You can spend ages drafting awesome content and picking the perfect image to share across your social media channels to find that no one is actually seeing your posts. The issue might not be with the post itself but rather when you are sharing it. Finding the best time to post on your social media channels can be a tricky task, but once you’ve worked it out, the benefits can be huge.
There’s no one size fits all guide for the best time to post on social media as it massively depends on the day of the week, the platform you are posting on, and your followers. Below are a few pointers to help you work out the best time to post.
When is the best time to post on Facebook?
It’s a well known that Facebook is the most popular social media platform with over 2.2 billion active monthly users, making it a top priority in most brands social media strategy. Research from Pew found that 74% of Facebook users will use the platform on a daily basis, far higher than any other channel.
Various pieces of research found that the best time to post on Facebook is between 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. Hootsuite found that post published during these times receive a higher number of likes, comments, shares, and clicks.
However, these are only suggestions from what other people have noticed when looking into when their posts gain the most engagement. To gain a true understanding of the best time to post, you will have to get to know your followers and learn when they are online and most responsive. The best place to do this is in the Post section of your Facebook Insights. In here, Facebook displays when the people who like your page are on Facebook. In the example below, you can see the most followers are online at around 8:00 p.m.
When is the best time to post on Twitter?
With hundreds of millions of tweets posted a day, trying to get yours to stand out in the crowd can be a difficult task. Similar to Facebook, most Twitter users check the platform on a daily basis, so it is just as important to know what time of day they are online.
Once again, lunchtime to early afternoon appears to be the most popular time to post, and tweets often receive the most engagement during this period. On the other hand, research from Sprout Social found that the best time to tweet is between 10:00 a.m. and noon, slightly earlier in comparison to Facebook.
As is the case with Facebook, it is important to ensure you develop an understanding of when your followers are online. Twitter doesn’t provide this information through its analytics data, but there are lots of apps where you can access this information for free. Below is an example report from Followerwonk where you can break down the Twitter activity of your followers and then compare that to when you are the most active.
When is the best time to post on Instagram?
Keeping up with the constantly changing Instagram algorithm is one of the more difficult things about using the platform. Instagram seems to be constantly tweaking how it displays posts in your newsfeed, because of this, finding the best time to post can be tough.
Later found that in 2018 most people are finding lunchtime, between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., and evenings, between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., to be the best times to post. Obviously, these times are outside of the typical working day, so posting then might not be possible, however, there are a few apps that will allow you to schedule your Instagram posts. Other research has stated that the best time to post on Instagram is 2:00 a.m. as there is less competition on the newsfeed. While this does seem like it could be true, I’m not convinced many people will be on Instagram in the middle of the night and I’m not going to be getting up at that time to find out.
When is the best time to post on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is more of a professional network so it makes sense that the best times to post are during working hours. However, as a lot of LinkedIn users will check the platform on mobile, there are a few stand out times that will potentially lead to higher engagement. These times are around common commuting hours, and during lunchtime at around 12:30 p.m.
It’s time to get posting
While it is important to have an understanding of the most popular times to post on each social platform, it is crucial to remember that these are only guidelines. What’s most important is to gain a clear understanding of when your followers are online and tailor your schedule around that. While many people say 3:00 p.m is the best time to post on Facebook, you may find that you get the best results posting at 11:00 a.m. This is something you will learn over time, so it’s worthwhile to test different times of the day to find out when your content receives the best engagement.
