Heyyy! Hope you all are having a great day.
Just quite a broad question, what is probably the best time to post something on Instagram to reach as much people as possible. Because I’ve realised a HUGE difference in the amount of insights when I post at different times of the day. Could be EST time I don’t mind.
Thanks!
Heyy check your Instagram insight (check photo) there you will find a lot of information regarding your content, audience, and posts. Start from there, see when your users are most active and then experiment with times you post.
I was posting for a whole year based on my insights i.e. when most of the followers were online.
I regret that I didn’t test earlier other times. It looks like I receive more likes and engagement in total when I post much earlier in the day, because I give my followers the time to see and engage with my post.
For a small account like mine it is more important to receive more engagement over time than to receive it rapidly, because either way I don’t end up at the explorer, so my focus is to give my followers enough time to see my post.
The most important conclusion is never trust anything blindly, do your own tests!
Agreed! Most active isn’t necessarily the best time to post. For me, example, my most engaged followers are active in the morning
I have also had the same exact experience with my account which is under 10k
Ah yes, but I’ve tried that but it seems that I don’t get good results… normally I see great results mid-day however once I post at the beginning of the day which my insights recommend I still get good reach however not good enough.
I think they intentionally screw with the insights to manipulate people into somehow being on the platform more. Like you, I’ve had random success posting at totally different times from what the insights suggested would be a good hour/day of the week. Usually earlier, sometimes a few hours later.
By providing slightly fuzzy data you have to keep “testing” and that just inflates their active user figures while at the same time making it frustration overload for the person whose post normally gets 800 likes only getting 100 for a few weeks due to posting based on what the insights indicated was the “most active time” for their followers.
So to the main question, in my opinion… without the insights factor, I’d say posting when you think the people you’d like to have engage with/see your content will be active would be the best time. So it’s dependent on age, school, job, etc and when that person generally has time to look at their phone and not be busy doing other crap.
I have thought about that too. I don’t know if it’s intentionally or not, but their insights are not accurate.
For example, I’ve tested this with link clicks of a post. While I had a number of friends clink on my link for test purposes, the insights kept showing only 1 link click!!
So, insights are definitely not accurate.
Especially the reach and impressions. That number is always over exaggerated.
Or the ‘other’ impressions that are always suddenly exaggerated in a post with no hashtags!
Hello. before I explain, understand that different things work for different ppl. So if I am wrong with anything please teach me. I love other opinions. We are here to learn and exchange experience.
As a small account, you have to test all the time. As your audience get bigger you test again. You have to think about a lot of things too. For example. Ppl open IGTV and left it to work or watching stories, go out to feed the dog, go to the toilet, etc. All that time that app is open is counted into active time. You can check yours in “Your activity”. That’s just one thing. Other things affect it also. Thinking about ppl working to 15:00, after they finish they go to the bus station or into a taxi and its time to check their feed that’s 10 to 20 minutes later. Festivals, celebrations, etc. Once I started testing I get crazy results. Like nothing have sense until I get bigger following. Keep track of some things I mentioned above. Like bigger dates. (for example NYC Lunar New Year Parade). Understand when to post and when not to at all.
Just use data from your insight, it’s easy as that!
Probably around 10:30 to 11:00 since your audience start to engage for 9 and you have a 4 hour gap between those hours. Start testing for 4 weeks. Go from 9:30 to 12:00 and see what’s best for you.
You’re probably right! But, playing devil’s advocate, would 3pm be a time worth testing? (I have no idea of the details of your question, of course 
)
Hear me out!
I wonder if a problem with IG’s insights is that it’s based on 3hr blocks.
I’m sure engagement in the first minutes after an upload is important, so it’s no good posting at the start of the 3hr block only to find most people are on at the end of the 3hr block.
I recently ran a free trial of Buffer Analyse, Keyhole, and IG insights at the same time. Dear lord they were all so different that I just about gave up.
Buffer and IG have ‘proprietary algorithms’ that they use. Keyhole was the most transparent data based on engagements and time of posting down to the hour (rather than 3 hrs).
I’ll probably go with Keyhole.
I’ve found that you should ignore Instagram insights when posting lol. 8-9 am is best.
Yep! 100% agree.
The insights really just tell you when your followers are online, and they are not necessarily the best times to post for maximum engagement.
I had an account where the bulk of followers were online at 4PM but engagement was highest at 8-9PM and I would dominate the top nine for some of my most competitive hashtags.
It’s definitely important to test consistently and scientifically so you can measure accurately. Look at all metrics but measure success based on whatever your KPI is.
