When is the Best Time to Post on Social Media?
When is the Best Time to Post on Social Media?
As an intuitive social media strategist, I get this question a lot. There are a lot of ways to answer this question. We like to create content when it flows the best and I post the same day I create it. A lot of social media managers and strategists will disagree with this method because “scheduling is king”.
Yeah no. The algorithm will pick up that you are scheduling (unless you are using a scheduler that’s native to the platform) and will decrease your organic reach. Again people will disagree with me on this, but I have dealt with hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of social media accounts over the years, there is a pattern. The following information was presented by Blog2Social.
During the pandemic, we saw a major surge in social media times. People were on social media more than ever and posting at all times of the day. However, businesses on social media were not keeping up causing decreases in website traffic.
The best time to post on Facebook is between 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm local time or in the evenings 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm local time. It’s recommended to post twice daily, although this isn’t as necessary. 1-2x per day. If you want the most interaction then you will post between 3-4 pm. The best days to post? Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!
Instagram has taken a little bit of a hit during the pandemic, but it bounced back quickly. User behaviors on this platform shifted a little bit, as we are seeing that the best days to post are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The best times to post are between 11:00 am to 1:00 pm or 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Posting stories daily will also get you the most interactions! I highly recommend posting four stories daily as well as interacting with your follower's stories.
Pinterest is one of those platforms that really wasn’t affected by the pandemic. The posting actually got more rapid as more people posted more frequently on this platform. Pinning five times a day is recommended which has gone up from three times a day three years ago. It’s best to post on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. You can generate the most engagement when you post outside of working hours (after 5:00 pm). The best times to post are between 12 pm to 2 pm local time or 7 pm to 10 pm. You can use a scheduler like Tailwind to schedule out your pins during the day.
LinkedIn’s traffic has also exponentially increased in the pandemic as more people were on the platform to network and look for jobs. We also heard some of the first covid policies being implemented in the world's largest companies through LinkedIn. It’s recommended that you post only once a day from 7:00 am to 10:00 am or 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. You will see more interaction/engagement on your LinkedIn page during these particular times. The best days to post are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It’s also best that you engage with the people on your feed and DM your connections when they accomplish something!
This one might surprise you but Reddit has taken over Twitter in terms of interactions and engagement. During the entire election season, Twitter did play a role but it was Reddit that provided the most commentary. The best times to post on there would be 6:00 am to 9:00 am or 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. The best days would be either Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. However, Reddit is laid out in such a way where you need to post manually. You can’t use a scheduler. The best strategy to use here would be to find a couple of subreddits to show off your expertise in. You can either set a reminder on your phone to post or just comment on a post or just have an intern do it.
I’ve talked about how Twitter has been on a downward slope in the past five years or so. Some people like to blame this on the election or politics, some people would like to blame this on Twitter just being too slow to change with the times. I’d like to blame it on the latter. If you are one of those people that really need Twitter to grow you should post at least three times a day, between 8:00 am to 10:00 am, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, and 5:00 to 6:00 pm. The best days to post on Twitter would be on the weekdays. You will typically get the best interaction between rush hour/commuting traffic. You can still grow on Twitter, but you really need to be engaged in the hashtags, just like Instagram.
Post When There’s Flow!
The above is simply a guide, however, I am always a believer in posting when you feel like it. You can schedule out content using the times above, however, I would encourage you to post when your creativity is at its highest. Usually, that is the mornings for a lot of people, for some, it might be midnight. Try to find a schedule that works for you. For example, if I am scheduling content I will find that my creativity is at its highest in the mornings, so I usually get all of my copy written up by noon. If I am not scheduling content, I just post whenever! Remember it’s the content that matters most, not the timing.
Need help?
Creating content that is both engaging, creative, and timely is one of the more difficult parts of social media. That’s where The Spirit Digital comes in. We strategize, schedule, and create content that works FOR YOU. We don’t just post content; we engage with your audience, help you find the right people to partner with and we create funnels to help you convert your followers into leads. We also nurture those leads through, Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, or email marketing!
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