Did you know that the time and day you share content on Instagram has a lot of impact on reach? Of course, you want as many users as possible to see your content, otherwise it’s a waste. Although the quality of your post plays a big role, you can certainly influence this as well by posting at the right time. In this blog, we delve deeper into the best time to post on Instagram, from Monday to Sunday.
Why is the time you post content important?
The moment you post something on Instagram, the Instagram algorithm only shows your post to 10% of your followers. Based on what these followers do; ignore, like or respond, your post is ranked. If you get a lot of interaction on your post right away, you are more likely to appear at the top of others’ timelines. This gives you quite an advantage, the higher you appear in the timeline, the more likely others will see your post as well.
Although this interaction is largely in line with the quality of the post itself, the time you post your content is also an important factor. If your target audience is not online, they will not be part of this 10% either. Instead, a group less interested in your content (but following you) gets to see it. Chances are they won’t do much with the post, which means your post won’t be as well viewed and shared.
High time, then, to research the best time to post on Instagram. We will discuss these in 3 ways; from others’ research, from Instagram Analytics and by doing your own research.
Best time to post Instagram
There are an awful lot of articles online about what is the best time to post on Instagram. To make things a little easier for everyone, because let’s face it; growing on Instagram in 2023 is already tough, we’ve created a super handy overview for you. We go down each day of the week and name the best times.
Monday
After the weekend, most people need some startup time. In addition, Monday morning is a busy work morning for many, so it is better not to post in the morning. Therefore, it is best to post an Instagram post on Mondays at noon. Is this less convenient for you? Then choose 6 p.m. in the evening.
Tuesday
Also on Tuesday, it is best not to post in the morning and wait until 12:00 in the afternoon. The reason this time is so popular is because many users have breaks from work. Would you like to post in the evening? Then choose Tuesdays before 7 p.m.
Wednesday
Would you like to share content on Instagram on Wednesdays? Then be sure to choose evening hours, peaking at 7 p.m. What is striking is that when you post on Wednesday night, it still gives a lot of reach for a long time. This is probably because fewer accounts post on Wednesdays.
Thursday
Thursday works the same as Tuesday. Post at 12:00 noon or 7:00 pm for the most interaction on your content.
Friday
Friday is the best day to post anything on Instagram. Do this mainly as late afternoon, around 3:00 or 4:00 pm. Many people are on Instagram a lot around this time and have already started the weekend in their minds.
Saturday
On Saturday, the weekend officially started. This means that on this day you can post just fine at 10:00. Otherwise, do it late afternoon, around 4 p.m. On the other hand, it is better not to post in the evening, since that is when many people have an activity scheduled.
Sunday
On Sunday, many people like to sleep in, so don’t post content before 1:00 and focus mainly on the 16:00, just like on Saturday. Would you still like to post something in the evening? Then choose 6 p.m., since many people go to bed in time for the start of the week.
Stop! Don’t forget this!
Although it is easy to adopt the above times directly, this is still not something we recommend. Thus, the times are not specified to your target audience, but on average. Who knows, maybe your target market demands very different times. When you are dealing with students, they will not be in the office from 9 to 5, and therefore will not be stuck with the 12-hour lunch break.
The best time to post according to Instagram Analytics
Are you looking for the best time to post on Instagram for your account? Then be sure to take advantage of Instagram Analytics. This is a free tool that business accounts can use to find out a lot of valuable information.
Indeed, on Instagram Analytics you will find:
- Learn more about your followers: view simple demographic groups such as gender, age and location as well as most active times.
- How many followers you have: followers are people who don’t follow you but view your content.
- An overview of the engagement of your posts: get more insight about the performance of posts.
- An overview of your stories’ engagement: get more insight about the performance of stories.
- Click-through rates: see how often someone clicks on the link you have in your bio.
- Post times:
Although at first it may not all seem like interesting information for your post times, it is! First, you can take the most active times from the follower information as a big hint. In fact, this information tells you exactly when your followers are active on the Instagram app. You can take this into account when creating a post schedule.
But you can also put the other information to good use, for example, if you see that currently the posts you posted in the evening have provided the most engagement, we would definitely keep it that way! The same goes for the stories, by the way.
The best time to post through your own research
You can also choose to do your own research when looking for the best time to post on Instagram. This does require some extra work and thinking, but this is certainly the most reliable option in the long run.
Because Instagram Analytics only works with data from your followers, this may mean that this is not representative information. After all, maybe your current audience is different from the followers you have now. For this reason, it is always good (should you have time for this) to use the method below.
Who is your audience and where are they located?
First, put down for yourself who is currently your ideal target audience; who are they, how old are they and what do they do every day? In addition, look around you. Maybe you know people who are in your target audience? Ask them when they are on Instagram the most. This way, you can find for yourself the times when your target audience is often online, and thus what are ideal posting times for you.
For example, if you find out that in addition to Dutch people, you already have many followers from America (because you create English content, for example) then it is useful to post at times when they too are awake. You can very easily check this by looking up the time in America online (note, America is big and even within this country there are time differences) and find a nice average between the Netherlands and America.
An Excel sheet
Next, the idea is to test these times. Create an Excel sheet where you can easily gather information and add the following information to it each time you post:
- The day of upload;
- the time of upload;
- The type of content (video or photo);
- How many likes the post has generated after 24 hours;
- How many responses the post has generated after 24 hours;
Do this for about 50 posts, and then already make up an average for each day. This way you can see if the interaction on these posts is already improving, or if you need to look further for better post times.
Helpful tip from us: just because these times work well for now does not mean they will still do so a year from now. Always keep an eye on your days and times and be flexible where necessary.
Posting at specific times is just one way to grow on Instagram. In fact, many other factors play into whether your content is actually seen by followers. Therefore, also be critical of the quality of your content, does it actually appeal to your target audience?
Want to know how the Instagram algorithm determines this? Then read this blog where we explain to you more about the different factors the algorithm takes into account and grow your account with our secret tools!
