The Best Time to Post on Instagram (2024)

“Post in time, and your Instagram marketing strategy will work fine!”

We have just made up this quote to relax you up a bit! If we have found each other, you must be looking for the best times to post on Instagram and having difficulties finding them!

We understand your concerns! Instagram’s dynamic visual nature makes it an alluring platform for brands to showcase their product most appealingly! So, the competition is fierce, and no one backs off!

You can put tremendous effort into creating top-notch content yet suffer from the lack of exposure! Only timing can melt the ice and pave your way through.

But you can put your worries to rest! We have done a fair share of research, solved the timing mystery, and unfolded everything from a generic time range to your unique timetable.

Let’s explore the best time to post on Instagram.

Why should you care about the best times to post on Instagram?

You should care about the best time to post on Instagram for the basic need of your brand: Exposure! We are going to elaborate now!

The fundamental Instagram marketing strategy circles around the activities and preferences of the target audience. So, it’s essential to post when users would prefer your content on their feed and find it logical.

Instagram post times are deeply related to its algorithm. Recency is a primary parameter for the ranking of your content. That means recent content would appear faster on feeds than old ones!

While people spend an average of 12 hours per month on this platform (According to Statista), there is a certain time range when your niche is more active. You would prefer to appear on their feed during their comfort scrolling to grab their attention and gain more followers!

Caring about the best time to post on Instagram can benefit you more than gaining followers! Here are some:

• Extend your reach to a broader audience
• Help to build a consumer base and a community
• Increase engagement among existing users
• Keep you updated with new trends
• Inspire new marketing ideas and attract potential customers

What was our research methodology?

“Why should I trust your information?”

It would be logical to feel that way when you have just found us! Let’s count on the system then! We have reviewed several recent studies on the best time to post on Instagram.

Our methodology included giant social media companies like Social Pilot, Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Buffer, and Later! There were certain differences, but we have accumulated, analyzed, and compiled data for your convenience.

We have also structured a method to find your unique Instagram post times. You can pick a suitable timetable or build your original schedule, whatever fits your needs best.

When is the best time to post on Instagram (A quick overview)

We have made a chart for your convenience with our collected data from several studies. If you are in a hurry, you can simply choose any range and get started!

As mentioned earlier, we collected our data from top social media management companies. Having said that, it’s always good practice to learn about the time preferences of your niche! We are going to talk about that later!

But you may not be in a situation to do that right now! That’s okay. You can choose a timeline from the table and see how that works for your business.

From now on, we will walk you through our detailed work. Let’s go.

Best time to post on Instagram today

By now, you must be confused with all the conflicting data. Don’t worry. The variety in data means that the best time to post on Instagram won’t be the same for everyone.

The data collected by these platforms was based on studying a huge amount of Instagram accounts! Let’s skip the details and look into the question you always wanted answered!

“What is the best time to post on Instagram today?”

We will break down the best times to post on Instagram each day of the week. And by the end of this section, you should find your way around the answer!

The best time to post on Instagram on Monday

Social Pilot: 9 am to 10 am

Sprout Social: 10 am to 12 pm

Hootsuite: 11 am to 1 pm

Buffer: 7 am to 8 am, 4 pm to 8 pm

Later: 5 am

Monday is the first working day of the week. People wake up early, get ready for their work, and stay active on social media in the morning. We suggest choosing a time later in the morning, 10 am. You might catch your audience at their lunch break.

The best time to post on Instagram on Tuesday

Social Pilot: 9 am to 10 am

Sprout Social: 9 am to 1 pm

Hootsuite: 8 am to 10 am

Buffer: 7 am, 6 pm

Later: 7 am

All of the sources suggest the morning hours. You can either choose the earliest hours or a few hours later. But we suggest 10 am as the most suitable time.

The best time to post on Instagram on Wednesday

Social Pilot: 5 am, 11 am, 3 pm

Sprout Social: 10 am to 1 pm

Hootsuite: 9 am to 11 am

Buffer: 7 am to 8 am

Later: 2 am to 6 am

Wednesday is the most unpredictable day of the week, to be honest, and it’s tough to engage. If you look at our sources, you will see a ‘not too close’ time range. We suggest 11 am as this time falls in range for the majority.

The best time to post on Instagram on Thursday

Social Pilot: 12 pm to 5 pm

Sprout Social: 9 am to 12 pm

Hootsuite: 11 am to 1 pm

Buffer: 7 am, 8 am, 4 pm

Later: 3 am to 5 am

As the weekend comes closer, Thursday becomes a wildcard for Instagram post times. Some sources suggest later in the afternoon, while some say the middle of the night.

But we would say 12 pm is the most perfect time. It would be a safe range as your audience might like it more to engage during lunch break and after clocking out of their work.

