I found over at Fannit.com and on Addthis.com these wonderful infographics on the best times to post on various social media and some other facts. First, Fannit has produced an infographic with metrics on six different social media:
by Fannit.com
Next, Addthis examined 14 million sites worldwide (that’s about 3 billion pageviews a day). Here’s what they found for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
From Addthis.com
Facebook, Twitter in the daytime. Pinterest in the evening.
First, they looked at clicks and shares to see when users are consistently engaging with content the most during an average week. Keep in mind that all times are Eastern Time.
| Shares | 9am-11am, 12pm | 10am-12pm | 10am, 2pm | 3pm, 8pm |
| Clicks | 3pm-5pm | 3pm-5pm | 1pm-2pm | 8pm-10pm |
Most sharing to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn happens in the morning, when people get to work. Consequently, clicking (which is different from sharing) tends to dominate Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn in the afternoon hours. Pinterest users have the most activity in the evening hours when readers both share and click content as they’re winding down after work.
Tip: So, if you’re looking to increase clicks on your company’s social channels, try posting your content in the afternoons. instead of the mornings
Aim for the peaks every week.
Addthis also looked at the peak of the week to see what day and time had content engagement spikes in an average week.
| Clicks & Shares | Thursdays, 9am-12pm |
Fridays, 2pm-3pm |
Tuesdays, 10am-11am |
Wednesdays, 1pm-2pm |
It’s interesting to see that each social network has a different peak day and time; not everyone engages with all social networks at the same time. Common sense if you think about it.
Tip: If you’re posting your content across social networks, maximize engagement by posting on the peak day and time of those networks.
As much as data can be useful, don’t forget to think about the human aspect of sharing. Think about your own behaviors and habits on social networks. When are you most likely to share content and using what social media network? When do you have breaks at work? What social network do you find yourself scrolling through when watching TV at night? Chances are, your audience’s behaviors may not be that far off from yours.
What about Time Zones?
As two of you have commented on this, I’m including my thoughts on how time zones fit into these times. The times mentioned on the infographics are EST. However, I assume that the findings are true for each country and time zone.
In my case, my readers are usually in the US. Therefore, I have to follow their timezone, which means that I have to post everything some 7 hours later. My advice, then, is to adapt your schedule to that of your target-group.
Check out Addthis and Fannit for more great marketing information.
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Great information Nicholas! I have played around with the time as to posting on Social networking sites but haven’t quite pinned down the right time. Still guess work on my behalf!
Same here. One of these days, I have to do as I preach! 😀
This is an excellent, informative, educational post filled with great graphics to facilitate a better social media experience.
Kudos, and I will be referring to this entry as I continue learning about social media. Thanks, Nicholas!
Thank you so much for the kind words, Jess, and welcome! 🙂
Thanks again, Nicholas. You do amazing research on all of this, whether it’s compiling statistics from others or your own experiments, and then putting it all together into something meaningful and actionable. I have to admit, I have yet to ‘schedule’ a post, tweet, or status update, and have tended to just post as soon as whatever I’m working on is ready to go. Perhaps this explains why some things get more views, likes, and comments than others in patterns that I couldn’t decipher before! Peeling back a little bit of the layer of mystery…
Thank you so much for your kind words! I always post at 8 am local time (GMT+2), so now I have to unlearn that habit and follow my own advice 🙂
Ah where do you dig up this brilliant stuff! Thank you.
I risk life and limb to capture it live from the darkest corners of the Internet! 😀
I now have this image of you with a net and pith helmet stalking through some huge warehouse sized bank of servers in the dead of night.
ROFL – I was going for an Amazonian jungle metaphor, but that works, too 😀
😉
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Fascinating stuff Nicholas, thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad you found it useful 🙂
Interesting…thank you. I need to pay more attention.
Me too! 😀
Excellent post, and a big incentive for those of use who are not on EST to use scheduling programs like TweetDeck and Hootsuit. That or get up at 3 am!
Yea, let’s go for the former rather than the latter… 😀
Thanks! 🙂
Where did you find these stats? This is so helpful. Thanks!
A pleasure! 🙂
You’ll find the links in the post. I always link back to the original posts, a trait I’ve kept since my student days. 🙂
Unless you’re asking me where I came across the original posts, to which the answer is The Passive Guy newsletter (https://www.thepassivevoice.com) and Electra! 😀
I’ve noticed you do that, Nicholas. Although your summaries are great, for more information, and to give credit where credit is due, I appreciate you putting the links in your blog.
Thanks! I make a point of mentioning everyone who contributed. Must be my academic past 😀
We should all be more careful about doing that.
This explains a lot! Often I’m talking to myself.
Happens to the best of us, I’m afraid! 🙂
This is a very interesting post. I’ve never given much thought to what is the best time to post. Thanks for this marvelous list.
A pleasure! Thank you for enjoying it 🙂
Wonderful compilation. Interesting. I often wonder about time zones as well.
Thanks, I’m glad you found it interesting!
Time zones suck, but what can you do. I guess focusing on your target-group’s time zone is the only thing that makes sense 🙂
Yup. I suppose so.
this is terrific! thank you for sharing and I will be referring to this ALL of the time!
A pleasure, I’m glad you found it helpful! 🙂
I agree with olganm. It all depends on which time zone. Plus, remember that Facebook is notorious in that it’s like the online equivalent of the cheap and nasty gutter press. In other words it soon replaces what you have posted, sometimes within a few minutes. Whereas at least Twitter, Google+, Linkedin and Pinterest don’t simple bury your posts to make way for others Nicholas. 😉
Excellent points!
As I was telling Olga, time zones is something I, too, struggle with. The times mentioned on the infographics are EST. However, I assume that the findings are true for each country and time zone.
In my case, my readers are usually in the US. Therefore, I have to follow their timezone, which means that I have to post everything some 7 hours later.
This is marvelous information Nicholas! Thank you very much! I would love to reblog it…
Thanks, John. WordPress still giving you a hard time with reblogging, huh? 🙁
I guess the problem with the times is what time zone are we talking about and which public? I imagine we’re talking about the times for each area of the world…Or is it American times? By logic if that is a fact for each country or time zone…
I know, it’s something I, too, struggle with. The times mentioned on the infographics are EST. However, I assume that the findings are true for each country and time zone.
In my case, my readers are usually in the US. Therefore, I have to follow their timezone, which means that I have to post everything some 7 hours later.
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Nicolas – I consider this the best therapy for all your have a hobby in blogging, this should give a good wake up call for them!
Thanks, Mihran. Not really sure whom I’m supposed to be waking up, though? 🙂