marketing strategy. Brands are trying to identi

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Knowing when to post on social media has become an essential part of any marketing strategy. Brands are trying to identify the secret “sweet spot” – that moment to post content on social media platforms.

The desire to know this information is clear: if you're putting time and effort into creating the perfect post for your audience, you'd obviously like it to be seen by as many people as possible and, in turn, get more engagement, shares, comments, etc.

However, the answer is not as clear as some may think. Most social media platforms have different rules for their algorithms that will determine what is shown to users, regardless of when the content is posted.

Plus, every brand’s audience is different . Depending on your industry, product or service, how often you post, and a variety of other factors, the ideal posting time can vary significantly.

Still, while it's impossible to say exactly when your target audience will see your organic posts, there is data that tracks spikes in engagement depending on the social network .

This doesn't mean that everyone in your community will be online during those hours, but it does at least give you the opportunity to increase engagement on your post .

To help marketers better understand this topic, the Sprout Social team has presented an updated list of the most engaged moments for the four major social media platforms ( Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn ).

While this is far from the “secret recipe” for social media success, these insights can help marketers establish a more informed basis for scheduling their posts. Of course, these actions can always be modified based on audience interactions with the content.

When is the best time to post on social media?
Sprout Social’s report used data from more than 20,000 customer interactions on its social media software and compiled the results into generic breakdowns by platform.

Additionally, the report also reports on the performance of different sectors clinical nurse specialist email database on each platform. As such, the data for each platform offers a more detailed analysis by vertical . The verticals covered in this report include consumer goods, media, education, non-profits, technology, and healthcare.

You can read the full Sprout Social report here . Below is an overview of the most interesting data by platform .

Facebook
Facebook-global-engagement

Facebook ’s large user base of over 2 billion active users puts the platform in a great place for brands. With such a wide variety of users, you have a great opportunity to reach your audience with your organic posts.

However, Sprout notes that Facebook's algorithm can make it difficult for brands to reach audiences in the newsfeed , but not impossible.

Facebook's recent algorithm update puts emphasis on posts from friends and family. Therefore, you have a better chance of reaching more people if your post generates genuine engagement .

Algorithms aside, there are time slots when the Sprout team found users were most active on the platform:

The best times to post on Facebook are Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Wednesday is the best day to post on Facebook.
The safest times to post are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sunday is the day with the worst engagement during the week on Facebook.
Early morning and evening (before 7am and after 5pm) are the hours of the day with the best engagement.
In short, brands have greater opportunities to reach active users in the middle of the week, specifically in the morning and mid-afternoon .

Interestingly, weekends had lower engagement times , suggesting that users tend to log on to Facebook periodically during the workday or during breaks at work, but don't spend as much time on weekends or during their free time.

Instagram
Instagram-global-engagement

While many brands still neglect Instagram posts , the rapid growth of this platform is something that shouldn't be ignored .

Sprout’s report noted that Instagram’s latest big number — 1 billion monthly active users (with an average engagement rate of 1.6% per post) — puts the platform on the fast track to becoming a major leader in the social space.

However, its algorithm can be a bit complicated.

Instagram has ditched its reverse-chronological newsfeed in favor of a more complex algorithm that determines when posts are displayed .

Still, outside of standard posts, the platform offers other features for brands to take advantage of: Stories , live videos, and longer-form videos on IGTV .

So when is the best time to post? Sprout found that Instagram's peak engagement times are as follows:

The best times to post on Instagram are Wednesdays at 11am and Fridays at 10-11am
Wednesday is the best day of the week to post on Instagram
The safest times to post are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sunday is the day that reports the worst engagement
Also lower engagement at night and early morning (11pm to 3am)
These trends, as you can see, follow a similar pattern to that of Facebook , Instagram's parent company, thus suggesting that users verify data on both platforms in a similar way.

Just like Facebook, the best time to post on Instagram is mid-week . However, this platform sees a surge in activity on Fridays and Saturdays , which is not the case on Facebook.

Brands may therefore have a window to capture users who do use social media during the weekend.