Here at The Dot Society we often get the following question: what is the best time to post on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIN or Pinterest? This varies a lot of industries and you always should look into your own statistics in order to decide the best timings for your clients. However, there are some best practices for each platform that we want to share with you. Happy posting! 

Instagram 

The best days to post on Instagram are Saturday and Sunday.  For Europe, investigated by Later, the best time is between 6-8PM. So our advice is to post early in the morning or later in the evening. On the flipside, posts published on Wednesday between 10AM – 4PM and Thursday 9PM – 11PM receive the lowest engagement rates on average, making them the worst days to post on Instagram.

However, this differs a lot from your target audience. We’ve noticed that posting during the week late in the evening will attract a lot of people between 30-40 years old, female and moms. In the evening there are a lot of opportunities to increase your engagement. If you are planning to proceed with an Instagram live, do this in the evening. 

How can you track the best timings for your Instagram post? 

  • If you are using a planning tool, they will automatically suggest the best time to post, based on historical data and engagement activity 
  • Instagram insights can be used to find out where your followers are located and when they are the most active. You can find this in your Instagram business account under Statistics. 
  • If you really want to be 100% sure, you can also track it manually. For a month we recommend posting on specific moments to A/B/C/D test the best hours for your clients.  Check the likes, comments of your feed, views and interaction on your stories and reach of your reels. 

Facebook 

The best time to post on Facebook are Tuesday, Wednesdays and Fridays between 9 AM & 1 PM. So in the beginning of the day. Worst day to post on Facebook is Saturday. We see that content posted after 5PM and on weekends get significantly less reactions and engagement. If you want to post an interesting video, Facebook can be used later at night or on the weekends. The major advantage of posting strong content on Facebook is the fact that the lifespan is longer than for instance Instagram. A good post with a lot of interaction can bring traffic to your website month on month. 

LinkedIN 

Did you notice that we post regularly on Wednesday? This isn’t a coincidence. After testing and investigating, the best time to post on LinkedIN for our business was on Wednesday AM. Best times to post on LinkedIN are Tuesday through Thursday from 9 AM till noon. No surprise: the least performing day on LinkedIN is Sunday. LinkedIn engagement has become extremely consistent throughout the work week, unsurprising for this professional-focused social platform. You’re less likely to get eyes on your LinkedIn content on the weekend, where engagement drops more significantly compared to weekdays than on other social networks we reviewed.

Considering how much LinkedIn content is centered around professional thought leadership and career growth, it makes sense that a majority of audiences are getting the most out of this content during their working day.

Pinterest

This social media channel is mainly used in spare time and to scroll endlessly to receive a lot of inspiration. No surprise that the best time to post on Pinterest is late at night. Ever heard of bedtime browsing? The best hours for Pinterest are between 8 PM and 11 PM. If your audience is a working audience, avoid posting pins during working hours. Before/after work hours are the best. For some industries during lunch hours can be worth testing. The best day for posting on Pinterest is Friday and Saturday. 

TikTok

As the youngest of the social media platforms there isn’t a lot of investigation on the best posting on TikTok that is coherent or rests on a lot of data. However we found some insights that we want to share with you: The best time to post on TikTok is in the early morning: 6 AM – 10 AM or late in the evening between 7 PM and 11 PM. During the weekends late at night isn’t that interesting than during the week. So focus on posting early in the morning on Saturday and Sunday. Friday is the best day and in specific Friday at 5PM. Friday vibes and the start of the weekend probably have their effect on this. ;) 

How to check your statistics for TikTok? 

Just head to the “Settings and Privacy” page, choose “Manage My Account,” and tap “Switch to Pro Account.”

Note that TikTok analytics aren’t retroactive. After switching to Pro, you’ll need to wait up to 7 days to see insights.

Once you have enough data, check out the three tabs in the “Pro Account” page of your settings:

  • Overview
  • Content
  • Followers

Good luck! 

This post is also available in: Dutch