The Ultimate Guide to Posting on Social Media Platforms

You’ve chosen the best social media platforms for your business based on knowing your target audience, learning from your competitors, and understanding the type of content you can post. 

What’s next? Figuring out how often to post and what to do with comments and engagement. 

If you skip this critical step, you’ll be like a lot of businesses who get on social media and then…crickets.

The last thing you want to do is open some social media accounts and then fail to post at all. Or let weeks pass by in between posts.

Let’s turn to the experts for some guidance on how often and when to post on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn – three of the more popular, effective platforms for businesses – to make an impact with the posts you create.

When to post on Facebook

SproutSocial used Facebook’s data to uncover the best times to post through the day and week. They found:

• Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and between 1-2 p.m. is the best time to post.
• Wednesday overall is the best day to post.
• Sunday is the worst day to post.

Source: SproutSocial

In addition to the best days and times to post content, the study found that Tuesday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. is a great time to post and get lots of engagement from followers. 

On the other hand, posts that went out before 7 a.m. or after 5 p.m. got the least engagement.

The takeaway? Facebook users seem to take the opportunity during the mid-day to check social media.

You can check out the article for a deeper dive into the best times to post based on industry, including consumer goods, media, education, nonprofits, tech, healthcare and others.

When to post on Instagram

In a similar study using data from Instagram, SproutSocial found these were optimal times to post on the platform:

• Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and Friday between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
• Wednesday was also the best day.
• Sunday was the worst day to post.

Source: SproutSocial

The social media site is the second most-used platform in terms of getting daily use, so it gets great engagement from users. 

Midday appears to get the most consistent engagement: Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. 

Your posts will get lower engagement before 6 a.m. and after 9 p.m. on weekdays.

However, weekends and early mornings do seem to get some engagement, possibly due to Instagram Stories, which are quick little videos that are easy to check on. 

These types of posts disappear quickly, and they likely drive users to continuously check – for fear of missing out.

The takeaway? Instagram’s optimal time to post is wider than Facebook, with more options for posting content to get engagement.

Get more details here about best times to post on Instagram based on industry.

When to post on LinkedIn

If you’re a B2B business, you’ll want to actively use LinkedIn. 

SproutSocial’s study extended to LinkedIn data. Here’s what it showed:

• Best times to post are Wednesday between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and then at noon. Thursday at 9 a.m. and between 1 and 2 p.m.  Friday at 9 a.m.
• Best days to post are Wednesday and Thursday.
• Worst day to post is Sunday.

Businesses can take advantage of a motivated, engaged professional audience on this platform by posting during the work week, typically Tuesday through Friday, from 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. 

However, before 4 a.m. and after 8 p.m. during these days, engagement becomes lower. 

On Monday, engagement is even lower, as workers are likely catching up on tasks after the weekend.

The takeaway: LinkedIn gets lots of engagement over a wider timeframe than Instagram and Facebook, so use your posts wisely on this platform!