What are the Best Times to Post on Each Social Media Platform?

For some, social media may seem like a random, post at feeling, mass amount of media. Some may post on social media whenever they think of the idea and not consider the data-backed times where consumers are most active. Without a strategy, your master content will never reach its max potential.

Data backed successful social media plans are the secret to a successful marketing strategy. Within this blog, you will find data found by the companies (StatusBrew and SproutSocial)

• Posting at the right time: Does it even matter?
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• TikTok
• Twitter
• YouTube
• The Takeaway

For personal social media, it is ok to post at random, whenever and however you feel. When posting as a brand, time matters.

Why does time matter? If you post content during a time of less activity, your target audience most likely won't even see your post. Social media has become so cluttered with content that you need to optimize your chances of being seen by consumers.

Other factors involving views include the platform's algorithm. For example, if you produce engagement quickly from a post, the algorithm is more likely to show your post on the feeds of others.

Note that the listed best times to post were found on a global level. To truly perform at your best, experiment with different posting times. You will soon discover which times work best for your business.

(Graph Source - Sprout Social)

Best Times to Post on Facebook: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 9 am - 1 pm

Best Days to Post on Facebook: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday

Worst Day to Post on Facebook: Saturday

Facebook is the most popular social media platform, with over 2.91 billion users. No matter when you post, you will most likely be fishing into a large pool of users.

Activity on Facebook is more prominent during the week vs. on the weekend. According to this chart, the most popular times range from 9 am to 1 pm, trickling into the afternoon.

(Graph Source - Sprout Social)

Best Time to Post on Instagram: Tuesday 11 am - 2 pm, Monday through Friday 11 am

Best Day to Post on Instagram: Tuesday

Worst Day to Post on Instagram: Sunday

Instagram has one of the more complicated algorithms among social media platforms. Using the right hashtags, whom you follow, and posting at the right time of day play significant roles in your content reach.

In summary, your greatest success on Instagram will come before work, over the lunch hour, and after work. If you think about it from your perspective, for most people, these times are when you are on your phone most throughout the day.

(Graph Source - Sprout Social)

Best Times to Post on LinkedIn: Tuesday through Thursday 9 am-Noon

Best Day to Post on LinkedIn:  Wednesday and Thursday

Worst Day to Post on LinkedIn: Sunday

LinkedIn is known as the social platform of professionals. As such, the best times to post are during working hours. This can be anytime from 9 am up until 5 pm, as the average working day follows.

The best performing days are Wednesday and Thursday when individuals get into their groove and are more relaxed at work. Counter to that, the worst-performing days and times are outside the average workday/week.

Best Times to Post on Pinterest: Friday and Saturday 8 pm - 11 pm

Best Day to Post on Pinterest: Friday and Saturday

Worst Day to Post on Pinterest: Anytime during the typical workday

Pinterest is one of the best social media platforms for content marketing (visual content). What sets Pinterest apart from the other platforms on this list is the time to post. Pinterest performs best late at night when consumers hang out on the couch, lay in bed, and surf their socials.

Pinterest's algorithm is primarily chronological, so the timing of posts is HUGE! Post when your consumers are online, and you are more likely to appear at the top!

Best Times to Post on TikTok: Relevant all week, when people wake up for the day, or are getting ready for bed.

Worst Times to Post on TikTok: Anytime during the workday.

TikTok truly caught fire during 2020 year, taking the social media world by storm. TikTok's algorithm allows nearly anyone and everyone to go viral if their content deserves as such.

For users with many followers, their videos will already be distributed to a large number of people. But, this large following also tells the algorithm to show the video to individuals outside the following. This means your first move should be to generate followers. To gain followers, you need to know when to post at the right time.

(Graph Source - Sprout Social)

Best Time to Post on Twitter: Wednesday 9 am - 3 pm, Tuesday through Thursday 9 am - 11 am

Best Day to Post on Twitter: Wednesday

Worst Day to Post on Twitter: Saturday

Twitter is often the first source of information for individuals when starting their day. This is exactly why 9 am is the best time to post across all days of the week.

Twitter is a great platform to stay updated with social trends, industry news and provide updates to your consumers.

With over 500 million tweets being sent out every day, don't be afraid to post more content on Twitter than other sites.

(Graph Source - Status Brew)

Best Time to Post on YouTube: Thursday and Friday 12 pm - 3 pm

Best Day to Post on YouTube: Friday

Worst Day to Post on YouTube: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Distribution is the main source of YouTube viewership. Engaging video content is the bread and butter of YouTube, making it hard to get viewership without already subscribers. This is where timely posts can be beneficial.

The best time to post on YouTube is Thursday and Friday, from 12 - 3 pm. Engagement is higher on the weekends, as consumers have more time to lay around on the couch watching videos. For that same reason, the worst days to post are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday early in the week.

Note: these are the best times to post on each platform based on global data found by StatusBrew and SproutSocial. That being said, it is always the most beneficial to discover your business's best time to post.

While it surely could be these times listed above, it is beneficial to experiment with different times to see which time gathers the most reach.

Ready to elevate your social media marketing efforts? Murray Marketing Services is a social media ad agency located in Kearney, Nebraska. From paid social media campaigns, to organic social media management, we tailor our data-backed strategy to meet your business goals! Schedule a free 30 minute strategy session today!