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

If you lack the resources or time to conduct your own tests, Sprout Social, a social media management platform with over 20,000 customers, has you covered. In 2020, their team analyzed customer data to meet what time and day their social media posts generated the most appointment. Here's what they found.

  • Global Instagram Date
  • Best Time to Post on Instagram By Time Zone
  • When is the best time to post on Instagram?
  • All-time Time to Post to Instagram Cheatsheet
  • Best Time to Postal service on Instagram Each Day
  • Best Time to Post on Instagram by Industry
  • All-time Times to Post Reels on Instagram
New Data: Instagram Engagement Report [2022 Version]

Global Instagram Engagement

If 2020 taught us anything, it'southward that our worlds are more than interconnected than ever before on a global calibration. Our social media strategies have to reverberate this new manner of life in order for our businesses to meet their goals.

The chart below shows the global date on Instagram past the time of day and 24-hour interval of the week. Note: The time is in CDT. That means you wouldn't postal service at 11 AM for every timezone individually — 11 AM CDT works just fine across 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 just referring to CDT, nosotros broke down the best times for engagement beyond unlike fourth dimension zones.

All-time Time to Post on Instagram by Time Zone

Your location tin can heavily influence the success of your social media marketing strategy. Audiences comport differently depending on where they are in the world, and you tin benefit from knowing when they're most probable active on Instagram. Afterward information suggested the post-obit time frames were the most optimal.

United States and Canada

  • Western Standard Fourth dimension (WST): 12 AM to 6 AM
  • Central Standard Time (CST): 6 AM to eight AM
  • Eastern Standard Time (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.

  • Due south America: 4 AM
  • UK: 4 AM to 6 AM
  • Europe (Western): six PM - viii PM
  • Europe (Eastern): v AM to 7 AM
  • Africa: 6 AM
  • Southward Asia and Middle East: 3 AM
  • E Asia and Southeast Asia: xi PM to iv AM
  • Australasia: 11 PM to 2 AM

Returning to CDT, nosotros'll go into fifty-fifty more detail near the best times to post on Instagram, including the best times for post engagement. Nosotros've summarized the central findings from their written report into a quick cheatsheet that you can reference later.

Best Time to Post to Instagram Cheatsheet

Best Time to Post on Instagram Cheat sheet

The day of the week on which you post tin can change how much engagement you become during that same time.

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

Equally much as we don't like to acknowledge information technology, many of us check our social media first thing in the morning to catch upwards on the night before. So, it's time for a lunch break scroll. Finally, we take one concluding look at what our friends and favorite brands are upwards to before bed. It makes sense that the heaviest engagement hours marshal with the style our audiences live their lives.

Here's another look at the best times to post on Instagram each twenty-four hour period also as some additional insights from Sprout Social:

Best Time to Postal service on Instagram Each 24-hour interval

  • Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 11 AM - 12 PM CDT - Consider that almost of your followers are taking a lunch break around this time and volition exist more than likely to scroll through Instagram to catch upwardly on the latest from their friends, favorite brands, and influencers. During these time periods, share content that is easy to engage with and share.
  • Tuesday: eleven AM - 2 PM CDT - Similar to the in a higher place, lunch breaks are common around these hours. Still, the longer timeframe can exist a fitting opportunity to share long-form content similar IG TV videos or even go live on Instagram.
  • Th: 11 AM CDT - For these shorter lunch breaks on Thursdays, endeavor posting Instagram stories with engagement boosters like polls, questions, and quizzes to go quick responses that users will come up back to read after.

When scheduling posts for Instagram, the same hours may not piece of work for each twenty-four hour period. Consider both the day of the week and the industry you're in (we'll talk about the latter in just a minute).

Pro Tip: Post to Instagram betwixt 7 AM and 10:30 AM CDT from Mon to Fri. You'll become the most consistent engagement that way because your content volition have fourth dimension to choice upwards views and shares leading into the peak engagement hours around xi AM CDT.

Best Time to Post on Instagram by Industry

The general data above about optimal post timing is a great starting point for growing an engaged Instagram audience. But if you want to get more granular, here are the best times to post on Instagram if your system is in the applied science, restaurant, education, healthcare, and non-profit industries, co-ordinate to Sprout Social's inquiry.

Best Times to Post on Instagram for Technology Companies

Best time to post on instagram for tech companies

  • All-time Fourth dimension: Monday ten:00 AM - x:00 PM CDT
  • Nearly Consistent Date: Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - six:00 PM CDT
  • All-time Mean solar day: Monday
  • Worst Day: Sunday

Best Times to Post on Instagram for Restaurants

Best time to post on instagram for restaraunts

  • Best Time: Monday ix AM - 1 PM
  • Most Consequent Engagement: Mon nine AM - 1 PM
  • Best 24-hour interval: Monday
  • Worst Day: Sabbatum

All-time Times to Mail 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
  • Nearly Consistent Engagement: Fri 4:00 AM - 1:00 PM CDT
  • Best Day: Friday
  • Worst Day: 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, 5 PM - 8 PM
  • Most Consistent Engagement: Lord's day, 8:00 AM - nine:00 AM CDT
  • Best Twenty-four hours: Monday, Tuesday
  • Worst Day: Saturday

All-time Times to Post on Instagram for Nonprofit Organizations

  • Best Time: Midweek x AM - 6 PM CDT
  • Most Consequent Appointment: Monday to Fri from eleven:00 AM to eight:00 PM CDT
  • Best Twenty-four hour period: Wednesday
  • Worst Day: Sunday

Nosotros've gone over traditional posts, but Instagram has gotten a newer characteristic that favors consistency and timing, too.

The form of content creation that the Instagram algorithm is apace shifting focus to is Instagram reels. Reels are short-form video content made to capture cultural trends, collaborate with the customs, and find new ideas in a portrait view.

All-time Times to Post Reels on Instagram

Best practices for posting Instagram reels would be to postal service four to vii reels a week consistently. If the uploading days or times you mail service are sporadic, the algorithm won't prioritize your account visibility.

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

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

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

While we're still learning more about them, popular Instagram accounts similar the NBA have gotten a 22% increased engagement with the new feature.

Boost 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 twenty-four hours which ways your Instagram strategy should flow with them. Utilise this helpful crook sheet to plan your social media agenda for side by side quarter and watch your engagement rate soar.

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

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Originally published Sep 21, 2021 1:45:00 PM, updated April 01 2022