THERE’S an easy way to boost your Instagram game that doesn’t take up too much of your time.
Posting at specific times is likely to up your engagement by pushing your posts to the top of your pals’ Feeds.
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Why are certain times better for engagement?
Users have for years pondered whether photos and videos get more attention depending on the time of day they’re posted.
The idea is that more people are on the app at certain times of day, such as on their lunch break or after work.
Specific days are also said to be better for engagement.
On Sundays, for instance, people are more likely to be lounging on the sofa at home scrolling their social media feeds.
The theory is muddied, however, by the mysterious workings of the Instagram Feed.
Who your posts are shown to and when are driven by a number of factors, including the time of day they’re uploaded.
Other factors include the follower’s potential interest in the post, their relationship with you, the frequency with which you post, and more.
As such, any theories regarding the best time to share stuff on the app should be taken with a grain of salt.
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When is the best time to post?
Last year, social media marketing firm Later analysed 35million Instagram posts to get to the bottom of the mystery.
They discovered that the best time to post on Instagram – that is, the time that will drive the most likes and comments – is 6 a.m. local time.
The best days to upload, they found, are Saturdays and Sundays.
Posts published on Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and on Thursday from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. receive the lowest engagement rates.
That makes those days the worst to publish on, according to Later.
The firm wrote: “By posting earlier in the day, accounts benefit from less competition while also tapping into traffic from users during their first scroll of the day — even if that’s a few hours after the post was shared.
“By being one of the first to post each day, you’re giving your content the best chance of being seen by your audience, regardless of when they are personally most active on the app.”
Globally, most posts are shared between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day, according to Later.
Other research, however, has crowned other, later times in the day as better for engagement.
Research from marketing firm Sprout Social, for instance, found that the best day to post was Tuesdays, while the worst was Sundays.
Their analysis of Instagram data from 20,000 customers suggested that 11 a.m. was the best time to share content on weekdays.
The moral of the story is that it’s difficult to second-guess Instagram’s ever-changing (and fickle) algorithm.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
