The best times to post on social media

After arriving at the office you sit down at your desk, power up your laptop, take a sip of coffee and head straight to Twitter and LinkedIn to check out the latest news and opinion from people you follow.

Sound familiar? Well if it does you’re not alone, especially if you do it on a Friday and a Wednesday.

New research by Sprout Social has found that 9am on a Wednesday and Friday are the best times to post to Twitter, while 9am-10am on a Wednesday is the peak period for LinkedIn.

Overall Twitter is busier in the morning and through to lunchtime, before beginning to taper off during the afternoon and into the evening. Perhaps unsurprisingly 10pm to 4am were the quietest periods.

Tuesdays and Wednesday came out as the busiest days of the week on Twitter, while for LinkedIn it was Wednesday.

Mid-week was also peak for Facebook though with the audience taking a more leisurely approach to checking in, the most popular times being Wednesdays at 11am and 1pm.

The best time to post on Instagram was Wednesday at 11am and Friday at 10-11am.

The research by Sprout Social also revealed the best times to post for different industries.

This showed that the peak period for non-profits to post is 7am on Wednesdays, with the entire 6am to 4pm period on a Wednesday also consistently high for engagement.

For healthcare practices and business the peak posting period is between 9am and 11am on Wednesday.

The least popular days for Twitter and LinkedIn were Saturday and Sunday respectively.