How many times to post on instagram a day


How Often Should You Post on Instagram in 2022?

How often should you post to Instagram each week? Should you post on Instagram every single day?

If you work in social media, you’ve probably asked yourself these exact questions at one point or another.

To discover the answer, Later analyzed over 81 million feed posts (excluding Reels and IGTVs). Here’s what we found:

How Often Should You Post on Instagram Each Week?

Based on our analysis, the more you post on Instagram per week, the greater your overall reach will be. Similarly, posting more typically equals more likes and comments in total.

However, the rate of reach and engagement per individual post varies as more posts are shared — and this changes even more depending on how many followers an account has.

  • For accounts with under 1K followers: posting 14 times per week delivers the highest reach and engagement rates per post.

  • For accounts with 1K-250K followers*: posting 14 or 20 times per week delivers the highest reach rate per post, while posting once per week delivers the highest engagement rate per post.

  • For accounts with 250K+ followers: posting only once per week delivers the highest reach rate and engagement rates per post.

*NOTE: When we analyzed the results in smaller ranges (e.g. 1K-10K followers, 10K-20K followers, 20K-30K followers, etc.), the findings were the same — hence why the 1K-250K range is grouped together.

Reach rate is a valuable indicator for brand exposure, while engagement rate can indicate how well your content is resonating with your community.

In an ideal world, you want your reach and engagement rates to be as high as possible for every post you share, while still posting frequently enough to make an impact.

How Follower Count and Posting Frequency Impacts Feed Post Performance

When we look at the data as a whole, reach and engagement rates per post are optimal when 14 posts are shared per week (or twice per day, on average).

However, when we segment the data by follower count, some seriously interesting trends arise.

For accounts with less than 1K followers, the more feed posts you can share on Instagram per week, the better.

Both reach and engagement rates per post improve as posting frequency increases per week, with the average engagement rate climbing from 3.1% at one post per week, to 4.9% at 20 posts per week.

To put this into perspective, if an account has 500 followers, the number of engagements will grow from 15 (at one post per week) to 500 (at 20 posts per week). That’s quite a significant increase.

This is likely because these micro accounts don’t have a large community of followers as their primary source of engagement — they’re relying on new audiences to comment and like their posts via hashtags — and reach rate grows with each additional post shared.

For accounts with between 1K-250K followers, reach rate per post still improves as more feed posts are shared, but engagement rates see a significant decline.

This could be due to audience fatigue, a drop in content quality as volume increases, or the fact that the Instagram algorithm typically only promotes your most recent post to your followers.

For accounts with over 250K followers, both reach and engagement rates per post decline significantly as more feed posts are shared per week.

This decline in reach rate could be due to the fact that these mega accounts are less likely to rely on hashtags as their primary source of reach.

Instead, they rely on their existing community to engage with their content and drive virality — and for this group, posting more per week results in a major drop in engagement rate per post.

It could also be that accounts of this size are more focused on using Instagram Stories to engage with their community. Stories are informal and engaging, making them perfect for daily interactions and relationship-building. Learn more about how to build a strong community on Instagram here.

ICYMI: With Later, you can plan and schedule a full week’s worth of Instagram posts in less than twenty minutes, so you can increase your posting volume without losing time from your busy schedule.

How Often Should You Post on Instagram A Week to Grow Your Followers?

Based on Later’s analysis of over 917K unique accounts, users that post more times per week typically have more followers.

As you can see, there’s a clear correlation between posting frequency and the average number of followers an account has.

However, it’s worth noting though that this could be due to the type of accounts that are posting more frequently.

For example, a professional influencer or well-known brand is likely to post more per week than an everyday user — it’s much more likely to be a full-time profession, rather than a part-time side hustle.

So, How Often Should I Post on Instagram?

So, what does it all mean? Should you be posting on Instagram every day to grow your following? The answer is that it all depends on your goals.

If your goal is to reach new audiences, posting more frequently on Instagram, paired with an effective hashtag strategy, is always a good idea — especially if you have under 250K followers.

According to our analysis, for the best reach rate per post, you should post:

  • 14 times per week if you have under 1K followers

  • 14 or 20 times per week if you have 1K-250K followers

  • 1 times per week if you have over 250K followers

If your goal is to increase your engagement rate, you should post:

But try not to get too caught up on the numbers — protecting your mental health and creating quality content that drives real value for your audience should always usurp quantity.  

And remember: there is no one-size-fits-all approach for posting frequency on Instagram. Instead, use this data as a starting point to gather insights and experiment with your own account to find what rings true.

