As our world moves seamlessly towards a digital realm, many brands are searching for ways to interact with their audiences in real time. Instagram Stories is one of the best, and most encompassing, channels available for brands that want to build presence, connect with affinity, Brand Content Ad and drive engagement. However, even the most surpassing and well-constructed stories will fall flat if they are not anchored to the right time for posting. So, when should your brand post to Instagram Stories? cinefeteurs? In this blog, let’s assess timing considerations, audience behaviour, platform planning, and analytics to maximize reach on your Stories.
What Are Instagram Stories and Why Does Timing Matter
Instagram Stories provide a platform for personal and business entities to post content that will be deleted in 24 hours. The post can consist of pictures, video, boomerangs, polls, stickers, links, and more. Unlike standard posts that are very algorithm dependent to reach an audience, Stories pop up at the very top of an app user’s screen and receive premiere space – but it will only matter if your audience is online at the same time you are posting.
When posting to Instagram stories, timing is key. The algorithm at Instagram favors recent content. Hence, the closer your story is to being ‘recent,’ the greater chance you will have at being in the frontline. Since stories before and during your audience’s most alert time (or times), will have a greater and better opportunity to be viewed, engagement, and click throughs. For businesses, it means greater reach, better engagement rates, and conversions (product clicks, site visits, direct messages).
When are people most active on Instagram?
Prior to determining the best times for brands in particular, it is important to understand when people are generally active on Instagram. Even though trends will shift based upon region, age, and even industry, studies and data from platforms have reported that users tend to be active on Instagram, during:
- Weekday morning (7AM-9AM) – People use their phones (primarily) during the time they are travelling into and out of work.
- Lunch (11AM-1PM) – People take a break from work or classes to scroll through their feeds.
- Evening (6PM-9PM) – After working hours, most users return to Instagram to relax, keep up to date, and interact with posts and stories.
These are general trends that consider international time zones, but these are not enough for brands, instead, you need to personalize your approach to your audience and the goals of your business.
The Best Times to Post Instagram Stories by Day
Posting times on Instagram vary from day to day. Here is a summary of the best times to post Stories each day, based on research from other tools such as Later, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite, and real life brand and influencer performance.
Monday
Best posting time: 11 AM – 1 PM and 6 PM – 8 PM
People are easing into the workweek, and most people check their phones at lunch or straight out of work. This is a great day to post motivational, news, or behind-the-scenes content to set the tone for the week.
Tuesday
Best posting time: 9 AM – 11 AM and 5 PM – 7 PM
Tuesday always seems to be a productive day for everyone, and engagement is strong from morning until evening. Take advantage of this time to produce tutorials, product tips, or customer testimonial stories.
Wednesday
Best posting time: 10 AM – 12 PM and 6 PM – 8 PM
Wednesday is an eventful time for people, and mid-week engagement is typically solid. This is also a great day to publish polls, quizzes, or start a Q & A story to get the audience engaging with your brand again.
Thursday
Best time to post: 11 AM–1 PM and 7 PM–9 PM
Engagement ramps up over the weekend, so Thursday is a great day to tease future launches, flash sales, or events you have going on over the weekend via Stories. You can also post clickable links or time-sensitive offers and follow up with the peak engagement hours.
Friday
Best time to post: 9 AM–11 AM and 5 PM–7 PM
Friday kicks off the weekend, and your fans. Once your fans get off work, they tend to chill out and unwind. Fridays are also good days to post light, humorous updates — memes, funny polls, trailers for your company over the weekend.
Saturday
Best time to post: 10 AM–12 PM and 6 PM–9 PM
Weekends tend to have a more relaxed surfing experience in general. Saturday mornings and Saturday nights are good times to post user-generated content, brand lifestyle stories, or time-sensitive weekend deals.
Sunday
Best time to post: 9 AM–11 AM and 5 PM–8 PM
Sunday is also a high scroll day. Users tend to feel more relaxed, stay online for longer, and spend more time with the scroll prior to the end of the week. Sunday is a good day to post educational content, roundups, or snippet-style stories that highlight your products or services.
Adjusting Your Strategy Based on Audience Insights
Every brand has a different audience. In order to find the optimum times for your brand, you need to enter Instagram Insights. Those figures inform you about when your followers are most active during the day and during the hour.
How to view this info:
- Switch to an Instagram Professional (Business or Creator) Account.
- Go to your profile and tap the Insights button.
- Tap “Your Audience” and scroll down to the “Most Active Times” section.
Here, you’ll see when your followers are online — by the hour and by the day. Use this information to schedule your Instagram Stories accordingly. Posting just before peak activity will allow your stories to appear closer to the front of the queue when users open the app.
How Frequently Should Brands Share Instagram Stories?
While timing is critical, consistency has an enormous influence on Instagram Story success as well. Brands should strive to post between 3 and 7 stories a day, staggered throughout the day. This keeps your content current and visible during all of your active audience times.
Don’t dump all your stories at the same time — space them out over various time slots. For instance, publish one in the morning, one at lunch, and a couple in the evening. This spread-out strategy maximizes your ability to reach more segments of your audience.
Utilizing Story Features to Drive Engagement At Prime Times
In order to maximize peak post times best, it’s essential to utilize Instagram Story features that foster interaction and sustain user interest. A few of the main tools include:
- Polls and Quizzes: Use engaging interactive stickers and engage with users when there’s the highest traffic.
- Countdowns: Create suspense for an imminent product launch or event when most users are online.
- Swipe-Up Links / Link Stickers: Perfect to drive traffic to your website or landing page.
- Hashtag and Location Tags: Puts Stories in front of more users during high-traffic times.
- GIFs and Animations: Brings more dynamism and visual interest to your Stories.
Replies, shares, and taps as signals of engagement enable Instagram’s algorithm to understand that your content is valuable — sending your Stories to the front for even more eyes.
A/B Testing and Experiments
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to when to post. Every brand must experiment and fine-tune their strategy over time. Use A/B testing and post identical Stories at different times on different days. Monitor metrics like:
- Views per Story
- Completion Rate
- Tap Forward / Tap Backward
- Link Clicks
- Engagement (poll votes, quiz answers, replies)
Taking these numbers for a few weeks will help you get trends and understand which times produce the best results for your company.
Tools to Help Schedule Instagram Stories
If you want to post Stories during optimal times but can’t always be there, several Instagram Management tools allow you to schedule Instagram Stories:
Meta Business Suite (formerly Facebook Creator Studio)
- Later
- Planoly
- Hootsuite
- Buffer
These platforms enable you to pre-schedule your Stories and post them automatically (or remind you to post) when your audience is most engaged. It’s especially useful for global brands operating with multiple time zones.
Keep Different Time Zones of Your Audience in Mind
If your audience is dispersed in various regions or nations, remember different time zones. Posting at 6 PM EST might be ideal for New York but could go awry for your audience in London or Sydney.
Make a content calendar that can fit a few time zones or staggered post dates based on your target audiences. Even companies have many accounts by geography in an attempt to more locally manage timing and content.
Conclusion
The ideal time to post Instagram Stories for business is not so much about figures — it’s knowing your audience, experimenting constantly, and making changes on performance. Suggested rules are a good starting point, but nothing surpasses using your own insights to create a schedule tailored to your own unique audience.
Instagram Stories present a silver bullet for connecting, converting, and generating loyalty. When you combine killer content with timely posting, you put your brand in the perfect position to remain top-of-mind in the hyper-speed scroll of social media. Whether you want to establish brand awareness, drive traffic, or generate sales, timing is the key to maximizing the full potential of Instagram Stories.