Best Time to Post Instagram in 2023 (For Each Scenario) //

Social media remains one of the most effective marketing channels. The competition is fierce and increasing on social media feeds. You have to take advantage of anything that will get your post seen on more screens.

One of the little tricks that will help you increase your visibility on Instagram and engage with customers is to know when to post.

Around 10,000 people have opinions about the best time to publish a blog post. There are only two steps to take:

1. Use the times recommended by respected studies to test your Instagram data before you get it.
2. Once you have gathered your Instagram data, you can adjust your posting schedule according to your audience’s preferences.

It’s tricky to find the latest studies on Instagram posting times, and then to know how to collect and react to your own data. We’ve made it easy for you by putting together this guide.

You’ll learn the best Instagram posting time based on multiple research studies. There are also explanations of the studies and ways to determine the best time for your business to post to Instagram.

What time should you post to Instagram?

Why?

Social media platforms want to share new content, even though they are not strictly chronological. You’ll get more likes, comments, and shares if you post at the same time that your audience is scrolling.

The algorithm can even give your post a boost with early engagement. Instagram likes to feature popular posts. If you get a few comments in the first hour of posting, your post is more likely to appear on the feeds for the rest of the day.

You need to produce good content which is suited for your audience. The best social media posting schedule is not as important as quality and relevance.

The 4 best studies on the best time to Instagram post

Here’s a good place to begin if you are ready to post and need some guidance.

The data was taken from various recent studies, and we arranged it in a convenient graph. Try posting at these times to see what works best for you and your audience.

Here are the studies that we used to create our TLDR chart. For you data nerds (guilty! It will be fascinating to see their conclusions.

Then,

Later’s Report from 2022 is based upon a study of over 11 million posts, including images, videos, Instagram Reels, and carousel posts.

It’s amazing how early some of the top posting times are.

Source

It is important to note that this is also the time when competition is at its highest. If you post before that time, you will likely receive more engagement. This will cause the algorithm to give your post a boost and allow you to appear earlier on the feed.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social analyzed over 20,000 accounts to determine the best time to post on Instagram. The findings of Sprout Social are the opposite of Later, since it uses a traditional approach to posting when engagement is high.

Source

As we move from Monday to Sunday, it’s fascinating to see how engagement begins earlier on Tuesday and Friday.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite’s Study combines a review 30,000 Instagram posts and their own experience of posting on their popular IG Account.

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Hootsuite data and Sprout Social data are in agreement, which suggests that the best time to post is late morning or early afternoon. It’s clear that people enjoy taking a mid-day Instagram break while at work or in school.

HubSpot

HubSpot’s report spice things up with the statement that the best time to publish is between 6 pm and 9 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They do have a large data set with 110 million posts (85 millions from North America).

Source

It’s okay if you feel a bit confused by all these contradictory data. This just shows that posting on Instagram at the best time is not the same for everyone. These times are just a guideline to help you start your own experiments.

What is the best time of day to post on Instagram?

You can still post other days, even if you see the best engagement on Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s important to experiment with different times of the day.

We have listed the top option for each study, per day. Comparing them helped us to understand the data.

Monday is the best day to post on Instagram

Later From 3 am to 7 am

Sprout: 11 am

Hootsuite: 11 a.m.

HubSpot : from 3 pm to 10 pm

You may want to post Mondays later in the day. This could be a way to catch people during their lunch break.

Tuesday is the best day to post on Instagram

Later 12 am to 9 am

Sprout: from 9 am to 11 am

Hootsuite: 8 a.m.

HubSpot : from 7 pm to 10 pm

Notice how the three sources almost overlap each other in the morning. It seems like a good time for posting on Instagram is around 8:30 in the morning.

On Wednesday, the best time to post Instagram is at noon.

After: from 2 am to 7 am

Sprout: from 10 am to 1 pm

Hootsuite: 11 a.m.

HubSpot : from 8 pm to 10 pm

Wednesday is somewhat of a wildcard, since each recommendation has very little overlap. You can skip Wednesday if you don’t blog every day. You could also try 11 a.m., as that is the only time suggested by multiple sources.

Thursday is the best day to post to Instagram

Later From 2 to 3 am

Sprout: from 9 am to 12 pm

Hootsuite: 11 a.m.

HubSpot: 9 p.m.

HubSpot has narrowed their evening window for Thursday. This suggests that they have found the perfect time to post on Instagram.

Posting on Instagram is best on Friday

Later from 5 to 6 a.m.

