So much has changed thanks to the pandemic, every other guide, material, and blog keeps mentioning the shifts the pandemic has brought to digital consumption, user behaviors and not to mention our work arrangements.

If no one checks out the content you worked so hard on is it even worth the effort anymore? We’re not going to lie it is not possible to reach each and every one of your followers but you can definitely optimize and leverage your posts to go out when the majority of the users on the platform are active. You are going to post on the social platforms anyway so why not do it effectively?

Now, we admit. It cannot be easy keeping up with all these fast-tracked changes all the time. As the world’s work arrangements and consumption habits shifted so did its online activity. Pre-covid, you could easily map someone’s online activity by keeping track of their commute, work, and breaks but what happens when a significant fraction of employers and employees prefer working from home?

Well, the first step is obviously to not worry. Step two is grabbing onto these reins with us and galloping forward! Let’s learn about new patterns and the best time to post on social media in 2023 together!

Global Best Time to Post on Social Media. (A Myth?)

The short answer is technically yes – There is a global best time to post on social media. The slightly longer answer is that there is data present that displays certain days and times that prove higher engagement across a majority of the social media platforms present like the midweek mornings (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday).

However, these are extremely standardized statistics. We assume this high engagement is present because almost everyone wakes up in the morning and takes a few minutes to scroll on their phone before starting off their day or going over updates on their socials having their morning tea but there are better opportunities present if we dive just a bit deeper and learn about each individual platform.

By learning about the performances of each platform separately we should be able to find optimal times for our businesses and approach this conundrum in a more efficient manner.

The Best Time to Post on Facebook in 2023

Facebook has gone through a lot of shifts over its run. It went from being one of the most popular and fastly spreading social media platforms to now becoming a casual place where you can keep up with old friends, look at a few memes, consume some news and be a part of very active communities.

Research shows that the best to publish on Facebook is between 11 am-1 pm (CST) during weekdays and research also indicated that the worst times to publish on Facebook were early morning before 7 am and in the evenings before 7 pm. Mid mornings to mid afternoons have consistent user presence and activity on Facebook.

However, there is never an across-the-board solution for such things. You also have to take into consideration who your audience is, where are they located and how are they interacting with the platform. We will speak more about looking for your own best time to post on social media later in this article.

The Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2023

Possibly one of the most dynamic platforms to exist, Instagram has users all over the world who log in at various times. However, as research indicates, there are some overlapping times and patterns that can be used to your advantage when deciding what is the best time to post on social media.

On one end, when analyzed according to a high number of active users the results concluded that the best time to publish is between 5 am-6 am (EST). On the other end, when patterns of high engagement were recorded it was concluded that the best time to post on Instagram is between 11 am-12 pm.

Do these time frames come off a bit odd and strange to you? You’re not alone but there is a pretty good reason behind it – A more “early bird gets the worm” strategy has come into place.

Most businesses are actively publishing between the standard 9 am-1 pm slots which translate to a highly competitive feed where the algorithm will optimize the user experience and show content that is highly aligned with the user’s preferences. However, if you start posting earlier then that gives your content enough time to gain traction and climb the ranks helping it reach most accounts possible.

Later in the article when we discuss how to check your best time to post on social media. You can further customize these slots to get the best result from the platform.

The Best Time to Post on Twitter in 2023

It’s ironic that we were talking about early birds previously, and now we have moved on to Twitter. Was this on purpose? We’ll never tell.

However, just as any other social media if your audience is present on Twitter then you need to know what is the best time to tweet your content, and with Twitter being one of, if not the most, fast-moving platforms out there it becomes even more important that you try and strategize your post timings.

It is well known that posting between 12 pm-1 pm is the most popular time (this is true for all timezones) because Twitter users usually log in mid-day. However, to go against the grain and fend off a high volume of tweets, a lot of businesses find success in publishing outside of these popular times (in some cases going in the complete opposite direction). Finding the best time to post on Twitter for yourself might come with a bit of experimentation.

Moreover, since Twitter is such a fast-paced platform your business should not shy away from being really active and posting multiple times a day. Its short-form content lets you deliver your message in 280 characters or less and Twitter users are constantly checking their feeds for updates – there’s no reason why your business should not benefit from that.

The Best Time to Post on LinkedIn in 2023

Speaking of businesses benefiting how can we miss out on the most professional social media platform out there? LinkedIn stands out majorly due to the B2B niche that it offers.

Time to answer the big question: What are the best times to publish on LinkedIn?

