Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users that more than 500 Instagram users use Instagram every day, and it might be interesting to know that 71% of users are under age 35. Now Instagram is known as the second most engaged network after Facebook. Also, Statistics show that 63% of Instagram users log into Instagram at least once a day.
Since the number of Instagram users, posts and Stories are increasing, reaching people has become more complicated than it used to be; which has made everybody look for the best time to post on Instagram in order to be seen and reach wave of people for becoming popular, selling their product or service, communicating with people around the world, etc.
The researches show that 71% of businesses are active on Instagram. As the number of Instagram users is increasing every day, it is estimated that more and more businesses use Instagram as one of their growth strategies and invest in it. The studies also show that 7 out of 10 Instagram hashtags are branded hashtags, and 50% of Instagram users follow at least a brand or business.
To do your best on social media and be seen by many Instagram users, you should know the best time to post on Instagram. I admit that it is not easy to find the best time to post on Instagram, but it is not impossible! We have done some experiments on different Instagram accounts that tell us when is the best time to post on Instagram.
What is the Instagram algorithm about the time to post on Instagram?
The newest Instagram algorithm highly cares about the consistency, so don’t underestimate daily posts! The Instagram algorithm decides what people should see while they are checking their Instagram feed; it highly focuses on the recency of the Instagram posts, so the later you post (peak time), the higher chance of being seen you’ll have. Based on the Instagram algorithm, Instagram shows the “new content” over the old content.
Want to take advantage of it?
Be active at the time that most of the followers are active and let them see your shared post when they check their Instagram feed.
First of all, let’s clarify some factors that play an important role in being your posts seen by many people.
- The time that most of the followers are active
- The spread of the followers’ location
- The time zone differences
- The type of shared post
- Day of the Week
- Breaks in the Workday
- The audience
- Frequency of posting on Instagram
When is the best time to post on Instagram?
Take a look at the chart below to see Instagram’s global engagement time.
Best time to post on Monday:
The first day of the week might not be people’s best day of the week, so you can make users feel excited by seeing your post. Try posting at 6 a.m. 8 a.m. 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Best time to post on Tuesday:
Posting time on Tuesday is a bit different compared with Monday, while they are both workdays! Researches show that people tend to be more active at 2 a.m. 4 a.m. 5 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Just try them!
Best time to post on Wednesday:
You might have noticed that Wednesday is known as the best day of the week that gets the highest engagement rate compared with other days of the week, so no one wants to miss posting on Wednesday. Try posting at 5 a.m. 7 a.m. 8 a.m. 3 p.m. 4 p.m. 11 p.m.
Among all the mentioned times, 3-4 p.m. is the golden hour!
Best time to post on Thursday:
It is also said that posting on Thursday is as valuable as posting on Wednesday. So, try both to find out which one works the best for you. Try posting at 5 a.m. 9 a.m. 11 a.m. 12 p.m. 3 p.m. 4 p.m. 7 p.m.
Same as Wednesday, posting at 3-4 p.m. is most likely to get you a high engagement rate.
Best time to post on Friday
Posting on Friday also works, but way less than Wednesday and Thursday, and obviously Friday night is not a good time to post on Instagram because people are enjoying their time and may not check their social media platforms the same as other nights and days. The best time to post on Friday is likely to work be: 5 a.m. 1 p.m. 3 p.m.
Best time to post on Saturday
Saturday is people’s day off, so the posting time is different from other days; It is expected that people check their phone right after they get up and around 8 p.m. when they have not started the night of having fun! Users are mostly active at 11 a.m. 7 p.m. 8 p.m.
Best time to post on Sunday
It may seem that people spend their whole time on social media because they are off on Sunday and don’t have to work or go to school, but it is totally vice versa! Most people have plans to spend their weekends and make themselves ready to start a fresh week. But don’t get disappointed! Try 7 a.m. 8 a.m. 11 a.m. 12 p.m.
Generally, posting on Instagram from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. is effective, but try to post at the peak hours to reach your goal soon and get your Instagram posts on top of the feed.
Note: You should save the important posts for weekdays.
Why there are peak hours to post on Instagram?
As most of us may have experienced, people like to check their social media platforms such as Instagram and check their email right after they get up in the morning while they are in bed, on the table during the breakfast or on the way to work when they are on a subway, train or taxi. Actually, some people can’t wait to know what has happened while they were asleep and what they have missed! That’s why posting on an early morning from Tuesday to Friday works while posting on Monday morning has totally no good result comparing with the midweek.
You can take advantage of knowing this and make your Instagram posts and videos viral.
But that is not all!
