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So, you’ve followed the latest and greatest social media content guides, created an editorial calendar, and have assembled some really exciting pieces of content for posting. The only question that remains is when to post!
Creating your social media content is just one-half of the equation. Next, you need to figure out when your audience is active across various social media platforms so that they’ll see that content. You can post the best video on earth, but it won’t do a whole lot of good if everyone is asleep for the next 6 hours when it goes live!
You’ll first need to decide which time zone to follow. If your brand is very local, then adhere to your local timezone! If it’s nationwide, most experts agree that it’s best to post for the East Coast, where a majority of the country’s population resides. That said, it’s different per platform, so let’s dive into the best times to post on each.
Weekday mornings are your go-to times for posting content, particularly towards the middle of the week. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays around 11am have been known to receive the highest levels of engagement, so consider keeping your A-list content for those slots.
Times to avoid include weekends, particularly Sunday, as well as weekdays after 4 pm.
COVID-19, as we know, has led to folks spending more time online. This has led to evidence suggesting that Monday and Friday mornings around 10am to 11am are also very viable.
Instagram’s peak hours differ somewhat from Facebook, despite them both being Facebook-owned and operated. Think about scheduling your content right before lunch (11am to noon) on Wednesdays and Fridays. That said, peak times have also been recorded in the slow doldrums of the afternoon around 2 or 3pm.
COVID-19 shifting online behavior has further opened up peak windows on Monday and Tuesday mornings as well! If you can avoid posting on Sundays, we suggest holding off on your best pieces of content for later the following week.
Much like the platform’s mascot, users are typically early birds, often scrolling through their feeds before starting their day. Therefore, weekdays from 7 to 9am are peak times for your brand to get in front of their eyes and grab some early attention. You may also consider some posts later in the evening if it fits your messaging.
As far as days are concerned, Wednesdays and Fridays usually experience the most activity, with weekends seeing the least.
LinkedIn is all about business professionals, so it makes sense that the best times to post would line up with working hours! Specifically, you’ll want to pay extra-close attention to Wednesday mornings and lunchtime, Thursday mornings and early afternoons, as well as Friday mornings.
Avoid the weekend at all costs. It’s likely that people won’t care all too much about your content during their time off!
YouTube
The most important thing to remember about YouTube is to build consistency. YouTube’s algorithm rewards consistent, cyclical uploads more than anything else, so try your hardest to maintain some sort of schedule that you stick to.
However, it’s still important to keep in mind when users consume content on the platform! Evening hours during the back half of the week is when most people find the time to catch up on their favorite videos, so you’ll want to upload around 4pm to ensure that your content has plenty of time to be indexed for these peak hours start.
Remember that these are all general guidelines and, at the end of the day, the most effective posting times and days depend on your audience! Try these out and cross-reference them in your social analytics platforms to see when your users are most active.
I think you’ll find that these recommended times when combined with your own data, can lead to higher engagement and audience growth! Have fun experimenting and reporting your findings!
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