The Best Time to Post on Instagram For Your Industry in 2024 (A Complete Guide)

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for each industry
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Lynn Schutte

Last Updated: Mar 8, 2024

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Back in the days of a chronological feed, users guessed and played around with finding the best time to post on Instagram. Many attributed increased Instagram engagement to their carefully planned Instagram posting times. These were the good ole days before everyone’s goal became finding ways to “outsmart” the algorithm. 

Today, to gain more Instagram followers you must create and post compelling content that other users will crave. With Instagram’s ever-changing algorithm, if you don’t post at the right time your followers may never see your posts. So how do you figure out the best time to post on Instagram? 

If you’re unsure of where to start in terms of posting on Instagram, don’t fret. We’re giving you the complete guide to Instagram posting times, including the best time to post by day of the week and industry. With our tips to maximizing the use of Instagram scheduling tools and the best Instagram growth service, you’ll be posting like an Instagram expert in no time. 

Best Time to Post on Instagram by Day of the Week 

All Instagram accounts have unique audiences from different cities and in various time zones, so breaking down the best Instagram posting times is essential to every account. 

While finding the best time to post on Instagram is unique to every account, certain times generally correlate with increased Instagram engagement. Later analyzed 12 million posts in different time zones around the world from accounts with varying Instagram followers to see if they could find the secret to posting on Instagram. 

Later conducted the ultimate Instagram engagement test and concluded the following best Instagram posting times: 

  • Monday: 12 am, 1 am, 3 am and 7 am EST
  • Tuesday: 12 am, and  9 am EST
  • Wednesday: 12 am, 2 am, and 7 am EST
  • Thursday: 12am, 2 am, 3 am, 5 am, 7 am, and 11 pm EST
  • Friday: 12 am, 5 am and 8 am EST
  • Saturday: 12 am, 1 am 3 am and 11 pm EST
  • Sunday: 12 am, 2 am, 5 am, 7 am and 11 pm EST
global best times to post on instagram infographic

While this information showcases a general “best time to post on Instagram”, the truth is the best Instagram posting times will be unique to your account and audience. 

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Best Time To Post On Instagram Overall For Likes

This article is full of Instagram insights about the best time to post based on your particular location, time, industry and more. But, if you’re just looking for the overall best time to post on Instagram for likes, you’re going to want to post on the weekend. Believe it or not, according to Later’s study of 35 million posts, the highest average engagement was for posts published on Sunday at 6 a.m.

The weekends are often good times to post because many people aren’t working, so they have more time to be on their phones. Sunday, in particular, is a good day, because Saturdays are often filled with plans. Many people take Sunday as a day of rest, and if they’re looking at their phones early to mid-morning on Sunday, they’re likely going to see the posts that were posted around 6 a.m. that morning.

Worst Time to Post on Instagram

On the flip side, the overall worst time to post on Instagram is during the day on Wednesday (between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.) or Thursday night (between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.). Wednesdays can be busy for people who work during the week, as they’re halfway through the week and trying to get things accomplished. Thursday nights are often seen as the start of the weekend, so many people have plans with their friends and families.

Best Time To Post Based On Location & Time-Zone

There are 24 different time zones in the world – one for each hour in the day. Before you make a decision to post based on your location or time zone, think about where your audience and your customers are located. If your business is located in Canada, but 65% of your followers are in the UK, you might want to take a look at their time zone and see what works best for that area.

The continental United States is split into four different time zones (Alaska and Hawaii are in two other time zones). Beginning with New England and traveling West to California, these time zones are Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. Canada has all of these time zones, plus two additional to the East of the Eastern Time Zone.

pro tip star

Pro Tip: For more information on Instagram peak times to post across all U.S. timezones, check out our article here.

Europe has three time zones, Africa has four, and Asia has 10. Australia has three. Many of these time zones don’t have generic names like the four previously mentioned in America. Instead, they use terms like “Eastern European Time” or “South Sumatra Time.”

Generally, mornings and evenings are good times to post on Instagram, so find the time zone(s) that you most want to cater to and make sure you’re posting during their morning or evening hours. After all, you wouldn’t want to post at 2 am in the time zone where most of your followers are located!

Best Time to Post on Instagram by Industry 

As mentioned above, the best time to post on Instagram varies by account, however there are more ideal times for posting on Instagram based on specific industries. It’s crucial to alter your Instagram posting times based on industry to optimize engagement.

“Your Instagram followers are likely active at different times than competitor accounts, so finding out when your followers are online will benefit engagement.”

– @kicksta.co

These Instagram posting times are a great start, but Sprout Social conducted the research below to find the best time to post on Instagram based on the following industries: retail, media, tech, non-profit, education, healthcare, professional services, food & beverage, and travel & tourism.

