There are many studies on the best times to post on each social network; here we mention the most recent ones and tell you how to determine the optimal time to publish in different industries.
Best times to post on Facebook
Facebook is the largest social network so far; According to the Statista ranking , the platform maintains its leadership in 2020 with 2.4 billion users, which is why it is so relevant for companies to have a presence on it.
Hootsuite conducted a study in 2019 on the best times to post on each social network, the report collected data from 300 brands and found that these are the best times to post on Facebook:
- For B2B brands, the best time is between 9am and 2pm EST on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
- B2C brands will have better luck at 12pm EST on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.
In 2019, Facebook changed its News Feed algorithm to prioritize “meaningful interactions” from family and friends over content from brands. This posed a huge challenge for businesses to display their organic content without paying to boost it, which is why it’s so important to make sure you’re posting at the right time.
Best times to post on Twitter
Since its inception, this network has stood out for the ephemeral nature of its messages: 5,787 tweets are published per second and the useful life of each one is only 18 minutes , so the time can make the difference between making your content visible or go unnoticed.
According to Hootsuite research, the best time to post on Twitter to get the most engagement is:
- Between 11 am and 1 pm EST on Monday or Thursday for B2B companies.
- 12 pm or 1 pm from Monday to Wednesday for B2C.
On the other hand, during the week, the worst time to post on this social network is Fridays after 3 pm and any day after 8 pm.
Best times to post on Instagram
Like Twitter, Instagram uses an algorithm that isn’t strictly chronological, but is designed to provide users with fresh content that they’re likely to engage with, and favors “freshness” when determining which posts they’ll see in their feed.
Instagram is becoming more and more important for brands and Hootsuite knows this, which is why they did another investigation in January 2019 where they focused only on the best posting times for this social network. To do this, they analyzed data from 258,956 posts, the top 20 Instagram accounts in the United States, and 11 different industries.
Here are the best times to post on Instagram across major industries:
- Travel and tourism: Friday from 9 am to 1 pm.
- Media and Entertainment: Tuesday and Thursday from 12 pm to 3 pm.
- Food industry: Friday at 12 pm.
- Retail: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 12 pm.
- Professional services: Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 am or 10 am.
- Non-profit organizations: Tuesdays at 4 pm or 10 am.
- Ecommerce (non-retailer): Thursday at 9 pm or 4 pm.
- Pharmaceutical industry: Wednesday and Sunday at 9 am.
- Personal care: Friday and Thursday at 1, 2 or 3 pm.
- Technology: Monday and Tuesday at 2 pm.
- Education: Thursdays at 4 pm or 5 pm.
On the other hand, in January 2020 Latter also conducted an analysis of 12 million Instagram posts to find what would be the best times to post on Instagram in 2021 and the company stated that it is usually between 9 and 11 am, making a breakdown of the best times by day:
- Monday: 6 a.m., 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST.
- Tuesday: 2 am, 4 am and 9 am EST.
- Wednesday: 7 a.m., 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. EST.
- Thursday: 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 7 p.m. EST.
- Friday: 5 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. EST.
- Saturday: 11 a.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. EST.
- Domingo: 7 am, 8 am y 4 pm EST.
Best times to post on LinkedIn
LinkedIn has more than 303 million monthly active users, therefore, beyond the search for talent, companies are using it to build their brand.
The most recent study on the best times to post on LinkedIn was conducted by TrackMaven , in which they evaluated the best times based on the average number of interactions per post per 1,000 followers, and found that the most optimal time for B2B business owners and B2C is on Wednesday at 9 am.
On the other hand, SproutSocial published a study on the best times to post on networks, which included LinkedIn. In analysis, he found that the best days for this social network are:
- Wednesday from 8 to 10 am and noon.
- Thursday at 9 am and 1 to 2 pm.
- Friday at 9 a.m.
- Worst day: Sunday.
LinkedIn targets a more specific audience than other social networks; however, having a more specialized audience is no reason to ignore the power of this social network, as many companies are taking advantage of the platform to position themselves as opinion leaders in their respective industries.
Best times to post on YouTube
YouTube is the second most popular social media platform with 2 billion users worldwide according to the Statista ranking, and according to the company itself, every day people watch a billion hours of video.
This network is extremely important for companies because 90% of people say they discover new brands or products through YouTube. But among so much existing content, how can you compete? In addition to the quality and originality of the videos, the hours of publication must also be taken into account.
Oberlo published an article with the best times to upload videos to YouTube:
- Between 12 pm and 4 pm , posting at this time will allow your videos to already be indexed for the night, which is when users consume more content.
- Thursdays and Fridays are usually the best days to post on YouTube.
- Saturday and Sunday between 9am and 11am can also be a good time because users watch YouTube on weekends.
As we mentioned at the beginning, knowing the results of the studies is a great starting point, but the reality is that there is no perfect time for all companies to publish on social networks, since it depends on the type of industry and who is your audience
For example, that a consumer brand gets more engagement on the weekends does not necessarily apply to a B2B business. For this reason, it is important that you investigate your own data and, as a result of it, find the best time for your company’s objectives.
