Instagram is one of the most popular platforms out there.
Trust me.
It caters to a wide range of audiences, and the best thing about it is that it hosts short pieces of media that are easily consumable.
Promoting on the platform is a great way to spark engagement.
In general, the best time to post on Instagram is 11 am on any workday, but it’s not really that simple.
Today, we’ll cover other factors that you have to keep in mind when posting on the platform.
This article will go over pro tips and give you a complete guide to help you create a schedule that will best target your audience.
Sweet, right?
Social media is powerful, but no one will know how great your content is if you don’t reach them at the right time.
Listen.
Timing is everything.
These are the things that you should be considering:
- Days of the Week
- Timing
- Your Customer Profile
- Timezones
Your Ideal Customer Profile
Most of your timing is going to depend on the type of prospect that you have.
If you’re targeting people who work long nights, you’ll want to time your posts during their breaks; if it’s for normal professionals with day jobs, then it’s going to be at lunchtime; if your potential customers only have time on the weekends, you’ll want to focus all your efforts during Saturday and Sunday.
What’s critical here is the degree of personalization you’ll go through for your prospect.
You want to adapt to their needs, and part of that is adapting to their timetables.
Weekdays
Let’s start with the more general rules for your typical work week.
On weekdays, Instagram engagement – on a global basis – starts picking up from 10 am to 11 am, with peak times ranging from 11 am to noon.
Why?
Glad you asked.
This is probably attributed to the fact that a lot of people are usually awake during this time, they’re approaching the general hour for a lunch break and they want to take a mini-break in the form of an IG scroll.
In general, you will never be wrong if you post at 11 am on weekdays.
However, there is one small problem with this assumption.
Being a marketer, you’re not aiming to hit the general populace with your posts, you’re targeting a select group of people and if you don’t have enough sway, you’re competing with a lot of accounts that are using the same tactic.
Monday
A lot of marketers might skip Monday because people will be too busy at work.
However, this might be the case if they have to take a sales call, but not with social media.
You see, social media serves as an ideal break for people who have been busy the whole day.
Best Time on Monday: Noon
Post when your audience is on their lunch break on the first day back to work that week.
A pro tip is to make the post light.
Strategize ahead of time on what kind of content you will post on this day.
Cooking up content specifically made for your audience is critical. Instagram has videos or reels; you can come up with a fun reel related to lunch, for instance!
Tuesday
Tuesdays are more forgiving and give you a lot of flexibility.
We notice a trend that starts again from 10 am, but this time the intensity is sustained until 2 to 3 pm.
This may be due to the fact that people have more free time compared to the previous day since it was the start of the week.
Best Time on Tuesday: 10 am to 3 pm
Wednesday
Social media managers love the hump day.
Why?
It’s when people are most distracted, whether they’re at work or at home.
You can take this time to distract them with your product or service.
Wednesday attracts the most engagement from those on social media. The best type of content that is helpful to get out there is your announcements, sales, and teasers on upcoming products that you will be launching. Creating a reel or storyline with pictures will be eye-catching.
11 AM Wednesday
Honestly, I don’t mind posting at any time of the day during Wednesdays. However, for best results, try before midday.
Thursday
Thursdays seem to have the least engagement compared to the other four workdays and to play it safe you can follow the 11 am rule. However, there are still ways to strategize.
Get Creative on Thursdays at Noon
Engagement is seen between the hours of 11 AM – and 2 PM. Get the attention of your target audience or encourage a call to action by asking them to fill up a survey or answer questions.
Take your product and show it as a solution that your customers want. Another approach you want to consider is letting them know your business’s milestones. This strengthens the value and tells them of how well you have been able to serve and grow.
Another fun way to attract potential leads is to do a contest with a cool giveaway. Creating a community and helping it with value will set you apart from others.
Consider encouraging your customers to tag their friends in one of your posts. This will generate new leads and increase brand awareness. Customers who share your brand are social proof and will boost other aspects of your business.
Friday
On Fridays, the engagement starts at 9 am. This is where you first see traction building up.
You can take this opportunity to post content that might take more time for the target audience to consume.
For example, this could be live streams of your office or your workstation.
Remember, this is the time for fun content.
People want to be entertained because it’s the end of the week.
Saturday
The weekend has arrived, and people want to start their day early on social media before getting busy with weekend plans.
The best time to post would be 9 AM.
A lot of shopping may happen over the weekend, so you will need to plan ahead of time to get information to them promptly.
Sunday
This is the time that prospects are pretty active.
They are active between 12N – 8 PM.
Studies have shown that there is not that much activity on Sundays compared to other days of the week.
The week has been quite hectic, and maybe on Sundays, you want to consider highlighting an employee of yours just to show your appreciation and let customers know that you are working together to serve them best.
You may also want to highlight how you are giving back to the community. Please post in the morning, so the audience will see how they contribute to a community when they buy from your brand. This adds a more profound sense of value for customers, knowing that they also have empowered others in their small way.
Mind the Timezone
It doesn’t matter what platform you’re using, what’s critical is that you’re very mindful of your timezones.
Make sure that you’re posting at the correct timezone of your prospects so that you can reach them at the right times…
all the time!
Takeaways on the Best Time to Post on Instagram
Remember, in anything that you post, timing is going to be everything.
You want to reach the maximum number of your prospects with every post.
This makes your social media strategy efficient and effective.
Plus, it also guarantees that the platform’s algorithm sees that your post is getting engagements so it will want to show it to more people.
You wouldn’t sell your products to people that are asleep right?
