Best Time to Post on Social Media [And the worst!]

Whether you are using social media for personal or professional purposes, you’d definitely know that it is challenging to rise above the noise and make people interact with your content. With the forever-changing algorithms of different platforms, it becomes more and more important to be able to present your content to the maximum audience. Thus, apart from creating great content, you need to know the best time to post on social media to get higher engagement with a good social media scheduler. 

You might be thinking ‘Is there really the best time to post on social media’? Well, yes, there is. The best time to post content on social media sites is whenever your audience is active and is most likely to engage with your posts. When you post at the right time, it will bring you more likes, comments, shares, and click-throughs.

However, these times differ according to the industry and audience. Thus we have compiled all the data and listed down the best time to post on the popular social media sites – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Best time to post on Facebook

Even while being the largest social media site, the average lifespan of a Facebook update is merely two hours. When you post on Facebook or Facebook business manager, 75% of engagement is received in the first 5 hours. The maximum number of impressions on a post is received in the first 2 and a half hours, and 75% of your audience comes across your message in the first 2 hours of posting.

Thus, it is extremely necessary to post your updates at the time when people are online. Below are the best time recommendations to post on this social media site according to different industries.

1. The best time to post on Facebook for the tech industry

Best days: Wednesday and Thursday

Best time: 8 AM to 3 PM

Worst days: Saturday and Sunday

Building a social presence is necessary for IT companies as 86% of consumers browse Facebook pages to make informed decisions. Doesn’t matter whether you are targeting B2B or B2C audiences, 9 AM to 2 PM on Wednesday seems the best time to make your post live on Facebook. Mornings are the most active and evenings witness the least engagement.

2. The best time to post on Facebook for the consumer goods industry

Best days: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

Best time: 9 AM to 5 PM

Worst days: Sunday

Consumer goods are bound to receive the highest engagement rates consistently during weekdays. One of the most important success factors for retail and B2C companies is understanding what the consumers actually need. Use social listening to find out what they are interested in and present that during the best times. 

3. The best time to post on Facebook for the education sector

Best days: Monday to Friday

Best time: 8 AM to 5 PM

Worst days: Saturday and Sunday

The best time to post on Facebook in this sector definitely matches its operating hours. Prospective students can be targeted by providing highlights of different courses and admission procedures. Upload titbits of campus life at your institution. These will provide valuable information and increase the engagement levels on your account.

4. The best time to post on Facebook for the healthcare industry

Best days: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

Best time: 9 AM to 2 PM

Worst days: Saturday and Sunday

In addition to posting promotional content, the healthcare sector can effectively use Facebook to highlight their local presence and connect with the patients. A great reputation can be built by gaining positive reviews from former patients. Overall, the typical business timings are the best times to shoot out content on Facebook.

5. The best time to post on Facebook for the media sector

Best days: Monday to Friday

Best time: 7 AM to 5 PM

Worst days: Sunday

Media companies face no shortage of time to reach active users on Facebook. People are always interested in knowing what is happening worldwide and rely on media pages to get the latest updates. Apart from weekends, a considerable amount of engagement is obtained on weekends too. Media companies probably receive the highest engagement on their posts as compared to other industries on Facebook.

6. The best time to post on Facebook for the non-profit sector

Best days: Tuesday to Friday

Best time: 8 AM to 4 PM

Worst days: Saturday and Sunday

Non-profit organizations can highlight their missions very well using Facebook’s platform. They can communicate and spark discussions with their community members, and get volunteers for their future missions. During the workweek, the activity levels on Facebook are highest, with peak times on Wednesday and Friday mornings.

7. The best time to post on Facebook for the finance sector

Best days: Monday to Friday

Best time: 6 AM to 3 PM

Worst days: Sunday

From the start of the day until noon, financial companies experience strong interaction levels during the working days. The lowest engagement rates are observed after 6 PM, as the banks and other financial institutions close. 

8. The best time to post on Facebook for the creative/sports sector

Best days: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

Best time: 9 AM to 3 PM

Worst days: Sunday

When it comes to recreational services, the audience’s interests may differ depending upon region, gender, niche, and other aspects. Thus, there are scattered opportunities for engagement at multiple times throughout the entire week. There is no harm in experimenting with the posting times during the day. If you are in the creative sector, you also need to focus on creating eye-catching social media post designs.

Best time to post on Twitter

As compared to Facebook and Instagram’s two-hour post-life, the average life-span of a tweet is only 18 minutes. Thus, you have to pay close attention to the timing as well as the frequency of your tweets. Let’s have a look at the best time to post on this social media site for different industries.

1. The best time to tweet for media

Best time: Wednesday to Friday – 7 AM to 4 PM

Best day: Thursday and Friday

Worst day: Saturday

Twitter has become an important platform for the media, with several journalists, writers, and industry experts exchanging ideas and thoughts around the clock. Utilize advanced Twitter search and monitoring techniques to find out relevant conversations and broaden the base of followers.