Retail

Posting on Instagram is incredibly crucial for those in the retail industry. People use Instagram as a shopping outlet now more than ever. If you’re looking to reach an audience interested in retail you’ll want to pay attention to the following best and worst Instagram posting times. 

  • Best time to post on Instagram: Wednesday afternoon (3 pm) & Friday midday (11 am – 12 pm)
  • Ultimate Best Day: Wednesday
  • Worst Day: Sunday – Makes sense as most people are being present in real life on the weekends. 
  • Lowest Engagement: Late Night & Early Mornings – Most people sleep during these hours and are not active on social media
Engagement for Instagram Consumer Goods Chart

Below are posting strategies for the retail industry from Elise Armitage from What The Fab:

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry?For me, the best times to post on Instagram is in the morning or evening, and the best days of the week are Sunday through Thursday. Which makes sense—people are scrolling their Instagram feeds in the morning in bed, and during their commutes, and then again once they’re relaxing at home after work. And on Fridays and Saturdays people are pretty checked out, doing their own thing and enjoying themselves. 

2. How did you figure that out?I figured this out through a combination of trial and error, as well as using analytics through my Instagram business account and third-party apps. 

3. Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics?I use Tailwind’s Instagram scheduling feature, which also shows you the best times for posting. 

4. Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the retail industry?Think about your target demographic—based on their behavior, what would be the best way and the most ideal time to engage with them? 

Media & Entertainment

Social media has turned into such a prominent outlet for the media and entertainment industry, that it’s now more vital than ever to find the best time to post on Instagram to stand out and appear on user’s feeds. 

  • Best time to post on Instagram: Friday morning (9 am)
  • Best Engagement: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during work hours (8-5 pm)
  • Lowest Engagement: Saturday and Sunday – Most people have these days off from work, are more present in real life activities and therefore not as active on social media
Instagram Engagement for Media Chart
best time to post on Instagram tips for media

Crystal Lee, Host and Producer for This is Series TV, gave tips on posting on Instagram for the media industry:

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry?I have found that the best times to post on Instagram is in the Mornings (specifically weekends) and mid to late evenings on weeknights. 

How did you figure that out?A/B testing similar content at different times.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics?Instagram analytics and Hootsuite. 

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the media industry?Know your audience and serve up content that they’ve followed you for. But don’t get too stale. Try out different types of content to learn which ones drive up engagement. Don’t be afraid to take risks, you can always archive or delete a post if you regret it, but you never know – something you didn’t think would work might end up performing beyond your expectations!

Tips from Max Benz, Co-Found at Emojis:

Max Benz headshot

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry?

The best time to post on Instagram for the media and entertainment industry is between 9am and 10am. This is when most people are checking their phones and browsing Instagram. At least, that’s what we found out.

How did you figure that out?

We compared the performance of our Instagram posts and categorized them by publishing date. Also, we ran several A/B tests to figure out what’s the best publishing time.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics?

We’re mainly using Instagram analytics but also use the capabilities of Hootsuite which we’re also using for publishing our content on Instagram.

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the media industry?

Make sure to use high-quality images and videos.

Write interesting and catchy captions.

Experiment with different posting times and see what works best for you.

Andre Oentoro headshot

When I looked at the analytics, I found out that my Instagram posts have the highest engagement in the middle of the week (Thursday and Thursday). The time slots between 12 p.m to 1 p.m on lunch break– then between 2 p.m and 3 p.m. I think that makes sense since launch breaks are the perfect opportunity to refresh in the middle of a hectic day, so people tend to look for a slice of entertainment to fuel their motivation to power toward the end of the day. 
My go-to tip when it comes to engaging my followers in these periods of time is to provide them not only short, entertaining content but also content that is interactive. Instagram video content would be great. I often post trivia, quizzes, and games– which I found pretty effective in creating a deeper relationship with my followers and maintaining high engagement.” — Andre Oentoro, CEO & Founder of Breadnbeyond.

Instagram is constantly upgrading its platform with all kinds of things. When IGTV came out, we were pretty worried since it would mean most of the content would have to be video or animated. As a result, we’re not very active on Instagram since our main focus is usually on search engine traffic. We do upload occasionally and when we have the highest engagement, it was usually during lunchtime and evenings when the day is just ending. This is pretty usual since people are usually on their phones on their breaks and when they’re just winding down after a long day. 

The ultimate tips that I always stick to are abiding by Instagram’s community guidelines and consistency in posting. There are a lot of ways to upset Instagram’s algorithm and get shadowbanned. So, avoid spamming, updating too much, and posting inappropriate content. Instead, stick to a consistent publishing schedule, upload valuable content your audience will love, and don’t forget to show love to fellow Instagram users— a simple like and a few comments won’t hurt!” — Co-Founder of Milkwhale.

