estimates and you should take this information with a grain of salt. These times are based on overall Instagram usage, so always try to find the most active times for your audience before posting on Instagram.

With that said, don’t forget to take into consideration the time difference between your time zone and that of your audience.

What Is the Worst Time and Day Post on IG?

The worst time to post on Instagram is Monday between 9 and 11 AM. That’s when people get back into their week and will be the busiest, so avoid posting at this time at all costs.

With that said, what works for some brands might not necessarily work for yours. This is because everyone has a different audience, which likely uses the platform at slightly different times.

To figure out the worst time and day to post on IG, try and look at your general audience. Then, try to average out and imagine what their daily routine looks like. For example, if you’re targeting an adult demographic, there’s a fair chance that the majority of them have 9-5 jobs.

So, it might be best to avoid posting when your audience will be the busiest. However, since most people’s schedules involve breaks throughout the day, you can time your posts then. This is why you might want to avoid posting in the afternoons when people are busy at work but you can totally post in the morning while they’re settling into the day.

With that line of thinking, weekends are the best time to post since most Instagram users are off work/school and are most likely to be using the platform, especially in the evenings.

Determining the best timing for Instagram posts is one of the hardest things to do as a budding creator, but even then, figuring out the best time to post is absolutely essential so you can get the most engagement out of your audience.

Why the Timing of Your Instagram Post Matters

You may not realize it, but the time you post on Instagram can determine the level of engagement you get and how well your post ends up doing. Remember, the Instagram algorithm, while complex, prioritizes timely and recent posts. As most experienced influencers and social media management software will tell you, the newer a post is, the better chance it has of being picked up by the algorithm and featured on the Explore page.

But if your audience isn’t online when you publish an Instagram post, then they won’t be able to see it right away and engage with the post. This is crucial as getting a lot of engagements soon after you post prompts the algorithm to boost your post. That way, there are more people that get to see the post, which in turn brings more engagements that boost your post even further.

When you time your posts right, you give yourself the best chance to not only get the most engagement out of your current followers but to also go viral, which can result in even more engagement and followers.

When growing a following on IG, rest assured that posting consistently high-quality content is crucial as that is what gets people to engage and look at your content in the first place.

However, the timing of your post is just as important. That’s why before you start posting on Instagram, make sure to analyze when the best time to post is for your audience, and create your posting schedule around that.

Things to Consider When Determining the Best Time to Post on IG

While we gave you a decent starting point above of when to post on Instagram, we also mentioned that the times given aren’t universal. The best time for you to publish content on Instagram varies depending on a number of factors. So, to make it easier for you, here are some of the main points to factor in when deciding when to post on Instagram.

The Timezone of Your Audience

The first consideration you need to keep in mind is your audience’s time zone. The example we used as our benchmark for the best times to post on Instagram was based on Eastern Timezone. However, users from different time zones tend to use Instagram at different times.

This is where Instagram’s analytics really come in handy. Through creator analytics, you get to see where your main audience comes from. That way, you can determine their timezone and make sure that you post your content at the best time for your general audience.

This is especially important if your main audience is in a different timezone. Aside from having to learn when people in that timezone are most active, you also have to consider the time differences.

That’s why we recommend scheduling your posts if your audience is from a different timezone as this makes content distribution much easier for you. When you schedule your posts, you can automatically set your posts to publish at a specific time without you having to be on the platform. Moreover, you may leverage the Office 365 calendar to maintain a consistent and efficient posting.

Your Audience’s Demographic

As mentioned earlier, different demographics follow different schedules. For example, if your main audience is a younger crowd, they probably go to school. So, it may not be ideal for you to publish your posts during school hours as many students aren’t allowed to use their phones in the classroom.

However, if it’s summer vacation, then people will likely be bored for most of their day scrolling on their phones. This makes for the best time to post on Instagram as there’s a high chance that your audience will see your post right away and engage with it.

This goes for just about any demographic. If you can determine when your target audience is most likely to be on their phones and scrolling through Instagram, your account will get more engagement and grow much faster than you might think.

The Type of Content You Post

Lastly, you always have to consider the type of content you post. For example, educational content and reels on Instagram are best published in the evening as that’s when people will have the most time to watch or read your post.

On the flip side, entertainment is best posted when people are resting or taking a break. So, this could mean right after meals, after work, or even in the morning during your audience’s downtime.

Conclusion

Finding the best and worst times to post on Instagram can do wonders for your engagement and reach. When you time your posts properly, you can reach a much wider audience and garner more engagements. This will bring much more attention to your profile and immensely grow your Instagram brand.

That said, the best and worst times to publish posts on Instagram largely depend on your audience’s timezone, their demographic, and the type of content you post. So, before posting on Instagram, make sure to do the proper research to ensure that you’re posting at the best time for your brand.

You can read additional Instagram articles here.