Be it Reels, Videos, Instagram Stories, or If You Want to Go Live, here you will get to know about the Best Time to Post on Instagram for More Likes:
It’s no secret that you need to create and populate your Instagram feed with intriguing content to gain more followers on the platform. While content will help boost your follower base, ultimately, it won’t incite engagement.
In fact, most experts agree that the only way to ensure increased Instagram engagement is to post at the right time.
Regardless of how compelling your post is, your followers won’t see it if it wasn’t posted at the right time. To add to that, Instagram’s volatile algorithms also aren’t making it easy for you.
Table of Contents:
Best Time to Post on Instagram

So how do you figure out the best time to post on Instagram? The answer to this question is a tad bit more complex than one might assume.
Factors like industry type and where on the planet you reside will play a very important role in determining what day or time would be appropriate for you to get the most engagement out of your Instagram post. If you are concerned about finding the ideal posting time for yourself, don’t be… as we’ve got you covered.
In this article, we will share with you a comprehensive and detailed guide on Instagram posting time by days of the week and industry.
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Market Trends: Instagram has over 1 Billion users Worldwide
According to Statista, as of December 2021, Instagram is estimated to possess over 1 billion users across the globe. Suffice to say, Instagram is one of the best platforms to tap into an audience base that may find some interest in the content you are posting or the products you are trying to market online.
Importance of Finding the Best Time to Post on Instagram
In hindsight, we would argue that there are two very good reasons for finding the best time to post on Instagram or any social media channel in general.
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#1) Generate Engagement
By simply posting at the right time of any day, you increase the chances of your posts on Instagram getting more likes, shares, and comments. In other words, you considerably increase the digital engagement rate of your Insta post.
#2) Increasing Website Traffic
If you are using Instagram posts to redirect traffic to your website, then it is in the best interest of your business to post at the right time. Of course, to enhance your website’s traffic, you’ll also need to post engaging content that makes your followers curious enough to explore your website as well.
When to Post on Instagram by Day of the Week
According to the Pew Research Center, seven in ten Instagram users visit the platform at least once a day.
To identify what time would be ideal for Instagram posting, you first need to understand that individual accounts cater to different audiences that come from different towns and time zones. While finding the best times to post on Insta is definitely unique to each account, there are certain times that usually correlate with increased engagement all across the globe.
You can take your own daily actions into consideration to understand how your audience might behave on social media. Generally, most of us like to check our social media feeds first thing in the morning when we wake, then during the lunch break, and later on, before we go to sleep. You can expect your Instagram audience to follow the same behavioral pattern as well.
The chart published by Sprout Social (depicted below) highlighting Global Instagram Hotspots makes that point even clearer.
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According to the above chart, the best times to post on Instagram by day of the week would be:
- Best Time to Post on Instagram on Monday: 11 AM – 12 PM
- Best Time to Post on Instagram on Tuesday: 11 AM – 2 PM
- Best Time to Post on Instagram on Wednesday: 11 AM – 12 PM
- Best Time to Post on Instagram on Thursday: 11 AM
- Best Time to Post on Instagram on Friday: 11 AM – 12 PM
- Best Time to Post on Instagram on Saturday: 10 AM – 12 PM
Sprout Social’s comprehensive chart indicates that Tuesday, around 11 AM – 2 PM, is the best time to post on Instagram. Any day of the week between 11 AM and 2 PM would be an ideal time to post.
The chart also makes a strong case against posting on weekends. People like to socialize on their weekend holidays. There really isn’t a best time to post on Instagram on a Sunday, or a Saturday, for that matter.
What to Post on Instagram Every Day
Now that you know what the best times to post on Instagram are, you can strategize what to post to incite the most engagement.
- Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: 11 AM – 12 PM
Most of your audience is enjoying their lunch break during this period. They are more likely to scroll through their social media feeds while fraternizing with their colleagues. Because of the limited time window, it would be appropriate to post something that is easy to connect with.
- Tuesday: 11 AM – 2 PM
Unlike the days above, here you can capitalize on the longer timeframe and use the opportunity to post long-form content in the veins of an IG TV video. You can also try going live.
- Thursday : 11 AM
Thursdays afford you a shorter time frame when compared with other days of the week. You can still make the most out of this short time by creating and posting engagement-boosting Insta stories that include quizzes, polls, and other similar types of content.
To get consistent engagement, we recommend regularly posting on Instagram between 7 AM and 10:30 PM on weekdays. Daily posts way before peak engagement hours, i.e. 11 AM will help you amass more views, likes, and shares.
