Best time to post on social media: Q3 2024 data
Are you wondering about the best time to post on social media? We were too — so we decided to crunch some data and find out.
The Hootsuite team partnered with data science agency Critical Truth for a comprehensive study. We analyzed over 1 million social posts — across industries and social networks — and we found the definitive best times to post for maximum engagement.
Below, you’ll find the data-based best times to post on social media from Q3 (July-Septmeber) 2024.
Psst: A Q4 update is coming soon!
Overall best times to post on social media in 2024
Generally, the ideal time to post on social media in 2024 overall is 8:00 AM on Wednesdays. But every network has its own sweet spot.
- The best time to post on Facebook is 7 AM on Saturdays.
- The best time to post on Instagram is 5 AM to 7 AM on Wednesdays.
- The best time to post on X (Twitter) is 10 AM to 1 PM on Mondays and Tuesdays.
- The best time to post on LinkedIn is 7 AM – 8 PM on weekdays.
- The best time to post on TikTok is 3 PM on Thursdays.
- The best time to post on Threads is 8:00 AM on Tuesdays.
- The best time to post on Pinterest is 12:00 PM on Fridays.
Note: Time of day was localized across 118 countries where sample data came from, i.e. the stats and graphs featured in this post are accurate across time zones.
Wondering if these times ring true for your audience and brand? Use Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish tool to find the best times to post on social media based on your data.
Best time to post on Instagram
The best time to post on Instagram is 5 AM – 7 AM on Wednesdays.
When to post on Instagram:
- Monday: 7 AM to 6 PM
- Tuesday: 7 AM to 6 PM
- Wednesday: 5 AM to 7 AM
- Thursday: 7 AM to 6 PM
- Friday: 7 AM to 6 PM
- Saturday: 7 AM to 11 AM
- Sunday: 8 AM to 12 PM
Best time to post on Facebook
According to Hootsuite data, the best time to post on Facebook is 7:00 AM on Saturdays.
When to post on Facebook:
- Monday: 4 AM, 9 AM, and 1 PM
- Tuesday: 5 AM – 7 AM
- Wednesday: 5 AM – 8 AM
- Thursday: 6 AM – 9 AM
- Friday: 5 AM – 8 AM
- Saturday: 7 AM
- Sunday: 5 AM – 7 AM
Best time to post on LinkedIn
The best time to post on LinkedIn is 7 AM – 8 PM on weekdays, according to our analysis. The platform’s userbase is consistently engaged throughout the week!
When to post on LinkedIn:
- Monday: 7 AM – 9 PM
- Tuesday: 5 AM – 10 PM
- Wednesday: 5 AM – 1 PM
- Thursday: 5 AM – 11 PM
- Friday: 7 AM – 9 PM
- Saturday: 9 AM – 5 PM
- Sunday: 9 AM – 1 PM
Best time to post on X (Twitter)
According to our research, the best time to post on Twitter is from 10 AM to 1 PM on Mondays and Tuesdays.
When to post on X (Twitter):
- Monday: 8:00 AM – 3 PM
- Tuesday: 10 AM – 1 PM
- Wednesday: 11 AM – 1 PM
- Thursday: 9 AM – 1 PM
- Friday: 10 AM – 1 PM
- Saturday: 11 AM – 1 PM
- Sunday: 10 AM – 1 PM (but keep in mind, Sunday engagement is the lowest!)
Best time to post on TikTok
According to our analysis, the best time to post on TikTok is at 3 PM on Thursdays.
When to post on TikTok:
- Monday: 3 PM
- Tuesday: 3 PM – 5 PM
- Wednesday: 3 PM
- Thursday: 3 PM
- Friday: 12 PM
Weekends are not a great time for businesses to post on TikTok, according to our data.
Best time to post on Threads
According to our data, the best time to post on Threads is 8:00 AM PST on Tuesdays.
When to post on Threads:
- Monday: 9:00 AM PST
- Tuesday: 8:00 AM PST
- Wednesday: 12:00 PM PST
- Thursday: 9:00 AM PST
- Friday: 2:00 PM PST
- Saturday: 12:00 PM PST
- Sunday: 1:00 PM PST
Best time to post on Pinterest
The best time to post on Pinterest, according to our data, is 12:00 PM PST on Tuesdays and Fridays.
When to post on Pinterest:
- Monday: 10:00 AM PST
- Tuesday: 12:00 PM PST
- Wednesday: 10:00 AM PST
- Thursday: 6:00 PM PST
- Friday: 12:00 PM PST
- Saturday: 1:00 PM PST
- Sunday: 4:00 PM PST
Find out when your audience is online and optimize your posting schedule for maximum engagement. It’s so easy.
Start free 30-day trialWhat do experts say about the best times to post on social media?
We’ve interviewed the experts from Hootsuite’s very own social media team for additional insights on the best times to post. Here are their top tips for reaching your audience when they’re most active.
