34. When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

I’m diving into a question I get asked all the time by business owners trying to grow on Instagram: “When is the best time to post?” But if you’re looking for a magic time that guarantees more engagement and followers, you’re asking the wrong question.

Here’s the truth: It’s not about when you post—it’s about the content you’re sharing. I know, I know, you wanted me to tell you the best time to post is 8 p.m. on a Wednesday, but trust me, it goes way deeper than that. If your content isn’t valuable, engaging, and relatable to your ideal audience, the timing doesn’t matter.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• [08:34] [The Real Deal on Posting Times] – I share insights from the 2024 Metricool study, including global trends on the best times and days to post, and explain why your own data matters more.

• [12:21] [Content is King] – I dive into why Instagram success hinges on creating valuable content that makes people stop, engage, and share—not just posting at a specific time.

• [15:03] How to Check Your Best Times to Post] – I walk you through using Instagram’s Professional Dashboard to find out when your audience is most active and how to use this data effectively.

• [17:45] Consistency and Quality Over Time – Learn why it’s crucial to post consistently for at least 3-6 months to get reliable data, and why patience is key to building your audience.

Key Takeaways:

• Posting at the “perfect” time won’t save mediocre content. You need to create valuable, shareable, and relatable content that serves your audience.

• Use your Instagram insights to find the best times for your unique audience—but only after you’ve built a solid foundation of consistent, high-quality content.

• Instagram rewards consistency and quality. The more you show up, the more your audience will trust and engage with you.

Bonus Tip: If you’ve been posting the same type of content for weeks with no traction, it’s time to mix things up! Try a new content format, like a stitch or behind-the-scenes reel, and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine—yes, even if that means doing a silly dance or showing off your humor.

Feeling stuck? I have two spots left in my private mentorship program this quarter. If you’re ready to refine your Instagram strategy, boost your content, and start converting followers into customers, apply for a complimentary Instagram breakthrough call here.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Metricool 2024 Instagram Study: A global study that reveals the best posting times, but remember—this is just a guideline. Personal data always trumps global trends.

Instagram Professional Dashboard: Learn how to use this tool to find when your audience is most active.

Apply for a complimentary IG breakthrough call! - or DM me the word APPLY on Instagram and you’ll get the link.

REELS FOR BUSINESS 3 DAY WORKSHOP REPLAY: If you missed my recent live workshop on creating Instagram Reels, don’t worry! You can still get access to the replay. REGISTER HERE AND WE’LL EMAIL YOU THE REPLAY FROM ALL 3 DAYS!,

Want to dive deeper into using AI for marketing? Check out my four-part mini-series and my interview with AI coach Juan Galan, one of the most popular episodes to date!

JOIN HOT REELS: The 12-Month Instagram Content Lab
An intimate, strategy-packed mentorship for established business owners ready to create killer content that stops the scroll, grows your following and attracts your dreamboat clients (even if you have no idea what to post and feel like you’re always throwing spaghetti at the wall!)

FREE guide to Monetize Your IG: Seven Simple and Proven Ways to Finally Make Money on Instagram

Apply for your FREE Instagram Breakthrough Call with Elizabeth

Quote

You can post at the perfect time, but if your content doesn’t grab attention, connect with your audience, and offer real value, it won’t matter. Content is always king.

S3 Ep34 Transcript: When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

Do you ever scratch your head and wonder, when is the best time to post my content on Instagram? Maybe you've tried posting early in the morning or around lunchtime or evenings, but nothing seems to really move the needle in terms of your engagement, reach, or conversions on Instagram. Well, today I'm going to answer that age-old question once and for all, when is the best time to post on Instagram? And fair warning, my response might not be what you expect. So stick around and I'll break it all down for you.

Let's go. Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach.

I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their soul-led work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place.

Let's dive in.

Welcome back to the show. I'm Elizabeth. Thank you for joining me and thank you for continuing to share this podcast with other small business owners and creative entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their brand on Instagram.

Our show continues to grow and it really pumps me up to keep showing up for you so fully each week. So thank you in advance for sharing this episode if it's helpful for you. And of course, rating and reviewing, that really helps us reach more ambitious business owners like yourself.

Today, I'm gonna be answering one of the most commonly asked questions I get from business owners after they've started to consistently post reels on Instagram and they're feeling a little bit frustrated at some lackluster results in the beginning. And they ask me this age-old question of, when is the best time to post on Instagram? Surely, if my content is not performing well, it must be because the time I'm choosing to post is wrong. So we are gonna dive into that today.

But before we do, I wanna share with you just a quick tip that you can implement this week on your Instagram feed. And it's this, if you want new results, you must take new action. In the past few weeks on my Instagram account, a lot of the content that usually performs well for me has not been performing well.

