The days of random social media postings are over. Now, when you post is as important as what and where.
Data about the best times and days to post on social media is now encyclopedic. Co-Schedule, Hub Spot’s Roundup, TruConversion, Buffer, Huff Post, Sure Payroll, Fast Company, Quintly, Post Planner, etc. all have something to say about when and how to generate more traffic, more engagement, more followers and and more clients through their research on social media. And all of them have applications, templates and strategies galore for your choosing.
The very first thing to know and keep reminding yourself is that 50% of the population in this country lives in the Eastern Time Zone. 80% of this nation’s population lives in the Eastern and Central Time Zones. Also know that Arizona is the only state in the country that does not practice daylight savings time so during the winter, AZ is on Mountain Time and during the summer, AZ is on Pacific Time.
Let’s take a look at Facebook first. The best days to post on Facebook are Saturdays and Sundays (both register 32% users) and Tuesdays and Fridays (both register 18% users.) According to the Huff Post, Facebook users spike by 10% on Fridays.
The best times to post on Facebook are 9AM, 1PM (the most shares) and 3PM (the most clicks). The worst time to post during the week on Facebook is 8AM and the worst time during the weekend is after 8PM.
Next, Twitter. Optimal times to post on Twitter, unless you’re President Trump, are 12 – 3PM with a peak at 5PM. Niche markets such as real estate have larger Twitter users on the weekends. Wednesdays at noon and 5-6 PM are very good and Monday – Friday are good days between noon and 3 PM and again at 5 PM. You might want to experiment with 2-3 AM, 6-7 AM and 9-10 PM time slots.
To increase your re-tweets and click throughs, focus in on noon, 5-6 PM and 3 PM time slots. B2B Twitter use is higher during the workweek (M-F) and B2C Twitter use is higher on the weekends because people have more time to interact with it.
Instagram gets attention seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Mondays and Thursdays are a bit better but the difference is marginal. The best times to post on Instagram are 8-9 AM, 2 AM, 5 PM.
Pinterest gets most of its action on Saturdays between 8-11 PM and Fridays at 3 PM. The best times to Pin are 8-11 PM with a 9 PM peak, 2-4 AM, 2-4 PM and 1-3PM
LinkedIn’s midweek postings are optimal from 5-6PM. The most LI click throughs happen at 5-6 PM, noon and 7-8 AM. Forget about anything here from 10 PM – 6 AM.
