The Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2018
Just like the Instagram algorithm, the answer seems to change every year.
Last year in our poll, over 50% of social media managers said that evenings from 7-9pm was the best time to post on Instagram.
In 2018, the majority of social media managers said that lunch time from 11am-1pm was their best time to post on Instagram, followed by evenings from 7-9pm.
But – that doesn’t mean those are the best times to post for YOU!
There are lots of studies about when the best time to post on Instagram is, but every Instagram account has a unique audience, in different time zones, so it’s important to determine what your individual best time to post on Instagram is.
The good news? We’re showing you exactly how to find your own best time to post on Instagram:
When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?
If you want to beat the Instagram algorithm in 2018, scheduling Instagram posts for when the majority of your followers are online is super important.
Not only does the algorithm care about how much engagement your Instagram post gets, it also cares about how quickly you get that engagement.
If you post at a time when most of your followers are online, you give yourself a better chance of racking up those likes — quickly!
If your post gets a lot of likes and comments shortly after it’s posted, this signals to Instagram that your Instagram post is quality content, and the algorithm will then show your post to even more of your followers!
By finding out your personalized best time to post on Instagram, you can hack the algorithm to increase your reach and get more likes and followers.
So how do you find your own best time to post on Instagram in 2018?
Here are some general rules to follow about the best time to post on Instagram:
- Post for your most active timezone(s): you may be located in LA, but if most of your followers are in New York, you should be posting with the EST time zone in mind.If you have followers in both North America and the UK, you may find that posting at “odd” times in your timezone (like midnight PST) actually perform well for you, because it’s 8am in London, England.
- Post more during off-work hours instead of during the day: generally, the best times to post on Instagram are lunch time (11am-1pm) and evenings (7-9pm).Instead of posting while you’re at your desk, schedule Instagram posts during the work day so you don’t have to worry about it during your free time!
- Save the important posts for weekdays: The differences are slight, but average Instagram engagement does shift depending on the day. According to our own research, Wednesdays and Thursdays tend to drive the most engagement, while Sundays drive the least.
How to Find Your Best Time to Post on Instagram:
1. Find Your Top Time Zones
The best thing you can do to find your optimal posting time for Instagram is to research your audience using Instagram’s native analytics, located in your Instagram app.
The best part? Instagram Insights is free!
In order to get access to this feature, you’ll need to set up an Instagram business profile:
Instagram Insights gives marketers everything they could ask for: you can see where your followers are located, their gender, their age, and, most importantly, when they’re most active on Instagram.
You can also view your followers’ locations by country or city, so you know which time zones you should be posting in to reach the majority of your followers.
Insights makes it easy for you to find the best time to post on Instagram because it shows you both the most popular days and times when your followers are using Instagram.
Using this data, you can get a good, general understanding of the best times and best days to post on Instagram, based on your own followers!
2. Experiment with Posting Times and Measure your Progress
Start by picking five different times throughout the week.
For example, if you notice that your followers are most active between 5 and 9pm EST, schedule your posts to appear at 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9pm.
In your spreadsheet, track how many likes and comments each post receives, along with the date and time that you posted them.
The following week, switch the timing of your posts for each day. For example, if you posted at 5pm on Monday in week 1, post at 6pm during week 2.
It might take a few weeks, but you can use this information to help you choose the best days to share to specific networks based on your own audience, along with the times that work best for getting traffic on those specific days.
Instagram is an incredible channel for businesses to achieve their marketing goals.
But in 2018, it just isn’t enough to just post content whenever you feel like it.
By planning and scheduling your posts in advance for the best time to post on Instagram, you can boost your engagement, drive traffic, and gain new followers and customers!