What is the best time to post on Facebook in 2021? Simply put—when your audience will see it. Show
Finding the best time to post on the platform can increase your engagement, your reach, and even your sales. In this article, I’ll break down how to find the times that work best for both your brand and your audience. What Is The Best Time to Post on Facebook?According to an aggregation of studies, the best day to post on Facebook for maximum exposure is either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday from 9 AM – 1 PM CST. However, this differs by industry. Learn more in the full article. What You’ll Learn:It’s no secret that Facebook hasn’t exactly made it easy to reach your audience. But it still remains one of the most powerful social media channels for marketing. Why? First of all, Facebook fans are ready to engage, with 32% of users regularly engaging with Facebook, leaving nearly 5 billion comments on the platform every month. They’re also on Facebook daily – spending roughly 2 hours and 24 minutes on there per day. And they’re not just there for social reasons, either. A report from Kleiner Perkins found that 78% of US consumers have made purchases through products they’ve discovered on Facebook. This is all great news for brands. Fans are there, they’re engaging, and they’re open to finding businesses. But like most things in life, timing is everything, and in order to reach your audience at just the right time, you’ll need to uncover when they’re using Facebook. Step 1: Know Your Target AudienceBefore you even think about planning a posting schedule, you have to know who you’re trying to reach. So, begin with the basics and define your target audience.
By answering those questions and creating a full buyer persona, you should be able to better understand your Facebook audience, and even when they may be most likely to use the platform. For example, if your target market is college students, you already know they operate on a very different schedule than middle-aged businessmen. So, schedule your posts accordingly. For stay-at-home moms, posting later in the evening might be best. This is after the kids have gone to bed, the work is all done for the day, and the moms have some free time to hang out on social media. On the other hand, if your target audience is business executives, you may want to post early in the morning or during lunch. These two times are less likely to have any meetings scheduled. |
MONDAY | 8 a.m – 5 p.m |
TUESDAY | 10 a.m & 1 – 2 p.m |
WEDNESDAY | 11 a.m |
THURSDAY | 8 a.m – 3 p.m |
FRIDAY | 11 a.m |
SATURDAY | 10 a.m – 2 p.m |
SUNDAY | 9 a.m – 2 p.m * least active day |
FAQs
1. 🤳🏽 What is the Best Time to Post on Facebook for Maximum Exposure?
Multiple studies have cited that the best day to post on Facebook for maximum exposure is either:
- Saturday and Sunday
- Thursday and Friday
- Wednesday
In general, the best time of day to post to Facebook for maximum exposure is either:
As a rule of thumb, posts published during those times receive higher engagement and in turn, the Facebook algorithm gives them greater exposure.
2. ⏰ When is the Best Time to Post on Sunday?
As we’ve seen, the weekend is a great time to get engagement, and that’s especially true if you post on Sunday.
Your content isn’t competing with other businesses that take the weekends off.
As a rule of thumb, it’s best to post on Sunday before 8 AM and after 8 PM. There are a couple of possible explanations as to why those times work so well.
First, when you post early in the morning, you give yourself a chance to catch early risers and people who don’t like to sleep in.
When you post later at night, you can get your brand in front of people who are checking social media after dinner and before going to bed for the night.
3. 💭 What Was the Best Time to Post on Facebook in 2019?
There are numerous studies that have sought to answer this question.
According to one study from Elle & Co., the best days to post on Facebook are Saturday and Sunday. The best time is 1 PM CST.
Another study by Fast Company says that the best time to share on Facebook is between 11 AM and 4 PM CST. That research found that Wednesday is the best day to post.
Uniclix found that the best time to post on Facebook is Wednesday, with Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday also having higher engagement rates.
Unfortunately, those studies don’t always agree.
However, you can take a look at patterns within all the research and get somewhat of a consensus. That’s what Coschedule did.
The company aggregated 25 social media studies from leading sources like Hootsuite, Buffer, HubSpot, and KissMetrics to determine the best times to post on social media in exhaustive analyses.
When Coschedule aggregated the studies, the company found that the best time to post on Facebook is between Thursday and Sunday at 9 AM CST, 1 PM CST, or 4 PM CST.
4. 👍🏾 Is There a Best Time to Post on Facebook for Likes?
Possibly.
According to a detailed study from Sprout, the most consistent engagement is on weekdays from 9 AM to 3 PM CST.
Wednesday offers the best opportunity for likes, and according to the study traffic steadily increases leading up to the middle of the week, and then dwindles off again heading into the weekend.
However, just because activity peaks at certain times doesn’t mean those times are best for you to post. Always test your marketing efforts and check your analytics to see what works best for your brand.
If you’re concerned about engagement, you should focus not only on when you post but also on what you post. People simply aren’t going to react if the content isn’t relevant to them.
5. 📱 What is the most active time on Facebook?
Sprout Social has shown that Facebook’s highest levels of engagement are on Tuesdays through Thursdays, from 8 AM – 3 PM CST, with the most active day being Wednesday at 11 AM CST and again at 1 PM – 2 PM CST.
6. 🤔 Is it better to post on Facebook Thursday or Friday?
Both days have good post-potential, though it depends on your market. Thursday’s tend to have consistent engagement between 8 a.m and 3 p.m, while Friday’s user activity is best when leveraged around 11 a.m. When unsure when to post, you can always play it safe and keep your post times no earlier than 7 a.m and no later than 5 p.m.
Wrapping Up
So, when is the best time to post on Facebook? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
There are more popular times overall, and those are a good jumping-off point when building your own schedule.
From there, you can analyze and tweak as needed as you become more familiar with your audience and when they’re most active.
Remember, factors like time zone and target audience make a difference, and you should always rely on analytics to make the most informed decisions about your social media strategy.
Happy posting!