How to Find the Best Time to Post on Instagram and Maximize Engagement

So, how do you know when is the best time to post on Instagram? How do you figure out when people are actually engaging with your content?

When it comes to posting on Instagram, it’s not just about throwing content up at random times. Being strategic about when you post can make a big difference in how many people see and interact with your content. You want to make sure you’re using your time wisely and reaching your audience when they’re most active.

Before diving in, make sure you have a business Instagram account. If you’re still using a personal account, don’t worry—it’s easy to switch to a business account, or you can create a separate one just for your business.

Next, you need to know your audience. Every audience has different habits. For example, if your ideal customer is a stay-at-home mom, she might be scrolling during midday nap times. If your audience is mostly 9-5 professionals, they may be active early in the morning, during lunch breaks, or after work. Understanding your ideal customer’s daily routine will help you determine the best times to post.

If you have a business account, you’ll also have access to Instagram Insights. This tool is incredibly helpful for giving you a snapshot of when your followers are most engaged with your content—so you can post at exactly the right times.

Here’s how to get that information:

There are two ways you can get your insights. You can just click on where it says insight on your home page, or you can go to the top right corner. I’m going to show you the second option.

Go to the top right corner of your Instagram page and click on the (Hamburger sign) that’s the three lines you see her on the picture above.

Click on the tab that says Insights. If you don’t see it that means you don’t have a business account.

Scroll down and click on “Your Audience”

Once you are in there, scroll down to the bottom where it says “Most Active Times”

You will see bars that look like this.

Before we look at what time to post on Instagram we need to see what days we should be looking at.

As you can see in the insights above, it’s consistent across the week. Yours may differ. If you’re posting 3 times a week, select the days you want to post. Example: M-W-F.

Now let’s look at what time to post on Instagram. Toggle over to “Hours” and look at each day of the week separately.  To get the numbers to appear over the graph just tap on it. To change the days of the week, tap on the arrows between the weekdays.

You may notice that Mondays at 6 pm has more engagement than Wednesdays at 6 pm and so on.

Look and see what days and times work best for you and post on those days at that time. I would suggest that you post 2-3 times a week on the same schedule because the algorithm likes consistency.

Try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Try different times and days to post.

As I mentioned, you need to know your customer and when they are most likely to be on their social media platform. Everyone’s audience is different.

The key is to post consistently and post when your audience is online.

Blessing

Cheryl

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Hope to see you here!

Blessings

Cheryl