How often should you be posting on Instagram to maximise your reach and resonance?
It’s a question every brand and creator asks, and for good reason. The answer is often seen as a tightrope walk between being present and becoming a nuisance.
Clear Insights
However, a new study from Buffer offers some clear, data-driven insights that might just challenge your current strategy. Having analysed over two million posts from 100,000 Instagram accounts, the findings are compelling. Posting more frequently can lead to significant benefits in follower growth and reach.
The data suggests a strong correlation between the number of posts and audience growth. For instance, posting three to five times per week can more than double your follower growth rate. And if you have the capacity to post even more – say, six to nine times per week – that growth rate will increase even further. It’s a simple idea, but the numbers show just how powerful consistency is on the platform. This analysis focuses on feed posts (reels, carousels and photos) and does not include Instagram Stories.
Reach
Beyond follower growth, a higher posting frequency also directly impacts your reach. As Buffer notes, this is partly common sense. The more you post, the more opportunities you have to appear in your followers’ feeds, the Reels tab or the Explore page. But the study also found that accounts that post more often tend to get more views per post, indicating that the algorithm favours a consistent output. For example, accounts posting three to five times per week see a 12% average reach boost per post, which jumps to 24% for those posting ten times a week.
Post As Much As You Can?
So, is the answer simply to post as much as you can?
Not quite. The study also offers a crucial caveat. Content quality remains a key factor. Pushing out a high volume of content at the expense of its value or relevance could turn off your audience and negate any gains. The real sweet spot, it seems, is finding a rhythm that allows you to post consistently while maintaining a high level of quality. The data suggests that brands and creators shouldn’t fear overwhelming their audience; instead, they should focus on a strategy that balances frequency with genuine value and relevance.
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