With the potential of a single Instagram reel to reach over 600 million users, it's no wonder creators and marketers alike are making them the center of their marketing initiatives. However, increasing visibility with Instagram reels goes beyond just creating the perfect reel. You should understand the best times to post reels on Instagram to maximize reach.
In this article, we will explore the best time to post reels on Instagram and provide additional tips on posting reels on Instagram to help you make the most of this powerful marketing feature.
Posting at the right time ensures that more people can see your reels, giving them the potential to receive more likes, comments, and shares and ultimately go viral. The frequency of your posts also matters; posting too much could mean that you're saturating your audience with reels and are likely to see diminishing returns in reach. On the other hand, posting too little could mean that you're not reaching your full potential. Generally, the best practice is to post up to two reels daily and no more than four weekly.
The best time to post a reel on Instagram is largely relative, as one's worst day to post on Instagram may be another's best day to post on Instagram. For example, a motivational speaker would receive more engagement on their Monday morning reel, while a party influencer would be more likely to receive engagement on posts during the weekend. Let's look at these factors in more detail.
Your target audience should be your major consideration when deciding the best time to post a reel. Who are these people? What is their age group, gender, location, and time zone? These demographics can drastically change the best time to post reels on Instagram. For example, if you're targeting working professionals, weekdays will be the best time to post your reels. However, if your target is Gen Zs, weekend nights should be the best time to post reels on Instagram.
If half of your audience is based in India and the other half is based in New York, then it's highly unlikely that the same time would be best for both audiences. To ensure maximum visibility, you should post at different times to accommodate your target audience's time zones. You could also consider scheduling your post in advance so that it can be published at the right time.
For creators and marketers in competitive niches such as beauty, gaming, and fitness, the best time to post your reel will depend on when everyone else posts theirs. To stand out from the crowd and gain more online visibility, you should look for gaps in the competition's posting times and use them to your advantage. Competition posting times are also important to consider before fixing your posting times if you want to position yourself as someone who always breaks the news (gist) early.
Ultimately, the best time of the day to post a reel on Instagram will depend on what you want to achieve with the posts. Are you aiming to increase followers? Generating leads? Or driving conversions? Understanding your goals and objectives should be a priority before deciding on a reel posting time. Suppose you're aiming to drive conversions; you should consider posting when people are likely to take action, like 7 pm. You can post at an earlier time if you would like to increase your followers.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the best days to post reels on Instagram. These days, there are higher engagement rates and more active users, which can help your content get noticed.
When it comes to the best time to post your reels, it depends on your target audience. If your followers are primarily based in a specific time zone, you'll want to schedule your posts to go live when they're most likely active. For example, posting between 6–9 pm EST may be a good option if your audience is based in the United States.
However, if you're trying to reach a larger audience across multiple time zones, 8–9 pm EST is typically the optimal time to post reels. This is because it falls during a window where many people are active on the app, regardless of location.
A niche is a specific market segment you're targeting with your content, and different niches tend to have different peak posting times on Instagram. Let's look at the best time to post reels in some of the popular Instagram niches.
Best Times to Post: Wednesday at 10 am or 6 pm, and Friday at 10 am
Creators in the fashion niche target an audience that's looking for inspiration and outfits to buy. Posting during the workweek, when people are most likely to be shopping or browsing online, can help you get noticed by potential customers.
Best Times to Post: Thursday at 7 pm, Friday at 5 pm, Saturday at 9 am or 2 pm
The beauty niche often follows trends, meaning you'll want to post when people are most likely to be looking for new products or inspiration. Posting late in the evenings or during the early morning hours on Saturdays can help you reach people just starting their day and looking for something fun to watch.
Best Times to Post: Tuesday at 6 am or 4 pm, and Thursday at 6 am or 8 pm
Food reels are often most effective when they're posted during times when people are hungry. Posting in the mornings when people are just grabbing breakfast or late at night when they're snacking can help you reach an audience likely to be interested in what you offer.
Best Times to Post: Friday at 5 pm or 9 pm, and Wednesday at 12 pm
Music reels can help you connect with your fans and showcase your skills. Posting during peak times when people are more likely to be scrolling on their phones can help ensure that more people will get a chance to enjoy your content.
Best Times to Post: Friday at 8 pm or 10 pm
Gamers tend to be most active late at night, so posting during these times can help you capture their attention. Posting on a Friday night will also increase the number of people that watch and engage with your videos.
Best Times to Post: Saturday at 9 am or 11 am, and Friday at 7 pm
This niche is all about inspiring people to make something new. Posting when people have more free time (such as on the weekends) can help ensure your content reaches a larger audience.
Best Times to Post: Wednesday at 1 pm or 3 pm, and Thursday at 11 am
Pet and animal lovers are always looking for new content. Posting when people have time to take a break from work and scroll through their feeds can help ensure your content reaches its intended audience.
