Jan 27, 2022

Best Time to Post on Social Media for the Highest Engagement

Priya Jamba, Content Marketer
Priya Jamba
Best Time to Post on Social Media for the Highest Engagement
Priya Jamba, Content Marketer
Priya Jamba
Jan 27, 2022

Best Time to Post on Social Media for the Highest Engagement

Want to get higher engagement on your social media posts? You must know the best time to post on social media. Read on to know more in detail about it.
Best Time to Post on Social Media for the Highest Engagement

Table of contents

Social media may appear to be a place where you can freely post about whatever is on your mind and whenever you feel like it. However, when it comes to posting content for commercial purposes, organizations must go strategic.

Every successful social media brand has a data-driven posting schedule that determines the optimum day and time to post. Even the most beautiful social media postings won't help your business if they aren't shared at the right moment.

When you publish during high-traffic hours, you have a better chance of capturing your audience's attention. Thus, in this post, we have shared when is the best time to post on social media platforms and the peak hours to post on each social media platform.

The Best Times to Post on Social Media: Does it Even Matter?

The goal behind posting content is often to achieve increased engagement, traffic, and brand awareness. Most of your time should be spent promoting your product or service rather than pushing out irrelevant junk messages.

Some social media users don't mind posting at odd hours since they're just having fun. However, if you're utilizing social media to market yourself or your business, the right timing is crucial.

The truth is that most of your target audience will never see your social media posts. This is due to the sheer amount of posts and the social media platform's algorithms.

Algorithms curate a user's news feeds to make them appear fascinating enough to spend more time on them.

These algorithms use the source and engagement-related data to determine which posts are relevant to which users. Immediate audience engagements aid in determining the relevance of your postings.

What is the Best Time to Post on Social Media?

There is no universal best time to post on social media, as the best time for each individual/business varies.

Some people prefer to post early in the morning or evening hours when fewer people are online, while others may post during peak hours when more people are online.

When considering "the posting time on social media," a number of factors come into play.

Your brand's service or product, as well as the industry in which you work, have a significant impact. Because social media is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the time zones of your target audience are becoming increasingly important. That is why your target audience's demographics and activity patterns are extremely important as well.

When your followers are online, posting your social media content tends to get the highest engagement and more organic reach.

What is the Best Time to Post on Facebook?

Facebook (now known as Meta) was, is, and always will be one of the most successful social media platforms for promoting your company and generating excellent leads.

Your average organic reach would remain close to 6.4 percent of the page's likes, no matter how interesting your material is. That's a significant numerical difference.

According to research by Hootsuite, the best day to post social media content on Facebook is from 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

However, the worst days to post on Facebook are Sunday and Saturday, as fewer people turn to Facebook on weekends.

  • Best Time to Post on Facebook for Likes

Facebook posts published between 1 P.M. and 4 P.M. on weekdays such as Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays have received more likes and engagement.

  • Best Time to Post Videos on Facebook for Higher Engagement

The best time to publish a video on Facebook is between morning and 4 P.M. when most people are on a break and more likely to interact with their smartphones.

What is the Best Time to Post on Twitter?

Though Twitter has a 280 character limit, yet this social media platform can do wonders when posting regularly. However, you are free to Tweet more frequently than you would on most social media networks.

Twitter epitomizes the idea of real-time communication.

Twitter is a fantastic platform for brands to send updates and announcements because of the high engagement rate of audiences and users.

The best time of the day to post on Twitter is at 9 A.M throughout the week.

From 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. On Tuesday, up to noon on Thursday and Friday, up to 2 P.M. on Monday, and up to 4 P.M. on Wednesday, Twitter sees a significant amount of audience involvement.

During the working days, publishing at noon on Twitter gets your Tweets in front of the lunch audience, giving you the maximum engagement for your buck.

  • Best Day to Post on Twitter

It's not only about the best time to tweet; the days are also important. Because many users check Twitter throughout the day, it's a little difficult to figure out what the best days of week to tweet are.

  • Worst Time to Post on Twitter

Avoid posting after 8 P.M. on any day of the week and before 8 A.M. 

What is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

Users on the platform scan through images, videos, reels, and highlights in search of short content to engage with when they're not working.

Most social media marketers consider lunchtime the peak time for posting on Instagram. That's because people usually scroll through Instagram in search of small videos or images that are fun during their lunch break.

