The Best Time To Post On Social Media

Just when IS the best time to post on social media? It depends, partially on what you're trying to accomplish with your social media channel and also which social media channel you're talking about. After all, Facebook is going to be different than Twitter. Instagram is going to be different from those. So what ARE the best times for posting on social media? We're going to go over that, and by the network since Facebook users, Twitter users and Instagram users are all different, so you can use these networks for better social selling. But First...You Need To Know About Time Zones For Social Media Posting You want to optimize your social media posting so you post at the optimal time to reach more people. Awesome! You're using a data-driven approach to your social media. However, there's something you need to realize about time and specific times zones. They matter. You could miss 80 percent of your audience if you aren't smart about time zones. How? What you have to know is that of the four major time zones of the United States - sorry, Hawaii! - is that 80 percent of the US population is located in the Central and Eastern time zones. Imagine a line that goes up the western edge of the Texas panhandle, traces the border of Colorado, and goes straight through the middle of the Dakotas to Canada. That's the border of the Mountain and Central time zones. From that line to the Pacific Ocean, you only have 20 percent of the population in the US. Sure, Silicon Valley matters. That's where all the social media networks are based…but that's not where most of your fans, followers, and potential leads are. Therefore, you need to make sure that your posting times align with CST and EST. That, after all, is where the money is, so to speak. What are those peak times, however? Let's get into the best times to post on social media.

Best Time To Post On Facebook

According to various studies, the best times to post on Facebook are - as a general rule - between noon and 1 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, from 1 pm to 4 pm on Thursdays and Fridays and at 3 pm on Wednesdays. But that's not the whole story. Are you looking for shares or clicks? One disseminates your content, the other gets people to your website. The best times for shares are earlier in the day, around the noon to 1 pm time slot. Most shares that get additional shares tend to all happen between 9 am and 7 pm, so shares tend to happen around the middle of the day. Clicks, on the other hand, tend to do better from 1 pm on. Therefore, post earlier for shares, later for clicks. Not too late though; most studies confirm any content posted after about 8pm doesn't do well. Facebook also doesn't seem to get great engagement with long posts, and you'll also want to save the light-hearted content for Fridays. That's when people need the laugh! Facebook is also an ideal platform for broadcasting messages from your employees. Your best brand advocates, after all, are your employees, and this is where they'll be able to shine. This is also the platform to harness the power of advocate marketing, as employees and customers can tell their story to prospective new clients, customers and employees so they get a first-hand account of how awesome your brand is.

Best Times To Post On Twitter

The best times to post on Twitter are during breaks in the workday and just after work, and mostly during the workweek...though, again, it depends. As a general rule, you get three hotspots: Noon 3 pm 5 pm to 6 pm These are the times when Twitter users are most active and the most engaged with content shared by various brands going by most social metrics. Wednesday tweets tend to do best at noon and 5 pm, but these are all popular times throughout the rest of the week. However, B2B channels tend to drop off after 6 pm and don't do well on the weekends. B2C channels can have a bit more activity at night and on weekends. The reason? People use Twitter the most on lunch breaks and during the commute home. That's when you get the most retweets, but click-throughs are most likely at noon and 6 pm or later. Just like Facebook, however, anything after 8 pm just dies. When you want clicks, post at noon or after 5 pm. If you just want the shares, try 3 pm.

Best Time To Post On Instagram

Instagram, however, is a bit of a different animal. Users tend to engage more with Instagram during non-work hours, or at least not during office hours. The hot hours for Instagram are: 5 pm 2 am to 3 am 8 am to 9 am Again, people tend to use Instagram during their off-work hours. Therefore, you'll want to post right after they get off work, or right before they get to work. Believe it or not, the best time for engagement is actually 8 am to 9 am, though the best time to post a video is actually 9 pm to 8 am. As people do their late night browsing, they're more apt to do a little viewing from that point on throughout the night or during the morning as they wake up. Peak days are Monday and Thursday. That said, videos tend to do well no matter what day of the week so long as they are posted at a good time. However, you might find that Instagram does well for your users at different times. A lot of different outlets have found their Instagram audiences have their own idiosyncrasies and peak performance times, so make sure you dive into your analytics to get a good picture of engagement with your Instagram page.