Tried posting the same video at 8am vs 8pm for a week straight

I run a small roofing company and I've been trying to get more traction on Instagram. For months I just posted whenever I had a finished job, usually around 6pm after cleanup. Last month I decided to actually test two different times with the same type of content. I took 10 finished roof videos, same editing style, and posted 5 at 8am and 5 at 8pm over two weeks. The 8am posts averaged around 1,200 views each, the 8pm ones barely broke 400. I think the algorithm decides within the first hour whether to push your stuff and morning people actually engage more than evening scrollers. Now I schedule everything for 7:45am and my last video hit 3,000 views. Has anyone else noticed a huge gap between morning and evening posting times?

3 comments

3 Comments

wren_mitchell11h ago

Did you track engagement on the 8pm ones too? I did a similar test with my stuff and morning posts just crushed it every time, like it was almost unfair how much better they did... the afternoon scrollers are definitely in a different headspace.

felixm2912h ago

Bet anyone who tells you time doesn't matter has never actually tested it. I did something similar with my own stuff and the gap was even bigger than yours. Morning posts get pushed out to people who are actually awake and scrolling with purpose, evening posts just get buried under everyone else's dinner and Netflix content. The algorithm definitely watches that first hour like a hawk, if nobody bites early it just gives up on you. You basically stumbled onto the secret that consistency beats luck every time. Keep that morning schedule locked in and watch the numbers climb.

the_miles10h ago

Man, that's a solid test and the numbers don't lie. But I gotta ask - when you checked the 8am posts, were you seeing more actual comments and saves, or was it mostly just passive views? Because that first hour engagement matters way more for getting pushed out further, and I'm trying to figure out if morning people are just more likely to hit like or if they're actually stopping to read and reply.