Blog > Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Media
Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Media
Social Media Marketing allows businesses to engage with an enormous audience in a way that is cost-effective and measurable.
It leads to improved search engine rankings, brand awareness and trust, and ultimately - higher conversion rates!
However, each platform differs in terms of the people who use them and also how they use them.
Smart Digital Marketers understand this!
They also know that learning the best times to post for your brand and your industry can really help maximize marketing efforts.
Following is a summary from various studies outlining the best and worst times to post on 5 commonly used social media platforms.
1. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the world’s biggest network for business professionals, with over 600 million users:
- ● Most are aged between 25 and 49
- ● Most log in at least once a week
- ● Half of them are using mobile phones.
- ● Almost half are in upper management.
The ‘safest’ time to post (i.e. most consistent engagement):
- ● Week days, during business hours
Best time to post:
- ● Tuesday – Friday, 8am – 2pm
Worst time to post: Sunday
2. Twitter
Twitter is a micro-blogging site used by over 330 million people for discovering trending topics around the world:
- ● Most users are aged 35 – 65
- ● The platform is very popular with affluent millennials.
- ● It’s mostly used during down times, such as travelling to and from work and during office breaks.
- ● The average user spends 3 – 4 minutes per session
Because of the short-lived nature of tweets, it’s important to know the best times to tweet!
Best time to tweet:
- ● Monday to Friday, 12pm – 3pm
Best days to tweet:
Worst time to tweet (i.e. lowest engagement):
- ● Before 4am
- ● After 10pm
Worst day to tweet: Saturday
3. Facebook
Facebook is the biggest social network on the planet, with 2.2 billion users:
- ● Users are aged 18 – 65+
- ● Most are on mobile.
- ● Most users visit the site at least once a day
- ● The average user spends 50 minute a day on the platform!
‘Engagement’ refers to the average click-through rate (number of people who will click on your posts or ads), shares, likes and comments.
The highest engagement:
- ● Generally early afternoon during the week.
Best Day to post on Facebook:
- ● Wednesday (engagement peaks between 11am – 3pm)
The ‘safest’ time to post (i.e. most consistent engagement):
- ● Tuesday - Friday
- ● 7:30am – 9am (before most people start work)
- ● 11am – 12pm (when most people take their lunch break)
- ● 1pm – 4pm (the second half of the day, before the home-time rush)
HOWEVER, some brands have found success in posting outside of peak times on weekdays:
- ● 7am – 8am (most active social media users check their phone first thing in the morning during the week)
- ● 7pm – 10pm
- ● Thursdays at 8pm seem particularly good
Worst time to post:
- ● Weekends, especially before 8am and after 8pm
Worst day: Sunday
Take note, however, that engagement tends to decrease if you post too frequently i.e. more than twice a day.
And remember: Facebook is an excellent platform for sharing digital video content.
In fact, great digital video tends to get the most engagement, especially when it’s entertaining, funny and relevant to one’s target audience!
Have a look at our own
awesome digital videos!
4. Instagram
Instagram is the free photo and video sharing mobile app owned by Facebook:
- ● It has more than 1.1 billion users
- ● 17% of all online adults use Instagram
- ● Most users are aged 18 - 29
- ● 68% of users are female
- ● Most users access the site DAILY
Since this is a mobile site, it is used pretty much any time.
It’s important to note that Instagram’s algorithm differs from other platforms in that it focuses on
‘recency’:
- ● Newer posts are most likely to appear in users' feeds.
- ● You need to ensure that your posts are "recent" when your target users are most likely to be visiting the site
Also, the algorithm reorders posts in users’ feeds, based on engagement, previous relationship with a brand and likelihood of the user being interested in the content.
All of which mean you need to
know your target audience:
- ● What do they like?
- ● When are the usually online?
- ● What content are they more likely to engage with?
The ‘safest’ time to post (i.e. most consistent engagement):
- ● Tuesday to Friday, 5am – 6pm
Best time to post:
- ● Wed, 11am
- ● Friday 10 – 11am
- ● Saturday morning is also good
Peak engagement:
- ● Midday during the week (lunch hour)
- ● One study showed that brands get best engagement between 6am and 12pm.
Worst day:
After hours:
- ● Some brands have success posting during afterhours i.e. 6pm – 10pm
- ● Majority of big brands post extensively during the day, meaning there tends to be less competition for ‘visibility’
- ● Studies show that more users engaged with digital video after hours
5. Pinterest
Pinterest is a highly visual virtual pin board site that lets you "pin" or collect and share images from the web.
- ● It has more than 320 million active monthly users
- ● 80% of users are female, mostly aged 25 – 44.
The ‘safest’ time to pin (i.e. most consistent engagement):
- ● Evenings and weekends, peaking around 9pm.
Best time to pin:
Peak time for fashion and retail:
All of these times serve as a good Digital Marketing guideline for posting on social media across the various platforms.
Ultimately, however, it’s up to you to study the trends in your particular industry.
Also, use the various platforms’ analytics and insights feedback to analyze your follower demographics, activity trends and engagement in your content.
This will help you to determine the best times to post for YOUR brand and target market, to ensure
maximum engagement and increase conversions!
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