There’s a good chance that you put a lot of time and effort into creating amazing Instagram content for your potential and existing audience.
You spend hours trying to figure out what’s going to be the perfect angle and spend a long time editing on photoshop making sure that you’re using the right filters. You also agonize over which hashtags are going to be the ideal ones to use to help expand your business reach organically.
However, despite all the endless hours of work you put into creating the best Instagram feed you can, you just don’t seem to be getting there quick enough. This is leaving you feeling frustrated and disillusioned about your chances of Instagram success.
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So, why is this happening?
Unfortunately, we are beyond the days of hard work paying off. While hard work is undoubtedly still a big part of doing well on Instagram, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Another huge factor that you need to consider when posting on your social media is timing.
Marketing has always been about delivering the correct message, in front of the right people, at the exact right time. If you miss even just one part of this formula, you could be in trouble.
Having the perfect Instagram content isn’t going to help you that much if the audience you’re trying to target isn’t seeing it. However, big brands and influencers seem to be able to post their content with little to no effort, and they still do well.
So, this all boils down to the million dollar question: when is the best time to post content on Instagram?
What the Research Suggests
A silver lining here is that you’re certainly not the only one to come up against this roadblock. You also aren’t going to be the last, and it’s going to continue to be a problem for people who are trying to find their niche on Instagram. The best thing you can do is to recognize the best times for posting. While this may sound complicated, it doesn’t have to be.
This is why we’re here – to provide you with what you need to know about posting on Instagram. Having this kind of intel can help you increase your reach, give your engagement rate a boost and learn how to become a better social media marketer and influencer.
We’re going to talk about the best times and days, and the best time slots.
While there’s a lot of research that talks about different posting schedules, a lot of the time the stats don’t add up. For example, one company researched it and said that the best times to post were between 2 am and 5 pm Eastern Time on Wednesdays. However, a more recent company study suggests that in fact, the best time is between 3pm and 4 pm on Mondays and Thursdays.
We’re guessing at this point that you’re a little confused, and we don’t blame you.
The ultimate takeaway from this is that there’s not a ‘one size fits all’ approach to timing on Instagram. This means that the perfect time for you to post is going to depend on things like your goals and target audience, as well as we’re in the world you’re located and what the Instagram algorithm looks like.
General Rules
As we mentioned, it’s not easy figuring out the best times to post on Instagram. Instagram has made it even harder with their algorithms. This is because these are based on user interest, so it’s not just about timing anymore.
However, there are still some tried and true rules that are worth following when thinking about posting your content:
• Try Outside Work Hours: the vast majority of people can’t spend too much time on social media when they’re at work. There are a lot of social media experts out there that say you shouldn’t be trying to compete with the professional life of your audience. This is why it’s recommended that you post during their lunchtime, or when they get off work.
• Post In Your Time Zone: time zones are an important thing to factor in when considering the best time to post on Instagram. If you’re in the UK, but your target audience is in the U.S., then you’re going to want to fit in with their time zone, not yours. This could mean posting early in the morning for when they’re just getting off work.
• Use Mid-Week Days the Most: if you’ve got great content that you don’t want to waste, you need to post on Mondays and Thursdays. People are more likely to interact with your content during the week.
How to Find the Best Time to Post
As you can see, there are a lot of studies out there dedicated to finding the best time to post to your Instagram. However, every audience is different, which means that you’ve got to figure out their schedule to know the best time to post. Let’s take a look at exactly how you can do this.
1. Use Insights
If you want to find the best time to post your content, then you need to be looking at Instagram’s analytics. These are located within the Instagram app itself.
Something to remember here with this is that in order to view Instagram’s analytics for your page, you’ll need to have your profile switched to a business account. Once you’ve got your business account up and running, you can go to the insights tab, where Instagram will have demographics and analytics for you to look at about your page.
Here’s what you’ll see with analytics:
• The gender that looks at your content the most
• Their age
• When they’re on Instagram the most
• Where they’re from in the world
Instagram analytics are going to give you everything you need to figure out the best time to connect with your audience through your content. Not only will you be able to figure out where your audience is located, but you can also cater to their time zone and the days that they are on Instagram the most.
2. Experiment with Times
While insights are really helpful when you’ve begun to grow your Instagram account, there’s always the chance that you’re still up and coming. This is when it’s a good idea to create some analytics for yourself.
Try picking four times during the week to post on Instagram and use these times to track the performance of your content. Look out for things like shares, likes, and comments, as well as who has started following you.
The week after this, try choosing a different set of times and write down the results. You can always start out with the suggestions found in the studies that we mentioned, so you’re not just picking random times in the beginning to do your research.
You can also consider the basic things you already know about the audience you’re targeting. For example, you already know that it’s better to connect with them after business hours, so don’t choose times that are between these. However, if your audience is moms at home, then you may want to try scheduling your posts around the school run.
It’s also important to focus on how your content is changing your engagement as well. You may find from your experiment that there is a different time to post Instagram stories than for videos and photos. The more research like this that you do, the better you’ll be able to get to know your audience and how they are using social media.
3. Get to Know Your Niche
Getting to know your niche and audience better is one of the best ways to figure out when the best time to post is. You also need to know your market too and how this affects your existence on social media. As you can see above, general data from studies and experimenting yourself both offer great starting points that you can work from.
Feel free to do a little bit of online research as well and see if you can find any other studies that talk about analyzing your target audience and their activity online. If you’re not sure what the best times are going to be to post, try looking at Instagram accounts of brands and people who are in your niche. Take a look at their posts that get the most engagement and use this to figure out when you’re going to post your content.
Is There a Bad Time?
If there is a good time to post on Instagram, then there’s also going to be a bad time, too.
Remember, you’re schedule for posting is going to depend on things like your niche and audience. However, there are many social media experts out there that think posting on Sunday is going to get you the least amount of engagement, and avoiding posting between 3 pm and 4 pm is also recommended.
At the end of the day, every Instagram account out there is different. If you want to build up your presence on social media, then you need to understand your target audience as best as possible so that you can cater to their social media habits.
Top Tools for Instagram Growth & Engagement
| Rank | Tool | Type | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seek Socially | Growth Service | Visit |
| 2 | Nitreo | Growth Service | Visit |