Ebnu Sudarso headshot
Natasha Rei headshot

Instagram is a great place for introducing new products to the audience. Ever since the Instagram Reels came out, we have been so eager to use the feature as we are producing short motion graphic videos. Reels help us connect with a bigger audience beyond our reach.

After using Reels for some time, we found out that posting Saturday and Sunday gives us the most engagement. Compared to the usual post on Instagram Feed, which we think has its best engagement around Wednesday – Thursday, Reels attract more people who want to enjoy the content at the weekend. 

My tip will be if you want to post short videos on Reels, do it on the weekend (Friday – Sunday). But, if you want to publish more traditional feeds, choose Wednesday – Thursday during lunchtime.” — Natasha Rei, Digital Marketing Manager of Explainerd.

Tech

Posting on Instagram for Tech can be difficult to gauge as global peak times on Instagram for this industry vary. To ensure Instagram engagement on tech posts make sure to focus on the below time frames. 

  • Ultimate Best Time: Wednesday morning at 6 am or 9 am
  • Best time to post on Instagram: Wednesday mid-morning from 10-11 am, Friday morning from 7-10 am and Saturday morning from 7-11 am. 
  • Worst Day: Sunday-Most people do not check social as often on the weekends in this industry.
Instagram Engagement for Tech Graph
Arne Stamer headshot

Tips on the best time to post from Arne Stamer, CEO at My Package Tracking:

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry?

The answer to this question depends on a few factors, including your target audience and the type of content you’re sharing. That said, we’ve found that the best time to post on Instagram for the tech industry is between 9am and 11am EST. This time frame allows you to reach both East Coast and West Coast audiences during their work.

How did you figure that out?

We figured this out by testing it and running A/B tests.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics?

We use both Instagram analytics and third-party analytics tools to track our performance. This allows us to see how our posts perform over time and make changes accordingly.

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the tech industry?

– Share behind-the-scenes content to give your followers a look at what goes into making your product or service.

Use hashtags to reach new audiences and promote your content.

– Share interesting stats, infographics, or data visualizations to show off your industry knowledge.

Non-Profit

Instagram is a wonderful addition to your overall social media strategy for nonprofits. Facebook is a great outlet to promote events while posting on Instagram is the best platform to complement your strategy. Keep reading to find the best time to post on Instagram for nonprofits. 

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  • Best time to post on Instagram: Wednesday at 2 pm 
  • Highest Engagement: Wednesday (1-4 pm)
  • Worst Days for Engagement: Saturday & Sundays
Instagram Engagement for Non-Profit Chart

Education

“Colleges and schools can use Instagram tools to build a presence online to promote their campus, experiences, and offerings to potential students and current happenings to inform those already enrolled.”

– @kicksta.co

*Interview from social media manager from Education

Students and faculty are more active later in the day, so the best time to post on Instagram for education is as follows:

  • Best time to post on Instagram: Friday mornings at 10 am 
  • Most Consistent Engagement: Wednesday through Saturday (10 am – 8 pm)
  • Highest Engagement: Wednesday & Friday mid morning and Saturday nights (6 pm – 8 pm)
  • Worst Days for Engagement: Sunday due to the lack of activity on Instagram on this day.
Instagram Engagement for Education Chart

Healthcare 

Social Media isn’t a high priority for many healthcare practices. Although this is the case, due to a large number of users on the platform in general, posting on Instagram is still important and worth improving on for those in the healthcare space. Sprout Social’s research concluded the following for the best time to post on Instagram for healthcare. 

  • Best time to post on Instagram: Tuesday at 8 am 
  • Most Consistent Engagement: Weekdays from 9 am to 3 pm 
  • Worst Days for Engagement: Saturday & Sundays have minimal engagement in most industries
Instagram Engagement for Healthcare Chart
best time to post on Instagram tips for health care

Julia Eze from The Nurse link provided tips on posting on Instagram for the health care industry:

The Nurse Link connects current, future and aspiring nurses for mentorship, networking and empowerment. @thenurselink 

What is the best time to post for your industry? – We’ve found that the best time to post on Instagram for the nursing industry is in the morning between 7-9 am.

How did you figure that out?We discovered the best post times through trial and error as well as employing commonly known industry knowledge about nurses and student’s behavior and schedules. Nurses and healthcare professionals generally work long shifts that begin fairly early. In addition, nursing students have long days that begin as early as 5am in preparation for clinical and class.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics? – At this time we only use IG analytics as we’ve found them to be fairly comprehensive and insightful.

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the healthcare industry?The more content the better, so posting multiple times a day can be extremely helpful for inciting growth and helps engage your audience no matter the time zone. When possible avoid stringent medical jargon as it can be a social media buzz kill. Medical professional like to laugh and socialize too!

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Professional Services

Professional social media services generally post educational content with links to videos, blogs and other platforms. The initial post spikes Instagram followers’ interest then leads them to other forms of content. According to howsociable.com the best time to post on Instagram for professional services is in the early morning because statistics show people prefer consuming this content first thing in the morning. 

