What is the Best Time of the Week to Schedule Social Media Posts?

Find out what the best time to schedule your posts on social media are.

We all know that social media marketing is a powerful tool but did you know that when you post is just as important about what you post and where you post it? Think about it like this; if you wanted to hand out leaflets about your new local car valeting service, you wouldn’t hit the streets at midnight. No, you’d head to car parks and try and reach people as they were leaving or returning to their vehicles in the morning and early evening. The best time of the week to schedule social media posts varies depending on the platform you are using, the groups of people you are targeting and the message you are sending.

In this guide, we take a quick look at what, research suggests, are the best times to schedule your social media posts.

Key Considerations for Scheduling Social Media Posts

The first thing to remember about when to schedule your social media posts is knowing your audience. For many businesses, their demographics will already have been analysed but if you haven’t then you need to do this.

Free tools offered by Google Analytics can help you determine the age, gender and location of visitors to your website. There are plenty of other ways to figure this out but doing so is important as it’s hugely relevant to social media scheduling.

Why?

The first reason is to do with time zones. If your business is fixed geographically then this might not be a factor but for international companies, posting in line with the local time for your audience is key.

Secondly, use of social media is influenced by many factors and age is just one of them. Your target audience of business users are more active on social media during the working day and during peak commuting times whilst teenagers tend to check in to social media later in the day, particularly on weekends.

Lastly, understanding who you are communicating with is an essential component of planning any successful SEO strategy but if you are looking for specific goals then the timing of your posts is critical. Research shows that audiences are more interactive at certain times of the day so if you want your content to be liked, shared and commented on then this might influence when you post. If, however, you just want maximum exposure then another time of the day may suit you best.

Social Media Marketing platform, Falcon, has produced some interesting research on the best times to schedule social media content using 18 different research studies. We’ve compiled these results as well as others from companies like Oberlo (online retail) and Meltwater (Media Monitoring to bring you these results.

When is the Best Time to Post on Facebook?

Studies suggest that for peak viewing figures and a good all-round rate of interaction, the best time to schedule content on Facebook is between midday and 4pm.

However, further research suggests that people are also engaging with Facebook posts between 8am and 9am as well as 7pm to 8pm. This sector of the audience is thought to be made up of commuters as well as office workers who both check in with social media when they first arrive at their desks and when they return home.

The most popular day of the week for sharing content on Facebook is Friday, attracting the highest engagement levels (17% of all Facebook comments and 16% of all likes and shares).

Get more likes on Facebook by posting on a Friday.

In second and third place are Thursday and Wednesday respectively with the latter generating more interactions per post for big brands.

When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

Content on Instagram is more ‘bite-size’ and users often browse their accounts on their mobiles and do so during periods of inactivity such as lunch breaks or when commuting  They are less likely to browse content on their mobiles during a working day.

The best times of day for publishing content on Instagram is therefore between 11am and 2pm. There is also evidence to suggest that the post-work period is also high for engagement so 5pm-6pm is also recommended.

With a high proportion of Instagram’s audience being millennials, Hump Day (or Wednesday) is the best day of the week for clicks, comments and favourites. All other weekdays, with the exception of Tuesday for some reason, also fare well for performance but stay clear of posting on a Sunday as engagement on this particular day is very low.

When is the Best Time to Post on YouTube?

Research on scheduling times for YouTube is more complex with the type of audience you are targeting being key to the timings.

The best times to post a video to reach a wider audience seem to be on Thursday and Friday afternoons between midday and 3pm. The network seems to attract more of its audience in the lead up to the weekend, peaking on Saturdays with a tapering off effect occurring from Sunday through to Wednesday.

YouTube traffic ramps up for the weekend.

When is the Best Time to Post on Twitter?

Content on Twitter is viewed in much the same way as Instagram with the perfect timing for a Tweet being lunchtime and straight after work.

Just like Instagram, the best days to post content are during the working week with Monday to Thursday being best. Unlike Facebook, however, Friday is not a busy period on Twitter. Tweets on a weekend generate the lowest interaction rates.

When is the Best Time to Post on Linked In?

With some employers perceiving Linked In as more of a recruitment service, it is only natural that the highest traffic flow to the site is seen during lunch hours and either right before work of just after.

Posting content between 8am and 9am, between midday and 2pm and 5pm to 6pm are therefore your best windows. Monday and Friday achieve lower rates of interaction than those posted Tuesday to Thursday.

Always Do Your Research

A last word of advice on determining your social media scheduling campaign; always check out the competition. It’s a no-brainer to ignore the brands and businesses you are competing for an audience with. Find out when they are getting their best interactions and adapt your post schedule to suit.

Oh, and don’t forget to monitor the performance of your posts and remain flexible to tweaking the timing to suit your audience. Whilst the above can give you a general idea, this can’t replace focused and targeted campaigning.

It is important to adapt your post schedule in line with your monitoring.

Opace and Social Media Marketing

At Opace, we understand that social media marketing is not just about a ‘set-and-forget’ approach but one that requires intelligent analysis of your market combined with a creative understanding of your business.

We’d love to find out more about your company’s ambitions for growth in 2019 and know that we can help you achieve them. Contact us today to find out more.

Image Credits: Geralt/Pixabay, Ibrahim.ID/Wikimedia, Likes kopen/Wikimedia, Mohamed hassan/pxhere and pxhere.