There are several times a day that give your Instagram posts the opportunity to be seen by many people and become viral. Lunchtime is also the peak time for showing off the posts on Instagram. Also, after school and work, people check their phones while they are relaxing.
We have all the same opinion that weekdays are more effective to post rather than weekends, but it doesn’t mean that you should neglect the weekends.
Should Instagram users care about the time zone?
As we mentioned earlier, users should care about the time zone when they are going to share a post on Instagram; for example, if most of the followers are not from the U.S, you should find out the best time to post on their country.
If your followers are widespread across several different countries, it is better to share the post several times a day by yourself or by using an Instagram scheduler.
Also, by having a business account, you can easily analyze the followers, such as their age, gender, the time they are most active, their most active days, etc. all for free in the Instagram app. It could be a big help in finding the best time to post on Instagram.
How to find out when most of the Instagram users are active?
The simple trick is switching your Instagram account into the business account and use the given information. Also, some third-party apps can analyze your account and show you the time that most of the Instagram followers are active.
By having a business Instagram account, check the Instagram insight, and get information about the followers’ demographics, engagement, and activity. It is a big help in making up your mind that when is the best time to post on Instagram.
Moreover, if you share different types of posts with the followers, the Instagram insight helps you understand the type of content that your followers are interested in to see by checking the number of likes, comments, and engagement rate.
Keep in mind to check the Instagram insight every week or every other week to set the best time to post on Instagram; clearly the number of followers would increase gradually, so their peak activity time is likely to change.
Besides, you’ll learn which kind of posts get more positive comments. Then by answering them, you’ll notice an increase in the engagement rate. Here is how to reply to Instagram comments. Another tip is posting at different times and check which time works the best.
How often should you post on Instagram?
Have you ever thought that what would happen if you post irregularly? Undoubtedly, the followers would lose interest and might find another account that works better than you, which would cause your account to experience a drop in the engagement rate.
Consistency is the main key to being successful in anything at any time! So, you shouldn’t let the followers forget you. Post regularly on Instagram to keep your Instagram feed engaging. The research shows that the top brands and companies post 1.5 times daily on Instagram an average.
If you are going to post several times a day, keep in mind to keep the distance between the posting time; never share 2 or 3 posts continuously at the same time, post at least every 4-6 hours.
But keep in mind the important note:
Just sharing the post on Instagram is not the thing that people are waiting for; they expect both quality and quantity to keep following and interacting with you or buying the product or service. (If you are a business.)
How to find out that when is the best time to post on Instagram?
It is crystal clear that when someone uses social media, he/she must be sociable! As people are active on social media platforms at different times, you should know about the average time that the majority of Instagram users are active.
Since there are lots of social media platforms, the time that people spend on each social media varies. Moreover, it is important to consider that the best time to post on Twitter, Facebook, etc. is different from the best time to post on Instagram.
Believe it or not, there no single best time; all the mentioned best time is general, and the best posting time of your Instagram might be different.
Moreover, the best posting time on Instagram is different for businesses and personal accounts. Actually, all Instagram users have a unique audience, so you should set the posting time based on your follower’s activity.
Schedule Instagram posts to post at the best time on Instagram:
Being popular on Instagram looks like a cherry on top of a tree that everyone wants to get it, and it is reachable for sure. You should just know the strategies and follow the leads, which one of them is scheduling Instagram posts; it increases the consistency and shows the posts to your followers when they are active.
While posting daily on Instagram is time-consuming, the best and first option is scheduling Instagram posts. After knowing the time that most of your Instagram followers are online, it is time to schedule the Instagram posts to keep the consistency.
Since Instagram doesn’t provide scheduling Instagram posts itself, there are some Instagram bots and automation tools that let you schedule Instagram posts or share posts directly from the app without needing the Instagram app itself, such as the Instazood automation tool.
Scheduling Instagram posts is the best way of having consistency and driving more engagement to your Instagram account. Also, using an Instagram scheduler makes you independent from using the Instagram app itself, which means that whenever Instagram faces a bug, or it just doesn’t work, you can easily post or schedule from the Instazood’s dashboard.
Just schedule the Instagram post, leave it, and enjoy your time, while your Instagram account gets more engagement, more traffic, and gains new followers and clients.
Have you ever thought about a good Instagram scheduler?
Instagram scheduling tool provides the option to post at a specific time instead of trying to remember the time to post manually. If you want it, then you should get familiar with Instazood and its services.
Using an Instagram post scheduler puts an end to all the analysis you need to do by yourself, instead lets you focus on creating high-quality content and you’ll never be worried about forgetting to post at a particular time. The best part about using the Instazood post scheduler is that you can add and manage several accounts at the same time. Here is the step by step instruction for using Instzood’s schedule service.
