Timing Matters: The Best Times to Market to Your Audience

A photographic journalist would want to be near the action of a historic political moment. Someone looking for love wants to be out in the world making connections. A vendor selling umbrellas would want to be in the middle of a sudden downpour in a busy downtown. When it comes to life, love, or business, we put a lot of value on being in the right place at the right time. 

Social media, and email are no different. You need to be in the right place at the right time. You wouldn’t send a time-sensitive business email at 5 p.m. on a Friday because no one would see it. The same way, you wouldn’t post on social media at 1 a.m. (unless your target customer is on the opposite side of the globe). 

So what is the best time to post, or hit send? 

How do you determine the best time for you? 

Does it really matter what time you post? 

We’re going to answer all those questions for you.

Factors that Determine the Best Time to Post

It’s hard to say that there is a ‘perfect time’ to post on social media, or send emails, but there are real factors that are specific to you to consider. The perfect timing carefully considers things such as:

Platform

When you post on instagram vs. when you post on linkedin vs. when you send an email could be very different 

Industry

If you are a B2C brand your strategy could differ greatly than if you’re a B2B company

Time Zone

Are your customers in the same time zone as you? If not you should optimize your strategy for where THEY are. 

If you’re just starting out, try posting during the most popular posting times for the platform, or try out a variety of days and times; anything to start collecting data on when people respond. Scroll down to see the best times broken down for different platforms.

Determining the Best Time for YOU to Post

If you’ve been posting for a while and are looking to improve, here are our tips for determining the best time for you to post on social media or send emails:

Dive into your analytics

Your analytics are THE most important tool in determining your best time. Use tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, etc. to learn things about your audience that can help you understand when they’ll interact with you.

Check your engagement

From email opens, and clicks, to likes, comments, and shares, look for patterns that tell you when people are engaging with your content. 

Test, Test, Test

If you think you’ve spotted an opportunity for improvement, test it! A/B test your emails and send half at the new send time. Adjust the day or time that you post on social media and track whether your reach and engagements changed.

Remember that social media and how people interact with it are always changing. The Covid 19 pandemic shifted when and how people used the internet in 2020 and we have yet to see whether those changes will stick. 

Best time to send an e-newsletter

According to a 2020 report from Campaign Monitor, Tuesday is the best day to send an email campaign and Saturday is the worst. . As to the best time to send emails, a study from GetResponse shows that 10 AM on a weekday is ideal.

Both reports suggest that it is better to send emails on a weekday since it is probably the time when people are at the office and have time to check their messages.  

The right time to send emails can also depend on your recipients. One study from Experian shows that even weekends are a good time to send B2B emails for people who hold high positions in a company such as managers, supervisors, and owners. This report says that for business owners and company managers, 10 AM on Saturdays generates the highest click-through and open rates. 

Best time to post on Facebook 

Facebook is one of the most used social media platforms with roughly 2.89 billion users! Because of its global reach, Facebook is one of the best platforms to use for international strategies. As we stated above, when posting on Facebook, make sure that your posts are lining up with the times that your target audience would be active, wherever they are in the world.

In Sprout Social’s 2021 report, the best times to post on Facebook are:

• Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Best time to post on Instagram

Instagram has evolved a lot from being just a photo-sharing app and will continue to evolve into the future. With all the unique features, when you post to your feed, Reels, or Stories might be different from one another.

Generally, the best times to post on Instagram are:

• Tuesday 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 
• Weekdays ~11 a.m.

When it comes to Reels, no matter what time you post, it seems to matter how much you interact with the platform before and after you post, AKA don’t post and ghost. 

Best time to post on Twitter

Twitter is one of the first places a lot of people go for breaking information and developing stories, as well as live conversations around events like sports. When posting on Twitter it’s important to take your audience into account and think about why, and when they use Twitter in a way that you can reach them. Your audience may not be active during the general peak times.

The highest engagement times are:

• Tuesday - Friday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Keeping an eye on Trending Topics, or knowing what upcoming events your customer base may be interested in gives you a better idea of when to post. For example, if you sell basketball fan merchandise, tweeting and hashtagging during big games could be a great opportunity for exposure for your brand.

Best time to post on LinkedIn

Since LinkedIn is a professional-focused platform, the best times to post are going to fall in line with the general workweek. Keep your content on Linkedin work-focused since users are looking to get career related information they can apply to their professional lives.  

Today, the best days to schedule your LinkedIn post are:

• Wednesday, 3 PM
• Thursday, 9–10 AM
• Friday, 11 AM.

Get the Right Partner

Along with minding the right timing, you can also propel your business growth by getting the best partners. For your online marketing needs, you want a partner that is trustworthy, competent, and passionate in what they do. You will find all that and more with Birch River Design Group in Scottsdale, Arizona. Our team can help set your digital marketing tactics in the right direction. Shoot us a message anytime so we can schedule a no-obligation consultation.  Reach out to us today!