When is the best time to post on Instagram? That's the million-dollar question that differs for every user, brand, influencer and agency. With a constantly changing algorithm it’s important to use all available resources to figure out the best time to post that works for YOU!

Luckily, the Sked Insights “Best Time to Post” feature and audience analytics can help you make more educated decisions about posting time.

Back in the glory days of Instagram feeds being organized in chronological order, posting time was easy. But now, it requires more strategy.

The idea is that you want to be posting before most of your followers are online to increase the chances that they will see it. Because the algorithm shows users posts based on what it thinks they want to see and if it’s timely, it’s important for your content to show up when they are online. This will help them engage and show the algorithm that they want to see your content.

Instagram analytics gives professional accounts Audience insights where users can see what days they have the most followers online and what time most of them are online. But the data is limited and unorganized.

It’s hard to compare the data when you can only look at one day at a time. Clicking through each day, trying to see how many followers are online at what time and then comparing them is NOT a streamlined strategy. Plus, it’s in three hour windows which doesn’t help narrow things down.

So bring in Sked Insights! A feature that will help you nail your posting strategy by giving you an easy chart showing the best times to post, and supplementing with other audience analytics.

Sked Insights uses the past 14-21 days of data from your Instagram account. It looks at what day and time you have the most followers online. Then we compare each day and time and rank the top 5 best times to post based on that data (#1 being the day and time when you have the most amount of followers online).

The other great thing about Sked Insights Best Time to Post is that on top of the top 5 days/time, we also color code each day and hour to give you an overall display of the best times to post.

The colored chart gives you info about every day and time all at the same time for easy comparison. The darker the purple/blue, the better time it is to post on Instagram.

The best times to post on Instagram will be displayed in the admin’s timezone so be sure you know what timezone that is and adjust accordingly.

**We’re working on even more features for optimal post time that will use data from past post performance. We’ll let you know when that happens!

Using Sked Insights Best Time to Post feature is a great place to start.

Save your best, most engaging content for those top 5 best days and times to post.

But many users post every day or multiple times per day. While you can use the Best Time to Post chart to see the best times for every single day, you should also take other factors into consideration.

Since there isn’t a clear cut answer that works for everyone on the best time to post on Instagram, it’s important to look at other analytics and outside factors that can help fine tune your strategy.

Here are some other things to look at when determining the best time for you to post!

Use the other Audience insights to help further your decision.

Where are your followers located? This could take local holidays into consideration as people’s social media behavior changes during weekdays, weekends and holidays.

What timezones are your followers in? Find out the time difference between you and your followers. This is also especially important if you are in a different timezone than the Admin of your Sked account.

How old are they? This could tell you when your target audience is likely to be online. Ages 18+ are probably working during the day so are either checking social media in the morning before work, during lunch or once they get home in the evening. While school-aged gen Z might be on their phones all day.

Test it out! One of the best parts about Sked Insights is that you can easily look at analytics for specific date ranges to see if your strategy is working and make adjustments when needed.

When deciding the best time to post, you should also take into consideration your personal schedule. When are you around to engage with your followers? You don’t want to post and then walk away for hours, leaving comments and DMs unread.

A big part of beating the algorithm is to engage, engage, engage so even if you post at the recommended best time to post, it won’t help unless you’re also around to nurture those online relationships.

With all of these tools available to you, you’re ready to up your Instagram scheduling game!