The Best Times to Post on Social Media Right Now

Welcome to IMMS: Internet Marketing Media Services. One of our firm’s goals is to help companies use social media platforms to their advantage. Our team of experts knows how to build a following that can convert into buyers. To do so, your brand should understand when it’s best to post on social media.

We often get asked the same question. “It doesn’t matter what time I post on social media, right?” Wrong. Your posts will not have their desired effects if a lot of your audience doesn’t see the content. Posts that get timed-well lead to five important outcomes:

• More likes
• More comments
• More engagement
• More shares
• More click-throughs

When is it best to post on social media? The key is to never assume there’s one “magical time” to post on your brand’s accounts. That’s why this article’s divided into four sections. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. LinkedIn. This is so your team can connect with your audience during all the best times.

Best Times to Post on Social Media with B2B and B2C

Here at IMMS, our own team spent many hours conducting B2B and B2C scientific studies. The following information is the result of those studies. Before we get into specifics, here is the closest we could get to finding a “magical time” to post content.

Your best bet is to post between 9 am and midnight EST on Monday through Wednesday. This applies for all major social platforms and to both B2B and B2C organizations. But that’s not specific enough. There are different peak posting times on social media, depending on the platform.

So, let’s go the extra mile. Below are the best times for your brand to post on all major sites and apps. Keep in mind that the listed times are in the Eastern Time Zone. But say your company’s located in a state like Thousand Oaks in California. You may want to post at the same time but in your specific time zone.

When to Post Content on Facebook

Beware of sites advising when to post on Facebook that is over a year old. Why? Facebook made huge changes to its algorithm in 2019. It started giving preference to “meaningful interactions” with friends and family. Who suffered as a result of this? Brands.

This was due to many people complaining that they were seeing too many ads on Facebook. It’s now more difficult than it used to be for companies to connect with people on the platform. The shortcut is to pay for ads. But, of course, it might not be within your company’s budget to do so. So, how can you or your team outwit Facebook’s algorithm? By posting at specific times.

When it comes to B2B brands, the best time to post is from 9 am to 2 pm EST. The three best days are Tuesday – Thursday. IMMS’ studies found that B2C brands should post even earlier in the week. The best three days are Monday – Wednesday. And the best time for each day is 12 pm EST.

Consider the following data when you or your team creates content for Facebook:

• Three out of four Facebook users log in on a daily basis. This is more than all other social media platforms.
• As of 2020, almost 90% of Facebook users access the platform on a smartphone.

Here is a shortcut for determining when your brand’s Facebook posts are most effective. All you have to do access your Facebook Page Insights. It’s a great tool for measuring when your audience views your content. A similar option is to use Hootsuite Analytics to view this important data.

When to Post Content on Twitter

You and your team should always keep the following stat in mind when it comes to Twitter. The average lifespan of every tweet is eighteen minutes. Once those eighteen minutes are up, fewer and fewer people will see the tweet on their feeds. What does this imply? Timing is crucial for getting brand traction on Twitter.

IMMS determined that the best two days for B2B companies to tweet is either Monday or Thursday. But the time window is different for both days. The peak tweeting time for Monday is 9 am to 4 pm EST. And the best time to tweet on Thursdays? 11 am to 1 pm EST. In other words? Show off your B2B content every Monday during your target audience’s business hours.

What are the best days to tweet for B2C companies? Monday through Wednesday from 12 pm to 1 pm EST. This is a tight window that your brand should take advantage of.

Consider the following data when your team creates content for Twitter:

• -4 out of 5 Twitter users are millennials.
• -4 out of 5 Twitter users have middle to upper-class backgrounds.
• -4.5 out of 10 Twitter users log on at least once per day.
• -8 out of 10 Twitter users are from countries outside of the United States. (Twitter allows users to post in 33 different languages.)

