What's the Best Time to Post to Instagram?
Wondering when is the best time to post to Instagram? We are constantly seeing infographics floating around the internet with what the creator believes to be the best time to post... and it IRKS US! Because the truth is: there is no universal optimal time to post.
One brand’s best time to post to Instagram is likely different from another’s. Why? Because the best time to post to Instagram is directly dependent upon you and your audience only. Conduct some research to discover when your audience is most active to find your answer.
There are a couple tools you can use to determine this. Read on for a few of our favorites!
INSTAGRAM INSIGHTS
Get the stats right from the app itself! If your Instagram is a business or creator account, you are free to access analytics through Instagram Insights.
Here’s how to find the days AND times when your audience is most active:
Go to your Instagram profile.
Click “Insights.”
Under the “Your Audience” section, click “See All.”
Scroll down to “Most Active Times” and feel free to alternate between “Hours” and Days” to discover your best Instagram posting schedule!
LATER ANALYTICS
We’ve expressed our love for Later before and here we are back at it again! No promises this will be the last time. ;)
Later is an Instagram scheduling platform that we use to plan out all of our clients’ social media content. Their Best Time to Post feature calculates the times of the day when you get the most engagement on your posts so that you can get the most out of your content. Then, it blocks off the best times on the content calendar to remind you of when you should be posting each day. See below for an example!
THE BEST TIME TO POST TO INSTAGRAM STORIES
Strategizing the best time to post to Instagram Stories is a bit different than the strategy you’d use for a feed post. Ideally, you don’t want to post all of your Instagram Stories at once. Instead, you want to be posting on Stories throughout the day so that your content gets pushed to the front of the “line” - that line being the row of stories at the top of our Instagram’s homepage.
You don’t need to worry too much about identifying a singular optimal time to post to Instagram Stories. Throughout the day is perfect because the whole point of Stories is for the content to be current and newsworthy. However, if you are looking for IMMEDIATE engagement on your Stories, posting when your followers are most active using our tips outlined above will help.
To learn more about Instagram Stories, check out our Instagram Stories Online Course.
THE BEST TIME TO POST IG REELS
Because the lifespan of a IG Reel can last for several days at a time, there is no “right” time to post a IG Reel. However, because it is beneficial to the algorithm when content receives engagement shortly after posting, consider posting your Reel when your audience is post active. To learn more about IG Reels and how we used this feature to grow our Instagram following by 91% in 3 months, check out our ReelTok Online Course.
We hope you found this helpful in discovering when is the best time to post to Instagram. Remember, the optimal posting time is dependent upon your audience and their activity, not what Google universally says. The goal is to get as much engagement as possible on posts, so as a general rule of thumb: post when your audience is most active!
To learn more about leveling up your Instagram strategy and engagement, check out our Own Your Instagram Online Course. Happy ‘Gramming!
xx- The Homies