Instagram posts that are published after working hours tend to receive greater attention. Many people check their feeds on their way home from work or when they settle into their couches after a long day.

As a result, attempt to publish material when most of your target audience has finished their work for the day.

The right time to post on Instagram is between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. The percentage of engagement you receive, on the other hand, is affected by the day of the week you publish your content.

Before work, during lunch, and after work are the best times to post on Instagram. Every day, a new pattern of user involvement graph emerges, which you should be aware of.

The best day to post your content on Instagram is Tuesday starting from 11 A.M. until 3 P.M. However, you should avoid posting and promoting on Sunday.

You won't be able to effectively reach and engage with your target audience on Sunday because they would want to relax.

  • Best Time To Post Reels On Instagram

There is no specific day to post on Instagram but if you follow a certain time period, it will prove to be lucrative.

It's critical to post four to seven reels per week to get the attention of Instagram users. Instagram will highlight your content if you upload reels on a regular basis, which will help enhance your account's visibility and interaction.

  • Best Time to Post IGTV on Instagram

Instagram's long-form video feature, IGTV, gives consumers the choice to view videos longer than 60 seconds as well.

The best time to publish IGTV on Instagram is on Wednesday at 8 P.M.

The second best is Monday through Thursday from 8 P.M. to 10 P.M., when users have finished their work and are looking for entertainment on social media.

  • Best Time to Post an Instagram story

There is no definitive answer to this question since everyone has different preferences and habits regarding social media. However, some people often post Instagram stories at night because it gives the story a more dramatic feel.

Others might prefer posting during the morning or afternoon hours because those times of day tend to have more engaged followers.

Because Instagram stories last 24 hours, there is no such "best time" to post on Instagram.

What is the Best Time to Post on Linkedin?

LinkedIn is a great platform to share your professional accomplishments and company news. People use LinkedIn to learn about a company, its employees, and see if they are hiring.

You can share white papers and long-form articles with your professional network using LinkedIn. It makes sense to keep your LinkedIn followers up to date. Otherwise, you risk missing out on a future professional opportunity simply because you were not in the right place at the right moment.

The best time to post on Linkedin starts from 9 A.M. in the morning and may last till 6 P.M. in the evening because that's the time when most users are engaged.

  • Best Day to Post on LinkedIn

Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to post on LinkedIn. User interaction and consistent engagement are high on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.

These numbers will vary depending on your industry, job function, level of seniority and other factors. Recruiting teams are known to follow these best posting times while marketers usually adjust their times based on the needs of potential customers in a specific market.

  • Worst Day to Post on LinkedIn

Avoid publishing content on LinkedIn over the weekend. People are less willing to care about your posts during their off-work hours, with Sundays generating the lowest levels of LinkedIn user engagement.

While LinkedIn's focus remains narrower than those of other social media sites, it is progressively broadening the types of audiences it attracts.

LinkedIn is becoming increasingly significant for a wide spectrum of content generation, in addition to being an important target for employee advocacy campaigns and recruiting.

What is the Best Time to Post on TikTok?

If you have a big audience on TikTok, many people will see your videos. This means that when you post a video, it will get more likes, shares, and comments. To make this happen, you need to ensure that you have a large follower base on TikTok.

Knowing when to post on TikTok can be accomplished by hitting a new active market and seeing actual growth in likes, engagements, and followers.

As a result, the best time to post on TikTok is when your audience is awake.

Thus, the best time to post on this social platform is throughout the week, as knowing this will allow you to post your latest clip the most times possible, even when the competition is posted at a less popular time.

  • Best Day to Post on TikTok: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Fridays are the days that see the highest engagement.
  • Worst days to post on TikTok: There are no worst days to post on TikTok.

What is the Best Time to Post on YouTube?

On YouTube, distribution is a major component of promotion. A good video marketing strategy involves bringing engaging content to the right audience at the correct time.

Generally, the best time to post videos on YouTube is between 2 P.M. and 4 P.M. during the weekdays. This is because the afternoon hours are when most people are active online, and there is more traffic on YouTube during this time.

You might think it is too early to post videos, as traffic peaks from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M., but this is actually the best time to get your video in front of more people.

This is so because your video will be indexed quickly by Google, just like a blog page.

  • Best Day to Post on YouTube

The best day to post on YouTube is Thursdays and Fridays from 12 A.M. to 3 P.M. These videos’ engagement usually improves by the end of the weekend.