And so instead of continually beating my head against the wall and posting the same content because I know, hey, in the past it performed well, so it surely should work again at some point, I decided to try a new format of posting this week. I did a stitch, which is when you take someone's video and then you add your own video element at the end of their video. I don't usually create content like that on my feed, but I thought, hey, what do I have to lose? I'm just gonna go for it.

And with this particular piece of content, I was definitely leveraging my sense of humor. I was doing some really silly pelvic thrusting, kind of making fun of the fact that I'm desperate to grow on Instagram, so if I have to do pelvic thrusting, I'll do it. Because if you know me, you know that that's my humor.

I like to laugh at myself. I don't take myself too seriously. And as a former professional dancer, movement is just my jam.

So I did this stitch. I was nervous to post it because it's just not the kind of content I usually post. And I definitely had that voice in my head come up as, like, is this professional, Elizabeth? Like, you're pelvic thrusting on camera.

Like, you are a grown-ass businesswoman. Like, is it appropriate for you to be pelvic thrusting on your reel? And I had to just quiet that voice down and say, you know what, this is my playground. This is my brand and my business.

I get to do what I want. I don't have to follow anyone else's playbook. I get to be authentically me, and part of my brand is playfulness and fun and being boldly yourself on social media.

And so I created this stitch, and it is performing like 10X all of my past posts in the last couple weeks. My story views are up 10X. I'm getting a lot more engagement on this particular video than I have in my last few videos.

And it's just a great reminder that if you want new results, you must take new action. If you continue to take the same actions and you're getting the same lackluster results, that is your red flag to wake up and try something new. And maybe that's gonna be asking you to get out of your comfort zone.

But my friend, life is to be lived on the other side of your comfort zone. So I invite you this week to look at what you've been doing, and if something hasn't been working, just shift it slightly. Try a different content type or angle or different format.

Maybe you're doing an Instagram Live instead of a real or whatever it is, but go after a new action and see if that can provide you a new result. All right, let's get into when is the best time to post on Instagram. 

Now, 98% of the time when business owners ask me this question, my response is this.

You're asking the wrong question. Now, hang with me here. It's actually not about the time you post.

It's about the content you're putting out there. So let's dive into why this is such a common misconception and what you should be focusing on instead. And before you kind of turn off this episode because you're frustrated because you want an exact answer, I do have some specifics that I am gonna be sharing with you as to how you can find the best time for your audience a little later in the episode.

So stick with me here. So let's get into why many times when you're asking yourself this question, it's the wrong question and why timing isn't everything on Instagram. I recently had one of my Hot Reels clients who's a product-based business owner vent to me and say, I've been posting consistently, but I'm not gaining any followers.

I thought posting the late morning when my ideal client who's a young mother has a free moment would be ideal. Should I switch to evenings instead? So you can kind of hear in this question how she's frustrated, she's posting content, it's not really working or converting for her. You know, she's thinking of the right thing.

She's thinking of her ideal client who's a young mom and when they may be free to hop on Instagram and consume content. But here is our reality check, okay? And again, this is true for me. This is true for most business owners who are listening to this.

And that is the truth is you can post at the perfect time, but if your content doesn't grab attention, connect with your ideal audience and offer real value, it won't matter. You'll still see lackluster results. So instead of focusing on when to post, I want you to focus more on beefing up your content creation skills and prowess and creating highly engaging, high quality content that most importantly resonates and serves your ideal client.

That is what is truly going to move the needle, not a specific posting time. So I want you to take a pause if you have been asking yourself this question obsessively of, okay, the time is the missing piece. If I just found the right time, my content would pop off.

I want you to pause and take a really honest look at your content and see if you have been creating savable, shareable content. So go back and look at your last nine posts and ask yourself, if I was my ideal customer or client, is this so valuable, meaning it's making me laugh, it's really relatable, it's teaching me something new, it's inspiring me or motivating me to take a new action, if it's doing any of those things for your ideal client, was so valuable to them that they're gonna wanna save it or it's so relatable that they wanna share it with a friend or a family member or a business colleague, if the answer to that is no, then go back to the drawing board and think about how you could create content that is more value-driven because that, my friend, is the reason why your content is probably not performing well on Instagram and much less likely due to the time that you're choosing to post your content.

Now, I know you still want me to answer the timing question, so I'm gonna be sharing with you some data from a study that was recently done by Metricool and I'm gonna be sharing with you examples from my own data and how you can look at your own insights to determine when is the best time for your people.

So according to the Metricool 2024 Instagram study, which surveyed over 390,000 professional Instagram accounts, both business and creator accounts, here's what they found. Take it with a grain of salt. The best time to post with the highest average number of users online globally is 8 p.m., followed by 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. This trend hasn't changed from previous studies, so this is consistent year over year.

The best days to post according to Metricool are Wednesdays and Fridays showed the highest engagement compared to Mondays and Thursdays that were the highest engagement in previous studies. So while this data is insightful, it's truly not a one-size-fits-all solution. These are global averages and your ideal posting time might look different based on your specific audience and niche.

