The Best Times to Post on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok

Short on time? Scroll to the bottom for a quick summary of this post!

It’s an old adage in marketing: Say the right thing. To the right person. At the right time.

And on social media, it’s doubly true! Especially that last part. Here’s why…

Fact: Just because someone follows you, doesn’t mean they’re going to see your posts!

In a perfect world, your audience would see your posts every time they open the app. After all, they’re the ones who chose to follow YOU, right?

But in reality, social media is a crowded place, with more and more brands vying for your audience’s attention than ever.

In fact, there are more posts on social media than there are people to view them, which means that the algorithms have to pick and choose what gets shown to each user.

Translation: Just because someone follows you doesn’t mean that they’re going to see your posts!

Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom — there are absolutely things you can do to work WITH the algorithms and get your posts seen.

Does time of day really matter when you’re posting on social media?

There are two huge factors when it comes to getting your posts seen on social media.

One of them is a no-brainer: make sure your posts are engaging!

In other words, post content that adds value to your audience in some way and makes them want to like, comment, share and save.

(Check out my Ultimate Guide to Instagram Engagement in 2023: 9 Ways to Get More Likes, Comments & Shares for more on this.)

The other huge factor in getting your posts seen is posting at times when your audience is active online and receptive to your posts.

If you can post at key times when your audience is online, not only does this increase the likelihood of getting your posts seen, but you’re more likely to get engagement at these times.

And the more engagement your posts get, the more likely that the algorithms are going to show them to more people. And that, my friend, is the recipe for success.

How do I figure out when the best time is to post on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok?

Now that we know that *when* we post on social media matters, the next step is to figure out when those best times are for our unique audience.

But first, a disclaimer: Figuring out the best time to post on social media is art, not science. Experimenting is the only real way to know what’s going to work best for you! (More on that below.)

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t use a little data to inform our choices, so here are some tools you can use to figure it out.

Tool #1: Check your social media analytics to see when your followers are online.

The good news: Some social media platforms will actually tell you when your followers are online.

The bad news: It’s not quite as helpful as you might think.

For example, here’s how to see when your Instagram followers are most active on the app:

1. From your Instagram profile page, tap on “Professional dashboard.”
2. Next to “Account insights,” tap on “See all.”
3. Tap on “Total followers,” and then scroll to the bottom of the page.

You’ll then be able to see both the days of the week and the times of day that your followers are most active on Instagram:

But if yours is anything like mine, the data will leave you somewhat wanting.

However, on TikTok, the information provided is much more nuanced, and can be found in the app in your Analytics under the Followers tab, or on your desktop at tiktok.com/analytics:

As you can see, the data clearly shows that, on this particular day of the week, my followers were most active between 7 am and 9 am, so that would be a great time for me to post.

One caveat: You won’t be able to see this data until you have at least 100 followers.

As for Facebook, it no longer shows this information (which is fine, as it was similar to Instagram’s and not that helpful).

Which brings us to our next tool…

Tool #2: Follow industry best practices around the best times to post.

This is likely the part you’ve been waiting for…

…the part where I straight-up tell you the best times to post to increase the likelihood of getting seen and getting engagement!

In general, the best times to post on Instagram are:

• Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon
• Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m.

Source: Sprout Social, a social media management platform, based on findings and trends in social media usage over the past year from their 30,000-plus customers.

In general, the best times to post on Facebook are:

• Mondays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Thursdays from 8 a.m. to noon

Source: Sprout Social

In general, the best times to post on TikTok are:

• Tuesdays from 2 to 6 p.m.
• Wednesdays from 2 to 5 p.m.
• Thursdays from 3 to 5 p.m.

Source: Sprout Social

However, ALL of these numbers should be taken with a HUGE grain of salt, especially on TikTok, where “best practices” still widely vary.

Nevertheless, they’re still helpful as guidelines and will at least give you a place to start! Then you can experiment and see what’s going to work best for you.

Tool #3: Use a social media management tool to tell you when to post.

If you subscribe to a paid social media management platform like Later, Hootsuite, SocialPilot or Sprout Social, it likely comes with a built-in feature that will tell you when your followers are most active online.

For example, Later’s Best Times to Post feature tells you when your Instagram followers are most engaged and gives you scheduling suggestions that are unique to your audience:

But again, this is a paid tool, and if you’re not planning on using the other features (post scheduling, Instagram grid-planning, analytics, etc.) at this stage, the next two strategies are for you.

Tool #4: Get inside your audience’s heads

How well do you know your audience? Well enough to know what a typical day-in-the-life might be like for them?

Then ask yourself this:

What times of the day is my audience most likely to be on a particular social media app and most receptive to my content?

The receptive part is huge! It’s not just about being online — it’s about being in the right headspace to receive your content and take it all in.

For example, if my business is a cocktail bar, all the data in the world might tell me that Tuesdays at 6 a.m. is the best time for me to post based on when my audience is online. But is that really when my audience is going to be most receptive to my cocktails? Probably not.

Context is everything, and it’s so important to get inside your audience’s heads and figure out from their perspective when would be the best time to receive your content.

Tool #5: Experiment, experiment, experiment!

You can have access to all the data in the world, but ultimately, the only way you’re going to know what the best times to post are for YOU is by experimenting.

Start with the best practices in Tool #2 and branch out from there. I guarantee you’ll find some unique pockets of time outside of those guidelines where your audience is primed and ready for your content.

Maybe it’s Sunday at 7 pm. Mondays at 6 a.m. Or Thursdays at 4 pm.

Regardless, experimenting with different times is the only way to find out.

To summarize:

➡️ Posting at the right time is critical for your success on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and other social media platforms.

➡️ By posting at key times when your audience is online, you increase the chances of your posts getting seen and you’re more likely to get engagement. And the more engagement your posts get, the more likely that the algorithms are going to show them to more people!

➡️ Start by looking at your social media analytics to see when your audience is online (see Tool #1).

➡️ Use industry best practices for the best times to post as a starting point (see Tool #2).

➡️ If you use a paid social media management tool, it likely has a feature that will tell you when the best times to post are for your unique audience (see Tool #3).

➡️ Keep in mind it’s not just about when your audience is online, but when they’re going to be most receptive to your content. Really get inside your audience’s heads to figure this out (see Tool #4).

➡️ Ultimately, every audience is unique, and the only way to figure out your true best times to post is to experiment! Start with the best practices, but don’t be afraid to branch out from there (see Tool #5).

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