The Best Times to Post Content by Channel
Social media is a valuable content marketing tool no matter what industry you’re in, but it’s not just as simple as posting whenever you feel like it. For your social media strategy to be truly effective, you’ll want to plan out exactly when to post so you have the best chance of reaching your target audience. If you’re wondering about the best social media post timing, we’ve broken it down right here, depending on which platform you’re using.
Before We Begin No matter what social media site you’re using, it’s important to keep in mind that the figures we discuss below are rough estimates. While there are definitely times where each social media site is busier than others, the specific times that work best for your business may vary depending on your target market, the industry you’re working in, and the needs of your business.
Let’s start with the top dog: Facebook. Even though Facebook might seem like the most obvious social media platform to post on, it can actually be one of the most difficult to master. Virtually everyone has a Facebook these days, which means that you have an incredibly wide audience to try to reach.
To learn when to post content on Facebook, one of the most valuable tools at your disposal is Facebook Insights. This tool allows you to see the reach and engagement of your posts and determine what times have worked best for you in the past. From there, you can optimize your posting schedule to hit those peak times.
(photo from https://buffer.com/library/facebook-insights/#getting-to-facebook-insights)
Another difficult platform to nail down is Twitter. While there are tons of Tweets being thrown at a user at any given time, there are also an abundance of platforms that can help you automate your posts. SproutSocial has made an awesome reference guide to automating your Twitter posts if you’re interested.
In general, the mornings and the evenings of your specific time zone will get the most engagement. Additionally, you’ll find that your posts get more engagement during the work week as opposed to the weekend. As you might expect, posts tend to get the lowest amount of engagement overnight, specifically from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Be sure to monitor your trends through your Twitter Analytics account to narrow down your ideal posting time.
(photo from https://help.twitter.com/en/managing-your-account/using-the-tweet-activity-dashboard)
For small businesses in particular, Instagram can be an incredibly valuable tool. Social media post timing on Instagram is much more specific than other platforms, mainly because the platform itself is so unique. Luckily, if you have a business page on Instagram, you’ll be able to access Instagram Insight Analytics, which lets you know exactly when your posts get the most engagement.
In general, mid-morning and early afternoon tend to be the best times to post on Instagram. However, in the middle of the week, posts can get significant engagement as early as 5 a.m. Keep in mind that these figures apply to Instagram posts themselves and not Instagram Stories. typically, it’s a good idea to keep something on your story at all times, but remember that a post expires after 24 hours.
(photo from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-use-instagram-insights)
Finally, we come to LinkedIn. Here, you’ll be able to connect with other professionals, so it makes sense that the highest engagement times on the platform tend to be during the workday. In fact, HubSpot has nailed down the specifics of when to post here:
When you’re looking at these figures, it’s important to keep the time zone in mind. You can adjust the times to fit the time zones you’re marketing toward, whether it be a local market or major hubs like London or New York.
Final Thoughts
There’s no easy answer of when to post content on any social media site, but we hope this guide has given you a good starting point to enhance your overall content marketing strategy. Now, you just have to come up with some engaging and inviting content to bring your audience in! If you’d rather pass that responsibility to a social media writer instead of taking it on yourself, WriterArmy can help. We are proud to offer comprehensive and affordable social media content writing services, as well as other services to round out your overall content marketing strategy. Contact us today for a free quote!