Sprout: from 9 am to 11 am

Hootsuite: 2 p.m.

HubSpot: 9 p.m.

The four studies are in complete disagreement about the best time to post a Friday message. Try a few times to see what sticks.

Posting on Instagram is best on Saturday

Later: 3 a.m.

Sprout: from 9 am to 11 am

Hootsuite: 8 a.m.

HubSpot : from 6 pm to 12 am

According to the majority of data, weekends are a deadzone for Instagram engagement. Post early in the morning if you are offering a one-day or weekend menu.

The best time to Instagram post on Sunday

Later from 5 to 7 am

Sprout: from 8 to 11 am

Hootsuite: 6 p.m.

HubSpot : from 3 pm to 10 pm

Sundays are similar to Saturdays in that there is a general lack of engagement on social media. If you’re willing to experiment with different posting times, there is less at stake.

Vertically, the best time to post Instagram is when you are most active.

Sprout Social has broken down their data into verticals, so that we can see when to post on Instagram in different industries. Try these slots for your next post if any of these fields are yours.

Vertical	Best time	Best day(s)	Worst day(s)
Consumer goods	Thursday, 2 p.m.	Tue., Thur.	Sunday
Healthcare	Thursday, 1 p.m.	Tue., Thurs., Fri.	Sunday
Hospitality	Tuesday, 10 a.m.	Tue., Wed.	Sunday
Media	Monday, 11 a.m.	Mon., Wed., Thurs.	Sat., Sun,
Nonprofit	Wednesday, 11 a.m.	Wednesday	Sat., Sun.
Restaurants	Monday, 2. p.m.	Monday	Thurs., Sat., Sun.
Education	Tuesday, 11 a.m.	Tuesday	Sunday
Travel & Tourism	Tuesday, 10 a.m.	Tue. Tue.	Thur., Sat., Sun.

Data Source

Notice the differences in the data across industries? See how the data differs from other industries? This shows that your business is the one who can determine when to post to Instagram. In a moment, we’ll explain how to do that.

Time zone differences for posting on Instagram

Later also outlined the best times to post based on time zones, which was a huge help for us who have customers all over the world.

Day	EST	CST/MST	PST
Monday	8 a.m.; 2 p.m.	4 p.m.; 7 p.m.	3 a.m.; 8 p.m.
Tuesday	11 a.m.	9 a.m.; 6 p.m.	6 p.m.
Wednesday	3 p.m.; 9 p.m.	4 p.m.	9 p.m.
Thursday	6 a.m.; 11 p.m.	10 a.m.	6 a.m.; 11 p.m.
Friday	8 a.m.; 3 p.m.	6 a.m.	8 a.m.; 3 p.m.
Saturday	4 p.m.	3 a.m.; 6 a.m.	4 p.m.
Sunday	8 a.m.	12 p.m.; 4 p.m.	5 a.m.

Data Source

The best times to post are spread out. This shows that geographically different lifestyles are important to understand when determining your audience.

When is the best time to post Instagram Reels?

Instagram’s Reels feature is an excellent option for building your brand. In their study Influencer Hub gives the best time for posting Reels, based on more than 100,000 global Instagram posts.

Day	When is the best time to post Instagram Reels?
Monday	6 a.m.; 10 a.m.; 10 p.m.
Tuesday	2 a.m.; 4 a.m.
Wednesday	7 a.m.; 8 a.m.; 11 p.m.
Thursday	9 a.m.; 12 a.m.; 7 p.m.
Friday	5 a.m.; 1 p.m.; 3 p.m.
Saturday	11 a.m.; 7 p.m.; 8 p.m.
Sunday	7 a.m.; 8 a.m.; 4 p.m.

Source

Reels on Tuesday is a popular show that people watch early in the morning.

When is the best time to post to Instagram?

This is all about increasing engagement on Instagram for you. While existing studies are a great starting point, it is important to determine when you will have the best results.

These tips can help you create a schedule that maximizes engagement on Instagram using anecdotal data and concrete data.

1. Use Instagram Insights

Instagram’s native analytics platform can tell you a great deal about your audience. You can use the “most active time” metric to see when your audience is online.

You can also see demographics and location charges to know who is engaging with your account. The location is useful because it tells you which time zone you should be targeting.

2. Consider your personas

Buyer Personas represent fictional characters who represent your customers in their human form. They include lifestyles, occupations, hobbies, families, education levels, interests and more. It is important to know when the best time to post on Instagram is.

