Best Time to Post on Social Media

Kristyn Miller

If you’ve read our previous blog regarding how to create an effective social media strategy, then you likely already nailed the brainstorming, audience targeting, and content creation phase of your social media strategy. Now you’re ready to put all your hard work out there for the world to see. But what’s the best way to make sure they actually see it?

Aside from the work you’ve already done to establish your target audience and which platforms they use, it’s equally important that you post your content at the optimal time of day to ensure it reaches the audience you’re setting out for.

You may be asking yourself…

Do certain days of the week and certain hours of the day actually matter when it comes down to it?

The answer is YES.

These factors matter quite a bit, actually. As your online presence continues to grow and develop, you’ll want to adjust your posting schedule to better suit the needs of your target audience as opposed to the general population. You might be surprised to see how much this small alteration can affect your overall reach.

In this post, our social media management experts at Kiopi will reveal to you the best times to post on social media per each major social platform, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Why Do Posting Times Matter?

As you may or may not know, many platforms have opted for social media algorithms that sort content based on relevancy rather than the chronological order of posting time. What this means is that the platform in question will assess its users’ behaviors and prioritize information that the user is most likely to be interested in and engage with. With this in mind, you may think posting times don’t particularly matter after all. This is not the case.

“Recency” is still a crucial ranking indication in newsfeed algorithms, specifically the Facebook and Instagram algorithms. As such, publishing your content while your followers are online is one of the simplest strategies to increase your organic reach. It is important to remember, however, that if you are trying to reach a specific region or an international audience, these times may differ significantly depending on the time zone.

Your best bet is to take the information we give you and apply it to the specific area or region you are targeting.

Best Time to Post on Instagram

Instagram continues to develop new and exciting features that keep businesses thriving and social media users coming back for more. Businesses can use Instagram to experiment with their content, reinforce their brand’s image, or get across important points through things like infographics and statistics reports all while emphasizing their graphic design efforts. On the other side of things, it is a great place for social media users to discover new brands and creators as well as share new hobbies. But when exactly are these “discovering” and “sharing” behaviors taking place?

According to our research, the best time to post on Instagram averages just before noon. 11 am, to be exact. Meanwhile, the best day for posting is actually Wednesday, and the worst, Sunday. So, if you are looking to optimize your posting times, remember to shoot for midweek and mid-morning when it comes to posting to Instagram.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you must schedule your content to go out every Wednesday at 11:00 am on the dot. It is merely a guideline. Try posting somewhere within the 11 am to 2 pm time frame on several different days to see what works best for you and your target audience.

Best Time to Post on Facebook

As the most prominent social media network in the world, the ideal posting times for Facebook tend to encompass a much broader range. As a general rule of thumb, however, most research indicates that the best time to post on Facebook is from early morning to early afternoon. This may be anywhere from 7 am to 3 pm.

The engagement rate also seems to be higher toward the end of the week (think Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays) as opposed to the beginning (Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays).

Again, these times are very broad and will require your own research to establish the key posting times for your brand specifically. However, we definitely recommend starting within these perimeters and working from there.

Best Time to Post on Twitter

Back in 2020, Twitter was a hub for information. In fact, the platform was many social media users’ primary source of information on growing issues like the COVID-19 pandemic and Presidential elections. As a result, the site placed a strong emphasis on news and information accuracy, with separate trending topics discovery tabs for these ongoing stories.

Fast-forward past the hectic year that was 2020, and Twitter is still a primary source of news and information today, but it is also a very relevant spot for consumers to engage and connect with brands. In fact, Twitter is the platform that most businesses use to implement customer service and support. However, it is also important that brands move beyond simply responding to particular complaints and concerns and toward proactively enhancing the entire customer experience overall.

With all things considered, businesses often have various and even conflicting priorities on Twitter. By determining an ideal posting time for new Twitter content, you can also establish when you should be devoting time to things like customer service and support. So, without further ado, the best times to schedule your Tweets to be published are between 9 am and 11 am on weekdays. The best day to post to Twitter is Wednesday, with Saturday and Sunday being the worst.

Best Time to Post on LinkedIn

As LinkedIn is predominately a network for professionals looking to build career connections, it should come as no surprise that the application proves consistently busy during the workweek. With its focus primarily on professional thought leadership and career development, LinkedIn’s target audience tends to be narrower than those of other social media sites. However, as of late, the application is progressively broadening the types of audiences it draws in. As such, LinkedIn is making way for a wide spectrum of content generation.

Keeping this in mind, it may be helpful to know the best times to post to LinkedIn. As we’ve already mentioned, the weekdays hold significantly more engagement than the weekends, with the midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) proving the most optimal posting days and, once again, Sunday proving the least. Meanwhile, the best time to post to LinkedIn seems to fall between 8 am and 2 pm.

When To Post On Social Media

It’s important to remember that when focusing on certain time frames, you may be neglecting social media users who are living in different time zones. That is why adhering to one specific posting time for social media content on any individual platform can actually sometimes hurt more than it helps.

The solution to this is simple. You definitely want to try scheduling your social media content at the aforementioned peak posting times, but be sure to scatter additional content here and there at different intervals. Instead of only posting to Instagram at 11 am in the middle of the week, try throwing in a couple of late afternoon posts (5-6 pm) on the weekends.

You can also try posting at several different times of the day with virtually no rhyme or reason. Then, utilize a social media analytics tool like the one we offer here at Kiopi to see when you’re achieving the most engagement and impressions from these scattered posts. This might be the most efficient way to find out the best time to post on social media for your specific brand and audience.

In addition to finding and utilizing your optimal posting times, it is equally important that you are posting consistently. We understand that maintaining a regular stream of content can be difficult, especially for growing businesses. Luckily, social media management software such as Kiopi makes this process so much easier. With features like a social media content calendar and scheduled posting tool, you’re able to plan far in advance and ensure your content is reaching the right audience at just the right time.