Is There a Best Time to Post to Social Media?

There have been over two dozen studies on social media and when the best time and day is to post on each platform.

Factored into these comprehensive studies are what field your account falls under, from a B2B or B2C business, to software, healthcare, media and education.

How does each Social Media platform break down?

Generally, there are two ends of the spectrum in Social Media and its users: business and pleasure and the consumer end. After aggregating all of the data from the various studies, it is no surprise that LinkedIn scores highest in the professional business world and platforms like Twitter and Instagram have more appeal for consumers and people looking to enjoy social media for day-to-day general interaction.

Below is the more in depth data on the top four social media apps/sites – LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter:

LinkedIn

Across almost all account categories (various businesses and fields) interaction for LinkedIn peaks in the very early and late morning periods, and as far as day, on the “hump day” of the week, Wednesday.

Facebook

Generally, mornings and early afternoons are best to post, and later in the workweek are the peak user interaction days (Wednesday to Friday.) Also, it is advised that you don’t over-promote your content and hashtags are less effective.

Instagram

Instagram is more on the fun / all-purpose side of the social media spectrum, so posting in the evening or even late night is common. End of the workweek posting brings the most user interaction, and weekends are good as well. Keeping your posts to just once per day is also recommended.

Twitter

Mornings (starting very early as well) and end of day and through the evening have been shown to bring the best audience numbers. For B2B companies, weekdays are best, and for B2C you will want to concentrate your activity mostly over the weekends. Twitter is also a “high-volume” platform out of the four so, unlike Instagram, posting through the day is recommended, but just mix up your content if you can. Keeping a steady stream of tweets and keeping your audience engaged is key.

A birds eye view of the best times to post

After crunching the data, the following times and ranges have been determined as the best overall for all social media platforms for the following industries:

B2C: 9 am to 10 am, 12 pm - 1 pm, 4 pm to 5 pm.

B2B: 9 am to 4 pm, with 3 pm to 4 pm being the best.

Software Services: 9 am to 5 pm, then it drops off. 9 am, 3 pm, and 5 pm are the best.

Healthcare: 6 am-7 am, 9 am, 11 am-Noon. Media: 7 am, 11 am, 6 pm. Higher

Education: 8 am, Noon, 3 pm.

Are there any trends that stand out for the various industries and particular platforms?

Yes. The one that stands out the most regarding peak audience engagement is for B2B and B2C businesses. It has been found that for both, most activity occurs around lunchtime and at the end of the day. It’s also a trend that for Facebook in particular, users will jump onto this platform and check in when they have breaks, i.e. lunchtime or late in the afternoon.

In Review: Why is all this important?

Having this insightful analytic data on social media combined with setting up a posting calendar for your business equals success. Timing your posts will likely bring you better audience traffic and engagement. And there are several tools online that can help you implement this if you are increasing your social media use.

Source:

https://coschedule.com/blog/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/