Regardless of the ‘type’ of Instagram account one has, more often than note, the primary goal of Instagrammers is to create compelling content that can get them viewership and likes at their individual level. However, what most fail to comply with is the time at which the said posts are made. As for a fact, if you do not post your content at a strategized time, your Instagram posts are likely to not gather enough engagement.

So, How Does One Determine The Best Posting Time for Instagram For Business?

Since most Instagram business accounts have followers from various regions, the first step is to identify a posting time that suits the majority of the audience base. In order to determine the best posting time for Instagram, you will need to keep a track of your timing and test the timings to understand what posting time works best.

According to the consumer engagement data, of over 24,000 customers, analyzed by Sprout Social, the average best time to post on Instagram for business accounts is Between 2 PM and 3 PM CDT.  But, it is not that easy yet. While between 2-3 PM is the average best time to post, the engagement differs majorly with each day as well. 2-3 PM might be the best time, but Thursday is the best day. If you post something on Thursday at 5 PM, it is likely to work better than 5 PM on any other day.

However, as per a report by Later, that analyzed over 12 million Instagram posts, here’s the answer to “When is the best posting time on Instagram”-

• Monday: 6am, 10am, and 10pm EST

• Tuesday: 2 am, 4 am, and 9 am EST

• Wednesday: 7 am, 8 am and 11 pm EST

• Thursday: 9 am, 12 pm, and 7 pm EST

• Friday: 5 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm EST

• Saturday: 11 am, 7 pm, and 8 pm EST

• Sunday: 7 am, 8 am, and 4 pm EST

Why is the response or engagement on Instagram dependant on times and days?

Human beings are subjected to a behavioral change each day which is directly proportional to the levels of engagement on Instagram. Just like you, as an individual, might be in an uninterested or ‘stay away’ kinda mood on a particular day, so could be millions of others each day in and out. The human behavioral change clubbed with Instagram’s ever-changing algorithms, the game gets a little tougher and so, the best posting time for Instagram is dependent on these factors too. Algorithms like prioritizing posts by user’s friends as against business posts in the ‘view queue,’  are just some examples.

Let us now look into some primary factors that need to be considered for better engagement and posting time on Instagram-

On the basis of the studies and data found on HubSpot, Sprout Social and Later, we have come to some conclusion and created a comprehensive list of the key determining factors for you-

1. Best posting time for Instagram: Day of the week (and the common behavioral patterns across days)

The week of the day and the time of the day has a great impact on the kind of engagement one can expect from their audience. For example, through weekdays, early morning posts will gain more traffic than weekend morning posts because most people wake up early on weekdays and tend to check their phone as soon as they’re up. Likewise, posting during mid-morning to the afternoon on weekdays also gets engagement as that is when people go for lunch and check their phone. On the flip side, the behaviors go for a toss on the weekends when the most engagement would be in the afternoons or late in the night when people are hanging out with family or friends.

2. Best posting time for Instagram: Time Zones

Time zones majorly affect the engagement and as a basic thumb of rule, the wider the geographical spread of your audience, the lesser is the influence of your posting time. You can use time zones to your advantage by posting on your Instagram at a time when you believe most of your audience is likely to be on their phones. For example, one portion’s break time and another portion’s wake up time.

3. Best posting time for Instagram: Posting Consistency

While it is necessary that you post enough in a day, it is also important to understand that ‘enough’ and draw a line between posting and spamming. The idea is to ensure that you post sufficiently for your account to not appear inactive or obsolete; but actually,  fresh, engagement-worthy.

Even if you want to post as many as 3 posts per day, at least ensure that your posts are not all similar, boring. If you plan to post three posts of three products with features of all three listed in all posts, it will never work. You might instead post one image of a product that you are selling and the memes or something about another relevant issue for others.  Try and make your account an exciting mix of components.

4. Best posting time for Instagram: Insights

All Instagram business accounts get access to Instagram insights and monitoring these insights could solve half the best time for an Instagram post queries for you. If you visit the “Followers” tab of  Instagram Insights, you get access to valuable information about the “online” times of your followers. This information can always be leveraged in your favor.

In Conclusion, here are the best time to post on Instagram for businesses across various Industries-

On the basis of the data found on HubSpot and Sprout, here are the best posting times for varied sectors-

• Best Times to Post on Instagram for Technology Companies: Wednesday, 10 AM

• Best Times to Post on Instagram for Educational Organizations: Monday, 8 PM

• Best Times to Post on Instagram for Healthcare Companies: Tuesday, 1 PM
  Best Times to Post on Instagram for B2C Companies: Saturday, 11 AM and 1 PM

• Best Times to Post on Instagram for Media Companies: Friday, 9 AM
  Best Times to Post on Instagram for Non-Profit Organizations: Tuesday, 3 PM and 9 PM, Wednesday at 3 PM and 4 PM, Thursday, 2 PM & 3 PM, and Friday, 10 AM & 2 PM.

Best Posting Time For Business Accounts on Instagram in 2023 FAQs

1. What is the worst time to post on Instagram?

As discussed in this post, there is not any ideal worst or best time as all times are influenced by various factors. However, if it still has to be answered with a gun on the head, as against the best time to post on Instagram, the worst time to post on Instagram would be early mornings when people are still asleep, particularly between 2 am- 4 am.

2. What is the golden hour on Instagram?

The golden hour has nothing to do with the best posting time on Instagram, it rather has to do with an ideal photography time. The golden hour is the hour before sunset and an hour after sunrise. This is the time when natural light is at its optimal for photography- warmest, softest; saving you a lot of editing time.

3. Which is the best Instagram planner?

There are various schedulers on the market that can be used to plan Instagram posts. The top 5 as per various reviews and reports are as follows-

• Bettr

• SproutSocial

• ViralTag

• ScheduGram

• Combin

FAQs- Instagram Cheat Sheet

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1) What is the worst time to post on Instagram?

As discussed in this post, there is not any ideal best time as all times are influenced by various factors. However, if it still has to be answered with a gun on the head, the best Instagram posting time for high levels of engagement would be during mid-afternoon to late evenings. This is because ideally, most people will check their phones at least once during this time. But again, there is no guarantee and it all depends on when your particularly targeted audience is active.

2) What is the golden hour on Instagram?

The golden hour has nothing to do with posting time on Instagram, it rather has to do with an ideal photography time. The golden hour is the hour before sunset and an hour after sunrise. This is the time when natural light is at its optimal for photography- warmest, softest; saving you a lot of editing time.

3) Which is the best Instagram planner?

There are various schedulers on the market that can be used to plan Instagram posts. The top 5 as per various reviews and reports are as follows- 1. Bettr, 2. SproutSocial, 3. ViralTag, 4. ScheduGram, 5. Combin.