“Should I Post Now?”
The truth behind key posting times to social media.
Posting on social media is something that happens often. Instagram has become a platform full of different kinds of content; food, vacations, drinks, travels, pets, inspiration etc. People never want to miss a chance to snap a picture to be able to upload it later to Instagram. Usually when pictures are taken people wait until the “right” time to post on Instagram because they’ll “get more likes,” aka get more engagement on a photo.
It’s kind of crazy to think that society has gotten us to think this way as if we are all programmed or something. Children are even doing this. Once I was with one of my younger cousins and we were watching a movie, it must’ve been around 6–7 pm, the sun was setting and she quickly grabbed her phone to take a selfie because it was “golden hour” and the lighting just hits “different” I couldn’t believe it. This generation loves their smartphone and everything that comes with having it, like Instagram.
When it comes to social media the best way to find the best practices is to experiment by posting at certain times and figuring out what type of content you’ll be posting. Having recently had started a personal interest project for grad school I have enjoyed seeing what kind of content works best and the best time to post. Due to algorithm changes on Instagram and as it changes frequently I have discovered that posting in the afternoon seems best successful. I believe this is because during the early morning people are at work or doing school so they don’t pay as close attention to posts. In the evening it makes sense since people are finally “off” of work and can sit and scroll on their phones for hours (don’t say you haven’t- I think. we are all guilty of this one.) One of the semi-interesting factors in keeping up with Instagram’s algorithm is interest. Instagram will automatically recognize the content that interests us according to our likes and feeds us this kind of content. On my personal Instagram when I visit my explore page I see the content of my personal interest such as fitness, travel, ocean, and inspiring quotes (say to safe Instagram knows me pretty well.)
Speaking of audience and our interests, we, as consumers are who determine the best time a brand should consider posting on social media. The advantage of a brand and the explore page is they can have a large reach, impression, and potential sales. When a brand knows when their audience is online by using social media management tools (such as Hootsuite or Later ) they are also able to maximize engagement by using social listening and social monitoring to determine what their customers are saying.
Who else is not just thankful for social media management tools that help the role of social media manager be a bit easier? Well, there’s a factor I am thankful for as well, analytics. Analytics is also a social media manager’s best friend. Analytics help you navigate through posting times and over time you get to see what strategy works and which strategy needs improvement, in social media there is no one size fits all and that’s the beauty of it.
My social media preference tool is Later. This tool gives you insights into your post, stories, tracks your engagement, and gives you the best times to post on Instagram (per day, how cool is that?) Save yourself some time with tools like Later, it’ll make the most of your posting times for you.
