As you start to build an online presence for your business, you’ll soon realize just how powerful Instagram can be. A consistent Instagram presence will be invaluable in strengthening your brand and expanding your customer base. We used our Instagram to document our family of six’s journey across the United States in a renovated school bus and our story resonated with so many people! As you begin to find your feet on your business Instagram, you’re going to start wondering how to optimize your posts for maximum impact and engagement.

So you’re probably wondering - when is the best time to post on Instagram? It’s pretty simple: the best time to post on Instagram is when your followers are on the app and ready to engage with your content. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question because every audience is different.

Why is the best time to post on Instagram important?

Why is it so important to know the best time to post on Instagram? Isn’t getting content out in the first place the most important thing?

Yes and no. Posting regularly, no matter the time will be more effective to help you gain followers and promote your account rather than posting sporadically at the ‘perfect time’. You should absolutely emphasize creating relevant content and getting it out there with consistency.

But figuring out the best time to post on Instagram is important because it will affect how many people see your post. Instagram doesn’t automatically show your posts to every single one of your followers. It uses algorithms to organize everyone’s feed in order to show them the content they are most likely to interact with. This is determined according to a variety of factors, but a big one is the initial level of engagement a post gets.

How timing affects your post

Ever posted something amazing, only to be surprised by how few likes it got? It could be a timing issue! If I post on Instagram, the algorithm will put my post towards the top of some of my followers’ Instagram feeds. If people start to engage with the post – liking, clicking through to our profile, saving, and sharing – then the algorithm will continue to show it to more of my followers. If engagement is low, the post actually won’t show up to as many people.

So how do you find the best time to post on Instagram for you? There are a few steps that you can take.

How to find the best time to post on Instagram

A quick Google search will show you that there are all sorts of answers to this question online - each of them offering a prescription to help you post at the ‘best’ time. The thing is, many of them offer very different times!

The idea of some kind of magic bullet for optimizing Instagram is a tempting one – it would be so easy, right? The reality, though, is that it took us some trial and error to figure out how to ‘do’ Instagram in a way that worked for our business and our family. It’s going to be the same for you.

#1 Know Your Audience

Who is your audience? Instagram insights will help you break down basic categories for who is seeing your posts – age, gender, and location. But think beyond this: who is your business’s target customer?

You want to identify two things: 1) time zone and 2) rhythms of life.

Make sure that you are planning everything to the time zone that most of your audience is living in – and if you have a significant spread, plan to post content at several different times.

6 am is often cited as the best time to post on Instagram on weekdays because many people check their phones early in the morning when they are getting up for work. But is your target audience working a 9 to 5 job? For example, if you’re producing content for youth and young people, mid afternoon may be more effective because that’s when high schoolers are getting out of school.

The best time to post on Instagram is when your audience is already on their phones, so figure that out and start to craft a plan around those times. Make sure you include a few different time slots to start out with so that you can compare them to find which has done better.

#2 Analyze the Data

This is where the trial-and-error part comes in – after you’ve posted according to your plan for a month or two, it’s time to assess. Make sure you have a good few weeks of posting at the same time to ensure that no flukes are affecting the numbers. Look at the engagement data that Instagram business accounts have access to and notice trends – what time slots are doing well? What isn’t working?

You might want to try a new time to post to see if it does better going forward compared with the ones you’ve been using. You might scrap one of your time slots altogether – don’t be frustrated! This is exactly how you learn what the best time to post on Instagram is for your business.

#3 Use a Scheduling Service

Using a scheduling service to post automatically is a lifesaver when you’re trying to figure out the best time to post on Instagram! Services like Hootesuite and Buffer let you schedule your posts in advance so that you’re not panicking if your planned time slot passes you by and you’ve forgotten to post (it happens to us all!)

Most of these services have a free version that you can try out, but if you are planning to grow your business using Instagram, it’s worth it to upgrade to paid versions to get access to the analysis they offer. These services can help you determine the best time to post on Instagram by showing you more in-depth information on how your posts perform.

Final Thoughts

There might not be one single guaranteed best time to post on Instagram, but now you have a game plan to find the best time for your business. It will take a little research, but pretty soon you’ll have a schedule that gets your amazing content right to the audience who love it.

For more about how to win on Instagram, check out our post How to Find Your Instagram Niche and Grow Your Profile.

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