How Often Should You Post On Instagram?

How often should you post on Instagram? That’s the million dollar question with an easy answer for most, but there’s not a one size fits all approach.

If you’re looking to get more reach and more exposure, then you need to know the sweet spot for posting frequency to get more Instagram followers.

Too little, and you run the risk of less exposure, or even worse, unfollows.

Too much, and you run the risk of upsetting your followers, and equally worse, unfollows.

But, my philosophy (yet to be proven wrong) is that when you’re giving your Instagram audience content that they connect with, whether that’s being funny, quirky, or entertaining, they will never get upset about too much.

The whole reason people are even on the Instagram platform is because they want to consume content.

It’s your job to figure out how often you should post on Instagram to not only get the most Instagram followers, but to give your audience what they want and what they need.

Whatever that amount is for you, this article is going to help you when it comes to posting frequency, engagement, and how to get it right for your account.

So, without further ado, let’s dive in!

What’s The Best Time To Post On Instagram?

There’s a lot of debate as to what’s the best time to post on Instagram.

And for good reason. Because organic reach is dwindling in 2020 on Instagram, there’s never been a more important time to know the best time to post for your Instagram account.

When you post at the right time, you get more reach, more engagement, and more “follower spikes”.

If, on the other hand, you post at the wrong times then you get the complete opposite of that.

Less reach, less engagement, and no follower spikes.

That being said, there’s no cookie cutter approach to find the best posting time for your specific account.

According to Hubspot, the best time to post on Instagram is between 2 PM and 3 PM CDT. However, the level of engagement you get can change dramatically depending on what day of the week you post. The best day to post on Instagram is Thursday, not just at 3 PM, but at 5 AM, 11 AM, and 4 PM as well.

You can use that as a general guideline to find out what works best for you.

Knowing your audience comes in very handy when you’re trying to find that best posting time for your Instagram account because if you know more or less when they’re browsing the Instagram platform you can plan your posts accordingly.

Keep in mind that people typically check their phones right when they wake up or when they’re at lunch during work hours.

If you’re thinking of posting on the weekends, posting on Saturday around 11 AM CDT is a good bet since that’s typically when people are eating or hanging out with their friends.

Here is a complete breakdown of the best time to post on Instagram by day from our friends at Hubspot:

Sunday: 10 AM – 2 PM
Monday: 9 AM – 5 PM (Best engagement at 11 AM and 2 PM)
Tuesday: 8 AM – 6 PM
Wednesday: 5 AM, 11 AM – 3 PM
Thursday: 5 AM, 11 AM – 4 PM
Friday: 5 AM, 9 AM – 10 AM, 11 AM – 1 PM, 2 PM – 4 PM
Saturday: 9 AM – 11 AM

And if you’re trying your best to get more Instagram followers and engagement, those guidelines should work very well for you.

Remember to always test and use the feedback (engagement, follower increase, audience comments) to know what time is working best for you and adapt to that.

Does Higher Frequency Get More Engagement?

Short answer: YES. After extensive research we’ve found that the more your post on Instagram the more engagement and followers you’re going to get.

I like to call this increase “follower spikes” and “engagement spikes” because when looking at an analytics graph you’ll notice that you see spikes in the chart that correspond to your posting time.

If you’re looking to attract more Instagram followers and get better Instagram engagement then you want to post as much as possible.

More and more people are starting to post more frequently and there’s even some brands that are posting more than 35 times per day.

Talk about a lot.

And remember, nowadays there’s many different types of posts that you can do on Instagram, so we encourage you to mix it up.

Throw some stories in there, add some content albums, some images and some videos.

It’s always good to give your audience a variety of content options to choose from and mix it up.

Creating Higher Quality Content Gets More Followers

How often you post on Instagram directly affects your followers and engagement, but it’s really important to create high quality content.

If you’re trying to figure out when to post on Instagram and how often to post on Instagram, but your content (giving it to you straight) sucks, then you’re trying to fix a leaky roof with buckets instead of fixing your roof.

Like I mentioned above, people are on Instagram to consume content. Yeah, people like to chat with their friends and network, but overall they’re there to consume.

Consume content.

And high quality in 2020 does not mean you have to create professional images and videos with cameras in 4k… High quality means fun, engaging, entertaining, and connecting.

There’s a bunch of people out there right now who are getting tons of real Instagram followers by creating content solely from an iPhone or Android device.

Don’t let that be an excuse to stop you from growing your Instagram.

How To Get More Reach On Your Instagram Posts

If you’re creating great content, posting frequently and consistently, and you know the best times to post for your account then congratulations because you’re well on your way to getting more real Instagram followers.

That being said, most big time influencers that have millions of followers and make their living on Instagram use all the tools they can to create success.

Since that’s their livelihood, it’s absolutely crucial that they stay ahead of their competition which is why they’re always on the lookout for cutting edge Instagram growth tools.

We came across a great platform called HashtagsForLikes which is a hashtag research tool that helps you find the best hashtags for your specific account.

You see, when you use hashtags on your content, you’re going to get more reach.

With a tool like HashtagsForLikes, it enables you to create quick copy hashtag sets and find the best hashtags in a quick and easy way.

Let’s say you search for “fitness”. You’re going to get a full breakdown of the fitness hashtag, plus all relevant hashtags.

That makes it so easy to pick and choose which hashtags will be the best for your content.

Once you find those hashtags, you can create categories that give you the ability to one click copy all of the hashtags in that category.

You can track the engagement ratio, follower & following graphs, daily follower gain and losses, top hashtag mentions, and the most engaged with content of the account.

This will help you get a better understanding of what you’re doing, where you are, and how to get better and it’s been an instrumental part of what we do for our clients.

Conclusion

As you can see, there’s a few important things you need to understand if you want to know how often to post on Instagram.

There’s never a cookie cutter approach, but this article has given you some general guidelines for best posting times.

Remember to create high quality content, test to find the best posting time for your niche, and post frequently and consistently.

If you want to continue your upward follower growth then you absolutely need to be consistent.

We’ve found that the more you post, the quicker you’re going to get followers and the more followers you’re going to keep.

Using the feedback from a tool like the HashtagsForLikes analyzer, or simply your audience’s feedback will shed some light on the perfect sweet spot when it comes to how often you should post for your Instagram account.

At the end of the day it’s all about giving your audience what they want. When you do that, you’re going to build a tribe that stays with you for life.

Whether you’re looking to sell your products or services, do sponsorships and endorsements, or simple grow your audience because you want to be a part of a group — it’s all about giving your audience the content they want to consume.