What's more important than this broad general study that came out is your own data. For example, in my personal brand account, the Metricool study says a Wednesday should be a great day to post, but you know what's really interesting is I've been posting consistently for the last three years and statistically speaking, Wednesday is one of my worst days to post where I get the lowest engagement on my posts. So if I were to just follow this blanket approach that Metricool offered, it wouldn't work for me.

And that's why I encourage everyone to look beyond global trends and focus on really what works for your specific audience. So what should you focus on first? Content is still king. Before you worry about posting times, I want you to really focus on what you're posting.

Are you delivering value? Are you solving your audience's problems, challenges, pain points? Are you making content that really connects with their needs? And consistency is key. You need to post every day within your niche. You need to be showing up consistently within your niche for at least three to six months before you can even determine when is the best time for your content to be posted.

Because think about it this way. If you are still in this beginning phase of building an audience and you want your followers to be your ideal clients, if you haven't yet built that audience, you don't have a lot of data points to go off of. You actually don't know when they're online or what days they prefer or their user habits, right? So that's why you absolutely need to be posting consistently in your niche targeted content for at least three to six months so you can get a big database in which you can extract the best days and times to post.

And if you're pivoting your content or maybe you're niching down even more or targeting a new audience, it is so imperative that you are patient and that you give it time. And I just encourage you to let go of this question of when is the best time to post. To be totally honest, the best time to post is when you can show up consistently for your audience.

So if that means you do your best work at eight o'clock after you get your kids in bed and you can think straight, then post your content at eight o'clock. If the only time that you can get a reel out there is during your lunch break, then post around your lunch break. Don't overthink this.

Think about serving your people and creating content consistently first before you worry and stress too much about the timing. Remember, Instagram rewards consistency and quality over time. So if you could really focus on consistency and quality, you will get a much better ROI on your time and efforts on your Instagram content.

Now let's assume that you've built an audience and most of those people or a high percentage of that population of people is your target demographic. Next, I want you to use your Instagram insights that you can find on your professional dashboard to see and get curious about when might be an optimal posting time for you and your audience. So here's how to check your data.

You're gonna go to your professional dashboard on Instagram. Click on that. Then you will see followers.

Click on followers and scroll down to the section that shows the best days and times for when your followers are most active. You can click through and see, oh wow, there's a ton of them that hang out on the weekends on Instagram. Or for me, my people tend to show up at the most around noon.

For you, you might find different insights. So there's no one magic time that just works well for everyone. You can go into your insights and see when your followers are most active and it'll show you the very specific days and times and how many people are active at those days and times.

Once you have this data, you can experiment with posting during these times that are recommended and just get curious. See if you notice any changes in engagement or reach or followers. But remember, this only works if your content is already solid.

And that's where I come in and I can help you to ensure that your content is high quality and working like a magnet to attract your ideal customers and clients. So they will want to follow you, become your biggest fans and eventually purchase your product or service. I have two spots left in my private mentorship in the final quarter of this year.

I would absolutely love to get my eyes on your business and your brand. If you'd like to explore working with me in a one-on-one setting, then your next step is to apply for a complimentary Instagram breakthrough call. 

So you're gonna go to Elizabeth Marberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.com slash application.

And you'll fill out an application and that just helps me to maximize our time together. I'll learn a little bit about your business, about your visions, where you're struggling on Instagram. And if I'm the right person to help you, I may invite you into my high touch private marketing mentorship program.

And if I'm not the right person, I will point you to some other resources. So go to Elizabeth Marberry.com slash application or you can DM me the word apply, A-P-P-L-Y on Instagram and my gorgeous robot assistant will send you an application straight to your DMs. A huge part of the work I do with my clients is really helping them refine their content strategy and become confident content creators where they know that their content is working for them and driving leads and sales while they sleep

I can't wait to support you in leveraging this free tool to grow your business. And I hope that you'll hop on over and apply for a free call with me. So the key takeaway here is that it's not just about the time you post, it's about the value and quality of your content.

Great content posted at the wrong time will still perform better than mediocre content posted at the right time. So if you're struggling with engagement, my challenge is for you to look at your content first and then once you're confident in that, start playing around with your posting times and let your analytics guide you. If you learn something new from today's episode, make sure you've subscribed to the show, you've rated, left a review.

I read every single one of those and they truly make my day and I cannot wait to see you back here next week. Thank you for listening to Strut It. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're gonna wanna grab my free Monetize Your IG guide where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways to finally make money on Instagram.

You can grab your guide at elizabethmarberry.com slash freebies. That's elizabethmarberry.com slash freebies to get my Monetize Your IG guide. If you got some incredible value from today's episode, be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and I cannot wait to strut it with you again next week.