We recently started a big project at Thanksweb: we want to find the best times to post on all of the major social networks in 2024.
We looked through millions of posts, reels, tweets, shorts, videos, and other types of content to find out when the most popular content was shared.
We looked at the times when people were most likely to interact with posts on X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to figure out the best time to post. We looked at reach and video views to figure out when it would be best to post on YouTube.
Both times, we saw some clear trends. When people are most likely to interact on social media, it is an important thing to think about when planning your social media marketing approach.
Algorithm of Social Media
The algorithms that rank the feeds take audience involvement into account when determining how much users want to see something on social media sites. What you post is more likely to show up in newsfeeds if people interact with it.
But the algorithm rates your posts based on other things as well, though they don’t seem to be as important as engagement.
Post recency, which means how recently you put out your content, is one of them. Even though newsfeeds are no longer arranged according to date, nobody wants to open their apps to see outdated content, so it’s crucial to consider your social media posting strategy.
This is where Thanksweb’s social media marketing services help you shine on social media. We schedule posts for the suggested times and keep an eye on how well they do to find out what works best for your audience.
What’s the best time to post on social media across all platforms?
For each social media site, there isn’t a single best time to post. Why? All of them are used in very different ways.
For example, LinkedIn is used to connect professionals and really takes off during work hours. Because Instagram is more about fun, posts in the feed, reels, and stories are more likely to get likes and comments during normal breaks during the day. Monday is usually a better day for tweets, while Friday is by far the best day for YouTube.
Take a look at these graphs. It doesn’t overlap much, especially when you look at all the big platforms. We can’t be as specific as we would like for each platform, but we can make general suggestions that make a lot of sense. For instance, posts made on the weekends and in the middle of the night tend to get less attention on social media.
Because of this, you should have a digital marketing plan and a social media calendar with different times to post on each site. Let’s talk about what we think about all of them.
When it comes to social media, the right time is very important. When you share your information, it can have a big effect on how many people see it and how engaged they are with it.
If you want more engagement and sales from your social media posts but aren’t getting enough of them, it could be because you’re posting at the wrong time for your fans.
Different social media sites are very active at different times, so it’s important to know when your target group is most likely to be online. This information makes your message more visible and encourages engagement, making sure it reaches the right people.
Reading this will help you figure out the best time to post on social media. By the end, you’ll have a good idea of how to find the best time to post so that you and your fans get more likes, comments, and shares.
You can also read about How To Optimize Your Social Media Profiles?
How Do You Know When to Post on Social Media?
Follow these general rules to figure out when your posts will get the most attention:
- Timezones: Think about what time zone your audience lives in. If your audience is spread out around the world, this could mean sharing at different times.
- Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have stats built in that can help you find the best times to connect with your audience.
- Some third-party tools can give you more detailed data and bring together data from different platforms.
- Choose your best posts and write down the dates and times you put them up. Maybe patterns will tell you when people are most interested in what you have to say.
- Try posting on different days and times of the week to see what works best. Keep track of how many notes, shares, and likes you get.
- Use what you’ve learned to make your writing plan work better. Always remember that the best times can change, so try often.
- Sometimes, people may be more interested in some businesses than others. A store name and a business-to-business (B2B) company may have different ideas about when to post. You need to look for changes in your competitors.
- Time your posts to coincide with holidays or events that people may be interested in. If the material is up-to-date, it may get more people to interact with it.
- Know about changes to the way platforms work. The formulas that run social media sites are always changing, which can change how many people see your posts. Learn more about these changes.
- As much as it’s important to post at the right time on social media, what’s even more important is the quality of your posts. You can post interesting and useful things at any time, and they will do well.
Don’t forget that there is no one answer that works for everyone. To find the best times to post, you need to test and make changes often.
When is the best time to post on Facebook?
- In general, Monday and Tuesday at 10 AM are the best times to post on Facebook.
- Monday through Thursday are the best days to post on Facebook.
- Sunday is the worst day to post on Facebook.
It’s clear that the best times to post on Facebook were very close to the general trend. This makes sense since Facebook has more than 3 billion users, which is the most people. So it will definitely have a big effect on the end result.
Facebook users tend to be a little older than users of other social media apps. More than half of the people who use it say they do it to stay up-to-date on the news. People may be looking during their coffee and lunch breaks, which is why there are so many active users in the middle of the morning.
When is the best time to Instagram?
- In general, Monday or Tuesday at 9 AM is the best time to post on Instagram.
- Monday is the best day to post on Instagram.
- Sunday is the worst day to post on Instagram.
Instagram and Facebook are both part of Meta, but it’s possible that their algorithms are different. There is also a large group of people who use both sites. Now we know why the best time to post on Instagram is the same as the best time to post on Facebook:
Instagram is a place where people post funny pictures and have fun. It looks like they enjoy that interruption a lot as they start their day.
Post your most interesting content early in the week to give people what they want. Check out some funny reels to see if they like short movies more. Then, put out your advertising content on Thursday and Friday, when people are beginning to think about what they want to do with their time and money over the weekend.
What’s the best time to post on YouTube?
- In general, Friday at 6 PM is the best time to post on YouTube.
- Friday is the best day to post on YouTube.
- Monday is the worst day to post on YouTube.
YouTube has a lot of longer movies. In other words, people can’t quickly look during breaks. This is the reason why participation goes up at night and on weekends.
Also, keep in mind that YouTube’s system works more like Google than a social media site. It takes a while for your YouTube movies to show up in a feed. The computer has to first read your content and then match it with people it thinks will like it. This process takes a little while.
It is better to post on YouTube a few hours before you want people to find it. This gives the computer time to index it. Plan your posts so that people will have time to watch them, especially if they are long. If your main goal is YouTube shorts, try posting on Instagram Reels at the same time to see if people notice the short videos there.
When is the best time to post on LinkedIn?
- To post on LinkedIn Monday at 10 AM is the best time.
- In terms of day, Monday is the best day and Saturday and Sunday are the most unfavourable days
What we found about the best times to post on LinkedIn is pretty well organized. All of this points to sharing early in the week and early in the day being best for the platform:
It’s not really a surprise. People in the business world use LinkedIn to find new jobs and to connect with each other, so it makes sense that there will be a lot of activity during normal working hours. The trend toward video on the site is something that wasn’t quite expected. We’re used to seeing a lot of text on LinkedIn, but short videos are becoming more popular.
People usually check LinkedIn every so often, but most of the time it’s in the morning. Putting out a few posts every day early in the week is a good idea. Video posts get more views later in the day, as we’ve seen on other platforms. Save your text-heavy posts for the morning. Then, in the afternoon, send your fans a short video.
Conclusion
If you want your content to have the best chance of working, start at the times mentioned in this blog. One important thing to keep in mind before we start: sharing your content on social media at the “right” time is not the key to making it popular. Get people to like, write, share, and click on your posts.