There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to perfecting your social media strategy. Nothing is more discouraging than spending days creating high-quality, just to see it flop. One thing that many people don't realize is that while having great content is SUPER important, also, when you present that content can be just as EQUALLY important. Even if you have fabulous content, if you cannot get it in front of the right audience, it will never yield the returns you want it to. 

The extent to which your content reaches your audience and new viewers can come down to the specific day of the week or time of day that you post it. Social media platforms have become so oversaturated with content, that if your post isn't front and center for your audience to see, they will likely miss it. So how do you know exactly when you should be posting? Your ideal time probably varies across each platform. Every platform has a general period of peak activity, both daily and weekly, when the most amount of users are active globally. But that isn't necessarily the same as when YOUR audience is most actively engaged. 

We break down the top social media platforms and highlight general trends when the most amount of global users are active so you can determine the optimal time for your business to be posting content. You can uncover when your personal audience is the most active on each platform, and in turn, precisely when you should be posting on social media to reach the most amount of users.

In General: 

Over 500 million global users check their Instagram on a daily basis. Users are most active during the week between 9 am-6 pm CDT. Overall, the best day and time to post is on a Thursday at 5 am, and 11 am-4 pm CDT. Other high peak times also include Tuesday at 7 pm CDT, Wednesday from 11 am-3 pm CDT, and Friday at 5 am and from 11 am-1 pm CDT (Hub Spot).

Personalized: 

Clearly, the best time to be posting is when your followers are most active. And luckily, Instagram tells you exactly when this is! First, you will need to switch or set up an Instagram business or creator profile, which can be done in your settings. This will give you access to Instagram Insights, which provides a personalized analysis of your followers. Go to your profile, tap the three lines, click ‘Insights,’ and tab over to 'Audience.' This will tell you details about your follower's demographics. If you scroll down, the bottom graph on this page shows you exactly when your followers are online and are most active. You can sort by hours, which tells you the time of day your followers are most active, or by days, which tells you what days, in particular, they spend the most time on Instagram. It is important to note that Instagram Insights only collects information for the past seven days, so we suggest taking a look at your analytics periodically and recording the data. Look for patterns in the data and identify the peak times that your followers are consistently most active. Then, post your content accordingly.

In General:

Facebook has over 1.73 billion daily users (let that sink in) (Oberlo). The most popular time of user engagement is generally on weekdays between 9 am- 3 pm CST, when most users are in school or at work. And the best day to post is on a Wednesday, between 11 am- 1 pm CST. The worst time to post is on Sundays and during the evenings (Sprout Social).

Personalized:  

If you have a business page, your Facebook Page Insights will help you determine when the best time for your business to be posting on Facebook is. Go to your businesses' page and click 'Insights' (just below the main search bar). If this is not an option, click 'More' and it should appear. Then click the 'Posts' option in the menu bar on the left-hand side. The section called 'When Your Fans Are Online' near the top of your screen provides a graph of when your audience is online. You can hover your mouse over the past seven days to pull up a day by day graphic that tells you how many people viewed your page and at what specific time (all listed in PTS time). It is important to note that Facebook only contains analytics for the most recent week, so record this data! Once you have recorded a few weeks, use the data to decipher precisely when your audience is visiting your page most, and post during these times. Because Facebook shows new posts to its users in chronological order, posting at your audience's peak time is super important for this platform!

In General: 

On average TikTok users spend 52 minutes a day on the app. And the highest rates of engagement, globally, are Tuesday at 9 am EST, Thursday at 12 am EST, and Friday at 5 am EST (Influencer Marketing Hub).

 Personalized: 

To access TikTok Analytics, you will first need to switch to a Pro Account, which anyone can do in their settings. If you are just switching, it may take a few days for the platform to gather all of your data and for the app to create your analytics report. To access your analytics, go to your 'Privacy and Settings,' tap 'Pro Account,' tap 'Analytics,' and go to the 'Followers' tab. Here, you will find details about your audience and your top demographics. If you scroll down, you will find a graph for 'Follow Activity,' which you can switch between 'Hours' and 'Days.' 'Days' will tell you which days of the week your followers are most active on TikTok and the 'Hours' section will tell you what time of day your followers are most active on the platform. Hence, these are the times and days you should be posting your content. Also, note that this data is recorded in UTC time and covers the past seven days, so take note of this information or take a screenshot of it so you can refer back to it at a later date.

In General:

As LinkedIn is all about building professional connections and networking, the best times to post are generally during business hours (10 am -6 pm) and during peak commuting times (7 am-9 am and 6 pm-8 pm). The worst days to post are weekends and surprisingly, on Mondays (Social Pilot).

Personalized: 

Compared to other platforms, LinkedIn does not provide the best analytics. If you go to the 'Me' tab located on the menu bar, go to the 'Manage' section, and click your company's page. Then click 'Analytics' located at the top of the page. Both the 'Visitors' and 'Followers' section will show you a graph of how many users visited/ followed your page on a given day. Unfortunately, LinkedIn's analytics does not tell you the exact time when your audience is the most active. So, you have to do that testing yourself. Experiment posting at different times between the hours of 10 am and 6 pm, and track which posts get the most engagement. Do this for a month, and then go back and see which posts got the highest engagement and what times you posted them at. You want to look for big picture trends (remember the post itself could be impacting the engagement). The good news is, LinkedIn is much less saturated compared to other platforms, so the specific time you post is less important compared to other platforms, such as Instagram.

In General:  

Twitter has 145 million active daily users, and generally, users are most active in the mornings and evening (before and after work) between 8-10 am and 6-9 pm. The middle of the workweek, specifically Thursday, is the best time to tweet, while weekends yield the lowest engagement rates (Ad Espresso).

Personalized: 

To access Twitter analytics, you must use a computer, not a mobile device. Once you log in, go to the three dots on the menu located on the left, and click 'Analytics.' This will take you to a new page, and at the top, it will break down your activity into 'Home,' 'Tweets,' and 'More.' If you click 'Tweets,' this will break down the number of daily impressions you received over the last 28 days. Look for overall trends and see if there is a specific day of the week or time of the month that yields more impressions. Similarly, to LinkedIn, Twitter does not provide analytics about your audience's engagement or hour by hour summaries. Again, this means you will have to do your own research. Try tweeting one to two times a day for 28 days, and play around with times both before and after work. Then see if you can spot any trends that you could use in creating your social media strategy for Twitter.

Every social media platform experiences its peak level of engagement at different times and on different days. And this time might be (and likely is!) very different from when your business experiences its highest engagement rates. We suggest going through each of the platforms we have covered and recording when your personal level of engagement is highest (or doing the necessary research to figure out when this is). Once you know this, post your content during these times! And if you want to take it a step further, we recommend using a scheduling platform that allows you to schedule your posts ahead of time. At AMR Digital Marketing, we use Hootsuite and Planoly. This takes the guesswork out of it because you don't have to worry about remembering to post at your peak time every day!

So, are you posting at your peak time? And if so, what changes have you noticed with your reach and engagement on each platform? Tell us in the comments below, we'd love to hear about your experience!

Written By: Leah Ross, AMR Digital Marketing, Copywriter