The above information also lets you know what the best time would be to post a specific type of content on Instagram, which we will discuss in the next segment.
Best Times to Post on Insta
Post Reels
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Although new to Instagram, Reels have already become an integral part of Influencers’ and brands’ content strategies. As mentioned above, reels are made for content that is easily digestible. As such, it is advised to use them multiple times a week to get the most engagement.
The ideal day and time to post reels would be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday around 11 AM and 12 PM.
Post Videos
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Videos demand a longer timeframe, and as such, Tuesday between 11 AM and 2 PM is the perfect time to post videos on Instagram, as this is the time when your audience is most likely to be on a lunch break. Another good time to post videos on Instagram would be around 7 PM to 9 PM when people have left work.
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Post Instagram Story
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Instagram stories are known to generate 2-3 times more engagement than any other normal post on Instagram. An ideal time to get the most views on your stories is during the workweek around lunchtime. So Monday to Friday around 11 AM to 2 PM would be a great time to post 15-second stories.
Go Live on Instagram
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Similar to all other posts, a workweek around lunchtime would be an ideal time to go live on Instagram. Monday to Friday around 12 PM would be a great time to go live and interact with your audience. After work hours, around 7 PM to 9 PM would also be a suitable time to enhance engagement.
Post on Instagram by Location
Location is another very important factor that will define what the best time to post on Instagram will be for you. You must understand that different regions experience different audience behaviors. This alone can significantly impact the time zone overlaps across the world that we discussed above.
The posting time that may seem ideal for Instagram users residing in North America might not be suitable for those who live in Asia.
According to the most common estimate, the following are the best times to post on Instagram across different time zones:
- US and Canada: 12 AM – 6 AM (Western)
- US and Canada: 4 AM – 9 AM (Eastern)
- US and Canada: 6 AM – 9AM (Central)
- South America – 4 AM
- UK – 4 AM – 6 AM
- Africa – 6 AM
- Europe (Western): 6-8 PM
- Europe (Eastern): 5 AM -7 AM
- Australia and Asia: 11 PM-2 AM
- South Asia and the Middle East: 3 AM
- East Asia and Southeast Asia: 11 PM – 4 PM
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Post on Instagram by Industry
Now that you know when to post on Instagram, there is another factor that you should also consider when determining the best time to post. Identifying the ideal time to post according to the industry can help you yield more precise results.
So based on our own research on the subject matter, here are the best times to post on Instagram according to various industries:
#1) Media and Entertainment
With the rise of online celebrity culture, Instagram has become a vital part of the media and entertainment industry.
- Best Time to Post: Friday (9 AM)
- Best Engagement: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Between 8 – 5 PM
- Worst Engagement: Saturday and Sunday
#2) Technology
Although global timeframes for the tech industry vary, you can adhere to the following time frames to get the most out of your posts.
- Best Time to Post: Monday–10 AM – 10 PM
- Best Engagement: Monday to Friday, Between 8 AM – 6 PM
- Worst Engagement: Sunday
#3) Food and Beverage
Pictures of Food and Drinks arguably get the most amount of likes on Instagram. If you are in the business of serving delicious food and drinks, then the below timeframes would be ideal for you.
- Best Time to Post: Monday – 9 AM to 1 PM
- Best Engagement: Monday 9 AM to 1 PM
- Worst Engagement: Sunday
#4) Education
Most teachers, students, and faculty members are free during the later hours of a working day. As such, the best time to post for educational organizations would be:
- Best Time to Post: Friday – 10 AM
- Best Engagement: Wednesday to Saturday – 10 AM – 8 PM
- Worst Engagement: Sunday
#5) Healthcare
Although posting on Instagram isn’t a priority for healthcare professionals, consistent posting can still do a lot of good for any hospital, clinic, or independent practice offering patient care.
- Best Time to Post: Tuesday – 8 AM – 12 PM and 5 PM – 8 PM
- Best Engagement: Wednesday – 9 AM to 3 PM
- Worst Engagement: Saturday and Sunday
#6) Professional Services
Most professional service organizations like to serenade their online audience with educational content alongside links to blogs, videos, and more. As people like consuming such content first thing in the morning, it would be appropriate to post on Instagram during the following hours:
- Best Time to Post: Weekdays – 9 AM – 10 PM
- Best Engagement: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
- Worst Engagement: Saturday and Sunday
#7) Travel and Tourism
According to most experts, the Travel and Tourism industry experiences the most engagement as soon as the weekend rolls around.