If your target audience is more likely to work out or eat lunch with friends, then posting during lunchtime may not be the best option. Evening is not the best time for parents whose main priority is getting their children to sleep.

Consider these questions:

• Why do people use Instagram?
• How much time does each person spend on Instagram?
• What other people do they follow?
• Follow 100 accounts? 1000?
• When will they actually interact with posts rather than just scrolling through?
• How often do you check Instagram each day?

You can use this information to determine the best time to publish your content.

3. Use a third party tool

You can schedule Instagram posts on a number social media platforms that provide more analytics than Insights. Later, Buffer and Hootsuite are among the many social media management platforms.

Some of these tools have even a feature which suggests times for posting.

4. Learn the algorithm

Instagram released an update in June 2021 explaining how its algorithm works. It combines all the posts that have been shared recently by people who follow the person and ranks them based on thousands of signals including:

• Your post: content (content, location, video duration, likes, and interest metrics).
• Who is engaging you?
• Their behaviors and preferences.
• You and them.

If you want to appear in the Instagram feed engagement is more important than recency. In the post it says: “In Feed we pay close attention to five key interactions. These are your likelihood of spending a few moments on a particular post, liking it, saving it, and tapping on the profile picture.”

This leads us to the next suggestion.

5. Engaged?

We can clearly see that posting the best posts at the right time is not the most important success factor for Instagram. The best posts are more important. It increases the strength of your engagement signals over time, which gives you algorithmic favour.

Here are some tips on how to optimize those five interactions.

Get them to:

• Spend just a few moments on your post. Grab their attention with an eye-catching visual. Get them to read with a great caption. And keep them interested with a video or carousel.
• Comment it: Ask a question, such as Would you rather/what would your do?, Here’s mine/what is yours, What’s Your Take, Fill in the Blank, caption this picture, etc.
• Like It: Make it useful, emotionally, unique and visually appealing. Also, make sure that the post is in line with your core values.
• Save It: Share helpful information like tips, tutorials and ideas that they will want to reference.
• Tap on your profile picture: Use that ol’ bio link, and choose a nice photo!

Posting at the right time is important, but first you should focus on creating interesting and engaging content. It is better to post the right content “wrong time” than the wrong content exactly at the right time.

Local Social Media Lab is a goldmine for more Instagram marketing ideas and post inspiration.

You can also repost content on Instagram that has already been engaging.

6. You can learn from previous posts

Keep track of the engagement of your previous posts and when they were posted. This can be done directly from your Instagram analytics dashboard.

Last tips

• Do not forget Instagram stories. It’s not important to have a high-quality Story, as it will be available 24/7.
• Keep up with Instagram and its new features. It’s constantly releasing new ways to create amazing content.
• You can find a complete guide to advertising on Instagram at https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/11/20/instagram-advertising. Visit our guide to Instagram advertising. Learn about the cost of these ads here.

When is the best time to post Instagram questions?

This lightning round of questions will help you to get your Instagram schedule in order.

1. What is the best time to post an Instagram photo?

Trick question, because it depends on the audience and your goals. If you take a look at the available data, then 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. is a good place to start.

2. Posting daily on Instagram is it best?

If possible, yes. Your engagement will increase as you post daily, which in turn improves your Instagram algorithm credibility. You can’t post everyday? Be consistent. Post three times every day if your cadence is to post three times per week.

3. What is the best time to post Instagram?

The majority of data suggest that Instagram engagement is better in the late morning. It is logical to assume that people take short breaks to browse their IG feed. Compare this to the best times to post on YouTube where people tend to wait until they get home to watch longer videos.

4. How to check Instagram peak times

Look for the graph “most active time” on your Instagram analytics dashboard to see when Instagram is at its busiest.

Review of the best time to post Instagram on Instagram

You can find a lot information about when to post on Instagram. You can use this information to decide when to post at the beginning of your Instagram journey. Your audience will tell you when they want to be noticed.

How to get the most engagement on Instagram at the right times:

• Make sure you post quality, relevant content
• Posting consistently
• This guide will help you schedule your first post.
• You can use the data you collected from your earlier posts to determine when to post the next time.
• Regularly review your Instagram analytics and make adjustments to your schedule as necessary

Check out our other guides on the best time to post to social media:

• 
  The best time to upload videos on YouTube
  
• 
  When is the best time to post TikTok?
  
• 
  When is the best time to post to Facebook
  

The post Best Instagram Posting Times in 2023 [For Each Scenario] first appeared on WordStream.