With Later’s free social media management platform, you can plan, prep, and schedule your Instagram posts from one easy-to-use dashboard, so you can create a best-in-class content strategy that supports your goals.

Plus, you can visually plan how your posts will look in your Instagram feed before they go live — so your profile looks on point and tells a cohesive story. It’s one of the best ways to convert profile visitors into followers!

Plan and preview your Instagram feed in advance with Later for free! Sign up and start creating an awesome Instagram account today:

Editor's Note: Study based on analysis of 81M Instagram feed posts published via Later between 2019-2021, from 917K unique users. Excludes Reels and IGTV posts. Data by Annie Yao.

How Often To Post On Social Media: 2022 Success Guide

Wondering how often to post on social media?

Great question. The short answer is, “As often as you can consistently post quality content.”

Quality and consistency are key to social media success.

This has not changed for 2022, and I don’t expect it to ever change!

But you want more… you want tips and suggestions! A place to start.

We got it.


The longer answer is: Recent studies have shown that there really are optimal posting frequencies for the different social media platforms.

And the good news is, it’s probably not as often as you may have heard!

That Facebook Page posting hourly, or Twitter account posting every 15 minutes? Forgetaboutit.

Maybe it works for accounts with 100,000’s of followers, but it doesn’t work for the average business using social media marketing.

Whew!

We will cover:

  • How often to post on Facebook
  • How often to post on TikTok
  • How often to tweet on Twitter
  • How often to pin on Pinterest (updated for 2022)
  • How often to post on Instagram
  • How often to post on LinkedIn
  • How often to upload to YouTube

Pinterest has changed! What you were doing in 2020 may no longer be working. It certainly wasn’t for me!

You’ll find everything summed up on a colorful infographic at the end, PLUS a free content guide to keep your social media posts engaging!

Is how often you post on social media important?

YOU BET! As Neil Patel says,

If you post too infrequently, your audience will forget that you exist and you will quickly fade into the deep dark recesses of their minds. However, if you are posting too often, you will become a complete nuisance and they will dread seeing your posts overcrowding their feed.

So here’s what the research says, to help you get this right.

I share my own posting frequency. Don’t try to max out every platform – unless you have unlimited time or funds. Or use a magical scheduling tool, like Missinglettr, mentioned below (my secret weapon!).

Disclosure: Some links below are affiliate links, which means I’ll get a small commission if you purchase. I only recommend social media management tools I use and love!

How Often to Post on Facebook

Most studies agree that once per day is optimal, with a maximum of two posts per day.

Hubspot found that pages under 10,000 fans experienced a 50% drop in engagement per post if they posted more than once per day.

At a minimum, you should post to your Facebook Pages 3 times per week.

As far as when to post to Facebook, I keep seeing studies that tout early afternoon. That’s never worked for me. It may be that more people are online and sharing then, but I think that just means I’m lost in the crowd.

I find it best to post before 6:30am Pacific, or after 8:30pm. I post 2–3 times per week.

When your audience is online will determine when you should post. Be sure to check your Facebook Insights.

For engaging, viral content scheduled in a snap, you should try PromoRepublic. You can edit and add your branding to their clever, pre-made content – or just post it as-is!

PromoRepublic also schedules to Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, but the content is most needed on a platform like Facebook, where users are looking to connect and have fun.

• • • Click here to try PromoRepublic free • • •

Disclosure: I’ll get a referral fee if you purchase a plan.

So, how often should you update your Facebook Page?

Bare minimum: once a week. Better: 3 times a week. Optimal: once a day.

Avoid: Sharing a bunch of posts in quick succession. Allow at least 3 hours between posts. “Too many updates” is the #1 reason people unfollow Fan Pages.

Action points:

1 | Get some Facebook content ideas and plan a week or month’s worth of posts.

2 | Discover the best time to post on Facebook 2022.

3 | Schedule your Facebook posts for free. 

4 | Or find ready-made content and schedule it in PromoRepublic.

How Often to Post on TikTok

TikTok is the new kid on the block. I didn’t find any studies – but I did find plenty of TikTokers willing to share what’s working for them.

What’s great is they generally agree!

You should really try to publish at least one quality video per day.

Most users have found that 3 per day is optimal!

While I’ve seen some suggest that more than 4 or 5 would be too much, at least one popular TikToker disagrees.

With 1.3 million followers, Grant Beene says, ““There is no such thing as posting too much on TikTok.”

He says that every time you post, TikTok shows your content to different people. Which may or may not be true, because (let’s face it) the social platforms don’t reveal the intricacies of their algorithms.