  • Best time to post on Instagram: Anyday between 9 am and 10 pm
  • Best Days: Weekdays specifically Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
  • Worst Days for Engagement: Saturday & Sundays- Most people do not want to be educated on the weekends.
posting on Instagram for the professional service industry tip

Spencer X Smith, Founder of AmpliPhi Social Media Strategies provided us with some great insight on posting on Instagram for the Professional Service industry:

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry?The industries we serve (banking, legal, financial services) find much, much more engagement on Instagram during the Monday – Friday work week than outside of it. It appears people in those industries pay the most attention to work-related posts then, and aren’t as interested during the weekend.

How did you figure that out?We figured this out by testing our hypothesis and validating the data based on Instagram business accounts we are running or analyzing for clients.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics?We like Instagram analytics themselves, and also use SocialInsider to benchmark our clients vs. competitors.

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for Professional Service industry?Focus on highlighting the people at your organization on Instagram. A great photo (headshot, person working in their office environment, etc.) along with a brief story about her/him and what she/he does adds a human-interest element to Instagram posts that your followers will really enjoy. We see much higher engagement on posts highlighting people that those that don’t.

As with all marketing channels, the key to mastery is knowing your audience. When it comes to Instagram specifically, the best time to post should be based on the action you want your audience to take. For example, most people make financial decisions early in the day (when they’re fully alert), so fintech companies should post before 3pm. When it comes to more spontaneous travel decisions, though, we make those later at night, so travel Instagrammers should post after 7pm.

As someone who straddles both the finance and the travel worlds, I know that making this change alone can have an enormous impact on your engagement, and as a result, your bottom line.” — Jordan Bishop, Found of Yore Oyster

Jordan Bishop headshot

Food & Beverage

Instagram followers obviously love seeing pictures of a delicious meal. It doesn’t take fancy Instagram tools to determine people are likely to engage with food pictures during lunchtime. Most professionals take a break during the middle of the day, so it’s likely engagement will spike during this period of the day. If you’re in the food and beverage space keep scrolling to find the best time to post on Instagram. 

  • Best time to post on Instagram: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 
  • Best Hours: Noon- Most people check their phones around lunch time
  • Most Engaging Day: Friday kicks off the weekend and plans for reservations spike
  • Worst Days for Engagement: Saturday & Sundays
strategy for posting times for the food and beverage industry

Here’s what Natalie Migilarini from Beautiful Booze Cocktails had to say about posting times for the Food & Beverage Industry:

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry? – Following analytics and copious amounts of research, our team has found that the best time to post on Instagram is around 12 pm in whatever city we are targeting has been ideal. If your target audience is New York City then we have found that 12 pm EST is the best, though if you’re targeting Los Angeles, 12 pm PST is the best time. As a global company we still primarily target New York as our primary audience no matter where we are, so while currently in Portugal, we are posting at 5 pm here. 

How did you figure that out? – Oops, I think I answered this in the previous question, however, I started by using the analytics on the Instagram platform. Once I had an idea of what time my audience was mostly online I did some more research to see the best times for different cities and noticed it was different. In the beginning, my audience was primarily in Seattle, though as I wanted to grow I saw that I needed to target the New York audience, which meant altering my posting time accordingly.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics? – We only use Instagram Analytics to measure response and check on alterations in our audience at the moment, however we are always looking for new tools to work with and see if there are additional advantages they may offer.

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the food & beverage industry? – We have built our business on a method of quality over quantity. Sometimes we will be creating content for days at a time, and in the end usually use around 75% of the content we actually created, as the other 25% isn’t up the standard we have set for ourselves. If you don’t have something great to share, it’s better for your brand image to not post that day. If you are a business we believe in the 80-20 method; this follows an old marketing technique, whereas 20% of the content you share can be pushy ad placement and business forward, and the other 80% of the time your content should be more engaging and fun. This keeps your clientele involved, makes them want to keep following you and putting up with the ads, in order to see the fun stuff.

Here’s what Lisa Benz, Co-Found at RemoteCanteen had to say about the best posting times for the industry:

Lisa Benz headshot

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry?

There is no definitive answer to this question, as the best time to post on Instagram for your industry may vary depending on your target audience and their location. However, as a general rule of thumb, you should aim to post during times when your target audience is most likely to be using Instagram.

In the US, the majority of Instagram users are active between 8pm and 11pm EST. So if your target audience is based in the US, you should aim to post during this time period.

However, if you’re targeting an international audience, you’ll need to take into account different time zones.

How did you figure that out?

We gathered the data from our own Instagram accounts. We analyzed the number of likes and comments each post received and then compared it to the time of day the post was published.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics?

