Having a solid content plan and social media strategy is the first step to reaching your customers. Then you need to find a balance between producing quality content and quantity to ensure you can sustain your posting requirements. But in order to engage with your audience, do you know when the best days and times are to post?
Every business is different, but having a general idea of when audiences engage most on each social media platform will help you form your plan.
So, here are the best times to post on the four major social networks.
Engagement is good from Tuesday to Thursday between the hours of 8am and 3pm. However, the best day and time to post on Facebook tends to be Wednesday at 11am and also from 1-2pm, for most industries.
Early mornings (before 7am), evenings (after 5pm,) and the weekends aren’t good times for engagement for business on this social media site, so it’s best to avoid posting then.
Activity data suggests that most people are just checking into Facebook during the middle of the day and in the middle of the work week so knowing when to post engaging content with your audience will help lead your scheduling efforts.
Twitter is all about fast-moving conversations, so in order to keep up and make sure your content gets in front of your target audience, the best times to post are Wednesday and Friday at 9am.
In general, Monday through Friday from 8am to 4pm see consistent engagement, which might mean people are checking in all throughout the day when they’re typically at work.
Nights and weekends are normally the worst times to post, however some industries might still see activity during the evenings and early mornings, but it will all depend on your audience’s social media habits.
LinkedIn’s draw is the advanced search and targeting options and a user base open to new opportunities and professional growth.
Since LinkedIn is a social media site dedicated to professional networking and development, it makes sense that the best times to post are early on in the workday and around lunchtime.
Specifically:
- Wednesdays from 8am to 10am and 12pm,
- Thursday at 9am and from 1-2pm, and
- Friday at 9AM.
Although anytime Tuesday through Friday from 8am to 2pm might generate results.
Instagram users tend to log in daily, and engagement patterns are similar to Facebook. You might do well posting anytime from Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm, but Wednesday at 11am and Friday from 10-11am tend to be the best times to post.
Unlike other platforms, users do tend to check in on the weekends, but it’s still not an optimal time for brands to be attempting engagement.
Assistance with your social media efforts
Remember that these times are only a guideline and may vary depending on your specific industry.
It’s important that you track your own performance data on social media so you can see the kind of content that does well and not just what times work best for engagement.
If you don’t know how to start creating a social media strategy, Marketing Square can help. We offer a full service approach – from research and analysis and strategy to implementation and analytics and tracking. We help small businesses like yours to find the best times to engage with their customers.
Statistics based on 2020 data.
