Posting on Instagram at the right time is vital when trying to reach your audience and increase your following. We’ve broken down the best times to post on Instagram.

In General

Your location and your organisation/industry are large factors that dictate when the best times to post are, however it is pretty universal that Sunday is the worst day to post. This means posting on a Sunday is least likely to reach numerous users or engage with new audience members, so save your big announcements for another time! Rather than one ideal time slot for each day, there are actually a few peak times a day that users are browsing and scrolling through their feeds.

Weekdays

Generally speaking, people are up earlier for work during the week, and tend to check their phones first thing in the morning. Statistics show that between 6am and 8am is a great time in the morning to catch your audience and reel in some newbies before the working day begins. The lunch break window is an important period to keep in mind when posting on Instagram, as lots of people are checking their social media feeds whilst tucking into their sandwiches around 1-2pm. Later on in the day, as everyone makes their way home from work and relaxes for the evening, there is a peak in Instagram viewership. Between 5 – 7pm is a brilliant time to capture your audience and unleash your best content.

Weekends

As previously mentioned, Sunday isn’t the best day for posting. However, this is not set in stone, and actually Sunday is the best day of the weekend for posting if your business is a non-profit or charity organisation. That said, if you want to achieve optimum reach then posting at 11am on Saturday, prime brunch time, is a good bet. This also extends over lunchtime, but the evening at the weekend isn’t a great time for posting as people tend to be busier with other things.

It is important to know your audience in order to figure out when is best to post on Instagram. Time zones come into play in a big way here, so if you know that the majority of your audience is in Australia and you’re in New York, you should take into account what time your posts will go out in Australia and adjust your social media plan acordingly.