1. Instagram: Early mornings are best for brands, evenings for personal accounts
Eileen Kwok, Social and Influencer Marketing Strategist at Hootsuite, notes that the type of account you manage will determine the right approach:
If you’re managing a brand account, I think it’s always good to post on Instagram early in the day. However, I find that when it comes to personal accounts, your own Instagram account for example, most people prefer to post at night time — 8 or 9 p.m.
The team also believes that evening scrolling habits can be more beneficial for certain industries, such as real estate, retail, and entertainment:
People tend to house hunt, shop, and watch videos later in the day.
2. Facebook: Focus on time zones
Trish Riswick, Social Marketing Team Lead at Hootsuite, emphasizes the importance of aligning posts with your audience’s time zone:
Our biggest piece of advice is always to target the time zone where your audience is. For us, North America and the U.K. are our primary targets. If we’re posting things at 3 p.m. PST, that’s 10 p.m. in the U.K. We have to be a bit more morning-focused to make sure we’re reaching our U.K. audience.
That said, the nature of Facebook gives brands a lot of flexibility:
The good news is that almost half of all users check Facebook multiple times a day, and they spend longer on this social media platform than many others.
3. LinkedIn: Mornings are for reads, afternoons for videos
For LinkedIn, Trish suggests tailoring your content type to different times of the day:
We tend to post more written content in the morning and videos in the afternoon.
She also highlights the evolving audience on the platform:
You would think that early mornings would tend to do better on LinkedIn, but we’ve found that our afternoon posts do sometimes blow up. While it used to be primarily professionals who are up and scrolling at 5 a.m., LinkedIn now has a lot of young professionals who are browsing in their leisurely time, too.
4. X (Twitter): Timing is key for trends and news
The recency-focused nature of X means that mornings can often be the best time to post. As Trish notes:
We recently ran a poll that suggested we should be posting more readable things in the morning when people are just getting ready for work or on their lunch break.
However, keeping an eye on real-world events is crucial for X’s fast-paced environment. Eileen says:
It’s smart to keep in mind what’s going on in the world as a basis of when you should be posting. For example, if it’s the Super Bowl and social media will be really busy with content, maybe you don’t want to post on that specific time or even on that day because you will get less engagement.
5. TikTok: Patience pays off
TikTok’s algorithm takes some time time to deliver content to the right feeds, which means patience is key. Here’s Eileen’s advice on managing expectations:
Don’t get discouraged if your post doesn’t garner a lot of views in the first couple of hours it’s posted. TikTok videos tend to need 24 hours to be fully pushed out, so we recommend keeping the post out even if it doesn’t receive enough engagements right off the bat.
Trish adds that timing your posts earlier than you’d expect can help:
Sometimes TikTok can take a little bit to actually get your video out because it’s trying to figure out what your video is, whose algorithm it should fall on, that kind of stuff.
6. Pinterest: Focus on SEO over timing
Unlike other platforms, Pinterest prioritizes content through searchability rather than recency. Eileen’s advice is to focus on optimizing your posts for search:
In my experience, the platform prioritizes your SEO strategy over the time you post. If you’re inputting the right keywords in your caption and optimizing your profile, your posts will get prioritized by the algorithm.
How to find your unique best time to post on social media with Hootsuite
Gone are the days of blindly tossing content into the digital ether and hoping for the best. Hootsuite offers two powerful tools – Best Time to Publish and Recommended Times in Composer – to help you schedule your posts at the best times for your audience.
Here’s how to take advantage of both.
Best Time to Publish
Imagine having your own personal social media strategist whispering in your ear, telling you exactly when to hit that “post” button.
That’s exactly what Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature does for you.
Here’s how it works:
- Tailored suggestions: Hootsuite analyzes your social media performance over the last 30 days to provide personalized recommendations for the best times to publish your posts.
- Cross-platform compatibility: Whether you’re managing Facebook Pages, Twitter accounts, Instagram Business profiles, LinkedIn Pages, Pinterest, YouTube, or TikTok, Hootsuite can tell you exactly when your audience is most active on each individual platform.
- Simple Implementation: Once you have your suggested posting times, scheduling your posts is a breeze. Just hop over to the scheduling tool in Hootsuite and plug in your content for those optimal times.
Recommended Times in Composer
Ever find yourself staring at a blank screen, wondering when on earth to schedule your next post? Say goodbye to that uncertainty with Hootsuite’s Recommended Times in Composer.
Here’s how it can simplify your life:
- Smart recommendations: When creating or scheduling a post in Composer, simply select “Schedule for later” and let Hootsuite do the heavy lifting. You’ll be presented with recommended times based on your audience engagement data.
- Continuous improvement: The more you post, the smarter Hootsuite’s recommendations become. As your engagement data grows, so too does the accuracy of your suggested posting times.
Get personalized recommendations for the best time to post on every network and manage your Facebook presence alongside other social channels with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can schedule and publish posts, engage the audience, and measure performance. Try it free today.
The post Best time to post on social media: Q3 2024 data appeared first on Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard.