When is the best time to post on Instagram? 12 Answers

Wednesdays 11AM

Studies show that Wednesdays at 11 am is the best time to post on Instagram. Users tend to interact with content during this work hour at mid-day and mid-week. This is the best time to take a break from one’s tasks – whether at home or in school to scroll, like, and comment on posts. It’s important to consider your target audience’s demographics, age, and industry when posting content. Likewise, adjust your post times according to their time zone and activity to get the most engagements.

10 AM on Saturday Mornings

When it comes to posting on the weekends, make sure you catch your audience before they get busy with their weekend plans and go AWOL. Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons are usually great times to leverage the number of active users online. Since most users have the day off to themselves, it’s safe to say they’ll be spending a lot of their hours on the platform.

Test and Retest to Figure Out What Works

Creating great content takes a lot of work, and you want the world to see that work. This is why timing your posts on Instagram is so important. Some general rules of thumb include posting before work in the morning, right before lunch hour, and around dinner time. These seem to be lulls in our days when many of us reach for our phones. Using this general information, you should look at your data and see what appears true for your audience. Using A/B testing can be a great way to try out different times. It will take a little experimentation, in the beginning to figure out your rhythm, but once you do, you will begin to see results.

6 PM

6 P.M. is the best time to post on Instagram because that’s when most people are off work and have more time to scroll through their feeds. At 6 P.M., there’s also less competition from other brands, so your post has a better chance of being seen. Posting at this time will also help you achieve your goal of having more followers, since posts at this time see the most engagement.

Track User Habits and Post When They’re on the App

The best time to post on Instagram is when most of your target audience is engaged on the platform. For example, if a large segment of your audience is between 25-45 years old and works 9-5 jobs, your business should advertise or post on their morning commutes, during lunch breaks, and in the evenings. Not all consumers use Instagram the same way or check it at the same time. The best bet for companies to capture users’ attention is to get to know users’ habits. Do they work at the same time every day, or is it more reliable to try and hook them before bed? 

Often, this question corresponds with the industry and product advertised. Coffee professionals who would like to buy coffee makers are typically up earlier, while dog owners must conform their schedules to their pets’ needs.

The Earlier You Post the Better

It used to be that the best time to post on Instagram was when your users were most active, which meant that you first had to figure out when your user base was active, and then you’d have to remember to post at those exact times. Earlier this year, Instagram confirmed that they no longer take immediate interactions into consideration in its ranking algorithm, which means that posting your content as early as possible is the best strategy for getting noticed. 

The team at Later, an Instagram scheduling tool, recently did a study of 35 million Instagram posts, and it seems that the optimal time to post is around 6 am. So, these days, it appears that the early bird gets the worm.

Evening Or Late Evening

I think the best time to post on Instagram is in the evening or late evening. It’s because in this time, people are home, relaxed and are more engaged on social media. They spend time scrolling their feeds, interacting, commenting and purposely looking for something interesting to watch. So if you post at this time, you’re more likely to get their attention and chances are that your post will get more engagement and views than if you post during the day when people are at work or busy with other things. It also depends on your audience though, but generally, evening is an ideal time to serve almost all kind of audience, especially if you’re targeting millennials.

It Differs With Everyone

The best time to post on Instagram is different for everyone. Yes, sadly, there’s no magical time like those full moons when evil powers are super-active. Instagram is ruled by everyday people; they get to decide when is the best time. And with different industries and geographical locations, it differs when they’re most active. Depending on your audience, you’ll need to discover when is the time they’re most active on Instagram. Based on that, you’ll need to publish consistently. You can figure it out by asking them directly via polls or analyzing by posting several times.

Wednesday at 2PM

It is called the dead space, or the midweek slump, because it is that time when instead of counting up the hours, most employees are suddenly counting down the hours until the end of the week – wondering what to do with their weekends and free time. This is why Wednesday at 2pm, exactly halfway through the working week, is the PERFECT time to post on Instagram (As well as being a great time to send an e-newsletter as well)
People will just be returning from their Wednesday lunch breaks, not quite ready to start the afternoon work as their minds start to wonder about finishing on Friday and the official half-week countdown begins, so people are much more prone to scroll at this time as they look for weekend inspiration and ideas. This makes it a prime time for any company to be posting on Instagram because there will be more engaged and interested users ready to eat up the content being offered.

Post for Everyone at Different Times

There’s no one best time to post on Instagram. Traffic varies by hour, day and timezone and you should consider that. However, posting fresh, regular content will engage your desired audience when they do see it. Don’t just post the same old post at noon Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Try some in the morning, in the evening and on the weekends. While there’s no one best time to post on Instagram, posting regular, interesting content variably is the best practice for reaching and engaging the widest audience possible.

Time Your Post to Coincide With Your Audience’s Mindset

While there are guidelines for primetime posting on Instagram, as we’re in the business of outdoor kitchens, we like to post between 2 PM and 3 PM because that’s when many folks start thinking, “What’ll we have for dinner tonight?” Posting videos of backyard chefs grilling up some steaks and corn on the cob in their outdoor kitchens not only gets mouths watering but inspires people to head on to our website to see how they can make their dream outdoor living space a reality. Timely posts that coincide with what’s on people’s minds at a particular time of the day drive more interested prospects to your website.

Be Among the First to Post Each Day

Posting earlier in the day allows accounts to take advantage of lower competition (on average, posts are shared most frequently between 9 AM and 1 PM each day) as well as user traffic during their first scroll of the day, even if that occurs several hours after the post was shared. Being among the first to post each day will increase the likelihood that your audience will see your content, regardless of when they use the app most frequently. Being among the first to post each day will increase the likelihood that your audience will see your content, regardless of when they use the app most frequently.