Best Times to Post: Wednesday at 11 am or 4 pm, and Thursday at 10 am
Medical practices are looking to monetize their content, so they need to post when people are most likely to be paying attention. Posting during the workweek can help you reach a larger audience of potential patients.
Best Times to Post: Friday at 5 pm, and Tuesday at 4 pm
Sports reels inspire people to get active and show off their skills. Posting when viewers are most likely to have time to watch (such as after work or on weekends) can help you get noticed by potential fans.
Best Times to Post: Wednesday at 8 pm or 9 pm, and Thursday at 10 pm
Tech audiences are usually nightcrawlers who browse for tech content before they are about to work. Posting during these times ensures that they see your content and that they engage properly.
Best Times to Post: Monday at 7 am or 8 am, and Wednesday at 8 pm
Corporate audiences interested in business-centered reels are often more likely to engage in the mornings, so posting during this time can help ensure your content reaches them. Additionally, on Wednesday evenings, people check their feeds after a long work day and may be looking for interesting content that still serves them.
Best Times to Post: Wednesday at 10 am or 2 pm, and Friday at 1 pm
When children are off to school and parents have some free time, they are more likely to be scrolling through their feeds. Posting during these times helps them find content that resonates with them and provides them with parenting tips.
Best Times to Post: Thursday at 11 am or 1 pm, and Friday at 10 am
Home decor reels can give people ideas for sprucing up their living spaces and inspire them. Posting during peak times when people are likely to be scrolling through their feeds or watching videos can help ensure your content reaches its intended audience.
These are just some popular niches and specific peak posting times to consider when deciding the best time to post your reels. It's important to remember that these guidelines are just general benchmarks and are not applicable in all cases.
We cannot stress enough the importance of regularly testing and analyzing your posts to determine when it is the best time for you to post. This will help you better understand which times work best with your audience, as well as allow you to make adjustments in order to maximize engagement. Instagram makes testing easy with its "Insights" feature, which provides useful data to determine whether or not your posting times are optimal. Other analytics tools that you can use are Iconosquare and Hootsuite.
When using analytics tools, look out for the following data:
By using this data, you can determine which time is best to post reels on Instagram. However, you should note that testing and analytics are ineffective if you don't have a high-quality reel. Make sure to focus on creating the best content possible that appeals to your target audience, and then use analytics to determine which times will help maximize engagement.
Maximizing the reach of your Instagram reels involves more than choosing the perfect time to post your reels.
Consistency is the age-old formula for success on Instagram, and it also applies to your reels. Consistency can mean both ensuring that you post at least once a week and also maintaining the consistency of your content's style.
One thing to note is that consistency doesn't mean posting every day. Find the perfect balance of posting often enough to keep your followers interested but not so often that they could get bored or annoyed.
Content quality also influences your reel's reach to a large extent. Factors like sound quality, clarity of visuals, and editing determine the quality of your reel. 1080p or HD resolution is ideal for Instagram Reels, and most phones nowadays offer it as a default setting. Additionally, you can use options like slow-motion, time-lapse, fast-forward, and reverse for creative edits to make your reel stand out from the crowd. Today you can also use an instagram reel maker to create a stunning reels for your page.
You may be wondering how Instagram's algorithm can identify low- or high-quality content. Well, the algorithm relies on factors like engagement rate to determine the quality of your content, and since Instagrammers are not fans of low-quality visuals, they won't engage with your low-quality content. Hence, low reach. So, make sure you're always producing high-quality reels.
Engaging with your followers is crucial for getting more views on Instagram Reels. It's important to interact with them by responding to their comments, asking questions in captions, and suggesting topics for your next reel.
To increase your engagement with each reel, the best engagement hack is to add a call to action (CTA) at the end of your reel. This could be as simple as asking viewers to leave a comment or "like" if they enjoyed the reel. Influencers also add controversial captions to their reels to stir emotions and get the conversation going.
Other engagement strategies include:
Using the right hashtags can help you increase the reach of your reels and attract more viewers. Use up to 30 relevant hashtags that are popular in your niche and trending, as well as brand-specific hashtags if applicable. You can also use a combination of low- and high-volume hashtags to increase your reach and conversions. Websites and applications can help you discover relevant hashtags for your niche. Popular examples are All-Hashtag, Hashtag Expert, Best-Hashtags, and Hashatit.
You should consider creating reel stories that follow the same topic across several reels instead of posting standalone reels. This keeps viewers hooked, as they'll want to see what happens next in each reel story. It also helps create a more immersive experience for your audience, which is essential for engagement.
Posting reels at the right time can greatly impact your reach and engagement rates. Different factors like the day of the week, type of content, audience engagement, hashtags, quality of content, and cross-platform promotion should be considered when creating and posting Instagram Reels. Leveraging all our tips on the best time to post reels on Instagram will help you maximize the reach and engagement of your reels.
Alex Quin is a full-stack marketing expert and global keynote speaker. Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of UADV Marketing - a member of the Forbes Agency Council.