According to one research, it was found that the best time to publish on LinkedIn is between 11 am-2 pm (EST). LinkedIn users were seen to be spread out throughout the day with their activity, as a significant amount of them check their feeds multiple times a day.

Publishing in the morning hours allows your content to reach the relevant audience thanks to the LinkedIn algorithm. The content is more likely to land on the feeds of a lot of people. As the day progress and the post gains traction the content is likely to remain near the top of the feed for hours later.

Just another reminder that these best time to post on social media are a blanket solution. We will be discussing how you can figure out your personal best times for your business later in the article. Stay tuned!

The Best Time to Post on YouTube in 2023

Still here? Well then it’s time to like, subscribe and hit that bell icon to make sure you never miss an update!

Who knew when YouTube came into existence people would go from their webcam videos doing crazy dances to now having agencies, influencers, and marketers scratch their heads trying to strategize their publishing times?

After evaluating a couple of researches we concluded that the best times to post on YouTube are between 2 pm-4 pm (CST) on weekdays and earlier in the day, between 9 am-11 am (CST) during the weekends.

Trends show that most users log into YouTube mid-day during the week and as the weekend approaches user activity increases. Best days usually are the weekend since user activity is high but so is competition so you might find that your videos will perform best if you publish before the competitive slots.

However, if you’re posting just one video a week then you might find that your personal best time to post may be completely different from these slots. We will go over how you can gauge this for yourself and what you need to consider to decide on the personal best time to post on social media later in the article.

The Best Time to Post on Reddit in 2023

Welcome to the front page of the internet. In print you would like your content to be on the front page so it’s the first people see when they pick up the paper but what do you do when you want to maximize your reach on the front page of the internet?

Well, you strategize your post timings of course. After much due diligence, it was concluded that the best times to post on Reddit were early mornings between 6 am-8 am (EST) with the best days being Mondays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Usually, during the work week people rarely take time out to see what’s happening on Reddit but on weekends and at the start of the work week, Reddit’s audience has been observed to check their feeds more actively which means the chances for your content to reach more people are a lot better at these times.

The Best Times to Post on Pinterest in 2023

The Pinterest world is way bigger than your inspiration and interior decor boards. A lot of businesses find their relevant audience and success by marketing on Pinterest. During covid, there was a surge in the number of users on the platform which translated to higher competition on the platform as more and more businesses hopped on the bandwagon.

Now, the best times to post on Pinterest are more important than ever before. It could gap that difference in your marketing goals and boost your reach. If you post at the right time the chances of more of your followers interacting with the Pin are higher and as more people interact with it the more will the Pinterest algorithm promote your pin to more feeds.

So, what are the best times to post on Pinterest? The best times are between 8 pm-11 pm (CST). This time window provided the best average of user activity on Pinterest. Diving a bit deeper into the reasoning for this we discover that Pinterest users usually log in after work, once they are done with their day at the office.

Now, it is great to be aware of averages when strategizing your publishing times but it’s not necessary that you find the same results at these times which is it is important that you’re aware what is the best time to post on social media for your business. We will discuss how you can find those times a bit later in the article.

The Best Times to Post on Google Business Profiles in 2023

Ever wondered what is the answer to every single question in the world? Google it.

Google is much more than a simple search engine now. They have expanded their services over their years of existence and they’ve helped a lot of businesses along the way. The most prominent platform being the Google Business Profiles (previously known as Google My Business).

We have concluded that you should be posting at least once per day on your Google Business Profile unless you’re running a promotion or an important piece of content then we would advise not posting for the next 6 days so the post comes up first in search. Google also promotes and improves the rankings of businesses that use Google services more frequently.

When it comes to the best times to post on Google Business Profiles, any time between 9 am-11 am during the week should be good. It is argued that there is no set best time to post on GBP but you can keep track of your CTR (click-through rate) by trying out different posts/promotions and then optimize your posts accordingly.

Find Your Own Best Time to Post on Social Media

Here we are – The long-awaited question we have sort of been teasing throughout this article. We mentioned repeatedly that it is great for you to know what the global averages are and how they can be used to your benefit but it is not necessarily true that the global average best and your personal best overlap.

What if you’re following suit, posting early mornings only to discover later that your audience doesn’t even log in till a completely opposite time. That is why you should look for your own best time to post on social media.

So here’s what you should do. You should start off by publishing at the best times listed above for a few weeks and once your social media pages have had enough time to gather some data you have to start analyzing those results.

Start by categorizing and tracking your posts according to your preferred metrics for example Likes, comments, reach, views, etc. Then try to see if there is a pattern between the top performing posts. Are there any overlapping times where these posts performed well?

