Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

For those of you old enough to remember the band Chicago, the second line of that song lyric is “Does anybody really care?”

Which is appropriate, since this blog post is one of those deep-in-the-weeds subjects that will be of the most interest to marketing nerds.

The question is: what are the best times of day and days of the week to post social media posts that get the best engagement and response?

See? Ninety-something percent of you probably responded by thinking Who cares? But marketing professionals (like most of us here at Fuel Media) do care, because getting the most bang for the buck is always important.

And people have done the research, so there are answers to the question. We surveyed some of the companies that have done the research and summarized their conclusions below. And we posted links to their research so if you really are into this stuff, you can go read it all yourself!

(If you want the shorthand version, most researchers agree that posting social media messages on weekdays – specifically Tuesdays through Thursdays – sometime around 9-10 a.m. gets better engagement results.)

Here are some of the specifics.

SproutSocial has determined that the best time to post on Facebook is Monday through Friday mornings at 2 a.m. (eastern time), and Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and noon. Tuesdays through Fridays are the best days, and Sunday is the worst day to post.

If you’re posting on Instagram, do it Monday at 10 a.m. (eastern), Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon and Thursday and Friday at 9 or 10 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday are the best posting days, Sunday is the worst.

Twitter?  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesay are the best, Sunday is the worst. (Are you noticing a trend about Sundays here?)

The American Marketing Association’s research tells us that posting early morning on weekdays is the most effective.

For Facebook, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.is best. Avoid posting on Saturday, as engagement all day is the lowest.

Instagram: post between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesday or at 11 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Twitter:  early in the morning on weekdays is best, ideally 8 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays

The folks at Statusbrew have this advice:

You get higher visibility on Facebook posts at 9 a.m. but the peak traffic on the site is between 1 p.m.and 3 p.m. (when many users are on lunch break). They also claim that posting at noon will get the most shares and posting at 3 p.m. will get the most clicks.

On Instagram, posts between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. get good engagement, but the day of the week matters, too. Weekdays are always better than weekends.

As for Twitter, posters get maximum engagement at 9 a.m., all days of the week. Posting between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays puts you in front of the mammoth lunchtime Twitterati crowd.

Finally, Hootsuite generally agrees with the above. 

They claim the best time to post on Facebook is between 8 a.m. and noon on Tuesday and Thursday.

For Instagram, post at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

For Twitter,  post at 8 a.m. on Monday and Thursday.

There it is. And remember what Chicago told us: “We’ve all got time enough to cry.”

If you need help scheduling your social media posts to get the best engagement, call on the professionals at Fuel Media. We’re here all the time to help with your questions.