Social Media Data Insights & Resources for Social Media
Social media has proven to be a very important way to stay connected, as we have seen by 2020 and now in 2021. People are not only more connected than ever but are also constantly absorbing engaging content. With this in mind, brands need to adapt their posting strategies to the constant connection people seek and the time at which they post is very important.
Having creative content with great captions is the first step to maximizing your engagement, but businesses should also ensure that their targeted audiences will see the posts. This can be tricky as social media algorithms are constantly changing, which doesn’t guarantee that an account’s followers will see every single one of its posts. However, we will be covering the best times* to post on social media so that you can make sure your posts are being seen.
*Note: All times are recorded in central time unless otherwise stated
Best Time: Monday through Friday at 11 am
The best time to post on Instagram falls in the late morning and early afternoon, which see the highest engagement. Additionally, Tuesday is the peak engagement day with the best time from 11 am – 2 pm.
Instagram’s algorithm favors recency which tells brands they should be monitoring audience behavior on their social media platforms. Below is a chart by Hootsuite which illustrates when their followers are online. In their case, the best time to post would be early morning or in the evening. This is to say that while Monday through Friday at 11 am is a good rule of thumb, businesses should consult their own insights to accurately determine when the best days and times to post are.
Best time: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday between 9 am – 1 pm
According to Sprout Social, the best days to post on Facebook are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with the best times being from the morning until the early afternoon. As indicated by the chart below, there is fairly consistent engagement throughout the entire week, but it peaks on the days specified above.
These times further establish Facebook’s global audience as the high engagement times are during a typical U.S. workday.
Best time: Tuesday from 9 am – 3 pm and Wednesday from 9 – 11 am
Many consumers use Twitter as their source of news and a way to get updates on current events, so engagement rates stay consistent throughout the entire week. However, the peak of that engagement is during Tuesday and Wednesday in the morning and afternoon.
Many people scroll through Twitter in the morning to get a briefing of the day’s events and some, about 25% of Americans, will check back later in the day to see how stories have developed. Keep this in mind when creating your content strategy for Twitter.
Best Time: Tuesday – Thursday from 9 am – 12 pm
Being that LinkedIn is a business and career-based platform, the most engagement is seen during the workweek. According to Sprout Social, the best days are Tuesday through Thursday.
TikTok
TikTok has seen a significant increase in users over the past year and it will continue to grow in the foreseeable future. Its unique algorithm and the fact that it gets the highest engagement rate per post than any other platform solidifies its standing as one of the most relevant social media sites out there.
TikTok has a very high watch rate with the average user spending about 850 minutes per month on the app. This can make pinpointing a specific “best time” a little trickier for this platform but here is a chart from Influencer Marketing Hub (in Eastern Standard Time).
On most days, it’s best to post either in the morning or in the evening. However, there are some midday exceptions on Thursday and Friday.
All in all, it’s important to know the best times to post on social media as businesses should ensure that there is a high chance that their target audience will see their content.