It does appear that, unlike Facebook, TikTok doesn’t penalize you for posting a lot.

Still, if you have less that a million followers (like, a lot less lol) and something else to do with your day than hang out on TikTok, there likely is such a thing as posting too much.

But if you’ve got the time, please test it and let us know. 🙂

Here are a bunch of TikTok video ideas to get you started.

So, how often should you post to TikTok?

Bare minimum: several times a week – once a day.

Optimal: 3 times per day.

Action points:

1 | Not a TikToker yet? Learn how to make your first TikTok video!

2 | To increase your chances of going viral, be sure to add the best hashtags for TikTok and the best TikTok captions.

3 | Learn the best time to post on TikTok 2022.

How Often to Post on Twitter

This seems to be a big controversy these days! I was recently taken to task for “only” posting about 10 times a day on Twitter. The top accounts are posting 100 times a day, I was told.

Can you imagine?

Well, that’s just not necessary. But the studies I found did vary wildly – anywhere from once per day to 51 times a day!

More helpful is a general consensus of 3 to 30 times a day. Tweets do have an incredibly short shelf life, so it’s important to spread your tweets through the day.

If you blog, you’ll adore using Missinglettr to automatically create visual content and schedule your blog posts.

Read more about this social media tool for bloggers.

• • • Or jump in and try Missinglettr free here • • •

Disclosure: I’ll get a referral fee if you purchase a plan.

How often should you Tweet?

Bare minimum: once a day. Better: 3 – 6 tweets a day. Optimal: 15-23 tweets a day.

In addition to HubSpots’s findings, Dan Zarella found that the most-followed Twitter accounts averaged 23 tweets a day, with no decline in followers as tweet counts rose. When I was most active on Twitter, I tweeted links almost every hour, and a quote about every 3 hours.

Avoid: Disappearing from Twitter for weeks or months – you’ll lose followers.

Action points:

1 | Learn the right image size for tweets.

2 | Discover the best time to tweet.

3 | Try Missinglettr to schedule new blog posts to tweet out on different days and times for a whole year. The Twitter feed moves so quickly, you’ll be lucky if your followers see it once, let alone multiple times!

How Often to Post on Pinterest

The recommended minimum is 3 Pins per day, with a maximum of 25 Pins per day – a new recommendation direct from Pinterest.

Pinning often is easy with Tailwind. You tell it how many times you want to pin per day, and it sets up recommended time slots for you.

Save a Pin to Tailwind, and it falls into the next slot (or you can customize the times, if you wish).

I started with about 5 Pins per day and worked my way up to about 12 scheduled Pins a day in 2016.

Posting this often did amazing things to grow my followers – I more than tripled my account in 2016, to 14K followers. And…

  • Added 5,000 followers in 2017.
  • Almost 10,000 more in 2018.
  • Close to 20,000 more in 2019.

But I no longer Pin that much!

Why? After encouraging up to repin our own content for years, in 2019 Pinterest decided to give preference to NEW Pins.

Rarely giving exposure to repinned Pins.

Requiring lots of time to create NEW Pins!

I drastically cut back on my repeating Pins in late 2019 and am once again pinning only about 5 Pins per day.

If you can’t keep with the new content creation, cut back on pinning.

I cut from 30+ a day to FIVE with NO loss in engagement, follower growth, or traffic.

This is why you have to keep up with the social platforms’ ever-changing whims!

And especially, your account analytics.

I’m a huge fan of automating everything Pinterest with Tailwind. And their analytics are the best, bar none. So you’ll always know how your account is doing, and what to tweak.

• • • Try Tailwind Forever Free plan now! • • •

Disclosure: I’ll get a referral fee if you purchase a plan.

So, how often should you Pin to Pinterest?

Bare minimum: once a day. Better: 3 – 5 Pins a day. Optimal: 10-25 Pins a day.

The optimal amount for your account will depend on how much time you have to dedicate to making fresh, quality Pins. 3 “fresh Pins” will perform better than 25 repeated Pins.

Avoid: Repeating Pins frequently or to more than 10 Pinterest boards.

Action points:

1 | Catch up on the current Pinterest best practices.

2 | Learn how to make Pinterest Pins that get seen and clicked.

3 | Determine your best times to pin on Pinterest.

4 | Or, make it easy. To schedule your Pins, try Tailwind.

How Often to Post on Instagram

It’s generally recommended to post at least once per day, and no more than 3 times per day, on Instagram.