2. The best time to tweet for consumer goods

Best time: Saturday and Sunday – 8 AM to 5 PM

Best day: Sunday

Worst day: Monday and Thursday

Twitter is a crucial platform for providing social customer support, so it is important for consumer goods and retail companies to improve their strategy for managing and reacting to customer queries. If you are a business dealing with consumer goods, you need to be proactive as well as reactive on Twitter by doing product promotions, shouting out positive customer reviews, and maintaining a continuous content calendar.

3. The best time to tweet for technical businesses

Best time: Tuesday to Friday – 7 AM to 1 PM

Best day: Tuesday and Wednesday

Worst day: Sunday

It’s no wonder that tech-savvy people are very involved on Twitter, making it a busy forum where all sorts of technology and software brands are seeking to stand out from competitors. When you are developing a social media marketing strategy for the SaaS space, it is important to post at the optimal timings to get your content seen by new and relevant audiences. It can be safely said that posting during working hours will provide maximum results.

4. The best time to tweet for financial businesses

Best time: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday – 8 AM to 5 PM

Best day: Tuesday

Worst day: Saturday

Twitter has become a popular center for discussing events in the financial world, facilitated by features such as stock symbols that work just like hashtags in aspects of search and exposure. If your brand wants to remain linked to global audiences around the clock, make sure that you have a global social media strategy in place. It will let you handle the dynamics of teams or multiple local accounts, all with a persistent voice.

5. The best time to tweet for the education sector

Best time: Wednesday and Saturday – 8 AM to 9 PM

Best day: Saturday

Worst day: Sunday

Twitter helps educational institutions to keep in touch with their families, promote to potential students, and connect alumni through timely updates. This sector observes similar engagement timings on all social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. No doubt, the engagement level is scattered in bits throughout the week, as parents like to stay updated with the latest news.

6. The best time to tweet for the healthcare sector

Best time: Monday to Friday – 8 AM to 3 PM

Best day: Wednesday

Worst day: Saturday and Sunday

Twitter is indeed an excellent platform for healthcare providers and organizations to engage with their clients directly on their health and well-being issues and concerns. As the nature of these questions is really serious, you need to develop a set of guidelines that can be used by your social team to respond accurately to customers. A level of trust needs to be built with your audience by providing timely and authentic responses.

7. The best time to tweet for the Non-profit sector

Best time: Wednesday to Friday – 7 AM to 2 PM

Best day: Wednesday

Worst day: Saturday

For non-profits, Twitter is the perfect place to unlock their fan base, not only to raise awareness regarding their cause and mission but also to encourage people to drive traffic and attract donors. Supplement the Twitter Marketing strategy with platform-specific techniques, such as the use of exclusive hashtags to coordinate and execute discussions around events or relevant campaigns. 

8. The best time to tweet for recreation/sports

Best time: Monday to Friday – 8 AM to 1 PM

Best day: Friday

Worst day: Saturday and Sunday

For recreation destinations, a comprehensive review management plan and an emphasis on social customer service can have a significant effect on visibility and reputation that helps you distinguish from competitors. Very few recreation brands focus on Twitter as compared to other social networking sites like Instagram and Facebook. And that makes for the perfect chance to enter the untapped market and build an audience on Twitter. Social media in sports marketing is all about curating and utilizing sports/fitness-related content to promote your brand with feature of schedule Pinterest pins.

Best time to post on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is surely the hub of all things related to business. Apart from searching for jobs, it has become a platform for networking and connecting with professionals from all around the world. Businesses are using LinkedIn’s company pages to build their brand whereas individuals are sharpening their profiles. In order to stand out from everyone, LinkedIn demands you to create compelling content and present it to the audience.

LinkedIn has traditionally been targeting a more niche community than other social networks, with an emphasis on professional users. As it continues to expand and branch out into different use cases, we have not broken down this data into particular sectors in order to ensure greater precision and a better understanding of how the network is being used today. Whether you are marketing a gym business, education firm, a real-estate company, non-profit organization, media outlet, or any other industry, these timings will serve as a one-fit-for-all.

Best times: Wednesday from 8–10 AM and noon, Thursday at 9 AM and 1–2 PM, and Friday at 9 AM.

Best days: Wednesday and Thursday

Worst day: Sunday

With a mix of sophisticated search, targeting choices, and a highly engaged user base, LinkedIn is the perfect destination for lead generation. Apart from B2B marketing, more and more LinkedIn users and advertisers are beginning to think outside the box and utilize specific platform tactics, such as tapping into the unique capacity for personal branding and influencer marketing. We recommend posting to LinkedIn at least once per day, as well as commenting, liking, and sharing content created by others in your network.

Best time to post on Google Business Profile

Note: Previously, Google Business Profile was known as Google My Business.

You probably know that a post on Google Business Profile expires after 7 days. That means you must post at least once a week for something to appear on your profile. Thus, at the minimum, businesses should post on their Google Business Profile once every seven days. 

