The Unscientific Guide to Determine Best Times to Post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and More

What’s the best time to post on Instagram? How frequently should I Tweet? What’s the Facebook, Twitter, Blog, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram post time sweet spot? How about the frequency?

First published in March 2015, we updated this post with new research and infographics.

My husband, a visual artist, wanted to promote his upcoming art opening on Facebook. He asked me for the best time to post on Instagram and Facebook to promote his event. Umm…is this a trick question? Seriously, it’s hard to remember the ever-changing rules of social media engagement.

For all of us who don’t have the golden rules of when to post or how often to post on social media memorized or scotch taped by our bedsides, HubSpotBlogs published an excellent cheat sheet by Quicksprout.

Quick links to the best times to post:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest

Use the quick links above to jump to the detail but if you have the time, here’s a word of truth:

The real truth behind the best time to post on Instagram, Facebook and others

It’s important to realize, the pronouncements as to the “best” time to post on social media are not based on science. Social media is always “on”. The key is to find the right balance for you, your audience, and your content. Then mix it up. However, finding the right balance may not be easy, there are those who believe that the best postings times are counter-intuitive.

Step #1: Determine when the highest percentage of your social media audience tunes in – so when you share content, you’ll get maximum exposure. This infographic from KISSmetrics is dated, however, the concept of how to look at your audience remains relevant today.

Predict. Measure. Test. Repeat.

In reality, testing, testing, and more testing is your best tool for determining optimal post times. With this in mind, vary your times and make sure to track your analytics closely to determine your optimal posting schedule. Furthermore, the same holds true for post frequency. Equally, you need to predict and monitor the performance of your social media pages continuously. There are no definite formulas for us to adhere to when it comes to posting on social media channels. Consequently, everyone’s network dynamics, country, and industry are different. That is to say, unfortunately, there is no one size fits all model.

Deep dive into social networks: Fun facts and optimal post times and frequency

As promised above, here are some of the “Best” parts of the infographic from HubSpotBlogs post on When to Post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Other Top Social Networks [Infographic]:

Best Time to Post on Instagram

Best Days to Post: Instagram engagement remains fairly consistent throughout the week with a slight spike on Mondays

Best Time to Post on Instagram: 2 am and 5 pm

Best Post Frequency: 5 times per day

Best Engagement Fact: From The Huffington Post, posting at 5 pm is an especially good time to engage people who have hopped on Instagram at the end of the workday and are procrastinating before they leave for the evening.

Best Time to Post on Facebook

Best Days to Post: Thursday and Friday

Best Time of Day to Post: Optimal time is early afternoon in the time zone with most of your audience

Best Post Frequency: Data from KISSmetrics indicates that .5 posts per day (1 post every two days) will achieve the most likes on Facebook

Best Quote: “The less people want to be at work, the more they are on Facebook!” – Buddy Media

Best Engagement Facts:

• 86% of posts are published during the work week with engagement peaking on Thursday and Friday
• Engagement rates fall 3.5% below average for posts published Monday through Wednesday
• For instance, the “Happiness Index” on Facebook spikes by 10% on Friday

Best Tool: Use Fanpage Karma to find the optimal time tailored to your audience

Best Time to Post on Twitter

Best Days to Tweet:

• B2B: Monday – Friday
• B2C: Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday

Best Time of Day to Tweet: 5 pm for highest retweets. 12 pm and 6 pm for highest CTR.

Best Tweet Frequency: According to Socialbakers, the magic number for Twitter is three tweets per day

Best Engagement Facts:

• According to Twitter, users are 181% more likely to be on Twitter during their commute
• Users are also 199% more likely to use Twitter during school or work hours

Best Tool: Use Followerwonk to find the optimal time tailored to your audience

Best Time to Post on LinkedIn

Best Days to Post: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

Best Time of Day to Post: Weekdays during business hours

Best Post Frequency: Per “LinkedIn Best Practices”, post at least 20 status updates per month to maximize reach to approximately 60% or more of our unique audience. The optimal posting frequency is the equivalent of one post per weekday.

Best Engagement Facts:

• 93% of B2B marketers rate LinkedIn as the top B2B social media lead generation source
• According to Fannit, the best times to post are 7 am – 8 am and 5 pm – 6 pm. The worst times are Monday and Friday for US based time zones.

Best Time to Post on Pinterest

Best Days to Pin: Saturday

Best Times of Day to Pin: 2 am – 4 am and 8 pm – 11 pm

Best Pin Frequency: 5 times per day

Best Engagement Facts: Directly from the Pinterest blog, here’s a look at the most popular categories on each day of the week:

To do social media right, save time by using an assistant

Now that you have determined the “right” time(s) to share your content, a key to social media success is having a consistent flow of content.

Step #2: Use dlvr.it to set up your queue up for optimal post times. Think of Q as your personal assistant. Q shares content when you cannot. As a result, you’ll be able to save time, keep the conversations flowing on social media (and beyond) and boost engagement.

When have you found the best time to post on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and other social networks? We’d love your feedback.