The Best Times to Post on Instagram in 2024
Timing is everything when it comes tosuccess on Instagram. With over 2 billion monthly active users scrolling through their feeds every day, standing out requires understanding your audience and posting when they are most likely to engage.
This comprehensive guide synthesizes up-to-date research from leading experts, revealing the best practices for timing your Instagram content in 2024. Follow these tips and watch your reach and engagement numbers rise.
Why Posting Time Matters
Posting at the right time allows your content to achieve maximum visibility and engagement. When you post affects factors like:
Reach: Posting when your followers are actively scrolling gives your content the best chance of appearing in their feeds.
Engagement: Catching users when they are free and in the mood to interact means more likes, comments, and shares.
Discovery: Popular posts get additional exposure in places like hashtags and the Explore page. Timely posting kickstarts this viral potential.
In the competitive Instagram landscape, small optimizations like timing can dramatically boost performance. Analyzing your audience behavior through Instagram Insights provides the data needed to inform an optimized posting approach.
General Recommendations: The Best Times to Post
While every account’s audience is different, extensive research reveals some best practices for timing content on Instagram in general:
Weekdays Are Better Than Weekends
Posting during the workweek, ideally Tuesday through Friday, tends to drive more engagement. Weekends often experience lulls as people focus more on activities offline.
Mornings Beat Afternoons and Evenings
8-9 AM tends to be the daily peak time for Instagram user activity. Late mornings and early afternoons also perform well. Evening posting is less ideal though some verticals can still engage audiences before bedtime.
Earlier in the Week Trumps Late Week
Tuesday-Thursday outperform Fridays through Mondays. Later weekend days suffer lower volumes as people shift attention away from virtual activities.
Consistency Sets You Up For Success
While peaking engagement windows exist, steady daily posting plays perhaps the biggest role in winning over the algorithm and your audience.
Apply these broad Instagram timing best practices as a baseline then customize using your audience insights. Next we’ll cover how ideal times vary across industries.
Best Times by Industry and Audience
While broad trends exist, ideal Instagram posting times differ significantly across industries. Understanding your audience’s unique habits is key to engagement:
Fitness
Early mornings, around 6-8 AM, cater to early risers looking for workout inspiration or tips before heading to the gym. Athletes also check Instagram prior to training. Similarly, during lunch hours, prospective clients may seek ideas for post-work workouts or healthy recipes.
Food & Restaurants
Around lunch and dinnertimes work best to attract hungry users browsing options or Recipe ideas. 11 AM-2 PM and the late afternoon, 5-7 PM, tend to perform exceptionally well for culinary content.
Fashion & Lifestyle
Aim for downtime gaps like morning and mid-afternoon coffee breaks on weekdays when shoppers casually browse. Evenings are also popular as people unwind before bed and aspire towards self-improvement.
Technology
Morning drive windows (8-9 AM) give commuters time to catch up on innovation and product releases. Lunchbreaks also work well along with early evenings (6-8 PM) for sharing tips, trends, and app recommendations.
Education
Digital learning spikes heavily on weekday mornings, especially 9-11 AM. Students check platforms and resources after settling into school while remote workers multi-task online professional development or skill-building.
Optimizing for Multiple Time Zones
Tailoring posting times for international audiences spanning time zones poses an added challenge. Here are some top tips to ensure your content engages followers regardless of their global position:
Prioritize regions where most of your audience is concentrated to maximize each post’s impact.
Rotate posting times on different days to reach early birds vs night owls in varying time zones.
Pay attention to differences across countries based on work schedules and data usage trends. Identify each area‘s prime scrolling hours.
Experiment with timing over 3-day intervals, observing performance among target regions, then refine based on insights.
Adapt images to locale and language besides time of day. Localization shows international markets you have them top of mind.
