While we all know our self worth shouldn't be based on how many Instagram likes we receive, sometimes it can feel nice for punny captions or special moments captured in photo form to get the attention they deserve.
With Instagram's tricky algorithm meaning no one really knows why certain photos perform better than others, users are faced with the age old question: when is the best time to post a photo to receive optimum engagement?
Is it the morning during your followers' commute? During a lunch time scroll? Or just as you're switching off and going to bed? After analysing 12 million Instagram posts, marketing platform Later.com (via Bustle) determined that the best time to post on Instagram is between 9 am - 11 am.
Of course, it's worth noting this depends on where the majority of your followers are from, and whether their time zone lines up with your time zone. For example, 9am EST is actually 1pm GMT, whereas 11am GMT is 4am PDT. Yeah, it's confusing.
Interestingly, Forbes' findings also slightly contradict this, insisting the best time to post stretches from 9am right through to 6pm, any day from Tuesday to Friday. This suggests many Instagram users are too busy at weekends to check their feeds, and are more likely to like your post during the day, as opposed to in their evenings.
This is also contrary to what @_jessdavies, who has 148,000 followers on Instagram, tells Cosmopolitan UK. When it comes to scheduling her own content, the blogger seemingly finds 6pm- 12 midnight GMT works best for her.
Everyone's clicking on...
"I always try and post from 6pm onwards, which is when I typically have my highest engagement levels," Jess explains. "That way I know most of my followers will be either commuting home from work or sat on the sofa and catching up on their social media!"
The blogger also does take time zones into consideration, though, adding: "With Instagram having a Worldwide reach, a lot of my followers are from the United States, so I also have to consider this when posting.
"Although, with the new Instagram algorithm your post can feature on someone’s timeline two days later than when you posted it so scoping out my engagement and time zone’s sometimes don’t pay off!"
Essentially, it's all a bit of a minefield. But seeing as the joy of Instagram is meant to be sharing photos you love rather than getting the most likes, it's all just fun and games, right?
Dusty Baxter-Wright is an award-winning journalist and the Entertainment and Lifestyle Director at Cosmopolitan, having previously worked at Sugarscape. She was named one of PPA’s 30 Under 30 for her work covering pop culture, careers, interiors and travel, and oversees the site’s Entertainment and Lifestyle strategy across print, digital and video. As a journalist for the best part of a decade, she has interviewed everyone from Louis Theroux and Channing Tatum to Margot Robbie and Ncuti Gatwa, while she has also spoken on Times Radio and BBC Radio. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram here.
