What time of day is ideal for social media posting? Although it's an old question, we can still be of assistance.
In order to determine if some days and hours consistently generate more interaction than others, we looked at over 30,000 social media postings. Here is a brief synopsis of what we discovered:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays around 10:00 AM are the ideal times to post on social media.
Tuesdays and Thursdays between the hours of 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM are ideal for posting on Facebook.
Wednesdays at 11:00 AM are the greatest time to post on Instagram.
Mondays and Thursdays around 8:00 AM are the ideal times to post on Twitter.
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9:00 AM, you should publish on LinkedIn.
Thursdays at 7:00 PM are the ideal time of day to publish on TikTok.
What, however, do these times mean?
These are fantastic posting times to start with if you're new to social media and don't have a lot of previous posting data or audience insights to work with. However, they are rather generic. You should adjust your posting frequency as your accounts become bigger to better match the habits of your target audience. How much it varies from the ordinary populace would surprise you.
The strategy used by Hootsuite's social media team to determine their own optimum posting timings is shown here. Learn how to determine the ideal posting hours for your audience, sector, and time zone by reading on.
Is there truly a perfect moment for social media posting?
Posting your content while your followers are online is one of the easiest methods to increase your organic reach since newsfeed algorithms, particularly the Facebook and Instagram algorithms, view "recency" as a primary ranking factor.
The bad news is that it's difficult to agree on a single, accepted "optimal time to post on social media." Studies on industry standards have been conducted by everyone and their uncle, but the ultimate source of the truth is always your own data on your own followers.
For new accounts that have not yet developed a following and so have no one to test on, universal optimal times to post, such as those we discovered in our study above, work well as beginning points.
The optimal time to publish on your social media platforms is surprisingly simple to determine once you do have a following, particularly if you have the correct tools.
First, we'll explain how the social media team at Hootsuite, which has an audience of around 8 million followers, determined when to publish on each social media platform. Then we'll demonstrate how to locate yours.
When to post on Facebook most effectively
Our data shows that Tuesdays and Thursdays between the hours of 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM are the ideal times to post on Facebook. This matches what the Hootsuite social team discovered after analyzing their own data.
The optimum times to post on Facebook, according to the Hootsuite social media team, are on weekdays at 6:15 and 12:15 PST.
To learn how experts determine an ideal posting schedule, we spoke with Brayden Cohen, a social media marketing strategist at Hootsuite.
Both prior performance and following engagement are significant on Facebook.
According to this heatmap created by Hootsuite Analytics, the majority of followers log into Facebook every weekday around noon PST (3 PM EST). You may assume Cohen would publish at 12:00 PST based on this.
But it doesn't tell the entire tale. It turns out that the optimum times to post to Facebook for Hootsuite's channels are on weekdays at 6:15 AM and 12:15 PM PST after accounting for prior post performance.
The most successful times for us are during these periods since individuals are more likely to have significant gaps in their schedules and be accessible to check social media, according to Cohen.
Important Facebook statistics to consider while posting:
74% of Facebook users in America do so at least once every day.
51% of Facebook users in America do so often.
34 minutes are spent on Facebook daily on average.
80% of Facebook users exclusively use their mobile devices (19% use both mobile and desktop).
When should I post on Instagram?
Our research shows that 11:00 AM on Wednesdays is the ideal time to post on Instagram. Similar results were seen when the Hootsuite social team examined their posting history.
The optimum time to post on Instagram, according to the Hootsuite social media team, is anytime between 8 AM and 12 PM or 4-5 PM PST.
Unsurprisingly, Instagram's algorithm and Facebook's have a lot in common. Recency is thus a significant ranking indication. This implies that publishing timings are, once again, greatly influenced by audience behavior.
You can begin going by looking at the times your followers are online.
Important Instagram statistics to consider while posting:
Instagram is checked by 63% of American users at least once every day.
42% of American users visit Instagram often.
In 2020, Instagram use increased to an average of 30 minutes per day (from 26 minutes per day in 2019)
In 2019, people used Instagram an average of 6 minutes, 35 seconds each visit.
When is the ideal moment to tweet
Our research shows that the ideal time to publish on Twitter is 8:00 AM on Mondays and Thursdays.
The Hootsuite social team examined their data and discovered comparable (but wider) results: weekdays between 6 and 9 AM PST.
Click-throughs are the most crucial Twitter measure, according to Social Listening & Engagement Strategist Nick Martin, and Hootsuite's stats make this evident. Tweeting during East Coast and UK business hours produces the greatest click-through and engagement rates.