Yes? That’s where you need to focus. Start using those times to post on your Socials, gather more data and check for improvements again. Consumer preferences and behaviors change over time. The best thing you can do for your business is to stay on top of these trends by keeping track of it.

If that doesn’t work out for you then look at your audience’s activity. What times are they highly active during the week and start posting at those times. The algorithm will put your posts in the top few on the feed of your audience, increasing the likelihood of engagement.

This practice won’t just help you discover the best time to post on social media for your business but also tell you what type of content is preferred by your audience and you can optimize your content strategy as well! Plenty of birds with 1 stone.

3 Tips on Identifying the Best Times to Post

1. Know Your Audience

   

   If you know who your audience is and where they’re present you’ll be able to optimize your posting strategy and it will be exponentially easier for you to figure out the best time to post on social media for yourself.

   Each channel and audience have different activity patterns and content preferences. As we have covered previously in this article, each platform has its own best average times to post that tell us about the activity patterns of the audience on that platform. Knowing your audience will help you a lot.

2. Time Zones

   

   This is an important factor that needs to be taken into consideration as well. Maybe you’re a company that’s operating from Australia but the majority of your audience is in North America. You’re clocking into work when your market is asleep and clocking out when they’re grabbing their favorite Starbucks drink on their way to work.

   You need to make sure that you’re accounting for the time zone your audience is in. This will ensure visibility and increase the probability of engagement on your posts. All the times we have listed in this article above are in CST or EST. You might have to adjust it according to your preferences when you’re strategizing.

3. Schedule Posts

   

   We’re going to be a bit bold and assume that you’re not a vampire and like to get some shut-eye when you’re away from your desk. What do you do when your audience is logging in at your bedtime? Well, you can always set up scheduled posts to go out.

   Why not make that process even simpler? Your business publishes on 3 different platforms. Imagine going back and forth, pasting content, making adjustments, and scheduling. Use scheduling tools like Social Champ to start optimizing your workflow and make those repetitive tasks feel less like a chore. We’ll talk more about how Social Champ can help you with your social media scheduling and management journey.

Best Time to Post on Social Media (by Industry)

I think you have a rough idea of how this goes by now. The audience, activity, and best time to post on social media can differ for every business and there are no “by the book” practices that you can maintain. These practices change and evolve and it is important that your business evolves with them.

However, we went ahead and picked up some major industries and looked at some best times for posting according to them to help you get a solid launchpad for strategizing your posts.

1. Healthcare

   If there is one industry that was affected the most due to the pandemic it was the healthcare industry. Never, in the history of social media, had this industry been so active on almost every platform present.

   People who religiously follow healthcare businesses are noted to be morning people which means they get an early start to the day. If you’re a part of the healthcare industry then you should be posting between 6 am-9 am during the week.

   Your posts should have gained enough momentum throughout the day to gather enough engagement.

2. Media

   

   You’re most likely to see that new Marvel trailer on your social media feed before any video streaming platform. For the entertainment industry, it has become really important to have an appropriate presence across social media to promote their content amongst their fanbase.

   According to research the best times to post for the media industry coincide with popular news broadcast slots which means if you’re in the media and entertainment industry the best times for you to post on social media would be between 7 am, 11 am, and 6 pm. You will probably receive a healthy amount of engagement during work hours during the week.

3. Education

   

   The Education industry is full of students who are running on caffeine, fast food, and are late for their classes. Students are known to burn the midnight oil but surprisingly they’re not very active on a lot of the social media platforms at this time.

   So, what would be the best time to post on social media for the education industry? Research suggests that it is divided into quarters. Early morning around 8 am, then at noon, and then at 3 pm.

   These slots cover pre-class and breaks during class timings for students when they are highly active on social media which is when you should ideally schedule your posts to go out if you’re in the Education industry.

4. Nonprofits

   

   Nonprofits, over the years, have found plenty of success promoting their initiatives and cause on social media platforms, especially on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter since trends and news develop really quickly here amongst a hearty audience in total.

   For nonprofits anytime between working hours i.e. 8 am-5 pm is a good window to post during the week. However, their audience is known to be less active during the weekends so it’s best to steer clear of posting during those days.

5. Restaurants

   

   Who doesn’t like to eat? Social media has become a hub for influencers and guides to publish reviews on different types of foods and beverages, experimental cuisines, and whatnot.

   Users actively seek such content, aesthetics, and feedback from people on social media and that’s why it has become extremely important for restaurants to have a rigid presence on social media platforms to keep up with the competition.

