The best time to post on Instagram is one of the social media’s mysterious wonders, as there is no such thing as the “perfect time” for us to post there. Fortunately, we can predict the time thanks to the tools provided to us. Behold, here are some ways to find the best time to post on Instagram for you.
How do you calculate the best time to post on Instagram?
If you look around on the internet, you will see plenty of websites informing you a certain time for certain days when it comes to posting on Instagram; they claim that those are the best times to post.
While they might not be wrong, it should be noted that not every business has the same prime time for Instagram posts. There are lots of factors that affect the “perfect time” to upload your Instagram post. The audience’s age, the location - these are only some of the things that contribute to your Instagram’s prime time. Here are some ways you can utilize those factors and find the best time to post on Instagram:
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Use Insights to see when your audience is the most active
If you use Instagram for your business, then there is a chance that you’ve seen the “Insight” section of your Instagram profile. Do not underestimate that small button, as it has everything you need when it comes to your audience.
Instagram Insights is the analytic tool provided by Instagram for business owners. It has everything you need to analyze your audience, from the audience’s age range to gender and location, everything is there. The tool also provides daily numbers, informing the highest amount of people who engage with our posts every day. Getting the analytic tool isn’t hard; as long as you’ve switched your account to a Business account, everything will be at your fingertips.
If you’re a content creator, you can also switch to the Creator Profile. Creator Profile gives you access to the Creator Studio dashboard. The dashboard allows you to see the engagement for each post. The number of people reached, how the audience engages with the post, website clicks - all can be gotten from Instagram’s Creator dashboard.
The dashboard also gives us access to post organization and filters, giving us easier ways to categorize the posts and see them according to our needs. Creator dashboard also gives more detailed information regarding the most active users, giving you hourly details for them.
Insights and Creator’s dashboard can be utilized to find the most strategic time for posting Instagram content. If you need some help utilizing them, no need to worry! We are here to provide you some help on how to utilize the tools for your business.
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Experiment with the content
If you’re running a business using Instagram, you need to pay extra attention to the content you post. Believe it or not, content does play a big role when it comes to Instagram’s algorithm.
How does Instagram’s algorithm work? First, Instagram looks at relationships and interests. Instagram gathers the information on the user’s Interests at the beginning when the user created the profile. The relationship is based on the following of the user.
The Instagram algorithm doesn’t stop there. They also observe the content the user interacts with, using it as the benchmark for showing the user’s Explore page. The most the user interacts with a certain kind of content, the higher the chance for Instagram to fill their Explore page with it.
Don’t be discouraged, because there is always a chance for your content to be displayed on users’ Explore… As long as people interact with it. The more people interact with it, the higher the chance it will be displayed on Explore. For this reason, we will need to experiment with the content. Once you find out the type of content that grabs people’s attention the most, it’s time to utilize that information for your Instagram.
This doesn’t mean that you should stick with one type of content only. If you see that there is more than one type of content that works well, you can switch among them back and forth to give variety to your profile. If you’re planning to do this, make sure that the content is published at the time that works the best for that certain content.
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Track the best time to post
The third tip might require extra work, but it’s definitely worth the result.
To get the best time for posting, you can experiment with the posting times and record the response gained from those posts. First, pick at least five to seven different times (depending on your day. Make sure every day gets a slot) where you can post for the entire week. When you have uploaded the posts, record the number of audiences that interacted with the posts.
We’re not done yet! After going through the first week, do the same for the second week but switch the time. For example, if you upload at 7 PM on Tuesday, switch it to Thursday’s time. Do this until you’re satisfied with the result (our recommendation is to try all the time for all the days).
Once you have the data, take one day off to analyze it, and find the times where the engagement is the highest. If you have found the times, then congratulations! You have found the times where you should upload your Instagram posts.
Afterthoughts
Finding the best time to post on Instagram might not be easy. However, if you research it meticulously and diligently, you’ll be able to get the perfect time to upload it on one of the most beloved social media in this world. With the help of analytical tools such as Insights and Creator dashboard, you’ll be able to predict the most suitable time for your Instagram posts.