Instagram has become one of the largest social media platforms in the world. Currently, it has one billion monthly active users which is itself an astounding number. No wonder all the companies, influencers, and celebs are flocking to Instagram. The huge user statistics of Instagram makes it a paradise for marketers. However, that also means that it’s pretty to easy for your posts to get lost in the sea of posts which are being uploaded every second. While you can take a number of steps to enhance your Instagram visibility, the lowest hanging fruit that you should conquer is to publish your Instagram posts on the right time. If you know the best time to post on Instagram, you can not only increase your posts’ visibility but also get more user engagement.
The best part is that you don’t need to do anything extra and invest in some shady Instagram marketing deals. Keep on posting the content you are already posting. You just publish then on a time which brings you the best results. So, if you want to improve your Instagram game in 2020, here is how you can find the best time to post on Instagram to increase your accounts’ visibility and enhance user engagement.
Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2020
Let me break the ice for you. The best time to post on Instagram differs from individuals to businesses and industries. The schedule can vary depending upon the type of audience, kind of content and many other factors. Hence, it’s quite a subjective thing. However, considering some major metrics, we can reach to some broad conclusions. The data points give a good idea about the time and day to get maximum traction across different industries. Here is the rule of thumb to follow before posting anything on Instagram. Also, this is the best schedule for average Instagram users who want to maximize their reach and influence.
- Monday: 11 AM to 2 PM
- Tuesday: 5 AM and 9 AM to 6 PM
- Wednesday: 5 AM, 11 AM and 3 PM
- Thursday: 5 AM, 11 AM and 3 PM to 4 PM
- Friday: 5 AM and 9 AM to 4 PM
- Saturday: 11 AM
- Sunday: 10 AM to 2 PM
This is the schedule you need to follow if you don’t want to do any research and tailor it for your own user base. In the steps below, we will show you how to find the best to post on Instagram which is right just for you.
Understanding the Audience with Instagram Insights
In the above section, we have provided a universal, all-in-one schedule for average Instagram users. However, as I said in the beginning, the schedule may differ vastly from companies to companies and individuals to individuals. It all depends on how users perceive a brand or an individual. To find the correct schedule for posting on Instagram, you should understand your audience first. Only then, it will lead you to a correct conclusion.
First and foremost, dive deep into the analytics to understand your audience. If you have a business account on Instagram, you can view smart insights about your audience behavior through Instagram Insights. You can access it from your Instagram profile page. Just tap on the hamburger menu and open Insights. Now that you have done that, let me explain some key metrics to understand the nuances of consumer behavior.
When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram for You?
We are back to the elephant in the room: when is the best time to post on Instagram? Well to answer this, open the Insights page of your Instagram account and move to the Followers tab. Here, you will find the bar graph for last week’s user engagement. It provides you insight about which day you had the most engagement with users. Note down the most active day, followed by the next in descending order. These findings will help you decide the schedule.
Further, you can break the graph into days and hours. As we can see below, most of the users interacted with posts around 9 PM. Every day, you will have a different spike in user interaction. Similarly, check the trends for the last couple of weeks and chalk out your personalized schedule for posting on Instagram. Also, keep looking for unusual spikes for the past few months to understand which posts got more interaction in terms of likes and comments. Finally, you will be able to find the perfect schedule for your Instagram account with a better understanding of content and audience.
As your Instagram presence rise, make sure to check the trends closely. It’s very likely there will be a shift in user engagement and the trends will be moved to a new paradigm. Accordingly, make changes to content staging and adapt to a new schedule for maximum reach and influence.
What Research Says for Different Industries
If you don’t have a Instagram business account then you can follow the industry specific trends to get the most out of your posts. Once you get approved for. In this section, we will go through various type of companies and find out the best time to post on Instagram. The data is brought together by some prominent research done by various marketing mavens.
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Best Time to Post on Instagram for B2C Companies
B2C companies are basically those companies which directly deal with end consumers. If you are a B2C company and want to cater to your audience, consider posting on Instagram on Saturdays at 10 AM. It has a pretty good chance of getting the attention of users. Besides, you will get the most engagement with users on all days from 10 AM to 4 PM. But keep in mind, Monday seems to fare the worst in terms of consumer engagement so don’t try too hard on Mondays.
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Best Time to Post on Instagram for Tech Companies
For tech companies, the best time to post on Instagram is 10 AM on Wednesday. And you are likely to get maximum engagement with users on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM. However, Sunday remains a dull day for Internet companies so post accordingly.
