You get the right angle, look flawless and that filter gives you the right lighting; you even include some creative hashtags to make it pop. But after posting your photo on Instagram, you find it barely gets any likes.
If you are selfie-obsessed like the rest of us then you might be wondering when is the best time to post on Instagram to get the most likes. After all, you don't want that picture going to waste, with the social media world never fully getting to appreciate just how awesome you are. Whether you just want more likes to boost your selfie esteem or if you are a brand trying to reach a larger audience, getting the highest amount of likes depends on the right timing.
According to Latergramme, a web and mobile app service that lets users manage and schedule Instagram posts, the best time to post is on a Wednesday at 5 p.m. EST.
To find when users are most engaged on the site, Latergramme analyzed approximately 61,000 posts to find out which uploads got the most likes and comments. While Wednesday 5 p.m. was the overall winner, the study also found that posts generally got the most attention from followers between 2 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST throughout the week.
"We think this is because less people are posting at that time and that more engaged users are using Instagram at that time," says Matt Smith, founder of Latergramme.
And it only makes sense that 5 p.m. is prime social media time, since many people are heading home from work and have the time to scroll through News Feeds.
While it's generally best to post anytime between 2 a.m. and 5 p.m. (which gives users a huge window of opportunity to maximize on engagement), the times actually vary slightly depending on the day of the week. For example, users should wait until 7 p.m. or 10 p.m. to post on a Monday.
On Tuesday, wait to post either at 3 a.m. or 10 p.m., and on Friday post at either 1 a.m. or 8 p.m.
The study found that, in general, photos posted between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. are less likely to receive lots of likes and comments, with the 8-9 a.m. hour being the lowest for engagement, probably since people just got to work or school.
Even though Wednesday was found to be the day of the week with the highest Instagram engagement, there wasn't a significant margin. Wednesday has an average of 4.9% engagement compared to the lowest, Monday, at 4.4 percent.
According to TrackMaven, Instagram engagement overall is consistent during the week. However, they named Monday the best day to post and Sunday the worst.
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[PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Fysh /Flickr]