However, to get the maximum results out of this feature, Google recommends you to post daily. But, also keep in mind that the most recent post shows up first in the search results. So if there is any important news or sale that you want people to see, it might be a good idea not to have another post for the next 6 days. Otherwise, that post will be buried behind the newer posts. Keep all of this in mind when figuring out how often to post to Google Business Profile is ideal for you.

As such, there is no best time to post on Google Business Profile like other social media platforms. You can upload consistently anytime you wish to and recycle the same posts for a long time.

Best time to post on Instagram

Instagram is the second biggest social media platform after Facebook, and daily logins are only expected to increase in the coming years. Looking at the platform as a whole, the best time to post from Monday to Friday is from 9 AM to 4 PM. Now let’s see different industries and the best time for them to post content on Instagram or repost content on Instagram.

1. The best time to post on Instagram for the technology industry

Best days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday

Best time: 7 AM to 10 AM

Worst days: Saturday and Sunday, especially afternoons

Mostly, tech companies think that they cannot grab much attention from people on social media. But, there are plenty of ways in which you can create compelling content in the form of BTS videos, employee stories, case studies, etc.

2. The best time to post on Instagram for the education sector

Best days: Friday, Saturday

Best time: 9 AM to 8 PM

Worst days: Sunday and Monday, especially mornings

To engage the people with your content, highlight activities that are undertaken at the institute, campus life, events, workshops, etc. During the night, a reasonable proportion of people stay online, so you can also experiment posting between 8 PM to 11 PM.

3. The best time to post on Instagram for the media industry

Best days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Best time: 8 AM to 4 PM

Worst days: Saturday and Sunday, especially in mornings and nights

Media companies usually get engagement during odd hours. Thus, it is no harm in experimenting with your posting schedules. Fridays (9 AM to 5 PM) are the best days to post, followed by Monday to Thursday from 8 AM to 4 PM.

4. The best time to post on Instagram for the healthcare industry

Best days: Tuesday, Thursday

Best time: 7 AM to 7 PM

Worst days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday

The Healthcare industry has limited options with the kind of content it can show on social media. However, there is a scope of connecting with local authorities and providing people with education related to health issues. 

5. The best time to post on Instagram for the finance sector

Best days: Wednesday, Friday

Best time: 10 AM to 4 PM

Worst days: Saturday, Sunday, Monday

At the first glance, financial sectors may not even consider growing a presence on social media. But, you can ideally use it to highlight events, customer feedback and stories, video content, and short articles. The same goes for social media marketing for real estate companies.

6. The best time to post on Instagram for the non-profit sector

Best days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Best time: 9 AM to 8 PM

Worst days: Saturday, Sunday, especially in midnights and evenings

Social media platforms have been the hot favorite for non-profit organizations, as they can spread awareness and gain volunteers easily for contributing in their social work. Weekdays and afternoons make the best combination for building engagement in this case. 

7. The best time to post on Instagram for consumer goods

Best days: Monday to Friday

Best time: 9 AM to 5 PM

Worst days: Sundays

Well, the visual nature of Instagram is the perfect fit to showcase and sell products of almost all kinds such as health supplements or any general merchandise. Thus, a huge number of brands have already built their presence and are generating sales using influencer marketing, organic efforts, and paid ads.

8. The best time to post on Instagram for non-retail e-commerce

Best days: Monday to Friday

Best time: 4 PM to 9 PM

Worst days: Saturdays

The top non-retail e-commerce brands observe the highest engagement during nights and evenings, on all weekdays – majorly on Thursday. It’s because the audience is particularly interested in watching entertaining videos after work hours.

Find your best time to post on social media

In combination with the above data, you can follow the below steps to make sure that you post the right content at the right time. 

1. Learn about your audience

Learn in-depth about your audience. Know about their age group, gender, location, workplaces, the devices that they use, etc. Those are the types of questions you need to answer to figure out the best time to post on various social media sites. 

2. Check out your competitors

Keep an eye on when your competitors are posting and how much engagement they receive at different times. As you share the same audience, you’ll surely get to know a lot about your audience’s behavior and reaction to particular content.

3. Use the right tools to manage your social accounts

A social media scheduling tool will help you take care of all the activities simultaneously. RecurPost offers you a social media post scheduler to create social media bulk scheduling, know about your audience insights, track the performance of your posts, and a lot more.

Using RecurPost, you can automatically schedule google my business posts without being online every time. RecurPost allows posting on other social media platforms as well. You can schedule Facebook posts on your profiles, schedule Instagram posts on your personal and business profiles, and schedule LinkedIn posts on LinkedIn profiles and business pages. 

Additionally, you can schedule tweets on your Twitter account. RecurPost is the best Pinterest scheduler for taking the privilege of visual media.

It also recommends your unique best time to post on social media based on the engagement that your posts receive. Making RecurPost one of the best free Hootsuite alternatives.

Now that you know how to find the best time to post on social media, go for Socialbee alternatives if you are looking for them, or use RecurPost to schedule pins & manage multiple accounts, measure results easily, and schedule your content for optimal engagement – all from the same dashboard. Click here to sign up for its 14-day free trial!