Remember, even if you post during asleep timezone, Instagram pros advise keeping content flowing regularly to satisfy the algorithm. Next let’s examine the unique case of Instagram Reels…
Best Times to Post Instagram Reels
As a visual entertainment and escapism channel, Reels follows slightly different rules—commuting times and lunchbreaks are big engagement drivers. Consider targeting:
Early Morning (7-9 AM) for distraction during tedious commutes
Late Morning (10 AM-12 PM) to provide a quick break from school or work
Afternoon (1-4 PM) for relief after lunch when energy may lag
Early Evening (5-8 PM) to stimulate audiences winding down post-work
Reels can demand more rapid testing of times given divergent audience patterns. Be sure to make good use of built-in Reels Insights to gauge viewing data like plays, likes, comments, saves, audience geography, etc.
Up next: putting it all together to build your tailored Instagram posting schedule.
Creating a Custom Posting Schedule
While general research provides an ideal starting point, analyzing your audience insights is the best way to determine personalized peak posting times. Here is a step-by-step process to define your own Instagram schedule:
Step 1: Check Instagram Insights
Instagram Insights surfaces data on your followers‘ online habits and content affinities. Start by viewing your “Followers” report to identify when your audience is most active on the platform.
Step 2: Document What Performs Best
Track your existing posts’ performance by time published across multiple weeks. Record your top times for engagement rates to spot positive trends.
Step 3: Test Different Times
Conduct A/B testing of posts published at different times and days to validate assumed peak times. Identify any outlier cases of non-peak content going viral.
Step 4: Nail Your Cadence
Solidify an ongoing posting schedule aligned to confirmed high visibility windows, balancing consistency with adaptability.
Step 5: Stay Agile!
Continuously assess analytics for shifts in consumption patterns, especially any impact from added followers or Instagram algorithm changes. Refine times accordingly.
While determining exact “perfect” timing on Instagram isn’t possible given many unpredictable factors in play, putting in the upfront work to understand and cater to your audience sets you up for ongoing improvement.
Now let’s turn to some additional pro tips for driving Instagram engagement.
7 Pro Tips to Improve Engagement
Complementing ideal posting times, a variety of best practices can boost Instagram performance:
1. Create High-Quality Shareable Content
Great content encourages engagement regardless of algorithm fluxes. Develop value-driven posts tailored to your audience.
2. Use Strategic Hashtags
Well-researched hashtags expand reach to interested users. Just be wary of over-tagging or using irrelevant tags.
3. Write Engaging Captions
Compelling captions spark meaningful connections through storytelling, humor, or calls-to-action.
4. Respond Rapidly to Comments
Reply quickly to show followers you care and are listening to their feedback.
5. Incorporate Interactive Elements
Prompt followers to tag friends, answer polls, share user-generated content submissions, etc.
6. Post Instagram Stories Regularly
Frequent storyposting keeps your brand top of mind while enabling more informal community interactions.
7. Maintain Consistency
Persistent posting trains followers to continually check for and anticipate your content.
Committing to these Instagram best practices builds positive momentum amplifying any scheduling strategies.
As a final tip, bookmark this post for easy reference or download our free Best Times to Post on Instagram Cheat Sheet to guide your daily content planning!
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions about timing your Instagram marketing efforts? Check out answers to some common Instagram posting schedule FAQs:
Is there a universal best time to post on Instagram?
No single time universally works best across all accounts. The combination of industry, audience, objectives, and content types means ideal timing differs for every business.
How often should I post on Instagram daily?
Experts typically recommend posting 1-2 times per day, allowing adequate time for community interactions between posts. Too-high frequencies can overwhelm audiences.
Do Instagram Stories also have peak posting times?
Yes, paying attention to best times for sharing Instagram Stories can increase views and responses. Generally consistency matters most.
Can I reuse my Instagram posting schedule on other social platforms?
Not necessarily. While some crossover times exist, every platform has unique user activity patterns. Separate testing is needed to confirm peak times on other social sites.
Should I adjust my posting times for Instagram algorithm updates?
Major Instagram algorithm shifts that heavily influence reach and engagement warrant reexamining your posting schedule. However, regularly analyzing performance means you can gradually adapt timings as patterns emerge.
If you still have questions about the best times to post on Instagram after reading this guide, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments below. Share your experiences around timing content too—we’d love to hear what works well for your brand!