When to Post Content on Instagram

Instagram is becoming more of an important platform for companies by the day. That’s why IMMS went all-out. We analyzed almost 300,000 recent business posts across the United States. Let’s break up our findings for when to post on IG based on specific industries:

• The food/beverage industry: 12 pm EST on Fridays
• Educational organizations: 4 – 5 pm EST on Mondays through Fridays
• Tourism/travel companies: 9 am – 1 pm EST on Fridays
• Entertainment and media companies: 12 – 3 pm EST on Tuesdays and Thursdays
• Retail companies: 12 pm EST on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays
• Non-profit organizations: 10 am or 4 pm EST on Tuesdays
• E-commerce brands: 4 pm or 9 pm EST on Thursdays
• Technology companies: 2 pm EST on Mondays and Tuesdays
• Personal care brands: 1 pm – 3 pm EST on Thursdays and Fridays
• Healthcare and pharmacy companies: 9 am EST on Wednesdays and Sundays

IMMS was able to use this data to determine the best general time for EVERYONE to post on Instagram. It’s from 12 – 1 pm every Monday through Friday. This is due to workers scrolling through their feeds on their lunch breaks. Whether it’s Instagram or another platform, be sure to post in the time zone of your targeted audience.

For example, say you’re targeting people on the West Coast. Then your post should go up from 12 – 1 pm PST. Instagram’s algorithm favors recent posts. What does this imply? That your brand should post when the majority of your target audience is using IG.

Here’s one question IMMS often gets. “When is the best time to post on Instagram during the holidays?” It was difficult for us to find specific data that leads to a conclusion. Our answer: 10 am – 4 pm on holidays. This time frame also applies to Sundays. Like holidays, people are resting on Sundays, so it’s difficult to find an exact time. Peaks’ social media times are always easier to analyze on Mondays through Fridays.

When to Post Content on LinkedIn

IMMS’ data reveals that there are four peak times for your brand to post content on LinkedIn. This applies to both B2B and B2C brands:

• 7:25 am EST
• 10:45 am EST
• 12:45 pm EST
• 5:45 pm EST

We did find a slight variation for which days B2B and B2C brands should post their content on LinkedIn:

• The best day for B2B is Wednesday.
• The second-best day for B2B is Tuesday.
• The best days for B2C get equal traction: Mondays and Wednesdays.

IMMS was able to use data to find a potential secret weapon for getting engagement on LinkedIn. Most companies post by the hour. 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm—you get the idea. The trick is to post at the 45-minute mark of each hour. 1:45 pm, 2:45 pm, 3:45 pm, and so on. This will help your brand beat your crowd of competitors and give you a head-start each day.

Another LinkedIn engagement secret is to avoid posting on weekends. IMMS found weekend posts to be a waste of time. This is because Linked-In is career-oriented. So, most people don’t want to think about work during their time off. This is also why you should never post on LinkedIn past 5:45 pm on weekdays. Consider the following information when you or your team produces content for LinkedIn:

• -Almost 60% of LinkedIn usage is by way of smartphones.
• -Out of all Americans with a college degree, half of them use LinkedIn.
• -Almost 50% of LinkedIn users work in upper management.

When Is the Best Time to Post on Tik Tok?

You might wonder when the ideal time to post on Tik Tok is. After all, Tik Tok has taken the social media world by storm in the last year or so. But the answer to this question is not simple. Why? Because Tik Tok is very different from all other social apps. The key difference is that Tik Top appeals to a young demographic. That demographic consists of many people who are going to school.

A lot of them are working shifts instead of going to a full-time job. This means that people’s schedules can fluctuate.

IMMS took the initiative and assessed more than 100,000 Tik Tok posts. But what our researchers found might disappoint you. There is inconclusive evidence about when you or your brand should make TikTok posts.

The app has not been popular long enough to reach a conclusion. The key is for you to post when you feel your account’s followers are active. That time will vary depending on your specific demographic. So, keep experimenting with Tik Tok. Over time, you will start to realize how to win engagement and get people’s attention.