What Are the Best Times to Post on Social Media?

So, what is the ideal time to post on social media? Audience demographics will be important in determining where and when to post. But before we dive into each platform and its key metrics, let’s look at a few general tips:

General Tips for The Best Time to Post on Social Media

According to several different surveys across all industries and platforms, the best times to post on social media are typically:

• Tuesday through Thursday: 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
• Saturdays

On all platforms, Sunday was the winner of “worst day to post on social media.”

But, remember that while this data should be considered, it shouldn't be used as a hard and fast rule. If you're starting, these days and times are a safe place to start, but it'll be essential to keep track of your metrics as you test your social media strategy against your unique audience (who you may find to be super active Sundays.)

Also, some of your followers may live in different time zones, which can skew your data. For example, if you search "the best time to post on TikTok California," and you find it's 9:00 a.m., but you know the majority of your followers are on the East Coast, dig into the geographic data, and make sure you have your entire audience included.

The Facebook Audience

Despite all the newbies in the space (we’re looking at you, TikTok), Facebook is still the most popular social media platform in the world. In a GWI report, data shows it’s used by 7 in 10 consumers worldwide — primarily by Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials.

The Best Time to Post on Facebook

The numbers vary depending on where you look, but in general, the best times to post on Facebook are:

• Monday: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
• Tuesday: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
• Wednesday: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Thursday: 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.
• Friday: 11 a.m.

But, without getting too granular, the most consistent Facebook engagement was found during the week, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., with Wednesday topping the list as the most successful day to post on Facebook.

Industry Considerations for FB

Of course, engagement also varies by industry. So, to maximize reach, it’s important to know when your audience is online when it comes to posting industry-specific content. For example, CoSchedule found that B2B mirrored regular consumer trends. But, for B2C businesses, the morning, afternoon, and early evening yielded the best results, while media companies did best in the early morning, early afternoon, and after dinner.

In 2021, the industries that reported the most engagement from Facebook posts and Facebook ads were:

• Retail
• Ecommerce
• Real Estate
• Consultancy Agencies
• Investment Companies
• Fitness
• Healthcare

It's critical to dig into the details of your business and respective audience type for better long-term engagement. The good news is that there are tools to help!

Facebook Analytic Tools

Luckily, Facebook has some incredibly useful tools built directly into its platform. The Facebook Insights Page provides free information about your account’s performance, such as demographic data about your audience and post responses.

Your Page Insights will only show data for the last two years and demographic data (such as age, gender and location, are available) once there’s data for 100 or more people.

You can use Insights to:
Analyze (and find) your competitors.

• Understand how people are engaging with your Page.
• View metrics about your Page's performance.
• Learn which posts have the most engagement.
• See when your audience is on Facebook.

To create a Facebook business page:

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. From the Pages section,select Create New Page.
3. Add your Page name and category.
4. Add your Page’s bio and select Create.
5. Add information, such as Contact, Location, and Hours, and select Next.
6. Add profile and cover photos, edit the action button, and select Next.
7. Invite friends to connect with your Page, and select Next.
8. Select Done.

To find your existing Page Insights:

1. From your Facebook Feed,select Pages in the left menu.
2. Go to your Page.
3. Click Insights in the left menu.

In addition to Page Insights and Instagram Insights, Meta Business Suite allows you to manage your Facebook and Instagram business accounts. It can provide detailed insights about your audience, content, and trends.

Meanwhile, the Facebook Ads Manager lets you create, view, make changes and see results for all your Meta campaigns, ad sets, and ads.

How to Integrate Text Marketing

Like sharing on Facebook, when you implement text marketing, customers can easily share SMS and MMS messages with supporters. This introduces friends to your company, helping to increase engagement and conversion opportunities.

To further increase reach, implement a text campaign alongside your Facebook marketing efforts by offering incentives and giveaways for social media followers who opt-in to text marketing.

There are even messaging analytics available to track your text campaigns' success over time.

The Instagram Audience

Regarding Instagram, Gen Z is nearly 1.4x less likely to use Facebook than the average social media user. Instagram is their preferred platform, although a Hubspot-sponsored survey found that the gap between the two has shrunk since the end of 2020.

Additionally, a study by the Pew Research Center found that nearly a third of Americans get their news from Facebook. But, unlike Facebook, Instagram isn’t designed for long reads. Instead, it’s a visually-based social media platform, so it shines as a tool to gain followers, share quick updates, and post brand-building content along with high-quality product photos (which is where photo editing apps will come in handy!)

The Best Time to Post on IG

So, when’s the best time to post on Instagram? Unlike many of the other platforms, Instagram tends to get more consistent daily traffic. Generally, the best times to post on IG is:

• Monday: 11 a.m.
• Tuesday: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Wednesday: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Thursday: 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
• Friday: 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.