  • Worst Day to Post on YouTube

Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays appear to be the worst days for uploading to YouTube. It's possible that this is due to individuals returning to work and having less spare time to watch YouTube videos.

What is the Best Time to Post on Pinterest?

Pinterest's high traffic and diverse user base make it an ideal platform for content marketing. If your audience prefers visual content (which most audiences are), having a fantastic Pinterest presence is a requirement.

When you put so much effort into your blog posts and pins, you naturally want to pin them at the best possible times!

When someone visits their Pinterest feed page, the results are primarily chronological. 

You will get the best results from your Pinterest postings at late hours of the day, from 8 P.M. to 11 P.M.

Even the middle of the night is a good time to post on Pinterest; from 2 A.M. to 4 A.M.

  • Best Day to Post on Pinterest: The best days to post on Pinterest are usually Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
  • Worst Day to Post on Pinterest: The worst days are usually Monday and Tuesdays, whereas the worst time is between 5 P.M. to 7 P.M.

What is the Best Time to Post on Reddit?

Reddit isn't your usual social media platform, and it doesn't appreciate it when its members bombard it with promotional messages. The administrators of Reddit will not allow you to promote your business all over their platform. This community despises spammers of all kinds and consistently blocks them.

However, if you don't cut corners and upload high-quality content on Reddit at the right moment, your brand visibility will skyrocket. Knowing the optimum time to post on Reddit can help you get a lot of attention.

  • Best Day to Post on Reddit: Monday to Thursday, between 6 A.M. and 8 A.M. appears to be a good time for posting. Posts are archived for up to 18 hours if you wait until the weekend, so take advantage of this. Because users are near their computers or laptop, both at work and home, Reddit traffic is at its peak on those days.
  • Worst Day to Post on Reddit: Reddit is a place where you should think twice, thrice, and even more before posting something. As a result, due to fatigue and trouble concentrating on what's being discussed on the forum, Reddit users frequently avoid accessing the platform after work in the evening.

Key Factors to Look for Posting on Social Media

Increasingly, the world has become both time and place-conscious. Posting your social media posts at a specific time can help you gain more exposure as it will give rise to numerous interactions among people who follow you.

Here are the factors to look for while posting on social media:

Your Goal to Post on Social Media

Posting on social media will get you one step closer to ensuring yourself easy access to the right crowd and ultimately achieving your goal.

Your publishing schedule should mirror your long-term goals. Increasing page views, raising brand awareness, increasing your number of followers, marketing your products or services, and sparking a conversation in the comment section are some of the posting objectives.

Time Zones

Posting on social media at the right time depends on your location. Your time zone determines where you have to publish, and there are dates that each region performs better than the others in terms of generating significant social traffic.

The standard time of posting should be according to where your audience is present.

Frequency of Posting

When you publish too frequently, the social algorithm may mistake you for a spammer and cease favoring you, thus preventing your content from reaching your target audience.

You must update on a frequent basis to keep your feed current. Now it's up to you to figure out where the sweet spot is between the two.

Industry

Different industries have different needs.

Part of your social media content strategy should include carefully writing and posting material on all types, lengths, frequency over time, depending on the type of business you're running.

Because not all information can be given in every format, the industry you work in will determine the audience you target, your posting frequency, and the sort of social media post you make (pictures or videos).'

Algorithm

Every social media platform uses its own algorithm to determine how posts appear in users' feeds.

Some may rank only based on the date and time of posting, others may rank based on the number of engagements, while yet others may rank based on both.

If you want to succeed on any platform, you must adapt to its algorithm and follow it.

Conclusion

Social media scheduling is a strategy that helps you reach your audience at the best time. The most important thing is to use the data and analyze it carefully. Then, you can find out what are the best times for posting on social media channels.

This article talked about what is the best time to post on social media, and we hope that you found the article helpful.

Priya Jamba
Content Marketer
ABout the AUTHOR
Priya Jamba
Content Marketer

Priya Jamba is a Content Marketer at Scalenut. She loves marketing technologies and believes that with the right combination of tools and creativity, every organization can build sustainable brands. She is on a mission to help marketing teams across the globe produce tangible results from their marketing campaigns. Currently, she is working along with the Product team to enhance the AI content quality through prompt engineering.

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