Social media is the life and blood of the marketing strategies for an organization, particularly for the small and medium sized businesses. An active social media profile that has relevant, informative and engaging posts goes a long way in keeping the business at the top of the minds of the audience.
In this post you will learn about the best times to post content on different social media platforms as per the industry you belong to and how to find out the best suited time slots for your business.
However, simply posting a lot of content, pictures, or videos on all or any of the social media channels whenever you want to post does not really work that well. There are some time slots that work better than the others and these time slots are different for different platforms.
That brings us to the one of the most commonly asked questions –
So what is the best time to post on Instagram?
It is only recently that Instagram has grown to a billion active users with a median 1.6% engagement rate per post. To say the least, Instagram is definitely on the rise among the myriad social media platforms today.
The algorithm prioritizes certain posts in a user’s feed for more authentic and personalized social experience as opposed to the reverse chronological order previously. Apart from the algorithm there are a bunch of new features that are changing the way Instagrammers are interacting with the platform. The features that have recently gained prominence include Reels, Stories and IGTV, which have encouraged the brands to create more video content of both, micro-length and long-form variations.
It is no secret that Instagram has quite a strong focus on retail and to leverage it in the best manner, the following stats can come in handy.
1. The best times to post on Instagram – Wednesday at 11 am and Friday between 10–11 am 2. Overall best day to post on Instagram – Wednesday 3. The safest times to post on Instagram – Tuesday to Friday, 10 am–3 pm 4. The least engaging day on Instagram – Sunday 5. The least amount of engagement – from 11 pm–3 am
What it really means?
The peaks in engagement on Instagram is mid-day, mid-week (quite like other social media platforms) there still are certain good slots in the evening and morning in the middle of the week. The safest times to post are the core weekday time slots, but certain brand niches might see their audience engaging with the platform first thing in the morning or late at night, just before they turn in for the night.
Except the little upcurve on Saturday midday, weekends are not so great for getting views on your posts. Also, the late-night users drop out as it gets late and the wee hours of the morning are not so great either.
Breaking it further down
Instagram is a visually driven platform which is not great for bringing in massive amount of traffic, but the kind of engagement it offers is pretty high.
Following is a breakdown of the best times to post on Instagram according to the nature of the business.
B2C Businesses
When it comes to the businesses who are selling consumer products, the best time to post is typically before work, at the lunch hours, and at the times when people are relaxing at the end of the day. Particularly Wednesday 3 pm is the best time for Instagram posts in the B2C sector.
B2B Businesses
The best time slots are pretty similar to those of the B2C sector with the maximum activity or engagement taking place around lunch and after work.
Tech Businesses
The tech industry follows a slightly different trajectory as more of their audiences engage with the platform just before and a little after the lunch times. This peak needs to be taken into consideration while creating the social calendar. The best time to post on Instagram for tech businesses is also on Wednesdays.
Healthcare Companies
If we look at the kind of engagement healthcare companies get from Instagram, it’s not really that great. However, since the platform pulls in massive engagement from a number of other industries, a big chunk of the audience including prospective patients are already on it. So, it is a good idea to expand your reach by planning the social media calendar accordingly. The engagements for this industry are highest in the non-peak times – in mid-morning and the early afternoon hours.
Media Companies
Instagram is not really known for driving traffic, but it is a valuable platform when it comes to brand-building. This is why Instagram has been gaining popularity among media publishers as well. The best day for them on Instagram is Friday and the best times are – around 9 am as people are just getting into work, then at 12 noon which is probably around their lunch time and then at 3 pm when people are on their afternoon break. Yet again Saturday and Sunday see the least engagement.
Higher Education
Institutes or businesses that offer higher education find the most engagement in the after the work hours ideally between 5 pm and 6 pm This might be due to the fact that people may be more responsive to the idea of upgrading themselves as they are leaving work or may even be contemplating a change of career.