Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms on the internet, especially when it comes to younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z. Over two-thirds of users on Instagram are 34 and under out of roughly two-billion active monthly users, making it the ideal site to boost start-ups and build a strong client base who will be around for years to come.
Instagram has historically been a photo-based platform, but with new features such as stories (in competition with Snapchat), reels (in competition with TikTok), shopping, and business analytics, it’s become a versatile platform to boost engagement for your brand and sell both services and products.
There are so many features of the app that can boost engagement, but one that a lot of small businesses overlook is the story feature, which takes your content outside of the traditional grid-posting model. Stories are just as important as normal posts because they offer limited-time reach insights.
They even have the option to use interactive stickers such as a link to access your website right from the story photo or a poll to discover what your followers are most interested in. If you’re worried about posting too many grid posts and clogging up your audience’s feeds, the story feature is a perfect, 24-hour way of promoting your brand. A study on Instagram stories showed that posting at least five stories per day raises follower retention rates to 70%.
Instagram is a vital app if you intend to market your brand on social media because of how high the app’s engagement is in comparison to its sister app, Facebook (81% user engagement versus Facebook’s 8%). However, to maximize the results of this engagement, one of the most important aspects outside of high-quality photos or graphics is to post during the times when users are interacting with the app most.
What Days of the Week Should You Post?
Similarly to Twitter, the best days of the week to post on Instagram are Wednesdays and Fridays. Ideally speaking, you want to generate engaging posts when people are bored throughout the work or school week – before users are too busy enjoying their time off on the weekends to be on their phones.
In addition to that, posting on holidays has helped brands increase engagement, even if that post is not necessarily an advertisement. With Instagram’s new features that enable users to share posts to stories or through direct messages, your brand’s holiday post could be shared and benefit your company even on a day off.
What Times of the Day Should You Post?
Instagram’s engagement peaks throughout the weekdays. When choosing the right time of day to post, you can similarly focus on catching users while they’re bored and scrolling during their day job or morning lectures. App users interact with even more posts during breaks – like lunchtime.
It’s important to learn which time zones your main customer base is located in, but the best times of the day are usually between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the U.S. When you post during that window, you are posting during most of the lunch breaks across America’s timezones.
When Should You Avoid Posting?
There’s not necessarily a bad time to post on social media with such a large audience around the world, but there are definitely better days and times than others. Overall, weekends are the worst times to post because users have more going on to keep them occupied.
However, if you do post on a weekend, make sure to do it before 11 a.m. Generally speaking, posting on any day of the week after 3 p.m. will cause your post to perform less well.
Why Does Growing Your Instagram Following Matter?
Using Instagram is important for a variety of reasons, and helping to grow your following is particularly important to generate new engagement.
Instagram has a feature known as the explore page, where it promotes growing businesses or popular posts, even to users who don’t follow those accounts already. Users are more likely to follow and support your business if you have more followers, and it also makes your company appear more reliable to have an up-to-date page with a specific style that fits your brand.
Compared to other social media platforms, users are significantly more likely to purchase an item promoted on Instagram, at a whopping 72% compared with other platforms such as Snapchat (1%), Pinterest (22%), and Facebook (23%). Instagram is the platform with the most influence on shopping habits, meaning that growing your Instagram following will be vital to growing your brand.
How Can Full-Service Social Media Management Help?
Instagram is a platform with so many amazing features for companies to utilize, but it’s hard enough to focus on your brand without worrying about how many times a day to post either a story or a grid post, what hashtags to use, and if the graphic you’re posting fits your brand’s style. However, that’s what we at WriteHQ are for.
Our goal is to help you create stunning graphics for your posts and stories, concise and engaging captions, and a comprehensive social media calendar that’s tailored to the needs of your brand or business. We’re a team well-versed in not just Instagram but any social media platform you’d like to grow your following through. To get a quote, contact us here.
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