Instagram has become a big platform for brands to interact with their target audience. They are doing everything to get more engagement. From hiring the best social media experts in the industry to buying Instagram likes, they are investing in everything. Maybe, even you are also finding ways to get more engagement and trying your best to get more engagement.

But have you ever wondered when would be the best time to post your pictures on Instagram to get more likes? Instagram addicts or enthusiasts would want to know the hacks of getting more popularity online. Users may have a basic idea of the timings to upload their content but not the precise one. Not just timings but also weekdays, week offs, national offs associated with this.

Also Read: Steps to create a business account on Pinterest

Businesses that thrive on Instagram for their brand establishment and marketing purposes, will have to pay attention to the timings or duration on which they post. 

If the posts don’t show with the precise order, is there even the best time to upload a picture? The answer is yes!

To build a sizable and global Instagram following, one needs to create compelling and persuasive content that the respective audience enjoys watching. But if the content is not posted at the right time, most of the followers will never see it.

The Instagram algorithm works on “recent posts” when it determines which posts will pop up on the user’s feed. This means newer posts are more likely to appear in the feed first, no matter how many times the user refreshes it. Though it does not follow a strictly chronological order, it’s designed to serve the fresh content that the followers are likely to engage with.

What does this mean for brand management? Content creators need to make sure their posts are recent when the followers are most likely to be online. That way, they’ll be more likely to see, like, and engage with the content.

There is a somewhat specific best time and day of the week to post on Instagram based on the product industry, using data from 258,956 posts and the top 20 Instagram accounts in America from 11 different industries.

Which Are the Best Days to Post on Instagram?

The best days to post on Instagram are most likely between Tuesday and Friday if you are looking for organic reach through likes and engagement. These weekdays tend to fluctuate closely to one another, but Wednesday and Friday are usually the leaders in engagement, with Wednesday having the most engagement according to research.

According to a report of Sprout Social, 60% of Instagram users log in or open the app at least once each day, meaning that the platform has some definite activity every day of the week.

If we think about it, when do we usually sign on a social network to browse, like, and comment? Probably more during the weekdays rather than the weekends when you tend to be busier, right? Although it is hard to say why weekends are packed, probably young users tend to get rid of their digital connections and go out and party.

Most Instagram users feel the same way. It’s difficult to predict why mid-week Wednesday takes the cake, but it consistently offers some of the best times to post to Instagram to boost engagement.

Ways to get to know the best time to post on Instagram

• Find out the Top Time Zones and check When the Followers Are Online– When it comes to the best time to post on Instagram, it’s important to think about the time zones of your Instagram followers. The best thing you can do to find your optimal posting time for Instagram is to research your followers’ using Instagram’s native analytics tool, Instagram Insights. You can check where your followers are located, their gender, their age, and most importantly when they’re most active on Instagram.
• Keep Experimenting with posting Times and Measure the Progress– You need to start experimenting by posting the content and observing at what time your content gets the most engagement. Start by posting in five different times throughout the week. For example, if you notice that your followers are most active between 1 and 6 p.m. EST, schedule your posts to appear between the same times hourly. It might take a few weeks but you can use this information to help you choose the best days to share with specific networks based on your audience.
• Try Posting More during Off-Work Hours Instead of during the Day– Generally, the best times to post on Instagram are lunchtime (11 a.m.-1 p.m.) and evenings (7-9p.m.). Instead of posting while the users are at their desk, schedule Instagram posts during the workday so you don’t have to worry about it during your free time.
• Save Your Important Posts for Weekdays (or Weekends for bloggers) – The differences are slight, but average Instagram engagement does shift depending on the days of the week. For example, B2B companies get more engagement during the week while their audience is at work, whereas bloggers may get more engagement on the weekends when their audience is more likely to have time to read their blogs.

When would the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

Although 11– 4 p.m. is considered the best time of day to post on Instagram, the day of the week on which you post can change how much engagement you get at that time. Timings of the posts have a lot to do with the recognition and engagement users get, may it be for business or personal purposes.

Travel and Tourism

This industry experience the most engagement with the Instagram content when they post at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m., but also 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Friday is the best day for Travel and Tourism brands on Instagram, followed by Tuesday and Monday.

Followers are more likely to engage with travel content as they plan their weekends.

Media & Entertainment

It experiences the most engagement from the followers when they post at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. followed by 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. Followers are likely to scroll through their feeds during lunch hour and into the afternoon leisure time looking for a burst of inspiration or humor to get them through the rest of their day.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are the clear winners for engagement of the week in this industry. Saturdays are also strong performers.

Food & Beverage

The Food and beverage industry has the most success posting on Friday at noon, when many people are taking a break from their workday to consume, well, food and beverages.

Fridays are the most engaging day of the week, on average. But lunch timings of the week are also strong contenders for this industry. If you post only once a day, this is the time to do it.

Personal Care

Cosmetics focused accounts in this category find the most success posting in late evening near the end of the workweek or the weekends. The timings are mostly posted 6-7 p.m. to engage the followers.

The report explicitly speaks for times before the pandemic because, in the pandemic, users are instinctively using Instagram the whole time. So, businesses have their choice to post.