When posting across your social media channels, it is important to understand the best times of day to post to actively gage with as many audience members and potential customers as possible.
With nearly 4 billion social media users across all platforms and the average person using several social platforms per month, there’s no doubt that social media presents opportunities for many businesses. In fact, 71% of consumers found themselves using social more than they did pre-pandemic, which means brands and marketers need to meet their audiences where they are.
Covering B2B and B2C industries up and down the country, a recent study shows very interesting results. It is important to note that different social media sites report higher traffic at different times, and this seems to be directly linked to the type of audience that is popular among that certain platform.
So, here is a brief guide to the best times to post on different platforms to get the best response:
We’ve seen Instagram boom throughout 2020 and 2021 and watched it reach 2 billion monthly users as of early 2022, and the rate of which audiences are active on the application shows intriguing results. This platform is primarily used on mobile devices, meaning people are able to access it all times, whether for work or pleasure.
While the competition for short-form video content from TikTok and YouTube clips is heating up and becoming increasingly popular, there’s no denying the power of Instagram, especially as it rolls out new features and enhances those that currently exist.
The most popular times of the day fell under lunch and close of the usual business day, which sees the most posts, between 1pm and 5pm to be exact. But if this is when the most posts are uploaded, should you try and be different and post when other are not?
This method is largely popular with big brands, who usually post between 5PM and 7PM, when the majority of people are not working and are relaxing for the evening. Businesses aiming for the highest click-through rates tend to go for 12 to 1pm and 5 to 6pm. The best day for Instagram posting appears to be Fridays and Sundays.
Facebook is accessed across mobile devices and desktop and laptop computers, so the audience range is a lot larger for this platform. 9am seems the most popular time as people arrive at work or log on for the first time in a day, with another increase in click-through between 11am and 12pm, believed to be the most popular hour for lunch time across the UK.
B2B, B2C, higher education and software also see a spike between 3pm and 4pm, with some audience members finishing school, college or university for the day. Posts that are engaged with well are usually done anywhere between Thursday and Sunday. Weekday very early mornings and mid-mornings still show more consistent engagement and have become much more opportune times for brands to get eyes on their content.
This is another platform popular across all devices, at work as well as home. Popular times are 8am to 10am and 6pm to 8pm, coinciding with commutes to and from work and arrival at work and home. Prime time for retweets and click-through appear to be midday (lunchtime) or 5pm to 6pm.
The best days for B2C companies to tweet are weekends while B2Bs do best on weekdays. Logical really as people are thinking about their business interest when they are at work, personal ones at home when relaxing over the weekend.
Remember that Twitter’s use extends beyond breaking news and viral content. Many brands use Twitter as part of their customer engagement and relationship strategy, as an alternative to calling customer support.
Linked In
This platform gets a lot of professional use, primarily on weekdays during working hours, as professionals alike are usually active on LinkedIn throughout the day. 10am to 12pm is an especially popular time and the best day for LinkedIn posting proves to be Fridays. You’re less likely to get eyes on your LinkedIn content on the weekend, where engagement drops significantly.
Considering how much LinkedIn content is centred around professionalism and leadership/career growth, it makes sense that a majority of audiences are getting the most out of this content during their working day. With over 810 million members in 200 countries, LinkedIn is becoming equally important for a wide range of content creation.
LinkedIn is also an ideal fit for employee advocacy and empowering employees to advance their personal brand or professional development as they publish content to their own profiles, so there is no harm posting more personal content from time-to-time.
Tik Tok
A very much new platform to say the least, Tik Tok is an app that businesses are starting to use more and more. This can come in the form of both content with the purpose of awareness and content with the purpose of selling a service or products. If done the right way and combined with trending sounds and features, Tik Tok can reach thousands of people. Once again, Fridays are the most popular time to post across Tik Tok, with the hours of 12pm and 2pm proving most popular for algorithms.
Overall…
Each social platform has its own benefits depending on your goals, content type and audience. While interpreting the data for each social network individually, we consistently noticed that the highest times of engagement were Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 9am or 10am. Midweek mornings proved to be a successful time across most social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Best times to post on social media overall: 9am or 10am or late evening between 6pm and 7pm
Best days to post on social media: Thursdays through to Sundays
Worst days to post on social media: Saturdays