The Best Time To Post On Instagram [Update September 2024]

Imagine that you have an eCommerce store selling clothes and accessories and have just shot a beautiful photo of your latest products. When are the best times to post it on Instagram to secure a higher engagement rate?

Instagram’s algorithm puts a set of criteria such as recency, interest, and interaction into motion to “decide” which content to boost, which is hard to control. Here, we’ve collected valuable info about the best days to post based on industry and type of content to help you out.

Finally, we’ll share some tips on determining the optimal times to draw your Instagram followers’ attention. Let’s begin this meaningful scroll-down!

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Best Times To Post On Instagram: Days Of The Week

Unfortunately, there is no magical recipe for the ideal time to share Instagram posts. And when operating at different time zones, things can become even more tricky to handle.

Thankfully, certain businesses in the social media management industry have done their research to bridge that gap and give you some great starting points for your posting schedule. Let’s compare four different sources:

1. Sprout Social

First off, let’s see a heatmap by Sprout Social demonstrating Instagram global engagement.

Here’s what we discovered based on the graph:

Best day: Tuesday

Worst day: Sunday

Best time of day: 11 am

Weekdays are more popular for successful Instagram posting, with a peak around midday. After users have completed their first morning tasks, they use their Instagram accounts to pass the time during their lunch break. As for the best day, Tuesday seems to win the race!

Even though weekends are for chilling out, engagement drops as people make more room for leisure activities, leaving their social media temporarily on hold. But as you’ll find out later on, there is no consensus on this matter.

2. Later

And off to Later, we go! After analyzing over 35M posts (excluding reels and IGTV posts), they found some contradictory results compared with the previous source, favoring weekends this time. In brief, here’s what they found:

Best day: Sunday

Worst day: Wednesday

Best time of day: 3-6 am

So, according to Later, it’s best to schedule Instagram posts when the competition is at its lowest to avoid getting lost in the clutter. Hopefully, when your followers wake up, they’ll run into your post and remember it for the rest of the day.

Moreover, based on their findings, you can get into the flow of the weekend’s relaxed spirit with your beautiful posts and draw your follower’s attention. Finally, Later collected data about the best posting time based on your time zone.

3. Hootsuite

What does Hootsuite have to say about all this? Let’s dive into their data that overlap with those by Sprout Social to some extent:

Best day: Wednesday

Best time of the day: 8 am to 12 pm PST and 4-5 pm PST

Here, we observe higher engagement amidst the workweek again. According to this social media marketing business, you can start posting early in the morning up to midday and then after the workday ends for maximum results.

4. ExpertVoice

And finally, we’ll present some data by ExpertVoice, to clear things out a bit more:

Best day: Wednesday

Worst day: Monday

Best time of the day: 5 am, 11 am & 3 pm

At ExpertVoice they also agree that Wednesday is the best day to promote your business account. Top timeslots range from early in the morning to 3 pm.

Did we confuse you? We hope not! Instead, use this more like a compass to experiment with different timeslots until you find what works for you and optimize your Instagram marketing strategy accordingly.

5. Hopper HQ

After analyzing tens of millions of posts across 70+ countries, Hopper HQ found that the average best time to post depends on the day:

Monday to Friday
7am – 9am (morning commute)
12pm – 2pm (lunch hours)
5pm – 6pm (end of the workday)
9pm – 11pm (bedtime scrolling)

Saturday & Sunday
9am – 11am
2pm – 5pm

The average best times to post listed above are a great place to start, but those times may vary based on your followers, their time zones, and locations.

The Hopper HQ analytics tool works out the best time to post on Instagram for you and your audience based on your unique follower activity and post engagement.

Publishing your posts at the time when the majority of your followers are online and active increases the chance of more people seeing your post and thus giving you better reach and engagement.

Best Times To Post On Instagram For Different Industries

Are you looking for data that apply to your niche? In this section, we’ve gathered information about Instagram engagement for various industries from a dedicated survey by Sprout Social:

Retail

Promoting your goods on Instagram is not always a piece of cake, but those who’ve found the silver lining will ensure you that it’s worth trying. Influencer marketing can enable you to elevate this process and lead new and existing customers to your checkout page.

Here’s a pro tip by our Digital Marketing Manager at Moosend, Zina Panagopoulou:

“If you’re a B2C business, consider promoting your products near paydays. This way you’ll get in front of your customers when they’re most willing to spend.”