The best time to post on Instagram on Friday

Social Pilot: 9 am to 10 am, 5 pm to 6 pm

Sprout Social: 9 am to 11 am

Hootsuite: 2 pm to 4 pm

Buffer: 7 am, 8 am, 4 pm

Later: 5 am to 8 am

We would like to say 8 am should be the most suitable time. Our suggestion is backed up by two out of five sources and close to the other two!

The best time to post on Instagram on Saturday

Social Pilot: 8 am to 12 pm

Sprout Social: 9 am to 11 am

Hootsuite: 8 am to 10 am

Buffer: 7 am, 4 pm, 8 pm

Later: 1 am

Weekends have the lowest engagement rate, according to most of the sources. It’s suggested that weekends should be off the schedule if possible. If not, the best time to post would be 9 am.

The best time to post on Instagram on Sunday

Social Pilot: 10 am to 2 pm

Sprout Social: 8 am to 11 am

Hootsuite: 6 pm to 8 pm

Buffer: 6 pm to 9 pm

Later: 11 pm

You can see the best Instagram post times from our sources, but we recommend not to post anything due to a lack of engagement rate! But if there is a special announcement to make or any special deal, the suggested time would be 8 pm.

Best time to post on Instagram by different businesses

Brands and businesses are constantly improvising their content strategy to catch the attention of their target audience. A deep understanding of the best time to post on Instagram has become a pivot point for marketing strategy.

We have already stated that there is no specific best time to post on Instagram. The same goes for businesses as well! For example, weekends have lower engagement rates but offer better exposure to the fashion industry.

That’s why we have collected and analyzed data from various sources and dissected the best Instagram post times according to the business types! Let’s have a look.

Fashion brands

Best times: 

• Weekdays: 12 pm to 2 pm
• Weekends: 9 am to 11 am

Best days:

• Saturdays
• Sundays

Travel & Tourism

Best times: 

• Weekdays: 10 am to 12 pm & 7 pm to 9 pm
• Weekends: 9 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 6 pm

Best days:

• Tuesdays
• Wednesdays

Fitness & Healthcare

Best times:

• Weekdays: 6 am to 8 am and 5 pm to 7 pm
• Weekends: 8 am to 10 am and 4 pm to 6 pm

Best days:

• Tuesdays
• Wednesdays

Food & Beverage 

Best times:

• Weekdays: 12 pm to 2 pm
• Weekends: 5 pm to 7 pm

Best days:

• Fridays
• Saturdays
• Sundays

IT Industries

Best times:

• Weekdays: 9 am to 11 am and 1 pm to 3 pm
• Weekends: 10 am to 12 pm

Best days:

• Mondays to Thursdays

Hospitality

Best times:

• Weekdays: 10 am to 1 pm
• Weekends: 8 am to 11 am

Best days:

• Tuesdays
• Wednesdays

Non-profit

Best times:

• Weekdays: 11 am to 5 pm
• Weekends: 2 pm to 4 pm

Best days:

• Wednesdays

Restaurants

Best times:

• Weekdays: 2 pm to 6 pm
• Weekends: 10 am to 11 am

Best days:

• Mondays

Schools & Educations

Best times:

• Weekdays: 11 am to 4 pm
• Weekends: 10 am to 11 am

Best days:

• Tuesdays

Best times to post on Instagram by different geographies

Geographical positions can heavily influence the best time to post on Instagram. If your target audience lives in multiple time zones, it’s essential to consider their time schedule rather than yours.

Different regions impact audience behaviours. Any kind of social media marketing strategy is deeply connected with the buyer persona. For example, Toronto and Vancouver have a 3-hour time difference. Naturally, an ideal time for Toronto would not apply to Vancouver.

Later, we conducted thorough research for the best time to post on Instagram. Here’s what we have found from the study:

• US + Canada West Coast:  9 pm to 12 am
• US + Canada Central: 10 pm to 12 am
• US + Canada East Coast: 11 pm to 4 am
• South America: 5 am
• UK: 3 am to 4 am
• Western Europe: 4 am to 6 am
• Eastern Europe: 5 am to 7 am
• Africa: 2 am to 3 am
• Middle East: 4 am
• East + Southeast Asia: 6 am to 8 am
• Australasia: 11 pm – 12 am

Note that this is a generic timeline. It’s always wise to figure out and follow your unique best times to post on Instagram. We are going to discuss that soon!

What is the best time to post Reels on Instagram?

The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, shared some interesting information about its algorithm. He said, “People tend to look for their closest friends in Stories, use Explore to discover new content and creators, and be entertained in Reels.”

Reels have been landscaping Instagram marketing into a new shape. According to Later, Reels can increase engagement by up to 500%.