   One way to sustain presence is knowing the best times to post. Research indicates that the best time during the week is at noon (12 pm) with Friday being one of the best days for engagement and the weekend is slower than usual.

6. Tech

   

   The world of 1s and 0s is surprisingly hard to track when it comes to social media activity. They vary with their engagement and therefore there isn’t really an exact pattern that is being followed.

   That being said there is still a safe bet you can put your money on when it comes to the best time to post on social media for the tech industry.

   The mornings seem to be fairly active with engagement. You can post between 6 am-9 am with the middle of the work week (Wednesday) being the best day to post.

7. Travel and Tourism

   

   Remember when every Instagram account had wanderlust in their bios? Yeah, we deny remembering that too (it was just a bad dream).

   Now, it’s no secret that not every social media user can afford to travel all the time but that doesn’t mean that they don’t like to dream or at least vicariously live through others on their social media feeds.

   Travel and tourism must very well be one of the most attractive industries out there after food for social media users and that’s why you should optimize your posting times on social media to leverage it as much as possible.

   The best times to post are between 11 am-1 pm but do take into account your own audience’s activity and time zones to further optimize the results for your social media efforts.

8. Financial

   

   Finance bros assemble! And tell us why we can’t print more dollars to fix inflation? Alright, that was a joke but the finance industry isn’t a stranger to the realm of social media.

   The ever-fluctuating world of bullish and bearish trends, acquisitions, and news about the big 4 is attractive to a lot of people and has a cult following of its own.

   In the digital world, people want access to this information at their fingertips and if you’re working in the finance industry you’ll be able to sway things to your benefit by knowing what the best time to post on social media is for your industry.

   The research concludes that the best times are between 9 am-10 am during the week and you should avoid publishing during the weekends since they’re probably taking time away from screens and enjoying their weekends.

9. Hospitality

   

   Hospitality is all about selling dreams. Telling your audience about that sea-facing room, wooden flooring, and aesthetic lighting to provide them that “treat yourself” experience comfort through the screen.

   However, the audience interested in this industry is not big on looking this up during the week since they’re so caught up in work their daydreaming activities need to be put on hold or better yet postponed till the weekend.

   The hospitality industry finds that the best time to post on social media is on the weekends between 10 am-1 pm. You should see a higher range of engagement during this time than during the work week.

10. Real Estate

    

    Let’s get down to business. We’re not Christian Bale from The Big Short but we do know a bit about the housing market’s social media trends.

    In the real estate business, your social media strategy should be focused on building trust and credibility with your audience.

    The question arises, what is the best time to post on social media for this industry? It looks like the best times are between 9 am-12 pm due to high engagement activities on social media from the relevant audience.

Key Takeaways

Time to do a quick crash course before you start the quiz below.

Just kidding we’re not fans of tests we’re firm believers in procrastination and casual learning but we would love to run over some key takeaways from this article. What did we learn so far?

1) Be Aware of Best Time to Post on Social Media

Knowing when to post is an important part of your social media strategy. We hate to see social media managers pouring blood and sweat into their work and not seeing the turnover they hope to achieve.

As we mentioned earlier, if you’re going to post on social media why not do it at a time that increases the likelihood for your posts to perform better and get you the results you’re looking for?

2) The Who and Where

An important aspect of strategizing is knowing who you’re speaking to. If you are clueless about your audience then you won’t be able to effectively communicate and target them with your messaging in your social media posts.

Take some time out to learn about the audience in your industry, who they are and where are they (both digitally and geographically)? This will help you optimize your schedule and your content.

3) DYOR (Do Your Own Research)

Now that you’re aware of the best averages across the board it is important to experiment yourself and learn about the performance of your own business on different social platforms.

You can definitely start off by taking these best times to post on social media into account, collecting some performance data, and then taking a look at your top-performing posts.

When did they go out? Is there a pattern there? Start focusing there. It is possible that you find success for your business at less competitive times on social media.

4) Use Tools

Don’t burn yourself out in this process. Think of this as a marathon and not a sprint – You’re doing this for long-term results. You should definitely look into digital tools that can help you manage your social media effectively.

A scheduling and management tool like Social Champ can help you a lot in scheduling your posts on multiple platforms in one go, engaging with your audience using the social inbox, automating your content using features like Recycle and Auto-RSS, and also keeping track of performance using the analytics feature. All this for free!

To conclude, we’re extremely happy that you went through this journey with us. We hope your business finds that sweet spot of the best time to post on social media and lands amongst the stars. Best of luck and see you out there!