Mornings are still preferable, even on the weekends, although he schedules postings a little later.
Important Twitter data to consider while posting:
42% of Twitter users in America do so at least once every day.
25% of Twitter users in America do so often.
In 2019, people used Twitter an average of 10 minutes, 22 seconds each visit.
When should I publish on LinkedIn?
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9:00 AM, you should publish on LinkedIn.
When looking at their posting data, Hootsuite's social media team saw findings that were comparable. They should publish on LinkedIn on weekdays between 8 and 11 AM PST.
Hootsuite's LinkedIn presence is managed by Iain Beable, the company's social marketing strategist for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He claims that although he has often seen stronger performance in the mornings, afternoons, and nights, the epidemic has caused the numbers to be a little more erratic and dispersed throughout the day.
The bulk of our readership is in North America, therefore Beable says she usually schedules postings for early morning PST. "That tends to provide us the greatest success overall, catching folks in EMEA in the early evening. Weekend posting occurs as well, but at a slower pace and later in the day. In fact, I've seen more participation on Sunday nights as well.
Important LinkedIn data to consider while posting:
9% of American users use LinkedIn daily or more often.
12% of American users visit LinkedIn often.
Mobile accounts for 57% of LinkedIn's traffic.
Here is a complete list of LinkedIn statistics for 2022. (and LinkedIn demographics, too.)
When should I publish to TikTok?
According to our study, Thursdays around 7:00 PM are the ideal time to publish on TikTok.
We've discovered that posting often on TikTok may help you reach your audience more widely than simply when you do. TikTok offers prizes to active users and advises uploading 1-4 times each day.
Our social media team at Hootsuite publishes five times every week at roughly 12 PM PST, from Monday through Friday. This implies that our material is posted just before the bulk of our audience logs on, thus increasing the likelihood that it will get views.
How to decide when to share anything on social media
Consider the times when your audience is online the most.
Recency is given priority by several social media algorithms. Why? People are interested in what is new, particularly in light of how often we now check our feeds.
One of the simplest ways to use the Facebook and Instagram algorithms to your advantage (and not against them) is to post when your followers are online. You may increase the likelihood that your material will be seen by your followers and spark a conversation with them by anticipating when they are likely to be reading their newsfeeds.
Unfortunately, neither Twitter nor LinkedIn make audience activity data accessible to individuals, companies, or even your neighborhood analytics dashboard. Researching your audience's priorities and behaviors is essential for these platforms.
Looking at your statistics will allow you to determine when your followers are online for your Facebook and Instagram tactics. For instance, Hootsuite's Best Time to Publish function shows a heatmap of the times and days when your followers are most active.
By recommending the best times to publish that your brand hasn't yet tested in the last 30 days, the tool assists you in using data to conduct experiments.
Examine your most successful old postings.
Your material is already optimized to meet your objectives for social media success. We advise using the same data-driven strategy to choose the best moment to publish that information.
The first step is to focus on your most effective posts for a certain measure by looking at your analytics tools or social media reports. The articles that performed best in terms of:
Awareness (i.e., postings that get high impressions) (i.e., posts that have high impressions)
Engagement (i.e., postings that received high engagement rates) (i.e., posts that earned impressive engagement rates)
Sales/Traffic (i.e.,posts that generated a lot of clicks) (i.e.,posts that attracted a lot of clicks)
Next, examine when you uploaded effective material and what days of the week it was, and search for any trends.Your material is already optimized to meet your objectives for social media success. We advise using the same data-driven strategy to choose the best moment to publish that information.
The first step is to focus on your most effective posts for a certain measure by looking at your analytics tools or social media reports. The articles that performed best in terms of
Awareness (i.e., postings that get high impressions) (i.e., posts that have high impressions)
Engagement (i.e., postings that received high engagement rates) (i.e., posts that earned impressive engagement rates)
Sales/Traffic (i.e.,posts that generated a lot of clicks) (i.e.,posts that attracted a lot of clicks)
Next, examine when you uploaded effective material and what days of the week it was, and search for any trends.
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Salty Red Dog Marketing, LLC is a marketing agency in Red Bank, NJ, Westport, CT, and everywhere in between. We service businesses with marketing strategies, digital marketing, social media, and consultations.
Contact: info@saltyreddogmarketing.com
Phone: NJ: (732) 802-6205 // CT: (203) 429-9671