By using a combination of Instagram analytics and third-party analytics tools, you can get a good understanding of when your target audience. For example, we’re using Supermetrics to enrich our Instagram reports.

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the food & beverage industry?

– Use attractive visuals: posts with visuals tend to perform better than those without.

– Use hashtags: using relevant hashtags can help you reach a wider audience.

– Use relevant geotags: tagging your posts with relevant geotags can help you reach a wider audience.

– Pay attention to your timing: experiment with different posting times and see what works best for you.

Travel & Tourism

Not everyone has the means or desire to travel, but that doesn’t mean they won’t interact with the content you’re posting on Instagram about the subject. According to studies, the most engagement with this niche occurs between 11am and 1pm closer to the weekend. Travel & Tourism agencies found the following for the best time to post on Instagram: 

  • Best time to post on Instagram: Fridays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays
  • Most Engaging: Between 11am & 1pm, and between 9am and 10am.
Instagram posting times for Travel

Here’s what Natalia Kalinowski, model and luxury traveler, had to say about Instagram posting times for Travel:

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry?There are no golden rules, with all the changes with Instagram it’s hard to say when it’s the best time to post on Instagram. It all depends on your Instagram audience, which countries your followers are from and working out the time difference. You don’t want to be posting content if the majority of your followers are sleeping.
However, I believe evenings work always best as everyone finishes work and sits on Instagram and the European markets are waking up to go to work or getting their coffee breaks for a quick Insta stroll.

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How did you figure that out?Trial and error. Posting at different times of the day and looking at the stats.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics?No. Ive only relied on my own personal Instagram analytics, as I said before there’s no actual rule and it’s all dependent on your followers and working out what they interact best with.

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the travel industry?Tips I believe help out with Instagram for any post and especially travel industry posts, would be hashtags. Hashtags relating to the image or place you are staying at, so other followers can view your posts according to the hashtags.

second tip for travel industry posting times

Tips from Travel Blogger Stephanie Parker from Big World Small Pockets:

What is the best time to post on Instagram for your industry? I’ve found the most engagement from posting at 5pm GMT.

How did you figure that out? I used Instagram analytics and personal A/B testing to discover the optimum time to post.

Do you use any third-party analytics tools or just Instagram analytics? Nope! Instagram analytics.

Do you have any tips for the readers for posting on Instagram for the travel industry? Engage, engage, engage! Use the app as much as you can!

Tip from Chermaine Chee, digital strategist at Truly Experiences, a worldwide provider of luxury experiences:

“If you’re posting on a weekday, Mondays and Thursdays are your best bet. If you’re looking for the most engagement, the best time to post is Monday mornings or Thursday evenings between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m., when people have just come off of work and they have that “I deserve ice cream!” feeling in their bones.

However, if you want more followers across a range of demographics in a long-term plan for growth in your following, the best thing to do is post during weekends soon after lunchtime on Saturday or Sunday afternoon—otherwise known as “prime snacking time.” 

Best Time To Post Instagram Content

best time to post instagram content infographic by kicksta

Best Time To Post Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels are incredibly popular, especially right now. People are loving the short video format, and they’re spending more time watching videos because it’s very easy to consume. But, just because it’s easy to consume doesn’t mean it’s easy to create. In fact, creating Reels can take a significant amount of time. If you’re going to invest time into creating a piece of content, you want to make it worthwhile when it comes to posting it so it’s well-received.

As with any type of Instagram content, the best time to post will vary for your individual page and will likely take some trial and error to see what works best for your followers. However, here are some guidelines you can follow to help you get started.

Instagram reels post of @beautifuldestionations

On Mondays, you want to post at 6 am, 10 am, or 10 pm. Tuesdays you should post at 2 am, 4 am or 9 am. Wednesdays try 7am, 8am or 11pm.

On Thursdays post at 9am, 12pm or 7pm. Close out the work week on Fridays by posting at 5am, 1pm or 3pm.

On the weekends, try 11am, 7pm and 8pm on Saturdays or 7am, 8am or 4pm on Sundays.

Most importantly, though, make sure you’re creating engaging Reels that your audience wants to see. Even if you post at the best possible time if your content isn’t interesting to your followers it won’t get high views and engagement. Do your research so you know that what you’re creating is worthwhile.

Best Time To Post Instagram Videos

Instagram is great because it has so many different types of content you can create. However, trying to create all of those different types of content is time-consuming. Video content, especially, can be an involved creation process, so you want to time your launch well in order to get the best possible engagement rate.

Instagram videos, even when posted in your feed tend to perform better at different times from static posts. Video posts tend to do better when posted in the evenings. Videos are exciting and fun to watch, but they take a lot of time, so people often save them until they have more time to watch in the evenings or at night. This way they can enjoy their videos. Also, if someone is scrolling on Instagram at work during the day, they likely won’t be able to have their volume turned on. Instead, at night they can enjoy their videos full-volume.

instagram video post of @dynamicfb

If you really want to post your Instagram video during the day, do so between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., when most people are on their lunch break. This will give it a good chance of performing fairly well. Otherwise, after 7 p.m. is probably your best bet.

