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What Are the Best Times to Post on Social Media for Maximum Engagement?

J

Hi everyone,

I’ve been experimenting with different posting times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but I’m still not sure when I get the best engagement. Some posts perform well in the morning, while others do better in the evening.

Are there any updated best practices for 2024 regarding optimal posting times? Does it vary by platform or audience type? I’d love to hear what has worked best for you in terms of reach and engagement!

Looking forward to your insights!

Best answer by mary

​@JamesLambert Of course! There can be a lot that goes into what content performs or doesn’t perform. I had asked about industry vertical, because for some verticals a weekend could work. Take travel for example. Content showing food, beverage, travel destinations - could work very well on a weekend. But if you are B2B, your audience may be engaged weekdays. The key will be testing different content, on different platforms, on different times and days. I asked about a tool to see what kind of measurement options you would have at your disposal. A platform like Sprout provides a robust analytics suite that you can use. Don’t forget to look at both impressions and engagement (likes/comments/shares). Not every post will “invite” engagement, so visibility is also an important factor.

In the end, remember, if you never post on a Sunday - Sunday will never be a good day for you. So you’ll need to test it out (depending upon whether it makes sense for your industry or not).

I hope that helps!

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    Jonathan Zuluaga
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    • Jonathan Zuluaga
      Jonathan Zuluaga

    6 replies

    mary
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    • mary
    • Level 2
    • 40 replies
    • March 17, 2025

    ​@JamesLambert Hi there! This can be a bit of a trick question. Is it the day/time that is causing content to perform, or not perform? Or is it the type of content (video vs. image, etc)? 

    I have a few questions to start.

    1. What industry vertical are you in? 
    2. Do you have an analytics tool, such as Sprout, to help know what content is performing?
    3. What kind of content are you posting?
    4. Is it only Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? And are you posting the exact same thing at the exact same times for each platform?
    5. Have you reviewed Sprout’s Social Media Benchmark Report? This is their 2024 report (I don’t believe the 2025 has been released yet) - https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-benchmarks-by-industry/. 
    Mary
    Laura Porcincula
    julia.gross
    2 people like this
    • Laura Porcincula
      Laura Porcincula
    • julia.gross
      julia.gross
    ajl3photo
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    • ajl3photo
    • Level 4
    • 30 replies
    • March 17, 2025

    I know off-times that I like that most people don't post are late around 9 pm and early on Sunday and later in the afternoon on Saturday. We see a nice uptick during those times. 

    @ajl3photo | A J Lopez III
    Laura Porcincula
    S
    E
    4 people like this
    • Laura Porcincula
      Laura Porcincula
    • S
      stacyk
    • E
      Erin Brady Stephen
    • julia.gross
      julia.gross
    J
    mary wrote:

    ​@JamesLambert Hi there! This can be a bit of a trick question. Is it the day/time that is causing content to perform, or not perform? Or is it the type of content (video vs. image, etc)? 

    I have a few questions to start.

    1. What industry vertical are you in? 
    2. Do you have an analytics tool, such as Sprout, to help know what content is performing?
    3. What kind of content are you posting?
    4. Is it only Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? And are you posting the exact same thing at the exact same times for each platform?
    5. Have you reviewed Sprout’s Social Media Benchmark Report? This is their 2024 report (I don’t believe the 2025 has been released yet) - https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-site-benchmarks-by-industry/

    Thanks for the thoughtful response! You raise some great points. It’s true that content type (video vs. image) could play a big role in performance, and I’ll definitely keep that in mind. As for your questions:

    • My industry vertical is [insert your industry].
    • I’ve been using basic analytics tools on the platforms themselves, but I’m open to trying something like Sprout to get deeper insights.
    • I post a mix of content, including images, videos, and even some text-based posts.
    • Currently, I’m posting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but not always at the same time or with the exact same content for each platform.

    I’ll definitely check out Sprout’s Social Media Benchmark Report. It sounds like it could provide some useful insights to fine-tune my posting strategy.

    Laura Porcincula
    1 person likes this
    • Laura Porcincula
      Laura Porcincula
    mary
    Forum|alt.badge.img+7
    • mary
    • Level 2
    • 40 replies
    • Answer
    • March 20, 2025

    ​@JamesLambert Of course! There can be a lot that goes into what content performs or doesn’t perform. I had asked about industry vertical, because for some verticals a weekend could work. Take travel for example. Content showing food, beverage, travel destinations - could work very well on a weekend. But if you are B2B, your audience may be engaged weekdays. The key will be testing different content, on different platforms, on different times and days. I asked about a tool to see what kind of measurement options you would have at your disposal. A platform like Sprout provides a robust analytics suite that you can use. Don’t forget to look at both impressions and engagement (likes/comments/shares). Not every post will “invite” engagement, so visibility is also an important factor.

    In the end, remember, if you never post on a Sunday - Sunday will never be a good day for you. So you’ll need to test it out (depending upon whether it makes sense for your industry or not).

    I hope that helps!

    Mary
    M
    1 person likes this
    • M
      mary.keutelian
    S
    Forum|alt.badge.img+3
    • stacyk
    • Level 2
    • 45 replies
    • March 21, 2025
    JamesLambert wrote:
    mary wrote:

    ​@JamesLambert Hi there! This can be a bit of a trick question. Is it the day/time that is causing content to perform, or not perform? Or is it the type of content (video vs. image, etc)? 

    I have a few questions to start.

    1. What industry vertical are you in? 
    2. Do you have an analytics tool, such as Sprout, to help know what content is performing?
    3. What kind of content are you posting?
    4. Is it only Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? And are you posting the exact same thing at the exact same times for each platform?
    5. Have you reviewed Sprout’s Social Media Benchmark Report? This is their 2024 report (I don’t believe the 2025 has been released yet) - https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-site-benchmarks-by-industry/

    Thanks for the thoughtful response! You raise some great points. It’s true that content type (video vs. image) could play a big role in performance, and I’ll definitely keep that in mind. As for your questions:

    • My industry vertical is [insert your industry].
    • I’ve been using basic analytics tools on the platforms themselves, but I’m open to trying something like Sprout to get deeper insights.
    • I post a mix of content, including images, videos, and even some text-based posts.
    • Currently, I’m posting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but not always at the same time or with the exact same content for each platform.

    I’ll definitely check out Sprout’s Social Media Benchmark Report. It sounds like it could provide some useful insights to fine-tune my posting strategy.

    Is this a genuine reply, or was AI used to generate it? “My industry vertical is [insert your industry].”

    If you are using AI to generate your social posts, without editing them or proof-reading them, that may be why they aren’t performing well.

    julia.gross
    D
    2 people like this
    • julia.gross
      julia.gross
    • D
      Dthar
    Laura Porcincula
    Community Manager
    Forum|alt.badge.img+13

    The Sprout Social Best Times to post report is out for 2025 now! This year there are regional reports available, I’ve linked them all below.

    North America:

     

    UK:

     

    Australia:

     

    Laura Porcincula (she/her)

    Reply


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