To build a sizable Instagram post-obit, you need to create compelling content that your audience actually craves. But if you don't post your content at the right time, about of them will never see it. So how exercise yous effigy out the optimal post time for your specific audition? The best way to find an ideal posting time is by testing the timing of your posts to see which postal service time generates the virtually audience engagement.

If yous lack the resources or time to conduct your ain tests, Sprout Social, a social media management platform with over 20,000 customers, has yous covered. In 2020, their team analyzed client data to see what time and day their social media posts generated the nearly engagement. Hither's what they found.

  • Global Instagram Engagement
  • Best Time to Mail service on Instagram Past Time Zone
  • When is the best time to post on Instagram?
  • All-time Time to Post to Instagram Cheatsheet
  • Best Time to Mail service on Instagram Each 24-hour interval
  • Best Time to Mail service on Instagram past Industry
  • Best Times to Mail Reels on Instagram
New Data: Instagram Engagement Report [2022 Version]

Global Instagram Engagement

If 2020 taught us anything, it's that our worlds are more than interconnected than ever before on a global scale. Our social media strategies take to reflect this new way of life in gild for our businesses to meet their goals.

The nautical chart below shows the global engagement on Instagram past the time of 24-hour interval and day of the calendar week. Note: The time is in CDT. That means you wouldn't mail service at eleven AM for every timezone individually — 11 AM CDT works just fine beyond posts published for a global audience.

Need a visual to strategize effectually? Check out this Sprout Social chart which shows Global Instagram Engagement hotspots.

Global Instagram Engagement Graph by Sprout Social

Image Source

Since the nautical chart above is only referring to CDT, we bankrupt down the best times for engagement across different time zones.

Best Time to Post on Instagram by Time Zone

Your location can heavily influence the success of your social media marketing strategy. Audiences behave differently depending on where they are in the world, and you tin can benefit from knowing when they're virtually likely active on Instagram. Later data suggested the following time frames were the most optimal.

United States and Canada

  • Western Standard Time (WST): 12 AM to half dozen AM
  • Key Standard Fourth dimension (CST): vi AM to 8 AM
  • Eastern Standard Fourth dimension (EST): 4 AM to 9 AM

For those looking for the best times to post for audiences outside of North America, the all-time local times to post for engagement in other areas are below.

  • Southward America: 4 AM
  • Uk: 4 AM to 6 AM
  • Europe (Western): half-dozen PM - 8 PM
  • Europe (Eastern): 5 AM to 7 AM
  • Africa: 6 AM
  • Southern asia and Middle East: 3 AM
  • East asia and Southeast Asia: eleven PM to 4 AM
  • Australasia: 11 PM to ii AM

Returning to CDT, nosotros'll become into even more than particular about the best times to mail on Instagram, including the best times for mail service engagement. We've summarized the key findings from their report into a quick cheatsheet that yous can reference afterwards.

Best Time to Post to Instagram Cheatsheet

Best Time to Post on Instagram Cheat sheet

The twenty-four hour period of the week on which you mail can alter how much engagement you get during that aforementioned fourth dimension.

Why? Remember about the little differences in your daily mood and routine — the ones you lot might not realize y'all have — and how they affect your behavior. The same goes for everyone following your Instagram account.

Every bit much as nosotros don't like to admit it, many of us check our social media first thing in the morning to catch upwards on the night earlier. Then, information technology's time for a lunch intermission scroll. Finally, we take one last look at what our friends and favorite brands are up to earlier bed. It makes sense that the heaviest date hours align with the way our audiences live their lives.

Here's another expect at the best times to post on Instagram each day equally well as some additional insights from Sprout Social:

All-time Fourth dimension to Mail on Instagram Each Day

  • Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: xi AM - 12 PM CDT - Consider that virtually of your followers are taking a lunch break around this time and will be more likely to coil through Instagram to grab upwards on the latest from their friends, favorite brands, and influencers. During these time periods, share content that is piece of cake to engage with and share.
  • Tuesday: 11 AM - two PM CDT - Similar to the above, lunch breaks are common effectually these hours. Nevertheless, the longer timeframe can be a fitting opportunity to share long-class content like IG Tv set videos or even go live on Instagram.
  • Thursday: xi AM CDT - For these shorter tiffin breaks on Thursdays, endeavor posting Instagram stories with engagement boosters like polls, questions, and quizzes to go quick responses that users volition come up back to read later on.