Best Time To Post Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are incredibly popular, and if you aren’t already using them, you should add them to your Instagram marketing plan. The best part about Stories, though, is that there isn’t really a “best time.” You can (and should) just post as you see fit! If you really want to stick to a time, post during the day – from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, many people see high engagement.

Zendaya's instagram stories post about emmy's awards

The most important thing to remember when posting Stories is not to post too many. They last for 24 hours, so if you post a lot in the afternoon one day, you won’t want to post too many the next morning, otherwise you could burn out your audience.

Best Time To Go Live On Instagram

Another great way to engage with your audience through Instagram is by going live. You can engage in real, in-the-moment conversation with your audience. You can do Q&As. You can even invite someone to join you on your live. However, because it’s live, you really want to make sure you’re choosing a time that’s good for your audience so they can join you.

instagram live announcement

Again, because many people work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., you’ll want to work around that schedule. One of the best times to go live is between noon and 1 p.m. during the work week. Take advantage of people’s lunch breaks and give them something to watch. Or, plan for the late evening, between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., after the commute home and dinner is done. 

Best Time To Post On IGTV

IGTV is Instagram’s long-form video section. Create your own mini-TV shows and share valuable and entertaining content with your audience. Like all the other types of video we’ve talked about, IGTVs can take a lot of effort and energy to create. So, plan your launch for the best possible time. No matter when you decide to launch your video, make sure you tease it out ahead of time. This is the best way to get your audience excited and ready to watch.

vox igtv post on ukraine

When it comes to actual times, hump day is your best bet. Wednesday night at 8 p.m. is the best time to post an IGTV video. If Wednesdays aren’t your favorite, choose another weeknight, Monday through Thursday, between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Instagram users like to use their evenings to relax and unwind.

How to Find the Best Time to Post on Instagram Through Personal Experimentation 

Use A Business Account & Insights

One of the many benefits of having an Instagram business account is the ability to use insights to see when your audience is most active. These Instagram tools will showcase when your Instagram followers are most active so you can tailor posting times accordingly. Posting at these times will maximize reach and engagement thus helping you gain more Instagram followers. 

Insights give you incredible information about your Instagram followers: you can see where they are located, gender, age, and when they are most active on the app.”

– @kicksta.co

As mentioned before to access Insights you will need an Instagram business profile or Instagram creator profile. The major benefit of switching to a creator profile is gaining access to the Instagram Creator studio dashboard. The Instagram tools on this dashboard include additional audience insights, like advanced data for when your followers are online. 

When you have access to Insights, you can see all sorts of things: follower location, demographics, and times when they’re most active. You can also see what posts your followers are engaging with the most. This can help you determine what content is most interesting to them, so you can create more content like that and increase your engagement even more.

At the end of the day, your followers are unique, and depending on where they are in the world, their lifestyles and their schedules, they may or may not match up with the best practices about posting time that you’ll find through your research. The best way to really find the best time to post is through personal experimentation. Do your research to see when your specific audience is most active. Check to see where in the world they’re located and what their time zone is. 

Try posting similar content at a variety of different times to see what works best and what time gets the most engagement. Remember to post similar content, though, because if you post a comedic Reel and a sales-focused static image post, you’re going to get very different engagement no matter what time of day you post.

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Know How The Algorithm Works

There’s one additional piece to this you should remember – the Instagram algorithm. If you don’t already know how the algorithm works, here’s a brief rundown for you. When you publish a post, Instagram is already watching it. The algorithm will share it with a percentage of your followers. Then, if the algorithm likes what it’s seeing in terms of engagement, it will push it out to more of your followers. Again, if you get good engagement there, it will push it out to even more people. This pattern continues until hopefully, your post lands on the Instagram explore page! 

You can see, though, how important your initial views and engagement are. If people don’t engage with your post right away, Instagram will assume it’s not a very valuable post, and it won’t bother showing it to other people. So, if you post in the middle of the night or at a time of day when the majority of your followers aren’t active, there won’t be that initial hit of engagement, so Instagram won’t understand the value and worth of your post.

instagram creators post about instagram algorithm

Day Of The Week

This should sound like the previous two sections, write about each one and why they can be helpful in finding out the unique best time to post

For whatever reason, maybe your audience doesn’t like to use Instagram on Thursdays. Maybe that’s a very busy day for them, so they tend to stay off their phones. Or maybe your audience is full of people who like to unplug on Saturday or Sunday and leave their phones turned off. No matter what, just because best practices say that a particular group could or should engage with your posts on a certain day, you won’t know until you try. 

