First, let’s be clear: there is no universally best time for every brand or business to post on social media.
Every brand's audience is different, with different behaviors and interests, so there's no one-size-fits-all prescriptive approach that will guarantee you get the best results every time you post.
That said, our “best time to post” guide is useful because it can reveal broader trends in engagement and give you an idea of when to start experimenting to find your ideal posting frequency.
Maybe you're posting at 4pm when 7am would be better. A report like this can help you think about why that is, what your audience wants, and how you can adjust your approach accordingly.
So before you reply and comment, I know these reports are not 100% accurate, I know that and so does Sprout Social, but this data still has merit and can be useful for your planning.
Sprout's latest “Best Times to Post” overview looks at the times that generate the most engagement on each social app, based on overall trends.
Here we bring you the latest data on the top social apps, including Facebook.
According to data from Sprout, the best time to post on Facebook is between 9am and noon on weekdays, with Sunday being the worst day to post.
As you can see from the graph above, activity is higher during weekday mornings, with another increase between 5pm and 6pm as people return home.
This is pretty much the same as what Sprout Social found with FB last year, and while it might seem counterintuitive to post early in the workday, apparently that's when more people are logged in and interacting.
Also noteworthy is Sprout's specific explanation of the methodology.
“We worked closely with Sprout's data science team to review survey results and trends from Sprout Social's 34,000+ customers about social media usage over the past year to understand when content saw the highest and lowest engagement by platform and industry.“
So this is based on engagement on the post that came through Sprout Social, not the time of posting.
Sprout says that the best times to post on Instagram are weekdays between 9am and 2pm, with Fridays and weekends seeing lower engagement.
Meanwhile, on LinkedIn, company page engagement is highest on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10am and 12pm.
That includes Pinterest: the best time to pin is Tuesday through Friday at 1am.
Yes, it's 1 a.m. Why so early?
According to Sprout:
“It could be a combination of when inspiration strikes a user and the Pinterest algorithm affecting engagement time..”
In other words, while it's hard to say for sure, there appears to be more engagement in the app earlier in the day.
The best time to post on TikTok is in the afternoon, between 2pm and 6pm on weekdays.
As you can see, there is also a trend for higher engagement on Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9am and 11am, with lower engagement on other days of the week.
Finally, the best times for X are weekdays between 9am and 3pm.
Again, these are just guides and are based on actual engagement rates, but individual results will vary. These summaries can help you experiment as you find the best times to post for your business and your audience, and they can also spark thinking about strategies and things worth trying.
You can see Sprout Social’s full report on the best times to post here.
