Sprout data shares best times to post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn
Growing your social media engagement is one of the most important ways to increase brand awareness and loyalty. But, even if your content is worthy of a Pulitzer or a Shorty, if your audience never sees that content in their feed, then they might as well not be following.
Growing your social media engagement is one of the most important ways to increase brand awareness and loyalty. But, even if your content is worthy of a Pulitzer or a Shorty, if your audience never sees that content in their feed, then they might as well not be following.
Luckily, Sprout Social, the social media management and optimization platform, has released its 2019 data showing when the company’s 25,000-plus customers got the most engagement across major social networks. It provides valuable insights into the best times to post to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Let’s dive in!
In terms of overall Global Engagement on Facebook, Wednesday is the best day overall to share a Facebook post, according to Sprout.
Generally, I’ve noticed the worst days to share a post on any social network fall on the weekend, which makes sense because this is when the majority of social users aren’t necessarily at their desks or on their phones.
According to Sprout, Sunday is the worst day of the entire week to post to Facebook with very low engagement throughout the day, even during the peak hours of 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. And, while that’s the case across most industries including non-profit and education, for the Media industry, Sunday is one of the very best times particularly for Facebook.
Sundays mornings between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. are actually an exceptional good time for media companies to share content. This is the time when the Sunday political talk shows are on air and print opinion sections are consumed alongside breakfast and a cup or two of coffee.
Sprout’s Instagram data also tells an interesting story. The best times to post on Instagram are Wednesday at 11 a.m. and Fridays 10-11 a.m. Tech brands also do well sharing content on Instagram but they are best served when sharing in the morning, as Instagram engagement for Tech brands falls dramatically after 1 p.m. each day of the week.
If you’re hoping to attract engagement on Twitter, make sure your brand is posting between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. during the week and between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the weekends. That’s right, Twitter users are even active on the weekends, and especially on Sundays.
According to Sprout’s data, 9 a.m. is the most engaged time for each day of the week (weekends included) to tweet with Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m. being the best times overall.
LinkedIn on the other hand might not be so surprising to some, where the most consistent engagement comes Tuesday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., which essentially aligns with the busiest part of the work week. The best times to post to LinkedIn are in the middle of the week in the morning or early afternoon hours, especially on Wednesday from 9-10 a.m. and at noon.
Social Media Planning in 2020
So how can we use this data to increase your brand’s audience in 2020? Identify the data that best describes your industry and then experiment with delivery times. If, for example, you are a tech brand, experiment with posting more frequently in the late-morning and early-afternoon hours. If you are a Healthcare brand, try not to spend as much of your focus on Instagram (except on Tuesdays) and instead put more resources into engaging your Facebook following.
Of course, there is a lot more to learn from Sprout’s Best Times to Post on Social Media for 2019 data depending on your industry but if there’s one takeaway, it’s that knowing the best times to deliver your content on social media is incredibly powerful. So make use of this data or hire someone who can and watch all of the hard work that went into content creation pay off as your brand’s audience grows throughout 2020.