I’ve found similar times of day to Facebook effective: my stats showed that 8pm was my best time, closely followed by 6am. This was when I lived on the West coast, so that’d be 9am and 11pm Eastern time.

I don’t use any schedulers here, but you can read about approved partners for Instagram scheduling. These can auto-post for you safely!

How often should you update your Instagram?

Bare minimum: once a week. Better: 3 times a week. Optimal: once or twice a day.

Avoid: Sharing a bunch of posts in quick succession, or disappearing for weeks at a time.

Action points:

1 | Get some Instagram post ideas and plan a week’s worth of posts.

2 | Consider the best Instagram image sizes.

3 | Pick an effective group of Instagram hashtags to increase your posts’ exposure.

4 | Figure out the best time to post to Instagram 2022.

How Often to Post on LinkedIn

This one’s easy. At least twice a week, and no more than once each business day, which is optimal. Post in the mornings.

I share my new or updated blog posts here, and I was only posting once or twice a week, but now I use Missinglettr. This recirculates my blog posts and keeps them in front of my connections – because some may have missed them (or not had time to read) previously.

• • • Click here to try Missingletter free • • •

Disclosure: I’ll get a referral fee if you purchase a plan.

How Often to Post on YouTube

Once again, consistency is key.

According to Filmora, you’ll grow your channel faster if you:

  1. Create a specific YouTube posting schedule.
  2. Post your upload schedule on your YouTube account.
  3. Don’t overcommit! Creating YouTube videos takes time.
  4. “Bank” YouTube videos so you have them ready to upload on your schedule.

I was asked for more specifics, so here you go: Try to upload a new video weekly.

If you create a stash of videos as recommended above, you’ll get an idea of how long your video creation will take, and if that’s a realistic goal.

Don’t abandon YouTube because you can’t post weekly, and don’t post junky videos just to get something uploaded.

I know it sounds like a broken record, but it’s really all about consistency, quality, and what works for your audience.

Here are some fantastic tips on posting frequency from Business Film Booth.

I jumped you right to that part of the video, but the whole thing contains important advice.

How often you should post a video to YouTube depends on a whole heap of things. There is not a set answer. This video will talk you through everything you need to consider before you produce one video a week, day or month.

The best times to upload to YouTube are Thursdays and Fridays between 12 and 3pm in the time zone of the majority of your subscribers.

Monday and Tuesday are the worst days to upload to YouTube.

How Often Should You Blog?

Some quick thoughts here, since blogging is sometimes lumped in with “social media.”

Bare minimum: once a month. Once weekly is ideal, and if you can post two or three times a week – even better.

If you’re new to blogging, more content will definitely move you up in the search rankings. Established blogs with plenty of content should focus less on how much new content they can create, and more on updating and optimizing their current content.

Avoid: Posting low quality content to meet a “quota.” Publishing a ton of blog posts when you have time to write, and none when you get busy. Consistency will help the search engines – and your readers! – know what to expect. But be sure it’s quality.

Action points:

1 | Choose a comfortable frequency you know you can keep up with.

2 | Learn some SEO basics for beginners.

3 | Start writing, and get a few posts scheduled in advance.

4 | When – and if – you can, increase your posting frequency.

5 | Once you have a library of content, be sure to keep it updated.

Check here for more blogging tips.

Conclusion: How often should business post on social media?

Now you’ve got the latest research on:

  • How often to post on Facebook
  • How often to tweet on Twitter
  • How often to pin on Pinterest
  • How often to post on Instagram
  • How often to post on LinkedIn
  • How often to upload to YouTube

Hat tip to CoSchedule, Buffer, and Neil Patel for data.

Here are more considerations from Amy Landino!

I included my own thoughts and frequencies, and suggested scheduling tools.

→ Tailwind for Pinterest and Instagram.

→ Find more options for scheduling to Instagram from desktop.

→ PromoRepublic if you need fast, viral content for Facebook.

→ To automate blog post sharing, Missinglettr.

Disclosure: I’ll get a referral fee if you purchase a plan.

Choose your pace and stick to it, so your followers know what to expect. Consistency is key to attracting and retaining followers! Of course, high quality content is a must.

Posting more does not mean your content will be seen more!

Different social networks’ algorithms work differently, but engagement and relevance is key to all!

Here’s a great overview from Brafton, with stats from Social Media Today:

  • Facebook ranks meaningful interactions highest.
  • Instagram’s algorithm orders content by popularity, relevancy and a user’s relationship with the account that posted it.
  • Tweets are sorted by time posted and relevance to the user.
  • LinkedIn content is ranked by engagement and the degree to which you are connected with someone on LinkedIn or have mutual connections.
  • Pinterest places content based on previous user interactions.