Interested in attracting consumers in search of retail products? Here are some days and timeslots to kick off:

Best days and times: Wednesday at 3 pm and Friday between 11 am – 12 pm

Tech

More and more tech and software development organizations resort to Instagram to boost brand awareness and showcase their products/services to potential and current customers. This is also the case for other B2B brands that wish to nurture communications with their Instagram followers to benefit down the road.

If you find yourself in this scenario, here’s  another cheat sheet for you:

Best days and times: Monday 10-11 am and 8 pm., and Tuesday 12 pm

Non-Profit

Non-profit organizations need to establish a stable social media presence for a good cause. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that your posts reach your Instagram audience as much as possible by monitoring when engagement is at its peak.

Best days and times: Wednesday from 10 am to 6 pm

Media

Media brands rely significantly on their social media strategy to build a steady relationship with customers and followers. So when should they post to their Instagram feed to ensure consistent engagement and reap its benefits?

There seems to be a variety here, with many days on the table. Perhaps this is because of the nature of the content, covering mainly news:

Best days and times: Tuesday at 1 pm, Wednesday at 11 am, and Thursday at 8-9 am

Hospitality

How can hospitality brands use their Instagram business profile to update their customers and prospects on their latest news? Think about how beautiful images and videos can attract your audience, keep them coming back to you, and spread the word to their loved ones.

So which days work best for this industry?

Best days and times: Wednesday at 12 pm and Friday from 8 am to 12 pm

Travel & Tourism

Similarly, if you operate in the tourism or travel industry, you may want to make the most of this channel to boost brand awareness and bookings. You can even use it to provide potential customers with incentives such as giveaways and offers, combined with other practices such as email marketing.

Let’s see what Sprout Social suggested in this case:

Best days and times: Thursday at 7 am

Education

Even though education engagement has fewer peak times, it’s still worth posting Instagram content for your beloved followers. Always remember to tailor your content to your buyer personas for maximum results.

For example, if you lead a university’s marketing team, your content should appeal to teenagers and young adults while speaking to parents’ hearts, too.

Best days and times: Thursday at 2 pm and Friday at 4 am

Healthcare

And finally, let’s move to the healthcare sector. As a healthcare organization, it’s essential to promote your services on different channels to find people where they usually hang out.

OK, but when exactly should you do this?

Best days and times: Sunday 8 – 9 am, Monday at 9 am, 2 pm & 5 pm, and Tuesday 8-9 pm

But what happens with other types of Instagram content? Do these dates and time slots still apply? Let’s dive more into this in the next section.

Best Time To Post Reels On Instagram

Do you want to create fun, engaging, and snackable content for Instagram? Then you should opt for the so-called reels that are no more than 60 seconds. Instagram reels receive 22% higher engagement compared with regular videos.

So if you want to enhance your storytelling to get better results, consider adding them to your existing strategy. As for when to post them, you have plenty of options to choose from:

Best Time For Instagram Videos & IGTV

If you’re a fan of old-school videos and have figured out that they work perfectly for your audience, you’re probably wondering when to post them on your feed. If you want your audience to pay attention and watch them until the end, you should consider sharing them when they have plenty of free time.

In a nutshell, it’s best to post them early in the morning or in the late afternoon to ensure that your viewers will stay committed to it.

The same rule applies to IGTV. In this case, Wednesday around 8 pm seems to prevail in terms of expected engagement!

Best Time To Upload Instagram Stories

Instagram stories have become very popular over the years, enabling users to post content that lasts for 24 hours and then automatically disappears. Overall, businesses can experiment with different types of content on IG stories to see what attracts their viewers the most.

They can also share more casual posts and videos to establish a more authentic interaction with the audience. But is there a specific day and time to upload them to maximize your reach?

In this case, follow the global engagement stats shared at the beginning to post your stories at the day and time when most people are engaged. In short, workdays around midday would be a great start!

Best Time To Go Live On Instagram

Nothing beats the feeling of watching something happening in real-time. When your followers join an Instagram live, they can interact with you while being part of a joint. Many businesses bring guests to create more valuable content for their customers when they see fit, in the form of collabs.

Therefore, if you want to strengthen your bonding with them, you should go for it once in a while. To keep your viewers aboard, prefer to go live when they usually have free time so that they’re able to join, for example, in the afternoon when they’re usually done with work and other responsibilities.