To drive more engagement on Instagram, you may want to consider posting reels. Recent data shows that reels can get up to 300% more pull than regular Instagram videos and posts.

Hootsuite’s research shows that the best time to post reels on Instagram is:

• Monday to Thursday: 9 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Industry Considerations For IG

Instagram is still the leading platform for brand and product discovery, so ecommerce and Instagram are virtually made for each other. And, as new e-commerce features are added, Instagram shopping has become the go-to retailer platform. Nearly 130 million people engage with shoppable posts each month, making it a top contender to market your small business.

But e-commerce isn’t the only sector killing it on the gram. Other top industries include:

• Fashion
• Food
• Travel
• Beauty
• Real Estate

Instagram Analytic Tools

If you have an Instagram Business or Creator Account, the Instagram platform tracks key data for you. It includes details about your audience, such as geographic location and age, as well as metrics around impressions, engagement rate, follower growth, and even select-through rates.

To set up Instagram analytics, first, you’ll want to create a business or creator account.

To view existing business account insights:

1. Go to your profile.
2. Tap the Insights action button.
   • You can also go to Menu in the icon with the three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner and tap Insights.
3. Tap the metrics under the Overview section or specific content you’ve shared for a more detailed breakdown.

Other services, such as Sprout Social, IconoSquare, Phlanx, and Tapfluencer, also offer robust Instagram analytics as part of a subscription. Some of these programs provide additional tools, such as Instagram scheduling and publishing features which also allow businesses to monitor engagement in real-time.

How to Integrate Text Marketing

High-impact imaging is a huge reason for Instagram’s success. Consider adding visuals to your text marketing campaign using MMS picture messaging, which can help improve engagement rates by 250%.

The TikTok Audience

Over the last few years, TikTok has become a permanent channel in the social media world. While most of its over one billion users are Gen Z and Millenials, surprisingly, the number of Gen X and Baby Boomers using TikTok at least once a week has doubled since the end of 2020.

But Gen Z tends to favor TikTok over Instagram, so if your target audience were born between 1997 and 2012, you’d want to factor this into your posting strategy.

The Best Time to Post on TikTok

This platform's busiest traffic hours are around midday and midweek. But, more specifically, the best times to post on TikTok 2021 are:

• Tuesday: 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.
• Wednesday: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
• Thursday: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Industry Considerations for TikTok

According to Hubspot’s GWI social report, TikTok is the social media platform in the U.S. for product discovery due to its casual, tongue-in-cheek approach to branding. Unlike Instagram’s curated interface, TikTok has been successful in its more “free form” attitude, which demands less formality from entrepreneurs and small businesses.

AppAnnie found that TikTok leads the pack as the number-one driver of consumer spending, which grew from $1.3 billion in 2021 to $2.3 billion in 2022 — and thanks to a collaboration with Shopify, that number is likely to continue growing. Interestingly, TikTok users also reported that the brand connection developed via the platform led to unexpected and unplanned spending.

So, what small business sectors are finding the most traction on TikTok? Insider Intelligence reported that as of August 2022, the top engagement rates on TikTok were for the following business types:

• Higher Education
• Sports Teams
• Nonprofits
• Food
• Retail
• Fashion
• Tech
• Home Decor
• Health and Beauty

TikTok Analytic Tools

Like Instagram, TikTok offers built-in analytics for those with a TikTok Business account. To get all the insider details, switch to a business account or set up an advertiser account.

To switch to a business account:

1. Go to your TikTok profile.
2. Open the Settings and privacy tab (the three lines in the top right corner).
3. Tap Manage account.
4. Under Account control, choose Switch to Business Account.

To view existing analytics:

1. Go to your TikTok profile.
2. Open the Settings and privacy tab in the top right corner.
3. Under Account, choose the Creator Tools tab.
4. From there, select Analytics.

TikTok tracks how well your videos perform compared to competitors, new followers gained after posting a video, peak engagement times, and data about your followers, such as gender and geographic location.

Check out tools like Socalinsider, Analisa.io, and Popsters to boost your insights further.

How to Integrate Text Marketing

According to an article published by LinkedIn, 98% of Gen Z members own a smartphone. As a result, marketers who use text marketing as a cross-channel tool to further promote product and service offerings often see better response and engagement rates. With SMS and MMS messaging, as well as various features and campaigns, you can personalize your content for the most impact.

The Twitter Audience

Twitter ranks among the top most popular social media sites — especially for news and trending topics. Twitter was built for sharing meatier content (often used as a “threading” or “micro-blogging” platform), so it’s been the go-to choice for brands who want to engage in meaningful conversation and respond to consumer concerns.