Don’t forget these key points on how often to post on social media:

  • Posting consistency is more important than posting frequency.
  • Content quality is more important than content quantity.
  • Set an objective for social media, so you know if your posts are successful or not.
  • And always check your stats to see what works best for your account!

It’s not just how often you post, but posting quality content your audience craves.

Need ideas for what to post?

• • • CLICK to Get your FREE Social Media Content Guide! • • •

Stay consistent with your social media posting:

  • Don’t take on more platforms than you can handle.
  • Create and schedule content in bulk, to save time.
  • Keep fresh ideas flowing with the Social Media Content Planner!

Does this help you with how often to post on social media? Let me know!

What are the limits on Instagram and why stick to them? In this article, we will look at the limits on Instagram, find out what criteria to follow and for what actions an account can be blocked.

  • Why stick to limits on Instagram
  • Violation of what limits leads to blocking nine0006
  • Other limits on Instagram
  • Conclusion

Why stick to limits on Instagram

Instagram limits apply to any kind of content: the number of likes, comments, subscriptions, messages, and the like. The site algorithm checks the user's actions and blocks suspicious activity in the profile, and also warns against using "gray" promotion methods. nine0003

Note . You can read about the Community Guidelines in the Meta Help and the Instagram Guide.

The site has a negative attitude towards:

  • Cheats and automatic actions.
  • Attempts to manipulate and bypass algorithms.
  • Intrusive advertising in private messages and comments.
  • Spam.

Consequences of violation of limits

For one violation you will receive a warning, which can be viewed in the "Notifications" tab. If the moderators notice a large number of identical actions in the account, you will receive a warning, followed by blocking or deleting the profile. Particularly strict requirements apply to new accounts that have been in existence for less than six months. nine0003

  • Shadowban . The site limits the display of posts, Reels and stories - they do not fall into recommendations and cannot be found by hashtags. If you notice a sharp drop in reach within a few days, this is a sign of a shadowban.
  • Temporary lock . The algorithm limits your actions and does not allow you to like, subscribe to users or leave comments. This blocking lasts up to three days.
  • Temporary deletion of account . In this case, you do not lose access to the profile, and when you try to log in, a notification appears that the account has been blocked for violating the rules. Access can be restored, but technical support takes a long time to respond, which means it will take time.
  • Permanent ban . Instagram will delete the page without the possibility of recovery.

Recommended reading! Learn how to unblock Instagram.

You may also receive a warning for content that does not comply with platform standards. Because of him, account holders fall under the shadowban. To find out the status of your account, go from your profile to the menu and go to the "Settings" section. nine0003 Account settings

Then go to the "Account" tab.

"Account" tab

And check "Account Status".

Account Status tab

Here you can check the list of violations, see recommendations and options on how to get deleted posts back.

Check your profile for prohibited content
Convert Instagram followers into regular customers

Create a chatbot, automate communication with customers and improve sales in Instagram Direct. nine0003

Violation of what limits leads to blocking

Let's consider violations for which some functions can be limited or even blocked forever.

Limit of likes on Instagram

To increase the reach and attract users' attention to the profile, account holders put likes.

Account age from 3 months Account age from 6 months Account is over a year old
Daily 300 likes 500 900
per hour 12 likes 20 50
Minimum break 1-2 minutes

Message limit on Instagram

The site monitors the observance of the personal space of users - mass mailing to strangers who did not consent to correspondence is perceived negatively. Community members can file a complaint and your account will be blocked. Therefore, keep track of the number of messages sent to Direct. nine0003

Account age from 3 months Account age from 6 months Account age over a year
Daily 20 messages 35 50
per hour 3-5 messages 10 15
Minimum break 10 minutes

Instagram comment limit

Accounts are often blocked due to comments - make sure they are different and contain text, not just emoji.

Identical comments are treated as spam. This is followed by a warning, and if the action is repeated, the account is blocked.

