When is the best time to post on social media? From afternoon tweets to evening Facebook posts, a number of studies tell us that the best time to post is based on the day and type of business you are in. In summary, the best time to post on social media for your business or brand is when your customers are online, no matter what any third-party reporting tells you.
But that doesn’t mean that we discount the reporting. The studies done to determine the best time to post on social media can help create a base for you to start. A February 2020 study published on SocialMediaToday.com shows that the best days to post on Facebook are Thursday to Sunday. As a work week winds down, time on this popular social network ramps up.
The study continues to show that the best day to post on Instagram is Friday, but we always recommend more than one post per week on Instagram, so including one or two additional days is beneficial as long as you have quality content to share.
If you’re business-to-business, using Twitter during the workweek is advantageous, whereas business-to-consumer tweets perform better on weekends.
Seeing a trend yet? Platforms used for fun and connecting with friends and family see a higher amount of activity on weekends when work and school commitments are mostly done. But platforms designed for business networking, like LinkedIn, see higher activity on Wednesdays, the best day to post, according to the study.
The best time to post on social media, Facebook specifically, depends on the type of business. Early morning posts work for some industries, while others benefit from afternoon and nighttime posts.
Just as with Facebook, the study shows that the best time to post on Instagram depends on the type of your business but with many verticals benefitting from later in the afternoon and early evening posts.
Tweets tend to gain more traction earlier in the morning, around 8 a.m., and again right before and during the noon hour, when people are gearing up for lunch and ready to scroll through their Twitter feed while microwaving last night’s leftovers.
LinkedIn posts do well in about the same timeframe as Twitter tweets. Professionals get situated into their desks or on the train ride to the office and pull up LinkedIn to catch up on industry news and make new networking connections. Lunchtime posts are also popular, as more and more workers use their desks as the new lunch table.
The most important thing to remember about scheduling social media posts is that your audience dictates the posts and tweets more than anything that industry average reports and white papers tell you. If research shows you the best time to tweet is at 10 a.m. but you’re in higher education, most of your audience is either in class or at work. So, try tweeting after 3 p.m., or first thing in the morning before school buses become full and carpools take to the roads.
If you’re business-to-business, stay away from weekend posts and post during the workweek. People try to disconnect from business dealings on weekends, so they’re probably not going to be too interested in your service or product as they head to the beach or to a movie. But when the suit and tie come back on Monday morning, they’re in the right headspace to read your posts.
The best practice when posting and tweeting is to know your audience but also when they are online. Try posting on different days and times. Track the analytics and see what works (and doesn’t). Once you’ve determined the best time to post, continue to post on those days and times to help create an expectation from your audience. n
As originally published on Forbes.com. Clearbridge Branding Agency is a digital marketing agency located in Glassboro. Visit ClearBridgeMedia.com.