Other vital Twitter stats to note: Most users are between the ages of 25 and 34 and tend to identify as male (56.45%). Additionally, 33% of all Twitter users have a college education and have higher incomes than users of other social media platforms.

The Best Time to Post on Twitter

Because many consumers get their news from Twitter, they tend to use the platform earlier in the day. With that in mind, the best times to post on Twitter are:

• Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
• Saturday: 9 a.m.

Industry Considerations for Twitter

According to the Social Insider blog, Twitter is the social media platform with the most diversified content. However, as of February 2022, the jewelry industry is seeing the most engagement on Twitter. It’s enjoying a double average engagement rate compared to the previous year.

Other top performers include:

• Food and Beverage
• Home Living
• Fashion
• Auto
• Beauty
• Travel

Twitter Analytic Tools

Twitter has offered in-platform analytics since 2014, which allows you to track and view key metrics, including follower gain/loss, impressions, engagement rate, retweets, and more. Moreover, it’s available to all Twitter users, including personal and business accounts — so you don’t need to switch accounts. Instead, you simply need to turn on the feature.

To turn on analytics:

1. Sign in to analytics.twitter.com.
2. Select “Turn analytics on.”

To access existing analytics:

1. Visit analytics.twitter.com on your desktop and select on Tweets.
2. In the Twitter app (for iOS or Android):
   • Tap the analytics icon visible in your Tweets

There are also tools like Sprout Social, which offer detailed reporting, including Twitter Competitor Reporting, Twitter Paid Performance Reports, and Twitter Trends and Keyword Reports for more in-depth insights.

How to Integrate Text Marketing

Want to beef up your customer service? Consider using SMS features with your Twitter accounts to help with customer service issues. Features such as two-way texting help you respond more quickly and provide professional responses to common concerns and questions.

The LinkedIn Audience

While LinkedIn has over 830 million users in more than 200 countries, the platform tends to be most popular with Millenials and Gen X’ers. According to the Pew Research Center, most of its users fall between 30 and 49 years old (36%) and between 50 and 64 years old (33%). The remaining 30% goes to 18 to 29-year-olds. Additionally, half of all adults with college degrees use LinkedIn.

Because the platform works well with short and long-form content, it’s a strong choice for those who want to build brand awareness and participate in hot topics.

The Best Time to Post on LinkedIn

Because LinkedIn was developed to connect professionals, unsurprisingly, engagement for this platform is highest during the typical U.S. nine-to-five grind. In general, the best times to post on LinkedIn are:

• Tuesdays: 10 a.m. to noon
• Wednesdays and Thursdays: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Industry Considerations for LinkedIn

As a professional network, LinkedIn is not just a favorite among job seekers but for businesses as well. In fact, as of 2021, more than 55 million companies were listed on the platform. Additionally, LinkedIn is a favorite for B2B marketers, who rank it above Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube and have reported that it's responsible for 80% of their social media leads.

Sprout Social also published data that found businesses marketing on LinkedIn generate 277% more leads than Facebook marketing alone.

So, who are the top performers? In the last few years, the industries with the most engagement on LinkedIn are:

• Information Technology & Services
• Hospital & Healthcare
• Construction
• Retail
• Education Management
• Financial Services
• Accounting
• Computer Software
• Higher Education
• Automotive

LinkedIn Analytic Tools

You can view post analytics for all your content, from short-form posts and images to videos, events, polls, and articles.

To view LinkedIn post analytics:

1. Select the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Under Manage, select Posts & Activity.
3. Select the Articles or Posts tab based on what you’re seeking.
4. Select View next to the Analytics icon below your post or article

From the Post Analytics page, you can see metrics around:

• Engagements
• Discovery
• Impression demographics
• Article performance
• Article viewer demographics
• Video performance
• Video viewer demographics

For a deeper dive into engagement trends, check out tools like Keyhole, SocialPilot, and Socialinsider.

How to Integrate Text Marketing

Part of a successful social media marketing campaign on a platform like LinkedIn is planning your posts ahead of schedule. When used with a text automation campaign, you can send automatic replies to inbound texts to create immediate engagement and deploy personalized messages that inform, engage and help convert customers.

Leverage EZ Texting and Improve Social Engagement

Social media is an incredibly powerful marketing channel when you understand your audience. Add complementary tools, such as text marketing, and you can supercharge your reach. Our platform features all the tools you need to sort, organize, and analyze your potential clients and customers, so that you can create more impactful content.

Want to learn how text marketing can improve your overall engagement? Contact us today to learn more!