Social media is one of best ways to distribute the content that your business is creating ­– blog posts, images, videos, testimonials, etc. But some times are better than others rather than just posting to social media when ever you feel like it.

So, what is the optimal time to post on social media?

Sadly, there is no exact answer, and you may find a certain day and time works best for you. But, there is a lot of data out there showing optimal times to post content depending on the platform you are using.

We are going to look at the big three, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can think about this as a guideline to create a schedule to post during optimal times depending on which social media platform you are using.

Facebook:

Facebook is used in a lot of different settings. People log into Facebook at home and at work, as well as on mobile devices and desktop computers. How it is used is highly based on the audience.

The best time to post on Facebook during the workweek, Monday – Friday, between 1 and 4 PM. For many of us this time is during the afternoon slump. You can really take advantage because this time period has the some of the highest click though rates.

The number of click throughs peak at 3 PM and especially on Wednesdays. On the other hand, the numbers are very low on the weekends before 8 AM and after 8 PM. But the weekends aren’t a total loss for posting content. Between 12 and 1 PM click through rates are seen to be on the rise as well.

Twitter:

 Like Facebook people use twitter both at home and work, as well as on mobile and desktop computers. But it is treated more as a news feed for people where they can search topics quickly and find the latest info

The best times to post on twitter during the workweek is between 12 and 3PM and at 5PM. These are times when many people are either at lunch, taking breaks or on a commute, which data shows is when most people are on twitter. Keep in mind that business-to-business content performs much better during business hours and business to consumer content performs better on weekends.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is much different than Facebook and Twitter. Mostly professionals use it; they tend to use it during the workweek, just before and just after the workday starts and ends.

It is shown that at the start and end of the workweek people have less interest on LinkedIn because they are catching up from the weekend and wrapping up the workweek. The most engagement is seen midweek, Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 to 8:30AM and 5 to 6PM.

Remember, it’s not an exact science to what times are perfect for each platform, but it wouldn’t hurt to experiment with some of the optimal times on the platform you use. Don’t forget to check your analytics and conversion rates to see if the times you switch to increase your companies reach. And like always, knowing your audience will help you determine what times are best and what platform you should choose to distribute your content on.