So, test out posting similar content each day of the week, and see which one gets the best engagement. It’s important that you post similar content so that you aren’t testing a Reel versus a static feed post. And, you want the actual image type and caption to be similar, too, as a post about the brand’s founder’s family might perform very differently from an educational post, even if they were posted at the exact same day and at the same time.

Know Your Specific Audience

Your audience is unique. No other brand has the exact same audience as you. So, you should get to know them as much as you can. This trial and error will help you find out what your audience likes and what they don’t engage with as much. You can use this information in your favor. For instance, if you know you’re going to have to post during a time you don’t usually get much engagement, post one of your most popular types of content.

Let’s say you’re traveling and you have to post at an “off” time because you don’t want to schedule posts for some reason. If you know that your audience loves to engage with your posts about the company dog, use one of those posts. People might find it later and be excited to engage with it, whereas they might just glance over a post about one of your products on an off time.

Work Breaktimes

As you experiment with different times of day, you’ll likely figure out when your audience is on their work breaks. This will vary, depending on what industry they’re in, among other factors. You might even discover that they’re active at different times on different days, meaning that their break times likely shift.

At the end of the day, experimentation is going to be one of the best ways to accurately find the best times to post for your particular audience. So, get ready to do some trial and error, and try to have fun with it. It’s like you’re trying to solve a puzzle, collecting clues and data along the way.

Post On Your Audience’s Time Zone

This might sound too obvious, but we need to mention this. When you’re thinking about the best time to post, make sure you’re thinking about it in regard to your audience’s time zone, not necessarily yours. If it’s the same, great, but if the majority of your audience is located in another time zone, be conscious of that.

If your audience is split between multiple time zones, vary when you post. Some days post for one particular time zone, and other days you should post more for the other time zone. The whole goal of finding the best time to post is to get strong engagement from your audience, so try to make it as easy for them as possible by posting while they’re awake.

Frequency Of Posting

How often you’re posting can also make a difference on how your engagement rate looks. If you’re posting too frequently, your audience might get bored of your content. If you aren’t posting often enough, they might forget about your brand and scroll past your content when you do decide to post. As we mentioned earlier, the great thing about Instagram is that there are so many different kinds of content you can create. Try to post Stories every day, or at least Monday thorough Friday. Post a few feed posts each week, as well as at least three Reels. IGTV can be once a week or once every two weeks. Try to go live once per week, if your audience is ready for that. 

If your engagement starts to drop, try mixing up your posting frequently. Even better, try asking your audience what they think about your posting frequency, and if they’d rather see posts from you more or less often. And, this is a great time to ask them what kind of content they want to see from you. That insight is always good to gather.

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You Now Know The Best Time To Post, But Do You Know The Best Growth Method?

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Not down to experiment with Instagram posting times for yourself? Don’t have the time to carefully monitor your Instagram engagement, check insights and figure out the best time to post on Instagram? We get it. That’s why popular scheduling tools to take the guesswork out of it and show you the best time to post on Instagram specific to your account.  

Later

Finding the best time to post on Instagram can be a chore. Engagement and reach seem to be declining daily, so the pressure of finding the best Instagram posting times and optimizing your content is more important than ever. Like we’ve mentioned above, every account has a unique audience, so finding the best time to post to engage with your Instagram followers was a huge challenge…until now. 

Later offers a feature called “Best Time to Post” which, as the name alludes, highlights the best time to post on Instagram for your account specifically. Later automatically calculates the top times that your Instagram followers are active, and when you should schedule for maximum engagement. To use Later to find the best time to post on Instagram, you’ll have to upgrade to one of Later’s business plans which also includes unlimited posts and more starting at $16/month. 

Sprout

Sprout has their own data science team that constantly gathers information from customers. They collected the information above about the best time to post on Instagram and like Later, Sprout Social, shows you the optimal time for your posts. 

Sprout Social is unique in its ability to not only show you the best times for posting on Instagram for your account but also can schedule and auto-post your content too. Joel Booth, a Senior Data Scientist at Sprout explained, “The algorithm can look at more messages, more engagements and more factors over a far wider range of time than a person to pinpoint those ideal times to send a message and how those times change week to week.”

Sprout’s offerings give your account the best opportunity to shine and engage with your Instagram followers. 

SocialBee

If you’re looking for a smart and affordable tool to put all your social media feeds on autopilot, SocialBee might be it. This tool enables its users to share content across multiple channels, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google My Business. The best part is that you can customize the posts to match each network’s requirements – giving your content a better chance to perform as well as possible. 


On top of that, SocialBee can help its users share a solid mix of content thanks to the Content Categories, recycle evergreen posts/ expire time-sensitive content, set up a posting schedule for all your profiles, and see a preview of your post in real-time as you edit it. One of their best addition so far is the Canva integration that allows you to design right inside SocialBee. 