How to automate all the actions on Instagram?
Automating Instagram activities such as sending auto direct messages, scheduling Instagram posts, auto-following and unfollowing, etc. seems to be a wise action, specifically for businesses. Even though Instagram bots have never been introduced by Instagram officially, they are secure and highly affect your Instagram account’s growth.
As you know, Instagram releases some updates every other weeks or month which one of them was “Instagram limits.” With a little bit of creativity, you can easily get around Instagram limits without taking any risk. Imagine how hard would it be to do all actions on Instagram manually and being careful to not breaking Instagram limits and rules at the same time.
What if you have more than one Instagram account?! It seems impossible to handle. That’s where Instazood plays its role! Full-service automation, which is the best alternative for doing Instagram actions manually. You can set it and enjoy your day freely. Instazood’s services are Auto direct message, Manage comments, Schedule Instagram posts, Instagram bot, etc.
Why should you use Instazood?
You need an automation tool that assures you of its progress and doesn’t break Instagram’s limits and rules. By using Instazood’s Instagram bot, you don’t have to be worried about breaking Instagram’s rules and limitations. It lets you choose your targets based on hashtag, location, and follower. Instazood automatically engages with people on Instagram according to the selected targets until you reach the daily Instagram limits.
Instazood services include:
- Instagram bot
- Instagram post scheduler
- Auto DM
- Instagram search tools
- Comments tracker
Moreover, if you are a TikTok user, you may find Instazood’s TikTok bot a useful tool to grow your TikTok account and get a lot of followers.
Which time is the best for posting on Instagram?
To build a significant follower size, you must pay attention to all details of your actions on your account, including the content, shape, and design of your posts and of course, the time which you post.
So how we can know which time is better to be active on Instagram? The best way is to run your tests on your account and find the answer by trial and error. If you don’t have enough time for that, then read this article to get the answers we have provided for you.
Analysis
Sprout Social is a social media management platform that has analyzed billions of posts and stories on Instagram in 2020. Their team customer data to see what time and day their social media posts generated the most engagement.
In this chart, you can see their results. Note that the time is in CDT and means that CDT times works just fine across posts published for a global audience rather than individual timezones.
Sprout Social went into even more detail about the best times to post on Instagram, including the best times for post engagement.
Best time for posting on Instagram globally
The best time for being active on Instagram is Monday-Friday at 11 AM CDT.
Best time for posting on Instagram on each day
Monday
Best time engagement: 11 AM – 12 PM
Tuesday
Best time engagement: 12 PM – 2 PM
Wednesday
Best time engagement: 11 AM – 1 PM
Thursday
Best time engagement: 10 AM – 11 AM
Friday
Best time engagement: 10 AM – 12 PM
Saturday
Best time engagement: 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday
Best time engagement: 11 AM – 1 PM
Best time for posting on Instagram by industry
Restaurants
Best time engagement: Mondays 9 AM – 1 PM
Tech
Best time engagement: Mondays 10 AM – 10 PM
Education departments
Best time engagement: Tuesdays 8 AM – 12 PM, 5 PM – 8 PM
Healthcare companies
Best time engagement: Mondays 4 AM – 5 AM
Nonprofits
Best time engagement: 10 AM – 6 PM
Best time for posting on Instagram by location
US and Canada (Western): 12 AM – 6 AM
US and Canada (Central): 6 AM – 8 AM
US and Canada (Eastern): 4 AM – 9 AM
South America: 4 AM
United Kingdom: 4 AM – 6 AM
Europe (Western): 6 PM – 8 PM
Europe (Eastern): 5 AM – 7 AM
Africa: 6 AM
South Asia and the Middle East: 3 AM
East Asia and Southeast Asia: 11 PM – 4 AM
Australasia: 11 PM – 2 AM
The worst time for posting on Instagram
Monday: 2 PM
Tuesday: 1 PM
Wednesday: 10 AM
Thursday: 11 PM
Friday: 9 AM
Saturday: 8 PM
Sunday: 4 PM
Conclusion
Hope these statistics help you with your Instagram business. There are a few ways which you can find out you best time for posting on Instagram;
First, you can use Instagram’s built-in analytics to understand your audience better. These data points can be super valuable indicators for when your best times to post might be.
Second, you can use a Spreadsheet to Manually Track Your Best Times to Post. Start by picking five different times throughout the week and in your spreadsheet, track how many likes and comments each post receives, along with the date and time that you posted them.