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Best Time to Post on Instagram for Education-based Companies
Generally, educational companies who are targeting students on Instagram should post on Monday at sharp 7 in the morning. You will find the most engagement with students on weekdays from 10 AM to 3 PM. Besides, don’t post too much on Sunday as it is likely to drive less traffic.
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Best Time to Post on Instagram for Healthcare Companies
If you want to project a healthcare company on Instagram then posting on Tuesday at 1 PM would gain the most traction. You are likely to get engagement from users on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 AM to 4 PM. You should avoid posting on Saturday and Sunday as both these days don’t do well in terms of interaction and overall impact.
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Best Time to Post on Instagram for NGOs
Mostly, NGOs attract a good number of Instagram audience from Tuesday to Friday. For an NGO, the evening time– preferably after 2 PM– is the best time to post on Instagram. You would be able to attract more eyeballs in that particular period. However, you should not publish a major post on Saturday as it’s not likely to drive audience engagement.
Things to Keep in Mind Before Posting on Instagram
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Impact of Time Zones
Time zones play an important role if your target audience is from a different time zone than yours. For example, if you are based out of India and your primary audience is in the US, then you must consider the time difference between the two countries. It will help you schedule Instagram posts in accordance with your audience time, and not your local time. This way your audience will always be able to view your posts right in time. You can find all the user stats under the Insights page. Here, you can see the list of countries where you have the maximum audience.
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Frequency of Posts
Generally, you should post on Instagram at least once a day to keep an active engagement with your audience. However, don’t take it as a rule but a suggestion. You should always put quality above quantity to make an impression on your audience. Nevertheless, if you can, you should definitely post more content on Instagram to drive more engagement. Just follow your personalized schedule and you will likely get good visibility among your audience.
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Making Sense of Instagram Algorithm
The Instagram algorithm generally relies on three things to prioritize content on feed: fresh content, the total number of interactions, and history of user engagement with the account. The best and easiest way to attract eyeballs is to post when your audience usually opens Instagram. So making the first point again, dive deep into user analytics and find the peak audience hour for a given day. It will help you post the content in optimal time and you will get maximum visibility with user interaction.
Schedule Instagram Posts
As we went through the article, we can observe that timing Instagram posts is essential to get the most user engagement. However, you might not be able to always post content during the peak hour. And if your dedicated audience is from a different time zone then it becomes even worse to get views or engagement. In such cases, you can schedule Instagram posts as and when you want. It will immensely help you connect with your audience just in time without losing activity around your post. So to make things easy, I have found two great third-party apps which work phenomenally well. Of the two apps, we will start with Later first.
1. Later
Later is the best service for scheduling Instagram posts. You can easily schedule Instagram posts using the visual calendar which really looks great. You can post images to the visual calendar one month in advance. It also has drag and drop support so that’s helpful when you are dealing with the bulk of images. Besides that, you get Dropbox integration, Auto-Publishing, etc. The Later app is an official Instagram partner and uses the Graph API to publish images. It basically means that your account will be safe even with a third-party app. Besides, you get a dashboard similar to Instagram Insights which provides some great additional information about your audience. All in all, Later is a solid app for scheduling Instagram posts and you should definitely go for it.
Download Later (Free, Plus version starts at $9/month)
2. Buffer
Buffer is a complete social media management app. Among many things, it lets you schedule Instagram posts with all the features you would need. You can add bulk of images and videos way advance in time. Buffer is not just a scheduler but a powerful program to manage many social media platforms from one dashboard. It even lets you access advanced insights into your Instagram audience through visual charts and smart suggestions. Using different data points, it suggests the best time to post on Instagram which is really great. If you are a marketing professional, you should go for Buffer. It’s a complete powerhouse.
Download Buffer (Free, Pro version starts at $15/month)
Understand Your Audience and Find the Best Time to Post on Instagram
So that was our in-depth article on when is the best time to post on Instagram. As it’s clear by now that finding personalized schedule through audience insight is the best way to go. If you have a business account, you should take advantage of Instagram Insights to understand your audience better. In case, you have a personal Instagram account and want to expand your reach then do follow the schedule mentioned in the first section. It will surely garner you more reach and audience.
You should also read on our article on using Instagram on Mac and PC without any restrictions to make the most of this social media platform. It will help you remain on the top of your Instagram game even when using desktop systems. Also, make sure to check our list of best photo editors for Instagram to create the best posts. So that’s all from our side. If you liked the article and want to know similar tips to form social media strategies then do let us know in the comment section below.