Account age from 3 months Account age from 6 months Account age over a year
Per day Not recommended to use in order not to get banned 140 comments 200-250
per hour Not recommended to use in order not to get banned 7 comments 8
Minimum break - 4-5 minutes

Instagram follow limit

The algorithm takes into account the total number of followers and unfollows per day. Therefore, if you have subscribed to a large number of users, it is better to postpone the unsubscribe to the next day so as not to get banned. nine0003

Account age from 3 months Account age from 6 months Account age over a year
Daily 100 subscriptions 300 500
per hour 20 subscriptions 30 40
Minimum break 8 minutes 5 minutes 30 seconds to 1 minute

Limits on unsubscribing

You can start unsubscribing from 300 non-reciprocal and 200 mutual subscriptions per day, gradually increasing this number. But do not forget about the total amount of subscriptions and unsubscriptions per month - otherwise the account will be blocked.

nine0087 1400
Account age from 3 months Account age from 6 months Account age over a year
Daily 500 unsubscribes 2000
per hour 20 unsubscribes 50 80
Minimum break 2 to 5 minutes

Other limits on Instagram

Let's look at other limits that do not lead to blocking, but limit the number of posts - for example, stories or hashtags.

Stories

Up to 100 stories can be added per day. If you upload another one, the very first story will be automatically deleted and the total number will be one hundred. nine0003

Mentions

Up to three users per hour can be mentioned in comments, and up to 20 per day for new accounts. For profiles that have existed for more than six months, up to 50 users can be mentioned per day.

Number of characters under the post

Up to 2200 characters can be added to the post. If this is not enough for you, you can overlay text on the image and add it to the carousel, as in the screencast below.

Carousel text example

Adding photos and posts

Up to 10 images can be added to a post. Up to 20 publications can be published per day with an interval of 5-10 minutes, but practice shows that it is enough to upload 1-2 posts per day, and send the rest of the content to stories. This way you won't bore your audience.

Hashtags

Up to 30 tags with target and near-target keys can be added to a post. And for Reels, it is recommended to prescribe no more than 5 hashtags. You can also use tags in stories - geolocation, brand or thematic query. nine0003

Use spaces or periods in the text to separate tags.

An example of delimiting tags in the text for publication

Account blocking

Brands and bloggers constantly use account blocking: fakes, spam, trolls, competitors, and the like. At the same time, mass blocking is perceived negatively by the platform - so do not rush to take such measures so as not to receive a warning. It’s better to try to calm the person down or pause between blocks so as not to attract undue attention from the moderators. nine0003

Recommended reading! Learn more about Instagram:

  • “How to write a post-acquaintance on Instagram”;
  • "How to make a mask on Instagram";
  • "How to create, promote and maintain an Instagram store";
  • "How to create a high-quality visual on Instagram";
  • "How to sell on Instagram";
  • "How to use Instagram Guides for organic promotion"; nine0350
  • "Earnings on Instagram - TOP-18 ways to get real money";
  • "How to make stories on Instagram from your phone and computer";
  • "How to add a photo to Instagram from a computer";
  • “How to create a content plan for Instagram. Rules, tips, examples”;
  • "Instagram design: how to make your profile attractive to the audience."

Conclusion

In this article, we looked at the new Instagram limits that are updated every year. You can learn about changes only by trial and error - the site does not talk about the operation of the algorithm and how it reacts to mass actions.

If you are banned, follow these precautions:

  • Do nothing on your account and try checking your profile the next day.
  • File an appeal with technical support and ask for options to resolve the problem. nine0006
  • After you exit the ban, reduce the number of actions. For some time, moderators will closely monitor the account and can delete it at any time.
  • Stop using automated services that help you publish content.

You can automate the process of communication with users using the chatbot on Instagram, which will send mailings to those who have agreed to the correspondence.

The SendPulse bot allows you to set up answers to frequently asked questions, create any chains, send data to CRM, place orders and notify customers about delivery. nine0003 SendPulse Chat Bot Builder

And also connect our other tools for comprehensive promotion: create multilinks using the landing page builder, send email, Viber, SMS and push notifications, set up chat bots in instant messengers and social networks — Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram!

Optimal Instagram Posting Frequency: 20+ Expert Tips

How often do you post on Instagram? Many bloggers, no matter how many followers they have, don't know if they should post new posts once a day, three times a week, or several times a day. nine0003

You don't want to bore your audience with too frequent posts, but being forgotten is a so-so prospect.

What to do?

There may not be a universal answer to this question, but in this article you will find advice from 20+ marketers with years of experience in managing Instagram accounts. You will learn how to develop a strategy that is right for your company and audience.

Article content

How often to post on Instagram: best practices

Posting daily

1. Instagram algorithms will probably reward you
2. Increased visibility
3. You keep the attention and interest of the audience

Posting 3-5 times a week

1. Engagement rate can increase
2. Possibility to improvise
3. You won't have to post irrelevant content

Posting 1-2 times a week

Do I need to make a schedule?

Quality over quantity

What's next?

