Do you know the best times to post on social media for each specific network?
Social media is great, but it will only provide results for you if you truly understand when you should be posting on each social network. You can play the guessing game, and post when you WANT to but, how do you know this is when you audience WANT you to post?
I came across a study from coschedule.com where they used the algorithm behind their social media calendar to find the best time to post on each social network. This is a great study, and one which I knew I had to share with my audience.
My 8 years in social media has taught me that everything is constantly evolving. What used to be the “best time to post” on social media last year, is now no longer relevant so if you’re reading this and thinking “I already know” you might need to stay a bit more up to date and I’m here to help you with that.
The study from coschedule combined their data, with those of other industry leaders including Buffer, Forbes, HubSpot and Huffington Post. Let’s take a look at the best times to post on social media, specific to each network.
For Facebook, the best time to post is on Friday’s, because this, according to coschedule is when people are at their happiest, and looking for great content. The best time for clicks is 3pm, and the best time for shares is at 1pm. Make sure you use Facebook Analytics to keep track of this data as it might need some tweaking for your specific target market.
Twitter is very different to Facebook in regards to the best times to post. Wednesday around midday, and between 5-6pm is the best time to post, and 18% of Twitter users are more likely to engage when they are on the move (hence the rush hour time being the best). Don’t forget to use Twitter Analytics to measure your data.
Pinterest is a visual social network, so it doesn’t surprise me that coschedule said the best times to post are in the evening between 8-11pm, on a Saturday. The worst time to post is during work hours, which again makes sense as Pinterest is addictive and users won’t want to invest their time during work hours. 80% of people won’t interact with your Pinterest uploads unless there is a call-to-action so make sure you do this.
As LinkedIn is a professional social network, it’s no surprise that the best times are in the morning, during lunch and early evening. People treat LinkedIn like a newspaper, so that is why LinkedIn users are most engaged during the morning. Even though LinkedIn is a professional network, the best times to post are still before, and after work.
GOOGLE+
The best time to post on Google+ is between 9am – 11am on Wednesday’s. Unfortunately, 90% of people on Google+ are just searching and not fully engaging with content. Use all Google Analytics available to you, to track the best time for your business.
With Instagram, avoid posting between 3-4pm, as this is the time when your audience is least engaged with you. According to coschedule, posting a video at 9pm gets 34% more interaction, and posting outside of work hours is going to get you the best engagement.
I am only sharing a small chunk of the data but if you do want more in-depth analysis, see the infographic and findings here.
Based on the above data, are you going to change the times you post on social media?
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