When it comes to social media, the million-dollar question is: what are the best times to post on social media? We did a little digging around and found out what the experts are saying.
Before we begin, we wanted to personally share an article you might find extremely resourceful (90+ content marketing tips!). You can view the post here.
1. Entrepreneur
These Are the Best Times to Post on Social Media https://t.co/M6QyyfWV2I
— Entrepreneur (@Entrepreneur) October 9, 2016
The first expert we take a look at is Rose Leadem from Entrepreneur. In her post, Rose reveals a report that states: "Thursday at 5 p.m. (all times Eastern) is an ideal time to send out a tweet, while Thursday at 8 p.m. provides the greatest chance of a customer clicking, liking, sharing or commenting on a Facebook post." For the full post, check out the tweet above.
2. HubSpot
The Best Times to Post on Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media Sites [Infographic] https://t.co/wSDetcJpHu pic.twitter.com/bMRZzPqz6x
— HubSpot (@HubSpot) June 5, 2016
HubSpot is a leading expert when it comes to anything and everything marketing. In this post by Lindsay Kolowich, the expert reveals that the best time to post on the weekend is between 12pm - 1pm. Similarly, the best time to tweet are between the hours of 12pm - 3pm on Monday through Friday. Read the complete guide above from HubSpot.
3. Neil Patel
Is There a Generic Best Time to Post On Social Media Platforms? https://t.co/4G55RA7Aw8
— Neil Patel (@neilpatel) October 24, 2016
Neil Patel is well known throughout the digital marketing community. In this insightful post titled: Is There a Generic Best Time to Post On Social Media Platforms?, the expert breaks down LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest among others. According to the post, on Twitter, 12pm and 6pm produces the highest click-through-rate, while 5pm produces the highest retweets. Check out the complete guide above.
4. The Social Fusion Group
The Best Times To Post On Social Media #SMM #DigitalMarketing https://t.co/XbwHX14P4X pic.twitter.com/FyCPapyOCG
— CFOStrategist (@CFOStrategist) February 13, 2017
In September 2016, we published a complete guide on the best times to post on social media. The research done by us agreed with what the experts have been saying. Social media users like to use the platforms during their spare time. This included Monday through Friday, between 7am - 9 am (people are waking up in the morning), between 4pm - 6pm (high commute time on the way home from work), and 11am-1pm (when users are taking their lunch breaks.)
5. Sprout Social
NEW: Measuring the Best Times to Post on Social Media https://t.co/13ZkgK3ei2 pic.twitter.com/QEWsHjkO9V
— Sprout Social (@SproutSocial) January 9, 2017
We've been talking about the big social media players, but what about the smaller social platforms? Alex York over at Sprout Social shares insight about Google+ and LinkedIn. The most popular times to post on Google+ is between 9am to 12pm, Monday through Friday. They saw that Wednesday saw the highest rate of engagement. Similarly, Tuesday through Thursday between the hours of 12pm to 5pm are the best times to post on LinkedIn.
6. CoSchedule
When Are The Best Times To Post On Social Media? The Insider Guide From 16 Studies https://t.co/DIjXoWeRfd pic.twitter.com/t1YXwvw5k3
— CoSchedule (@CoSchedule) April 25, 2016
As we mentioned earlier, most of these studies agree with one another. In this complete guide by CoSchedule, Nathan Ellering mentions that Thursday through Sunday saw a higher engagement rate. More specifically, 18% on Thursday and Friday; and 32% on Saturday and Sunday. Similarly, B2B Twitter users performed 16% higher during business hours, while B2C users performed 17% higher on the weekends.
Conclusion
- Entrepreneur says: Twitter on Thursday at 5 p.m. (all times Eastern) is an ideal time to send out a tweet
- Thursday at 8 p.m. provides the greatest chance of a customer clicking, liking, sharing or commenting on a Facebook post.
- HubSpot says: Best time to post on the weekend is between 12pm - 1pm.
- The best time to tweet are between the hours of 12pm - 3pm on Monday through Friday.
- Neil Patel says: 12pm and 6pm produces the highest click-through-rate
- Tweeting at 5pm produces the highest retweets.
- The Social Fusion Group: Social media users are most active Monday through Friday, between 7am - 9 am (people are waking up in the morning),
- 4pm - 6pm (high commute time on the way home from work)
- 11am-1pm (when users are taking their lunch breaks.)
- Sprout Social: Best time to post on Google+ is between 9am to 12pm, Monday through Friday.
- Wednesdays saw the highest rate of engagement.
- The best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday through Thursday between the hours of 12pm to 5pm.
- CoSchedule: B2B Twitter users performed 16% higher during business hours.
- B2C users performed 17% higher on the weekends.
For more reading on social media for business, see the links below:
- How To Pick The Right Social Media For Business
- Quick Guide to Advertising on Social Media Platforms
- Instagram For Business: Five Lessons (I Learned) to Get More Followers
