• 5-minute read
• 10th October 2019

When to Post on Social Media to Maximise Engagement

Every business needs a social media presence these days. But being on social media doesn’t count for much if you can’t reach an audience. And this may depend on when you post on social media.

In this post, then, we offer a few tips on the best days and times to post on social media, including on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

1. When to Post on Facebook

Facebook has more than two billion active monthly users, making it an important platform for any brand or organisation. But how can you reach the most people on this platform? The following tips could help:

• Best Days to Post – Weekdays in general are good on Facebook, though Wednesday to Friday may offer the best engagement rates.
• Best Times to Post – People check Facebook all through the day, but the peak times for engagement are weekdays between 9 am and 3 pm.
• Worst Times to Post – Sundays are rarely a good time to post. During the week, the worst times to post each day are before 7 am and after 5 pm.

Don’t forget, too, that Facebook’s algorithm changes have made life more difficult for marketers. So as well as timing your posts correctly, you’ll need to tailor your content to make sure it appears in your followers’ timelines.

2. When to Post on Twitter

Life moves fast on Twitter. And if you post at the wrong time, your tweets may get lost in your followers’ timelines. But there are a few tips you can follow to boost engagement, including the following:

• Best Days to Post – Weekdays are better than weekends, especially Monday to Thursday, so save key posts for these days.
• Best Times to Post – People check Twitter during ‘down time’, so the best times to post are usually during the daily commute (8 am to 10 am and 6 pm to 9 pm) and while people are eating lunch (11 am to 1 pm).
• Worst Times to Post – There is a big drop off in engagement overnight (between 10 pm and 4 am). But Friday after 3 pm and weekend evenings can also be slow, so don’t post big news at these times.

Another tip is to use images in tweets, which can boost engagement hugely.

3. When to Post on Instagram

Instagram is increasingly important for businesses, so timing your posts well is vital. Generally, this means basing your schedule on the following:

• Best Days to Post – Tuesday to Friday offer the best engagement rates.
• Best Times to Post – The brunch-to-lunch period of day (10 am to 2 pm) seems to attract most engagement on Instagram. But the end of the working day (5 pm to 6 pm) is good for reaching a wide audience, too.
• Worst Times to Post – Late night and early morning (11 pm to 3 am) sees a big dip in activity, possibly because of the lack of meals to photograph.

You’ll want to pay attention to hashtags on this platform, too, as they can increase your reach and help you engage with trends.

4. When to Post on LinkedIn

Being more business focused, LinkedIn is a bit different to the other platforms discussed here. But one thing it has in common with Facebook, Twitter and other platforms is the importance of timing your posts:

• Best Days to Post – Posts during the first half of the week tend to do better on LinkedIn, so Monday to Wednesday are typically your best bets for posts that you want to reach a larger audience.
• Best Times to Post – LinkedIn gets most engagement during the working day, so aim to post between 8 am and 2 pm to maximise your reach.
• Worst Times to Post – Night time and early morning (9 pm to 3 am) is a poor time to post, but you may also want to avoid weekends.

Furthermore, as a rule, LinkedIn is much better for B2B marketing than B2C marketing. As such, business hours are always best on this platform.

How to Fine-Tune Your Posting Schedule

The days and times above are general trends, but they may not reflect your target audience. As such, a good social media strategy will involve tailoring your posting schedule to your business.

For instance, while weekend afternoons are generally bad times for businesses to post on social media, some educational organisations see high engagement on Saturday from 1 pm to 10 pm. So a university may want to use a different posting schedule to, say, an accountancy firm.

A few tips for tailoring your social media schedule effectively include:

• Use analytics to see how people are currently engaging with you on social media. This will give you a better sense of your current audience and how to reach them more effectively.
• Look at when other organisations in your industry are posting most.
• Create a social media content calendar and plan your post schedule.
• Try to post something every day, but save important posts for times when you’re most likely to get high engagement from followers.

If you can do this, you should be able to increase your rates of engagement.

Summary: When to Post on Social Media

Generally, the best times to post on social media are:

• Facebook – Weekdays between 9 am and 3 pm.
• Twitter – Weekdays from 8 am to 1 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm.
• Instagram – Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 6 pm.
• LinkedIn – Monday to Wednesday from 8 am to 2 pm.

However, this may vary depending on your business and target audience. As such, don’t forget to tailor your posting schedule based on the analytics you have from your social media accounts. And if you’d like any help refining your social media messaging, you may want to try our editing services.