How often should I post to Instagram? - 2021
Updated: Apr 7, 2021
A common question by many who use Instagram for their business or trying to grow an audience.
If it is your goal to create brand awareness it is recommended that you post AT LEAST ONCE PER DAY.
And no more than 4 times!
Spamming your followers, especially if you are not accompanying every post with some content is not recommended as a tactic if you're trying to grow your followers.
If words come easy to you, and you can write a meaningful caption/text with each post then you can raise the stakes by posting more times a day, but be careful that you don't force your followers into unfollowing you or putting you on mute (so they don't see your content) because you're not bringing any value in your posts.
Does how often you post matter on Instagram?
Consistency is key to any social media marketing strategy. What you post to social media accounts is part of that strategy.
So whilst it's not important to post 2 or 3 posts every day, what is important that you post at least once EVERY day. Every day including weekends! I see so many small business owners making the mistake of not posting on weekends.
Even if your business doesn't operate over weekends, social media does. Be sure to keep your followers engaged over weekends. In this day of instant gratification, even missing a post from you in their feed for a day or two may lead to several unfollows.
If you are growing your audience then it is my advice that you do not post more than 3 or 4 times per day! And if doing so, try to space the posts out during the course of your target audiences day. For example, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I post twice a day to my photography Instagram account, and currently, as I'm building my audience on my consulting account, I post 3-4 times per day.
Can I post more than 3 times a day on Instagram?
Well yes, you can. You can post as many times as you want in a day (don't test that theory as Instagram ban policies have no rhyme or reason!). The question really is, should you?
As explained above, it's not advised to post more than 3 times per day to Instagram. Any more than this and you risk irritating people and they will either mute you (ie, not see your posts) or unfollow you.
Spamming your followers feed with your posts is not how you make friends and influence people on Instagram. If you want to send out loads of posts per day, Twitter is likely more suited.
I have been using Instagram pretty much since it was released 10 years ago (as of December 2020) for posting my photography work to when it was merely a hobby to me. In that time I cannot tell you how many people I have unfollowed due to spamming my feed. I will like 2 or 3 posts by the same account, after that I get bored and I scroll on.
So, if you spend time actually writing captions for your posts, and don't just post an image with hashtags then it's best to keep the post volume to 2 or 3 per day maximum because no one wants to read 10 posts by the same account every day, I promise you.
Please remember, whilst many people will try to sell you 'quick wins', building your audience the RIGHT way, is a constant process of consistency.
When should I post to Instagram?
This is a difficult one. Ideally, you want to post when your ideal client will most likely be checking their social media profiles.
The problem with that is, it is also the time your competitors and other business owners will be posting. So your post could get lost amongst the peak time traffic.
My typical client will be checking their accounts in the mornings, probably over a coffee or on their commute downstairs to their offices. So I typically post in the mornings between 7 am - 9 am. My client, like me, also checks their accounts whilst on a lunch break. So I schedule my midday post between 12-2 pm and then again in the evenings, on their homeward bound journey or once they've signed off from work for the day. So my even post is between 5-7 pm.
I don't post at exactly the same day every day, however, do tend to post between those time slots. My own analysis of my post engagement on my photography account (which I've had for several years) shows that my engagement is best at those times.
My consulting account is only a month old (as of 30/11/2020) and my tests there are still ongoing and I'll throw posts around throughout the day and later into the evening.
Do your own analysis
For your business, you may target people in the US despite residing in the UK. Therefore you would want to accommodate breakfast, lunch and dinner posts in line with your target audiences time zones.
My suggestion is to do your own tests over a period of at least a month. Post at different times throughout the day and then review the results at the end of the month. Do you note any patterns? If so, aim for those times, if there's still no pattern, repeat for another month.
Best times to post to Instagram
I read a lot of articles and if I read 10, 10 of them will have different suggestions for which is the best time to post.
These include:
Hubspot - 2 pm - 3 pm Thursday the best day
Tailwind - 5 am, 6 am or 8 am
Expert Voice - Wednesday 11 am and 3 pm
Sprout Social - Wednesday at 11 am and Friday 10-11 am
So as you can see, quite a varied set of times.
If you can't be bothered with doing your own post analysis, then start off with some of the times suggested above and see how you get on.
Conclusion
If you are a business looking to grow your audience and increase brand awareness, post at least once per day but no more than 3 times a day if you don't want to annoy your followers.
Good luck 🙏
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