How often to post on Instagram: best practices

If you've been looking for the secret formula to find the exact answer to this question, we're going to have to disappoint you: best practices vary by industry and company type. Much depends on the preferences of your audience.

Only one thing is universal - you need to study your subscribers and find out how often they want to see you in their feed. Below you will find recommendations from marketers, most of whom have been blogging on Instagram for more than three years (>40% of respondents), which means they have had enough time to test different strategies and find out which ones work best. nine0003

How long has your company had an active Instagram account?
Less than a year
1-3 years
Over 3 years
We don't have an account

Read also: How to grow your business by attracting leads from Instagram?

Daily posts

Some companies benefit from publishing new posts every day. This may depend on your goals, or whether you are in B2B or B2C, or what other channels you use to promote your products or services. nine0003

If Instagram is your main social media platform for finding new potential buyers, then according to experts, posting every day can be especially beneficial for your company.

There are three reasons for this:

1. Instagram algorithms might reward you

You may have heard complaints about Instagram's algorithms: if you take a moment to distract yourself, your audience reach shrinks. While it's not true that all activity on an app is tracked by a single algorithm, frequent and regular posts do get more engagement. nine0003

John Frigo of Best Price Nutrition says, "Instagram's algorithms, and indeed most social media, reward frequent posts, so it's best to post daily."

2. Increase visibility

Many companies benefit from publishing one post each day. Marketing experts believe that this frequency of posts is optimal: they do not overload the audience and at the same time do not let you be forgotten.

Only 10% of survey participants have an audience between 25,000 and 50,000 subscribers, the majority (more than 30%) have less than 1,000. In order to attract more, increase visibility and expand your reach, it can be beneficial for you to post every day. nine0003

How many followers does your Instagram account have?
Less than 1,000
1000 - 3000
5,000 - 10,000
3000 - 5000
25,000 — 50,000
10,000 - 25,000

For Finding Balance's Lily Ugbaia, daily posts are the best fit for her company and audience. This frequency of posting helps to attract the attention of new followers: “Instagram is a very visual platform. Therefore, to get the most out of it, you need visuals that represent your company so that customers and potential buyers can see you all the time.” nine0003

Harriet Chen of CocoFinder also believes that daily posts increase visibility on Instagram. It can be useful to post even a few posts a day: “Experts believe that you need to post new posts every day. But for maximum engagement, you need three posts a day. This frequency increases the visibility of your brand and helps boost sales of your products.”

3. You keep the attention and interest of the audience

Daily posts give engaged audiences exactly what they want. If your followers enjoy interacting with brands, posting daily will help keep them engaged and allow followers to enjoy new content all the time so they don't lose interest. nine0003

“For years, we have been experimenting with post frequency and choosing the best strategies for our business Instagram account,” says Jonathan Ofrey of Growth Hackers Agency. "We've found that daily posts work best because by providing content regularly, we keep engagement without overwhelming our community."

Chloe Sisson of Zen Media agrees that posting more than once a day can overwhelm subscribers unless the posts are related to each other. “If Instagram is your main marketing tool, it is recommended to post once a day. Set a specific time for this so your followers know when to expect your content. We post once a day. We have found that this frequency works best for our audience.” nine0003

Read also: How to build a large audience on Instagram: 7 recommendations

Posting 3-5 times a week

What if you can't post every day? Or, for example, is your audience dissatisfied with an overabundance of content? Do not worry. Some experts recommend posting once or twice a week, as well as posting on weekdays rather than weekends.

Once again, it all depends on your audience. If your target followers commute during the week and spend the weekend with their family without looking at their phones, you'll schedule your schedule so your best posts don't go unnoticed. nine0003

1. Engagement rate may increase

The majority of survey participants (more than 30%) name an engagement rate of 1-3%, and this is good for Instagram. The majority of those surveyed only post a few times a week because such a schedule increases engagement. The audience has more time to explore the content and interact with it.

What is your average Instagram engagement rate?
Less than 0.5%
0.5 - 1%
1 - 3%
Over 3%
Don't know

2. Ability to improvise

Sometimes something unexpected happens that you want to tell subscribers about. If your schedule calls for two or three posts a week, you can always cram in an announcement or post something impulsively without overwhelming your audience.

A strict schedule also robs your profile of authenticity. Authenticity is important because people want to get to know you, feel your energy, and see if you're the right fit for them. People want to talk to people, not robots. nine0003

So always leave space for spontaneous posts, as Stephanie Gutierrez of Online Optimism advises. She thinks it's best to post 3-5 times a week if you want to "maintain an active Instagram account that grabs and keeps attention. It's important to leave room in your content plan to accommodate the new material that's coming out this week and stay on schedule."

