The Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2024

Content creation takes a lot of effort — maximize your time by posting when followers are most likely to see it.

You can use various tools and tricks to better understand when your audience uses Instagram. Read on to explore the best times to post on Instagram to ensure you reach your followers.

What Are the Best Times to Post on Instagram?

You want content to go live when more users are online. Knowing when to post on Instagram means getting the timing right for maximum engagement with your posts. Countless factors affect a post’s engagement rate, like audience demographics, content type, and your social media following. Publishing time considers all these aspects. 

If you’re new to promoting your socials or finding strategies to monetize your Instagram, stick to general times when the most scrolls on Instagram happen. Here’s what marketers have to say about when the most people are on Instagram (and when they’re not).

ACTIVE: Before and After Work

People tend to scroll through Instagram when commuting to and from work. Time zones and regions affect these time zones, but high activity typically falls between 7–8 a.m. and 3–6 p.m.

ACTIVE: Lunchtime

Most users check their Instagram during downtime, so posting around lunchtime (~12–3 p.m.) could mean catching more people.

NOT ACTIVE: Work Hours

Many people shut their phones off or put them somewhere out of reach during work. Avoid posting during traditional weekday work hours, so between 9–3 p.m. (except for lunchtime). 

NOT ACTIVE: Weekends

Weekends are the worst for Instagram posting, as most people make plans, conduct errands, or take a screen break.

What’s the Best Day to Post on Instagram?

Across most sources, Monday and Friday see the most engagement on social media. Here are a few more insights regarding the best day to post on Instagram:

• Monday: 7–9 a.m. (high day of engagement)
• Tuesday: 8–10 a.m.
• Wednesday: 5 a.m., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m.
• Thursday: 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.
• Friday: 9–10 a.m. and 5–6 p.m. (high day of engagement)

Again, the worst time of the week to post on Instagram is on the weekend, so avoid Saturdays and Sundays.

What’s the Best Time to Post Reels on Instagram?

While perfect posting times also apply to Reels, people tend to watch longer-form content like videos when they have more free time, so evenings might be better for this content form.

Does Posting Time Really Matter?

Aside from crafting quality and audience-relevant content, timing is the most important part of a posting strategy. You must reach your audience where they’re at — that is, when they’re actively online. 

Here are a few reasons why posting time matters.

Audience Engagement and Impact

Crafting content is just the beginning — you must also know when your audience wants it. Personalizing the whole experience by also publishing when they’re online keeps your brand front of mind and makes them feel like you’re one step ahead of their needs as followers.

Algorithm Influence

If you create a regular posting schedule leveraging popular times, the algorithm can track who consistently watches your content and share it with that engaged audience more often. This increases the chance that these viewers become avid followers. 

Competition Analysis

Whether competitors know optimal posting times or not, you can monitor when they tend to post and choose a different (but still ideal) time to avoid having their content steal attention from yours. If you notice a competitor posts at odd and less-active times, even better — you can get a leg up and optimize your posting schedule now that you know when to publish content to maximize visibility. 

Find Your Profile’s Perfect Timing 

Now that you know the general best-option posting times, you can narrow it down to your community of followers. Instagram Insights (only available via the mobile app) lets you find follower information like their location, gender, age, and when they’re most active on Instagram. You can also use the Creator Studio to access multiple audience insights to find the best time to post on Instagram. This information is presented as a graph labeling your followers’ 7-day online activity metrics.

Final Tips for More Strategic Posting

Here are a few more ways you can optimize your posting schedule to reach more people.

Review Your Top-Performing Posts

Use your highly liked and engaged posts as a standard instead of a goal. You want every post to get this level of engagement, so review everything about these posts — including when you published them.

Check When Your Audience Is Most Active Online

You don’t always need software to know your audience. Over time, you’ll likely get a feel for when views, likes, and comments are coming in. Use this hands-on data to inform your posting schedule.

Post in Your Audience’s Time Zone

Use an online social posting scheduler that considers time zones to ensure you accommodate globally diverse social media activity. You might also schedule a post you think will “hit” better with one demographic (say, East Coast Americans) when you know they’re active and another to accommodate a different segment’s preferences (maybe West Coast Americans).

Monitor and Adjust

Once you decide on timing, be consistent in your posting times for a few weeks to monitor efficacy. Make adjustments if a certain posting time isn’t working, and review all this data regularly — maybe every few months — to continue to adjust your strategy as follower behavior changes.

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Finding the perfect time to post is just the beginning — you must also captivate your audience with engaging and relevant content.

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