Here’s our summary of the best time to post Reels based on several sources:

• Hootsuite: 9 am and 12 pm, Monday to Thursday
• Later: 4 am, Monday

The information mentioned above is too generic. Most of our sources advise that Reels should be uploaded constantly at a specific time.

Methods to find out your original best time

The prime purpose of this article is to find the best time to post on Instagram for your business. The schedule we mentioned can help you kickstart when you have just started.

However, as you grow, you must build original posting times that suit your situation, resource, target audience, and buyer persona.

From now on, we will walk you through some useful methods to create solid Instagram posting times to maximize user engagement.

Instagram Insights

To build the most effective Instagram posting times, nothing can be more reliable than Instagram Insights for solid information. You can find information like

• Reach (Account, Content Types, Individual posts)
• Engagement (Account, Content Types, Individual posts)
• Profile and Followers information

Track the reach and engagement of your account and content types. Find out your best content and see their information. You can check any individual post’s interactions, impressions, clicks, and shares.

Now, you have to play with the data. Information you collect should be organized in sheets and then analyzed for further approach! Try to find out the answers to the following questions:

• What type of content is this post?
• If it’s a photo, what makes this different from the others?
• If it’s a video or a reel, which type of music was used, or what is the editing style?
• Did you use any captions?
• What was the caption format?
• How many hashtags do you use, and their relevance to the post?
• Did you use any texts and fonts for the content?
• How people might like to view your content? With friends or family?
• Did you follow any ongoing trends or events?

You should gather data for a month at least and then analyze them with the questions mentioned above. You will clearly understand which type of content engages your audience the most and on which date and time! And keep tracking!

Try different posting times

It’s a good practice to experiment with different approaches to find out the best time to post on Instagram. For example, you are posting a video at 3 pm on every Wednesday. You can try another time, like 7 pm, to see the results.

But try not to change the content type. Sometimes, you can change your caption length and content style. If you don’t see any change in Instagram insights, then you can be sure that timing is the issue.

Experiment for months, observe the parameters, collect data, find the best time, date, and content type, and figure out the best time to post on Instagram suitable for your brand.

Research on your competitors

Another great way to discover the best time to post on Instagram is to study your competitors. It’s a fact that the marketing is saturated.

Whatever your business idea is, someone is already sharing the same model. That means they are snatching the attention of your niche. As the saying goes, “Keep your friends close and enemies closer!”

But don’t fret; we have some tips for you:

• Make a list of your competitors
• Go through their profiles, note their followers’ amount, and curation style
• Check their caption style and the hashtags they use
• Check their best posts and note down the date, time, and content type
• Number of posts per day and week
• Follow their user-engaging activities (Challenges, Giveaways, etc.)

Use social media tools

If you still struggle to find the best time to post on Instagram, even after following all those steps, there are plenty of social media tools available to provide more insights and schedule your Instagram posting time without logging in.

Tools like Later, Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, etc., are pretty popular among users! Some of them have features that offer suggestions for posting times!

If you have a WordPress website for your business, it’s a good practice to integrate your social handles on your site. And you will need a plugin for that, and guess what?!

We have the perfect tool for you, WP Social Ninja, an all-in-one social media plugin! Here’s what it’s capable of:

• Embed social feeds from Instagram
• Connect your personal or business account
• Create a shoppable Instagram feed

Well, not just that. This plugin collaborates with 30+ social media platforms.

Embed social feeds from Facebook and YouTube; social reviews from 10+ platforms including WooCommerce, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and many more; chat widgets from 15+ platforms; custom testimonials and much more!

Final words

It can be frustrating when you are giving it your best and not getting enough exposure on Instagram. But that should not be the case now.

You know now how to avoid the downfall. Start with a generic timetable, and gradually find your unique best time to post on Instagram.

Rome was not built in a day! Of course, it will take time and consistent effort to reach the desired height. But most importantly, never compromise with your content quality.

All the best!

Frequently asked questions

What is the best day to post on Instagram?

As we have already learned, there are no definite best days to post on Instagram. However, many studies suggest Wednesday as the best day to post on Instagram.

Is it better to post on Instagram at night or day?

Looking at the time schedule we mentioned, you’ll see that most of the data refers to the morning periods. Well, the earlier, the better!

What is the highest traffic time on Instagram?

The highest traffic is generated between 8 am to 11 am on Instagram. However, it may not apply to all businesses.

How to increase Instagram followers?

There are several ways to do that. Though it can seem bothersome sometimes, we have researched and written an article that shows how to increase Instagram followers.

What is the worst time to post on Instagram?

There are no definite answers, to be honest! However, during our studies, we have found that weekends tend to show the lowest engagement rates. That’s not the case for all industries! For example, fashion and apparel brands usually get the highest weekend engagement rate.

But it’s advisable not to focus too much on the weekend. In general terms, Saturday is the worst day to post on Instagram.