Optimal Times to Post on Social Media

The best times to post on social media are during the times in which the most users are on the network and will see your content. That sounds logical, right? So how do we know when that is?

According to research, there are certain times during the day that are better to post than others. This is called Social Media Optimization, or SMO. We are going to look over the three most popular social media networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Posting to these outlets can help to drive your SEO efforts.

Facebook

Studies show that the best time to post on Facebook is weekdays between 1-4pm, later in the week and on the weekends. Wednesday is the best day for optimal engagement. On Saturdays and Sundays, you will see the highest engagement rate between 12-1pm.

 

Twitter

Twitter is a hard network to master because people can choose which users and content they want to follow. In general, data shows that the optimal time to tweet is between 12-3pm during the workweek. Another good time is 5-6pm.

Instagram

Since Instagram is an app made solely for your phone, users are using it all the time and are engaged all week. The best days to post on Instagram are Wednesday throughout the day, but particularly around 11 AM, and Friday from 10 AM to 11 AM EST. Mondays and Thursdays seem to be the popular days to post at the same time, but try to avoid posting between 3-4pm. Sundays are up for debate, but probably the least popular day to post if you want to maximize your engagement. Videos get the most engagement.

Following tricks like these will help optimize your posts.

 

Instagram:

  • Best Time Frame on Weekdays: 10am-3pm
  • Best Day for Engagement: Wednesday
  • Worst Day for Engagement: Sunday

Facebook:

  • Best Time Frame on Weekdays: 9am-3pm
  • Best Day for Engagement: Wednesday
  • Worst Day for Engagement: Sunday

YouTube:

  • Best Time Frame on Weekdays: 2-4pm
  • Best Day for Engagement: Thursday or Friday
  • Worst Day for Engagement: Sunday/Monday

 

Note: Most people are on social media around lunch hour and during the morning/evening commute time. This does not mean that you cannot post at other times, but take careful notice of the times that you post and observe when your followers are most active on social media. We are currently in a period of time where people are online almost all of the time, so you can test different posting times and check your “Insights” on each social site to see what times of day your personal audience is viewing your posts the most.

Hashtags: #Hashtags are a great way for like-minded people to discover you and your work. See the suggested hashtags below that may be helpful in your upcoming posts. Instagram allows for up to 30 hashtags so make sure to utilize them for maximum reach. You should have 3 to 5 in your caption, the rest should be placed in the first comment of the post, to keep your caption from looking cluttered if you are going to use that many. Keep in mind that they must be relevant to the post and it is not necessary to use that many every time. A range of 3 to 10 for an average post is reasonable. If you’re trying to draw attention to a performance or an event, use more