How To Post On Instagram For Maximum Engagement

All this info can be beneficial for businesses that have just launched their Instagram strategy to increase their reach and engagement. But as you can tell, every business is unique, and so is its target audience.

So how can you determine your best time to post on Instagram? Join us to find out:

1. Monitor Instagram Insights

There’s no better way to find what works and needs improvement than tracking your Instagram analytics. Instagram Insights include important metrics showing specific patterns around your follower’s behavior.

So spot which posts your followers interacted the most with and start analyzing them. When did you make that post, and what does it portray? Is there a stable pattern to capitalize on in the future? Combine that data and see what it tells you for each of the content types you share, from images to stories, etc.

However, don’t hesitate to experiment with different content and posting times considering that better is the enemy of good. Consistency is vital, but occasionally breaking it can give you more creative output, resulting in a new significant trend.

2. Get To Know Your Target Audience

How well aware are you of your buyer personas and their average customer journey? Knowing your followers’ demographics, interests, and location can be game-changing for your go-to-market strategy.

To figure out when they’re most likely to scroll and engage with your Instagram content, imagine what their daily life looks like. Do they spend time commuting? Do they have children to care for? All this info is essential to understand your persona’s consumer habits and make the necessary adjustments to your posting schedule if needed.

Moreover, collect data about their Instagram behavior to see how it’s best to move on in the long run. How often do they log in to Instagram? What types of accounts do they follow and when is their engagement with them at its peak? All this valuable info will show you a clearer pathway to Instagram triumph.

Ready to build your customer map? Start with this simple sheet and find your way into your customers’ heads and hearts.

3. Create Compelling Instagram Content

If you want to stand out from the crowd on your customer’s Instagram feed, you should craft beautiful, relevant, and unique content. Why? Because competition is high and it takes just milliseconds to claim your followers’ attention.

Combine all the info shared earlier about your target audiences’ interests and behavior to determine which type of content would be more appealing to them. Once you decide, your top priority should be the quality of the image or video you post and the meaning it portrays. Dare to play with the filters to find what suits you best.

Moreover, you create branded content for your audience and even give them something to wait for. We do this consistently at Moosend through our Marketing lab episodes, giving valuable digital marketing tips to businesses, often in collaboration with other top brands.

Finally, enhance your post with perfect copy – emojis are always welcome! – to ensure that you get your customers on the same page with you.

4. Track your High Performing Competitors

You’d better watch what your competitors do if you want to stay relevant and up-to-date with your content. Apart from the explicit material they share, look at what their followers interact the most with.

Of course, it’s more important to track social media accounts with high popularity and engagement, but don’t hesitate to look at smaller accounts, as they may inspire you to do something different, innovative, and unique.

Lastly, drive inspiration from brands that are not direct competitors but belong in your niche market as your buyer personas might be similar or even the same as yours. Capitalize on them but remember to bring your authenticity to the table before your next post.

5. Pick A Social Media Platform

Social media scheduling tools and platforms can help you streamline your Instagram posting and save time from back and forths. Once you find the perfect day and time to upload your brand new posts, schedule them inside the platform and return to view how your organic and paid campaigns performed.

Here are some relevant tools to consider:

• Sprout Social
• Buffer
• Later
• SocialBee
• Hootsuite

Most of those tools give you access to analytics and reporting tools to better grasp the performance of your posts and ensure that your post scheduling is indeed effective.

Best Time To Post On Instagram FAQs

Are you ready for a quick round of frequently asked questions around our topic before the curtain falls? There you go!

1. When should I post on Instagram, in the morning or at night?

In most cases, it’s best to post in the morning or around midday. However, each business is unique. Monitor what works best for your audience and which timeframe is more suitable for you.

2. Should I post every day on Instagram?

Daily presence is essential to maximize your reach and build a stable interaction with your audience. So if you have the resources, certainly go for it. Three posts per day would be a maximum through to avoid wearing your followers out.

3. What is the worst time to post on Instagram?

Even though there is no real consensus on that, Sunday is not a very popular day for new posts based on the global engagement findings. Yet, some brands seem to favor this day, as people scroll more freely on weekends.

4. Is Monday a good day for Instagram posting?

Even though Monday is not the most popular day for Instagram engagement, it seems to work really well for businesses in the tech industry. For other sectors, even though it’s a rather slow day, engagement rises between 1 and 4 pm.