If you manage social media accounts for your business, you’ll know that it can be tricky to cut through the noise and gain attention. As platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter move away from chronological timelines to relevance-based feeds, engaging people quickly is key to staying ahead of competitors.
An important first step in creating engaging social media content is knowing when to post to drive the greatest number of interactions.
In truth, figuring out the sweet spot for your business comes down to knowing your followers’ habits. However, we’ve put together some general guidelines using data from Sprout Social, with peak activity times for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter you can use as a handy cheat sheet.
Best times to post on Facebook
Best times: Wednesday 11am and 1–2pm
Best day: Wednesday
Worst day: Sunday
According to research by Sprout Social, Wednesday is a peak activity day on Facebook for many industries, including media, education, consumer goods, finance, healthcare, tech and non-profits. Activity tends to taper off towards the end of the week, making Sunday the worst day for engagement.
The research showed Facebook garnered the most consistent engagement during Tuesday through Thursday from 8am–3pm, so these are considered the ‘safest’ times to post. On the flipside, the lowest engagement periods are before 7am or after 5pm every day.
Best times to post on Instagram
Best times: Wednesday at 11 am and Friday from 10 am–11am
Best day: Wednesday
Worst day: Sunday
Like Facebook, the best day to post on Instagram is Wednesday and the worst day is Sunday. This applies to consumer goods, tech, non-profits and recreation businesses, with some variations for other industries like finance and healthcare. Generally though, peak engagement occurs on Instagram during the middle of the week and engagement is lower on weekends.
The most consistent engagement on Instagram happens on Monday to Friday between 9am and 4pm. Engagement decreases every day before 6am and after 9pm, but compared to other platforms, Instagram has higher overall engagement on weekends and mornings.
Best times to post on Twitter
Best times: Wednesday and Friday at 9am
Best days: Wednesday and Friday
Worst day: Saturday
The best posting times for Twitter vary by industry, but Wednesday and Friday mornings generally attract the highest engagement. The highest engagement blocks happen on Monday to Friday between 8am and 4 pm. Engagement drops off later in the day, with the lowest periods happening every day before 4am and after 10pm.
Best practices for scheduling and posting on social media
As we mentioned earlier, finding the right times to post on social media comes down to understanding your followers’ behaviours and habits. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to:
- Test posting at different times of day and on different days of the week
- Test posting different types of content at different times of day
- Test different posting frequencies
Trialing different approaches and regularly reviewing your engagement levels over time will help give you a clear picture of what works for your audience (and what doesn’t).
White Pages Connect makes it easier to schedule posts on Facebook and other major sites in a single click, plus update your details on search engines, apps and maps. Find out more here.