If all of this sounds intriguing to you, they even have a 14-day free trial for you to test out all of their features. 

Planable

Featuring an intuitive, “what you see is what you get” design, Planable lets social media marketers coordinate large-scale Instagram marketing campaigns and view their content exactly as it would appear on the feed. Finding the best time to post on Instagram can be challenging, so Planable allows users to schedule their Instagram content with little to no hassle. With Planable’s calendar view, users get a bird’s-eye view of their Instagram campaigns and can plan content around the timeframes they know followers are at their most engaged and active. 

Planning content is as simple as dragging and dropping posts in the relevant time slots. If a piece of content needs a little tweaking or an outright revamp, they can do so from the same place. Planable also offers a multi-level approval system that ensures that no content goes live without being approved by the relevant parties.

Along with Instagram, Planable supports the same scheduling and approval features across multiple social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google My Business, YouTube, and TikTok

Best Time To Post On Instagram: Frequently Asked Questions

Why are my Instagram likes so low?


If you aren’t getting many likes on Instagram, try posting a different style of content (like Reels or video instead of image posts), and try posting at a different time. The algorithm wants you to get likes right away, so make sure you’re posting when your audience is active.

Should I post 2 Reels a day?


You don’t need to post multiple Reels in one day. The sweet spot tends to be around four to seven Reels per week, which comes out to up to one Reel per day.

How many times should I post on Instagram?


A good rule of thumb is to post a feed post no more than once per day. If you have lots to share, though, and want to post more frequently, you can do so on Instagram Stories.

Social Media Success

While the quality of your content is certainly a crucial aspect of being successful on social media, with the addition to the algorithm, timing is the most decisive factor to whether your post is going to be successful or not. So now that you know the best time to post content according to your industry, make sure to have an essential editing app ready to spruce up those images or clips. We like Instasize for its versatility and trendy editing features.  

Now that you’ve read our master guide to finding the best time to post on Instagram, it’s time to learn how to get more Instagram followers and grow your account.

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You Now Know The Best Time To Post, But Do You Know The Best Growth Method?

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25 Comments

  • I never knew that timing of the post would make such a difference. Useful insight

    • Samantha Hackett says:

      Yes timing is very important for social media growth. We are glad that you were able to learn something new from our blog!

  • Sam Hackett says:

    We definitely agree! Thanks for reading our article :)

  • Zaabu says:

    Imagine all along i have been posting anyhow. Thank Sam i have learned the best times and i have already tested all these timing before commenting.

    • Sam Hackett says:

      Thanks for your comment! We are happy to hear that these posting times are boosting engagement on your content.

  • Donna says:

    Useful insight.

  • Satakshi says:

    Hey I’m from India
    Sometimes I get 5k views on my reel and some time only 800
    I don’t know where I’m going wrong
    Can you tell me best times to post According to india

    • Kicksta says:

      Hi there! We suggest taking a look at your Instagram analytics for that account for the best posting times. Make sure your account is a business account to see the analytics.

  • Chhavi says:

    Thank you ❤️
    It is very helpful for us 🤩
    Keep posting such information 👍

    • Kicksta says:

      Hi! We’re so glad that we were able to help. Thanks for staying updated with our blogs, we hope you’ll find our other blogs helpful as well.

  • Ritik says:

    Social Media Tools Management may additionally appear easy. But, entrepreneurs and brands understand there’s a lot greater to social media content advent and enhancing than meets the attention, mainly in nowadays’s social media panorama. From choosing the best picture to representing your factor of view to growing the right Twitter hashtag to creating a video for TikTok, right here are some awesome content material creation equipment to help you alongside the way..

  • Manish says:

    nice

  • Talak says:

    Thanks for sharing such a power tips and idea for I.G to make more reach.
    Can you make more related to that.

    • Kicksta says:

      Thanks for your feedback! We are releasing new blogs each week relating to Instagram growth, make sure to stay tuned!

  • Kevin says:

    I got good info from your blog, a Great lineup. We will be linking to this great article on our site. Keep up the good writing.

    • Kicksta says:

      Hi Kevin,

      We appreciate you linking to our content! We hope you continue finding the rest of our blogs just as informative.

  • David says:

    Thanks for sharing such a helpful article with us. I was very unsure about posting on Instagram. After reading your articles, I have cleared this topic a lot. Thanks for sharing such an article. In fact, it is possible to grow an Instagram account by posting at these times.

  • David Parker says:

    Thanks for sharing such a helpful article with us. I was very unsure about posting on Instagram. After reading your articles, I have cleared this topic a lot. Thanks for sharing such an article. In fact, it is possible to grow an Instagram account by posting at these times.

  • This is a really helpful and working guide about Posting on Instagram for the best results.

  • Gerald Eseru says:

    very perfect article thanks for sharing it with us.

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