3. You won't have to post irrelevant content

What if you post a post a day and have nothing prepared for today? Will you post anything just to stay on schedule? Frequency is important, but not enough to post irrelevant content. nine0003

Dennis Hancock of Mountain Valley MD thinks you shouldn't post just to tick off a plan. The best practice is to “post often enough for your audience to remember your brand, and if your posts are engaging, Instagram will reward you with a wider audience reach. Posting once a day is good if you share something important. No need to post irrelevant or weak content.

Charlotte Spence of Mattress Nerd says, “Posting 3 times a day is annoying for most users and will quickly lead to unfollowing. Make a schedule and post anywhere from 5 posts per week to 2 posts per day, but only if you're sharing high quality content. Create your posts ahead of time when you have a good idea, and if you don't have a good post ready, don't post anything. Better to remain silent than to post irrelevant content." nine0003

Read also: Lead generation on Instagram: how to create photo captions?

Posting 1-2 times a week

If Instagram is just one of your marketing channels, then you don't need daily posts to maintain your online presence and keep your audience up to date with all the latest news about your brand.

Posting once or twice a week works well if you're consistent. Mitchell Harad of Expert Opportunities says it's important to stick to a schedule, and consistency is "the most valuable quality" for a company looking to win over an audience. nine0003

“If you only post once a week, that's fine. Just make it a habit to do it at the same time so your audience will expect it. The same goes for posting three times a week. This strategy isn't three times better: it's just as valuable if you stick to your schedule. The audience craves consistency, and when the frequency of your posts provides it, that's good."

This is true: people love routine and predictability. If your followers are used to reading your content over their Tuesday morning coffee, don't disappoint them. nine0003

"It's important to set up a schedule and stick to it so your community knows what to expect from you," says Jordin Jewell of Simple Machines Marketing. - If you decide to post twice a week, then twice a week share valuable, engaging content that your audience will want to keep and forward to friends. If you can post content like this five times a week, that's great! But it’s better to share valuable content 1-3 times a week than to post anything every day for show. ” nine0003

Read also: Why Your Instagram Posts Don't Engage: The Scientific Reason

Do You Need to Schedule?

Does every company need a schedule for posting content? Scheduling is useful because people will get used to you posting at certain times and will wait for them.

Tarlia Smedley of Pulse Recruitment says consistency is key. “Instead of requiring a fixed number of posts every day or every week, I believe that success on Instagram depends on the quality and consistency of the posts.” nine0003

“There is no point in posting low quality content, especially if you are not achieving the desired engagement metrics. In that case, I would suggest posting less content overall to focus on the quality of posts with higher engagement rates.”

For those who don't know how often to post, Smedley's advice is: “Determine how much content you can create in a week and stick with that amount of posts. You may only post them three times a week, but if you spread them out by day of the week and stick to a schedule, you'll get better results in the long run. Each company is different, so set achievable goals for yourself and post at least once a week and no more than three times a day.” nine0003

Engagement is important, of course, but sometimes it can be difficult to create engaging content for Instagram, especially if it's not the only platform you use to advertise and find new audiences. Alex Birket of Conversion.AI thinks the key is to create something of value and attention: “Actually, I think you shouldn't be posting as often as you think. Creating interesting content for Instagram is not easy, especially for companies: you are competing with friends and family of your followers. Your ad may not be the most interesting thing they see in a day.” nine0003

Most people don't go to Instagram to shop and watch ads, so your job is to create an interesting and engaging story. Birket says: “I think you should post when you have something interesting for your followers. But don't overdo it. Instagram algorithms are such that the more followers interact with your content, the higher you will appear in their feed, and vice versa. Therefore, quality is more important than quantity. Anyway, it's about posts, but you can post more stories." nine0003

Also read: Stop organic social media activity to increase profits

Quality over quantity

All experts agree on one thing: quality is always more important than quantity.

Over time, your audience will get to know you better and understand which of your posts are authentic and which are posted for show. If you don't have the time or material to create a quality post, it's best not to post anything.

It takes a lot of time to experiment and find out what works for your audience. To get started, try the best practices recommended by the experts. This way, you will probably find your ideal posting frequency faster and develop a schedule that works for you and your audience. nine0003

The main thing is to listen to what your followers want and monitor their reactions to your posts. Then you will be able to strike a balance, delight and engage your audience, and provide them with high-quality content so that your Instagram community will grow and grow.


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