Timing is everything when it comes to posting on social media. Whether you are planning to optimize your social media marketing strategy or create a new one from scratch, you should know when to post across social networks to maximize engagement.
This blog post dives deep into the best times to post across various social media platforms in 2024, helping you tailor your marketing approach for maximum engagement.
Why Timing Matters When Posting on Social Media?
Simply because you should share your social media posts when your audience is most active. This increases the chances of those posts appearing in their feeds. Here, recency is a crucial ranking factor on social media.
It refers to the most recent posts and plays a key role in showing your post on social media feeds. Here are some more reasons why timing matters when it comes to social media marketing and posting:
- Competitive advantage
- Algorithm favorability
- Greater brand visibility
- Optimal click-through rates
- Better return on investment (ROI)
However, this doesn’t mean that you will surely crack the social media engagement code just by posting at the best times. The best timing will help you grab the eyeballs. From there, your fate lies in the content quality that you provide to your target audience.
Key Factors to Determine the Best Times to Post on Social Media
Determining the best times to post to social media isn’t just about picking any random time. It is influenced by a variety of factors that shape your audience’s behaviors on social media. These are some key factors to consider for social media marketing for different platforms:
- Audience demographics: Understand your target audience’s time zones, age groups, occupations, etc. For example, your audience may consist of working professionals. Then consider posting during lunch breaks or after work hours.
- Platform analytics: Most social media platforms provide insights into when your followers are most active. Utilize these analytics to identify peak engagement times.
- Competition insights: Keep an eye on when your competitors are posting and observe how their audience engages with their content.
- Industry trends: Holidays, weekends, and special events can impact when people are most active on social media. They account for seasonal variations in user behaviors.
Best Times to Post on Social Media Platforms
By analyzing data from Sprout Social, Hootsuite, CoSchedule, and other reliable sources, we have made some timing recommendations on social media. The best time of the day to post on social media can be somewhere around 9 AM – 2 PM. The best days are Monday and Wednesday. However, these times can differ from platform to platform.
1. Instagram
Reports suggest that the business accounts on Instagram post nearly 1.55 posts on the main feed per day. If you are managing an Instagram business account, it’s good to post early in the day. However, for personal accounts, prefer to post at night time.
Best times to post on Instagram:
- Monday: 9 AM to 10 AM
- Tuesday: 9 AM to 10 AM
- Wednesday: 5 AM, 11 AM, and 3 PM
- Thursday: 12 PM and 5 PM
- Friday: 9 AM to 10 AM and 5 PM to 6 PM
- Saturday: 8 AM to 12 PM
- Sunday: 10 AM to 2 PM
Best days to post on Instagram:
- Thursday
- Monday
- Friday
2. YouTube
With more than 2.7 billion people accessing it monthly, YouTube is the second most used social media platform in the world. This video-centric platform is perfect for businesses and social media marketing companies in India. It is a fruitful platform for video marketing to showcase your products, demonstrate how you work, or tell your brand’s story.
Best times to post on YouTube:
- Monday: 2 PM to 4 PM
- Tuesday: 2 PM to 4 PM
- Wednesday: 2 PM to 4 PM
- Thursday: 2 PM to 4 PM
- Friday: 2 PM to 4 PM
- Saturday: 9 AM to 11 AM
- Sunday: 9 AM to 11 AM
Best days to post on YouTube:
- Friday
- Saturday
- Sunday
3. Facebook
With over 3.07 billion monthly active users in Q4 of 2023, Facebook is one of the most widely used social media platforms. Posting your content on it at the right time can help you reach your targeted audience and gain more attraction.
The best time to post on Facebook is between 7 and 9 AM to get maximum impressions. Keep in mind that there are different criteria for posting on weeks and weekends to get the highest click-through rates.
Best times to post on Facebook:
- Monday: 9 to 10 AM
- Tuesday: 9 to 10 AM
- Wednesday: 5 AM, 11 AM, and 3 PM
- Thursday: 12 PM and 5 PM
- Friday: 9 to 10 AM and 5 to 6 PM
- Saturday: 8 AM to 12 PM
- Sunday: 10 AM to 2 PM
Best days to post on Facebook:
- Wednesday
- Thursday
4. X (Twitter)
A lot has changed for the social media platform X in the past few years, but what has not changed is the audience and content. Formerly known as Twitter, X is a great platform for businesses and brands to reach their audience by participating in relevant trending topics.
By focusing on the best times to post on X, you can make your tweets stand out and reach a broader segment of your audience, potentially going viral.
Best times to post on X:
- Monday: 7 AM to 10 AM
- Tuesday: 10 AM to 1 PM
- Wednesday: 6 AM to 9 AM
- Thursday: 10 AM to 1 PM
- Friday: 8 AM to 11 AM
- Saturday: 8 AM to 11 AM
- Sunday: 8 AM to 11 AM
Best days to post on Twitter:
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
5. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a professional social media network for job searching and personal and professional branding. That’s one of the main reasons why you will get the most engagement and clicks during morning and noon times.
Best times to post on LinkedIn:
- Monday: 11 AM
- Tuesday: 6 AM to 8 AM
- Wednesday: 12 AM
- Thursday: 2 PM
- Friday: 8 AM
- Saturday: 4 AM to 5 AM
- Sunday: 6 PM
Best days to post on LinkedIn:
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
In Conclusion
Finding the best times to post on social media is a blend of testing and experimentation. By aligning your social media marketing strategy with your audience and trying out different strategies, you can determine what works best for you. Discover how Markcade – the best social media marketing company in India, can help enhance your social media presence.
FAQs:
The times between 9 AM and noon on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are considered the best times to post on social media across all major platforms.
Saturday and Sunday seem to be the worst days for businesses and marketers to post content on social media platforms, including Facebook and LinkedIn.
Yes, there can be many advantages to posting during peak times on social media platforms, including more engaged niches, tailored approach, global reach, and engagement.
