When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram in the USA in 2025?
Instagram is a platform where “shooting from the hip” doesn’t always work if you want to grow. You can’t just upload a post without thinking about hashtags, your potential audience, or even when you post. Yes, the time you post is also important.
Posting at the right times can maximize your visibility and get you the audience you deserve. On the other hand, posting at the wrong times can lead to your post bombing. But you may wonder what the best time to post is. It’s a complicated question that we hope to answer in this article.
Does a Best Instagram Post Time Even Exist?
Instagram has a complicated history with chronological feeds, in which the most recently uploaded post from your followers is shown first.
In 2016, they removed the chronological feed altogether, only showing you the best-ranked content from your followers and from people you may be interested in. The content users saw would not necessarily be the most recent. But after much backlash, in 2022, the app readded the option of choosing two different chronological feeds. The main ranked feed is the default, but users can choose to see what’s recent on the Following tab for people they are following and Favorites based on the users they’re interested in the most.
Many users use a mix of feeds. They’ll use the main feed to see what’s hot and the chronological feeds to see what’s fresh from their followers. Therefore, if you want to reach your followers, you should post when they are online and check those feeds.
But what’s the best time? Well, it’s complicated. While many agree that one time is ideal, it can also depend on some factors.
Factors That May Influence the Best Instagram Posting Times
Audience Time Zone and Schedule
You may be based in the US, but the US is a big country, with a whopping nine time zones to consider. And if a chunk of your audience is outside the US and on another side of the world, it gets even murkier. You should post when you should be sleeping or right at the crack of dawn.
But sometimes, your audience may live in the same time zone as you but have schedules different from the rest of the world. For example, your brand may appeal to college kids burning the midnight oil or hustlers getting up at 4 a.m. to do their work. You may serve people outside of the 9-to-5 group. In some cases, your audience may be a mix of folk working in traditional and outsider schedules.
Day of the Week
Most people are off on the weekend, so they’ll be checking Instagram more, and vice versa. On the other hand, your audience may consist of people who are off on unconventional days, such as Wednesday.
The Content Type
Depending on what content you upload, different times may work better. Stories’ 24-hour nature makes them a little more forgiving about what time you upload them. However, Reels may have a shorter expiration time.
What’s Trending?
Depending on the trend, you can upload the content ASAP while it’s still fresh, even if it’s outside of your regular posting times.
How to Calculate When to Post on Instagram
While there are general times that have been proven to perform the best, you should calculate your own times, especially if you have a unique audience. Let’s look at some ways you can do this.
Instagram Insights
Like most social media apps, Instagram has an insights tab that collects data based on user engagement, follower information, and more. With these insights, you can learn the times your audience is the most active. You can also see your content’s performance, which you can cross-reference with when your content was posted.
Third-Party Tools
Besides Instagram’s insights, you can also use third-party tools. For example, Buffer can give you more insights into when your audience is the most active. While Instagram itself should be your first source, an outsider’s perspective may be useful as well.
Trial-and-Error
When you should post can be calculated with a bit of experimentation. Instagram and third-party tools let you schedule your posts, so we’d recommend scheduling posts at different times and seeing what happens.
Don’t just schedule posts at times your insights say are the most active. Sometimes, an odd time may give you good results. This is usually because:
· There are fewer people on Instagram at odd times, but there is less competition.
· Outsider times may have fewer people, but they may be more passionate about your content and like it more.
· Plus, it’s always nice to make sure everyone sees your content, whether they work at odd hours or are on the other side of the world.
The Best General Instagram Post Times
Let’s look at what is considered to be the best time of day to post on Instagram. In general, the best times are:
· Mondays: 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
· Tuesdays: 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
· Wednesdays: 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
· Thursdays: 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
· Fridays: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
· Saturdays: 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
· Sundays: 10 a.m.–noon and 3 p.m.
· Best days: Mondays through Thursdays
· Worst days: Saturdays
It can also depend on your niche. For example, in the finance industry, the times can be stricter, with the best times being Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 1 to 2 p.m. The embedded post has more information about different sectors, and we recommend checking it out.
Also, the times aren’t based on any time zone, so you can apply them to your time. That being said, these times are merely a starting point. We’d recommend you start at the best general time or time based on your niche and then make adjustments.
What Content Works Best?
The type of content you should post depends on your niche, but the best approach is to mix all the types of posts Instagram offers.
Reels are usually king regardless of niche. These short-form videos can be a hit in the algorithm. Make sure that the Reel has high-quality video and audio and has an interesting hook.
Carousel posts, consisting of multiple images someone can swipe through, can be great for engagement. Even if you have just one image to post, consider posting the same image but with different filters.
Stories are disposable posts that disappear after 24 hours—these work great for flash sales or personal stuff you don’t want staying on the main feed. You can apply Stickers to them, which work great for engagement. For example, Sticker polls can help you learn more about your audience. These can even be great for learning more about when your audience is the most active. For example, you may make a poll asking when your audience goes to bed.
Live
Instagram Live lets you stream videos in real time, allowing your audience to ask questions or learn more about your life behind the scenes.
Will the Engagement Be Affected if I Schedule My Posts?
Scheduling your posts can be a convenient way to upload content when you may be busy, asleep, or inactive for other reasons, like driving. However, some may believe that Instagram will penalize those who schedule.
This is a myth. If you schedule your posts, you usually end up with more engagement as long as they’re at the right times. Plus, it gives you more of a chance to refine your post if you forget to add a hashtag.
Instagram’s app has a built-in scheduler that should fit most needs. For example, it lets you schedule up to 25 posts a day and does Reels as well. But if you have unique needs, you may use third-party software. This software can also work great if you want to schedule content across multiple social media platforms, not just Instagram.
While scheduling can be convenient, you should still go to your post once it’s published and interact with any comments. Doing so can increase your engagement and help you gain fans.
Wrapping it Up
The best time to post on Instagram in 2025 has remained mostly the same. It will depend on your niche, your audience, and the type of content you are posting. Posting at the right time is vital, as Instagram reintroduced chronological feeds a few years ago, and many people use them to see what’s currently hot with their followers. But even for the algorithmic feed, timing is still essential if you want to grow an audience.
There are general guidelines that will get you to the ideal time, but you should also check your insights, ask your audience through polls, and try posting at random times to find the minor but more vocal audience.
Remember, timing is essential, but you’ll also want to craft content that will intrigue your audience and get them to like your posts. If you post at the right times and you’re still not getting bites, you may want to refine your content, and that’s a post for a different day.
Guinn Latoria
Digital Marketing Manager