Have you been wondering if there is a truly best time to post on social media? Well, according to the data accumulated from multiple different sources, there is. Whenever your audience is most active, you can get the most views and engagement possible on your content.
Social media is continuously evolving, and users behavior is changing with it. Posting at the times when users are the most engaged in the network can lead you to more likes, comments, and shares.
It depends on your industry and audience when will be the best time to post.
The Best Time To Post On Social Media
Each social media platform has its own optimal time, which would be the best for publishing content. Using benchmarking tool Unmetric, we were able to get the best time to post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We also found the best days to post on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
According to our data, the best time to post on Social Media would be between 9 am, and 12 am EST early in the workweeks, whether you are a B2C or B2B brand.
Let’s take a look at the insights that we found for each network:
The Best Time To Post on Facebook
Facebook is a social network that has over two billion active users, which is making it the most popular platform so far. News Feed algorithm was changed in 2019 to prioritize posts from family and friends over the brands content. Keep in mind the current Facebook newsfeed algorithm, and you can use it as a significant engagement challenge.
Besides creating a High-Quality content, make sure that you are posting at the most appropriate times.
When are the best hours to post on Facebook?
For B2B brands:
- The best hours to post on Facebook for B2B brands would be between 9 am and 2 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
Sometimes data may be skewed by a few viral posts. Consider them as evidence of what kind of organic traffic you can reach when you post high-quality content with the best timing.
For B2C brands:
- The best hours to post on Facebook for B2C brands would be around noon EST on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.
Consider the fact that 74% of Facebook users visit this platform every day, and that 88% of them access the site via a mobile device.
Our advice is to track results for yourself. You can either use engagement data from Facebook Page Insights or some other tools such as Hootsuite Analytics and decide what works best for you.
The Best Time to Post on Twitter
The lifetime of a tweet is merely 18. Timing matters the most on this social network since you have less than 20 minutes to make sure that your content will reach the right audience.
Best time to engage on Twitter?
For B2B brands:
- The best time to publish tweets for B2B brands would be between 9 am and 4 pm EST on Mondays or Thursdays
For B2C brands:
- The best time to publish on Twitter for B2C brands would be between 12 pm and 1 pm EST early in the workweek (from Monday to Wednesday)
When it comes to Twitter, consider the fact that 46% of American users visit this network at least once a day. Also, this platform operates in 33 different languages, so 80% of Twitter users aren’t Americans.
Make sure that you test different posting schedules and compare results.
The Best Time to Post on Instagram
Instagram is a rising star of social media, and it’s the top choice for content creators and influencers that are looking for brand collaborations. Although Facebook has a more extensive base, one billion monthly active users on Instagram are incredibly engaged.
Analyzing Hootsuite’s posts from 2018, we discovered that the best timing for posts on Instagram was around noon EST, Monday to Friday.
What is the most important when it comes to Instagram is that you make sure that your posts are recent when your audience is most likely to be active because Instagram’s algorithm favors ‘’recency’’ and will usually serve you fresh content.
Here’s a detailed guideline for the best times to post on Instagram for each working day of the week:
- The best time to post on Instagram on Monday: Monday mornings are often a bit sluggish on Instagram as people are getting back into the workweek. Posting between 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM can be a good choice as many users take breaks during this time to check their social media feeds. Later in the evening around 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM can also work well as people unwind after work.
- The best time to post on Instagram on Tuesday: Tuesdays tend to see better engagement. Posting around 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM can catch the attention of users during their mid-morning break, and again from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM as people relax in the evening.
- The best time to post on Instagram on Wednesday: Mid-week is often a strong time for engagement. Consider posting between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM when people are taking lunch breaks, and later in the day around 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
- The best time to post on Instagram on Thursday: Similar to Wednesday, Thursdays are also a good time to post. Aim for posts between 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM and then again from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM as people prepare for the weekend.
- The best time to post on Instagram on Friday: Fridays can be a bit tricky, as people’s schedules vary. Try posting between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM to catch those winding down before the weekend. Alternatively, some users engage later in the afternoon from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
The Best Time to Post on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 500 million active users and growth rate of about two new profiles per second.
LinkedIn is the most effective platform for B2B marketing, but it can be valuable to any business, depending on the content that you want to share.
So, what is the best time to publish on LinkedIn?
- The best time to post on LinkedIn is at 7:45 am, 10:45 am, 12:45 pm, and 5:45 pm EST.
For B2B brands:
- The best days to publish on LinkedIn are Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
For B2C brands:
- The best days to publish on LinkedIn are Monday and Wednesday.
‘’The Hootsuite social team posts on the 45-minute mark because most brands are posting on the hour.’’ Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Social Marketing Lead.
Do you think that your audience only engages on the weekends when they are at home? You may be wrong about that. Try with workday hours, and the results will surprise you.
Consider the fact that 50% of Americans with a college degree use the LinkedIn account, that 45% of users are in upper management and that around 57% of them are using this network on their mobile phones.
How Can You Find the Best Time For Posting on Social Media?
Analyze Your Target Audience
You should research how old your audience is, where do they come from, what do they do for work, what social networks they use the most and are they using social media on their mobile phones or computers.
Answering these questions can provide you a lot of valuable information that you can use to create a content strategy that will match your audience.
Test the Same Content Different Times
It is essential to be consistent when you want to measure your results accurately. So, when you want to test timing for your posts, consider using the same or similar content different times.
Location Matters
Don’t forget considering the location when it comes to your engagement. Especially if you have a global social media then you can create different social media handles for different regions, or maybe even better to schedule your posts throughout the day for 24-hour engagement.
For example, if 6 pm on Thursdays is the right timing for retail brands, then that can be 6 pm for the target customer and not necessarily the brand.
Using the right tools
Post to all your social channels at the best timing once you have all the information you need for scheduling posts. Keep in mind that Hootsuite has a feature that can automatically schedule your content. You can use either AutoSchedule or the Hootlet Chrome extension.
Don’t Forget About the Competition.
Always keep an eye on the best timing of your competitors. When do they get the highest amount of likes, comments, shares, retweets, and other forms of social media engagement? It is also essential to observe what the leaders in your industry do. If you’re running a smaller company look up to the larger organizations, but don’t forget the fact that the schedule for publishing content is different for each business and audience.
Test and Optimize Consistently
Don’t forget to be consistent. It’s valuable to know your audience and use the best tools to find the times that would work best for you and never stop testing.
Also, you should create social media reports so that the information that you gather will help guide your future strategy. You may need to create multiple reports to suit different audiences, but they should do more than look nice. They should be easy to follow and provide insights.
Are you struggling with keeping up with your Social media calendar? Set up a call with one of our experts, and see what kind of a social media campaign we can execute for you!
