Better content equals more engagement, right? Unfortunately not. You can put lots of time and effort into crafting social media posts, only to find they underperform. That is why it is important to post when your audience is most active on Instagram. It gives your content the best chance of being seen and therefore interacted with. If you are not sure where to start, here is our guide to the best time for schools to post on Instagram.
When is the best time for schools to post?
First of all, it is important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the best time to post on Instagram. It is going to vary from school to school, depending on your audience. Think about your audience’s habits: what time do they wake up? What are their working hours? Think about the purpose of your school’s Instagram page. Is it to raise awareness about your school? To attract new students? To communicate with current parents? All of this should inform your social media strategy and when to publish content.
The most sensible approach is to do some research and test posting at different times, recording how many likes, comments, and views each post receives. From this, you can work out the average best time. You can also look at your Instagram analytics. Go to the ‘Insights’ tab on your profile and click ‘Audience’. This page will tell you the times that your audience is most active.
If you’re stuck for time or want some statistics to back up your strategy, here is what social media management platform Sprout Social found:
Cheat sheet
Sunday: 10am-2pm
Monday: 9am-5pm (Engagement peaks at 11am and 2pm)
Tuesday: 8am-6pm, *7pm
Wednesday: 5am, *11am-3pm
Thursday: 5am, *11am-4pm
Friday: *5am, 9am-10am, *11am-1pm, 2-4pm
Saturday: 9-11am
* = particularly high levels of engagement
Let’s talk about these results. In general, posting between 9am and 6pm Tuesday to Friday will give you consistent engagement throughout the week. However, there are a couple of popular times that you may want to test out. For example, posts at 5am midweek had high levels of engagement. This is probably because people check social media as soon as they wake up before work. Sprout Social also conducted research into the best times for certain organisations to post.
The best time for schools to post on Instagram
For educational organisations, such as schools, the best time to post on Instagram is 8pm on Mondays. Engagement was most consistent on weekdays from 11am- 4pm. The worst day to post was Sunday. This makes sense considering schools are closed on weekends and therefore people may not be as engaged with educational content.
To summarise, it is important to research and test at different times in order to garner the best results for your school. But overall, the best time for schools to post on Instagram is Monday to Friday during the day.
If you would like more professional tips on marketing your schools do get in touch with the Digithrive For School’s team who are always happy to help. contact us here