- Best Time to Post: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday
- Best Engagement: 9 AM – 10 AM and 11 AM – 1 PM.
- Worst Engagement: NA
#8) Retail
As more and more people are using platforms like Instagram to make their buying decisions, Instagram posting has become fundamental for those in the retail industry. The following timeframe would be best to connect with an audience that is interested in using Instagram as a shopping outlet:
- Best Time to Post: Wednesday – 3 PM, Friday – 11 AM – 12 PM.
- Best Engagement: Wednesday
- Worst Engagement: Weekends, late nights, and early mornings.
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#9) Non-Profit
Instagram can serve as a perfect addition to a Non-Profit organization’s social media strategy. The best time to post on Insta for such organizations would be as follows:
- Best Time to Post: Wednesday – 2 PM
- Best Engagement: Wednesday – 1 PM – 4 PM
- Worst Engagement: Saturday and Sunday
Best Time to Post on Instagram Today Using Scheduling Tools
As we said earlier, finding the best time to post on Instagram isn’t as straightforward as one might assume. You will need to constantly experiment and tweak your Instagram posting strategy to find out what works best for your account. That being said, we understand if you don’t have the patience or time to undertake such an endeavor.
Fortunately, there are tools available today that shoulder this responsibility entirely at your behest.
Here is an example of a few examples of the best tools that serve this purpose really well:
#1) Sprout Social
Sprout Social makes use of its own team of data scientists to gather information that determines the best time to post on Instagram. Aside from showing you the ideal time, Social Sprout can also be used to schedule and auto-post your content.
Sprout Social’s use of intelligent algorithms allows it to assess various scheduling factors over a wider span of time. This makes the platform ideal for identifying the best Instagram posting time.
Price: Standard $89 per user per month, Professional Plan for $149 per user per month, Advanced Plan for $249 per user per month. 30-day free trial.
#2) Planable
Boasting a simplistic yet intuitive design, Planable helps social media marketers organize and manage huge Instagram marketing campaigns. Planable arms its users with all the tools needed to find the best time to post on Instagram. The platform allows you to get a bird’s-eye view of your entire Instagram campaign via calendar view.
Social media marketers know exactly when their followers are most active and engaged. Aside from Instagram, Planable offers scheduling features that also work seamlessly with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
Price: Free for 50 Posts, Basic – $9/user annually, Pro $19/user Annual, Custom Enterprise Plan also available.
Website: https://planable.io/
Also Read =>> Free Instagram Scheduler To Schedule Instagram Post
#3) Later
Later is, by far, one of the most raved about social media scheduling tools available today. It comes with a feature called “Best Time to Post”, which to nobody’s surprise, highlights the appropriate time to post.
Later gets to work by automatically calculating the times when Instagram followers on your account are most active, thus letting you schedule posts to trigger engagement.
Price: Starter – $15/month, Growth – $25/month, Advanced – $40/month. 14 day free trial.
Website: https://later.com/
Leveraging Instagram Analytics to Identify the Right Time to Post
If the above tools aren’t to your liking, you can always resort to Instagram’s own analytics to find out what time would be best to post on your Instagram account. However, you will need to have a business profile to access the platform’s analytical features.
Once you have converted your Instagram account to a business profile. Simply do the following:
- Tap the three bars in the top right-hand corner of your screen to open the drop-down menu. Select “Insights” from the open menu.
- In “Insights,” tap “Audience” and scroll down to the open page to the “Followers” segment. Here, you will find charts that depict the hours and days of the week.
- Tapping on the “Hours” bar will reveal stats that explain how many of your followers were online at a particular time.
- Tapping on the “Days” bar will reveal stats that show on what days your audience is online on the platform.
Furthermore, you will also gain insights into profile views, post engagement, website clicks, impressions, reach, etc. All of which you can use to determine what time would be perfect to post on your Instagram account for maximum engagement.
Conclusion
Over 170 million people in the United States are believed to be active users of Instagram. This includes diverse demography of people with varying tastes and preferences. There is a fertile market to tap here for businesses who wish to reach out to prospects on the popular media sharing platform.
Now, although content is integral to growing one’s user base, it is ultimately time to decide whether you will receive the engagement you are hoping for. Most experts attribute the ideal posting time to increased Instagram engagement. It would be wise for you to device your Instagram marketing strategy around a timeframe where your audience is the most active.
Referring to the above guide will hopefully help you find the best time to post on Instagram for likes, shares, comments, and more engagement. For results that are more precise, we recommend experimenting with posting timelines to determine the time and day that yields the best results for your Insta account.