When to post on social media is a question that has been around nearly as long as the platforms themselves. Capitalizing on the times when audiences are the most active and engaged can drive organic performance and help build your brand online even without spending money on digital advertising.
In a time when Facebook and Twitter specifically have been updating and changing their paid advertising rules, organic continues to be a reliable and important avenue to raise awareness and achieve your goals online.
When To Post On Social, Broken Down By Platform
Recently, a new report published by Sprout Social breaks down the best posting times on social media by platform and by industry. The report is based on preferences by over 20,000 users, so the findings should be reliable and applicable to most digital marketers. Read on to see a quick rundown of the findings and when to post by platform to optimize your social performance (all times are in CST.)
Given Facebook’s expansive audiences and ubiquitous nature in our daily lives, it is fairly safe to post on Facebook most days during the week. The top days and times found by the report include Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday between 9am and 1pm. The weekends continue to be a less desirable time to post overall, while some late-night times actually performed better than expected during the week. This may be due to our increased time with devices during the pandemic and more flexible work schedules. Overall, posting during the week during the day still remains the gold standard on Facebook.
Instagram is not an early bird. The report showed that any posts before 7am drove very low engagement, and that the engagement really only spikes after 10am. Overall, the best days and times include Weekdays between 11am and 2pm, with Tuesday being the best day. Saturday and Sunday received higher engagement than Facebook, but no times during these days came close to the peak engagement seen during the week.
Good morning Twitter, what’s going on today? Peak Twitter engagement is also seen during the week, but much earlier than both Facebook and Instagram. While finding peak engagement time is slightly less important for a platform that must be posted to more frequently than platforms like Facebook and Instagram, highest priority tweets could be saved for peak times. These include Tuesday through Friday from 9am-11am, with the best day being Wednesday from 9am-3pm. Weekend engagement is also a bit more consistent than other platforms, particularly Sunday morning and early afternoon.
Peak engagement on LinkedIn is seen during weekdays and typical working hours, which makes sense for a professional-focused platform. The best days and times to post on LinkedIn include Tuesday - Thursday from 9am-12pm. However, Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days to post, with peak engagement lasting until 2pm for both. Weekends should be avoided when posting to LinkedIn.
Overall, many of our common notions about when to post to social media remain true - when people are at work and need a morning or midday break. However, understanding the performance by platform can help digital marketers tailor their strategy by brand and ensure they are getting the most bang for their buck when it comes to organic posting. If you have a good grasp on organic social but need some help with your paid digital efforts, check out Dropkick Ad’s copywriting and graphics services for many of the platforms above!