When scheduling posts for Instagram, the same hours may not work for each day. Consider both the day of the week and the industry you're in (nosotros'll talk about the latter in only a minute).

Pro Tip: Post to Instagram between seven AM and ten:30 AM CDT from Monday to Friday. You lot'll get the most consistent appointment that manner because your content will take time to pick upwards views and shares leading into the superlative appointment hours around xi AM CDT.

Best Time to Post on Instagram by Industry

The general data above about optimal postal service timing is a great starting point for growing an engaged Instagram audience. But if you desire to get more granular, here are the best times to post on Instagram if your system is in the technology, eating house, didactics, healthcare, and non-profit industries, co-ordinate to Sprout Social'due south inquiry.

Best Times to Mail service on Instagram for Engineering science Companies

Best time to post on instagram for tech companies

  • Best Time: Monday ten:00 AM - x:00 PM CDT
  • Virtually Consistent Engagement: Monday - Fri, 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM CDT
  • Best Day: Monday
  • Worst Mean solar day: Sunday

Best Times to Postal service on Instagram for Restaurants

Best time to post on instagram for restaraunts

  • Best Time: Monday 9 AM - 1 PM
  • Nearly Consequent Engagement: Monday ix AM - 1 PM
  • Best Day: Mon
  • Worst Twenty-four hours: Saturday

Best Times to Post on Instagram for Educational Organizations

Best time to post on instagram for education
  • All-time Times: Friday 4:00 AM - 5:00 AM, Thursday 2:00 PM CDT
  • Most Consequent Engagement: Fri iv:00 AM - 1:00 PM CDT
  • All-time Day: Fri
  • Worst Twenty-four hours: Sunday

All-time Times to Post on Instagram for Healthcare Companies

Best time to post on instagram for healthcare

  • Best Times: Tuesday 8 AM - 12 PM, v PM - 8 PM
  • Most Consistent Engagement: Sunday, eight:00 AM - 9:00 AM CDT
  • Best Day: Monday, Tuesday
  • Worst Day: Saturday

Best Times to Postal service on Instagram for Nonprofit Organizations

  • Best Time: Wednesday 10 AM - 6 PM CDT
  • About Consistent Engagement: Monday to Friday from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM CDT
  • Best Mean solar day: Wednesday
  • Worst Twenty-four hour period: Sunday

We've gone over traditional posts, but Instagram has gotten a newer feature that favors consistency and timing, also.

The grade of content creation that the Instagram algorithm is speedily shifting focus to is Instagram reels. Reels are curt-course video content made to capture cultural trends, collaborate with the community, and observe new ideas in a portrait view.

Best Times to Mail Reels on Instagram

Best practices for posting Instagram reels would exist to post 4 to vii reels a week consistently. If the uploading days or times yous post are sporadic, the algorithm won't prioritize your account visibility.

With consistency in listen, a Later study institute the optimal times to post reels on Instagram throughout the calendar week:

best time to post reels on Instagram by day of the week

  • Mon, Th: 5 AM CDT
  • Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday-Sunday: 5 AM CDT

While we're still learning more than well-nigh them, popular Instagram accounts like the NBA accept gotten a 22% increased engagement with the new feature.

Heave Instagram Appointment on Your Schedule

Organic Instagram engagement and a scheduled posting schedule go manus in hand. Each industry has natural peaks and valleys of engagement throughout the day which ways your Instagram strategy should flow with them. Use this helpful cheat sheet to plan your social media agenda for side by side quarter and watch your engagement rate soar.

Editor's notation: This mail was originally published in February 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Originally published Sep 21, 2021 i:45:00 PM, updated April 01 2022