“When is the best time for me to post on social media?”
We’ve done the R&D to find the perfect times to drive engagement for B2B marketers.
According to the latest Green Hat/AMI B2B Marketing Research Report, 82% of B2B marketers we surveyed are getting good/some results from social media ROI. That’s a huge number to be posting your carefully created content on a whim without any strategy behind it, so there’s no surprise why the question of when to post often comes up.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a definitive answer. It all depends on a variety of factors such as your business objectives, your audience, the content you’re releasing and which social platforms you’re using. Only after considering these points and looking at the analytics (which we’ll touch on in a moment) can you decide which times are best for posting and tweeting.
Social media management tool Falcon.io released data earlier this year comprised of a record 19 different studies on the best times to post.
Not just the #1 professional network, but also B2B network, LinkedIn is a must for any B2B company wanting to make their mark. It’s no surprise the best times to post are:
Time: 8am, 12pm and 5-6pm
Runner-up: 9-11am
Day/s: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
According to Falcon, the most clicks, shares and likes happen before and after work, and during lunchtime. You’ll notice these times coincide with moments where they might be thinking about work though not necessarily working. Our own experience using LinkedIn has revealed that – as a general rule – people aren’t very engaged with social media or other forms of communication like email on Monday and Friday. This is usually because they are catching up on work to prepare for the week ahead, or winding down in preparation of the weekend.
The most-used network in the world, our B2B report research revealed that the gap between Facebook and LinkedIn decreased even further this year, with only 11% between them (versus 13% the previous year).
Peak time: 11am – 3pm
Runners-up: 9am & 8pm
Day/s: Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
With the week almost being over, everyone’s happiness is bound to skyrocket but especially so on Fridays. According to research by TruConversion, 17% of all Facebook comments happen on a Friday, as well as 16% of likes and shares.
Additionally, Unmetric found that number of interactions per post for brands was highest on Wednesday, but brands actually post less on Hump Day. So the secret to a great engagement rate may be the occasional Wednesday post.
It may seem strange, but our most recent B2B report found that Instagram is the third most-used social platform for B2B marketers. Not only does Instagram provide snackable content for people to peruse during their snack break/lunch, but it also is the perfect platform to showcase your B2B brand’s culture or tell short stories.
Time: 10-11am & 2-3pm
Runner-up: 2am
Day/s: Monday, Wednesday to Friday
Thursday seems to be the peak day of the week to share an Instagram post and why not? With just a day until the weekend, most people may need some great inspiration to keep them going.
Even though Twitter’s monthly active users has increased from 2019 (5.3 million monthly active users as of January 2020), it sits behind YouTube as a must-have social channel (38% according to our B2B Marketing Research Report).
Time: 10am-12PM, 5-6PM
Runner-up: 3pm
Day/s: Monday to Thursday
For B2B, these days are the days most highly engaged with, with Wednesday having the highest click-through rates and retweets out of all the other days while Fridays show a peak at 3PM.
While this can be used as a general guideline, it is not specific or tailored to your business. The best times for you and your business could be completely different.
Some social media management platforms, like Sprout and Falcon, offer in-built features that will analyse your audience’s highest engagement period across the various channels and days you post on to determine the best times to post.
For those B2B marketers posting natively, the simple truth is that you need to know your audience well. So start testing different times and days and note down the results to help give you a guide of when you should be posting.
What times or days have you found to be the most effective when posting or tweeting? Let us know by connecting with us on social media.
