Everything you need to know in regard to frequency and timing when publishing to social media.

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While quality content is arguably the most important factor for consistently growing your social media presence, knowing when to post and how often to post is essential to making sure you reach your desired audience. Creating a strategy around your timing has become a not-so-secret way to maintain some level of control over the constantly changing landscape of social media these days.

To make this process easier on you, we developed this cheat sheet on how when and how frequently you should post to X, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn. If you’re looking to grow a following or simply want to chat with your community when they’re online, consider the following tips. This is the first step to giving your audience what they want, when they want it.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 9am –1pm.

Saturday is the worst day to post on Facebook.

In general, the best time to post on Facebook is between 1pm and 3pm on weekdays. The worst time to post on Facebook is between 8am and 8pm on a weekend.

Your Facebook audience is what makes your page and posts unique. The Meta Business Suite is great for helping you understand the best time to post. These insights help you work out who your audience is and where they live. The data also helps you understand the types of content your audience likes to see. Most importantly for the purpose of determining the right time to post on Facebook, your Meta Business Suite will tell you when your audience is most online. Knowing when your audience is most active tells you when to post.

Enter the Meta Business Suite by heading to your Facebook Business page and then selecting “Meta Business Suite” from the menu on the left-hand side.

Plan on posting 1–2 times per day on Facebook.

Posting once or twice each weekday and once over the weekend has proven to be a solid Facebook strategy. Using this schedule establishes you as a regular presence in your followers’ lives, while not bombarding their feeds with low quality content simply to satisfy the algorithm. In fact, posting more often could cause you to lose potential customers or followers — while users enjoy interacting with their favorite brands, they also want to see what their friends and family are up to. Scheduling posts for between once a week and once a day tends to be the steadiest strategy for most brands.

Wednesday 9am –3pm

Tuesday, Thursday 9am -11am

Saturday is the worst day to post on X.

X is one of the first places people visit for news and updates. It’s also a key channel for customers to contact brands directly through comments, mentions, and direct messages. Any business using X should include a social media customer care strategy.

The most popular and best time slot for posting on X appears to be 7am - 9am on a Friday, while Wednesday at 9am is also a popular time, with engagement levels remaining strong throughout the day. Saturday, however, was the worst day to post on X.

According to HubSpot, the best time to post on X is from noon to 3pm or later at 5pm. This data coincides with the lunchtime catch-up, the afternoon slump, and the time people are on the commute home—all good times to check your X feed.

Quick Sprout advises posting from noon all the way to 6pm and recommends avoiding weekends altogether. Finally, Hootsuite research shows that the best time to post on X is between 9am and 4pm on Monday and Thursday, particularly from 11am to 1pm.

You should aim to post 1–3 times a day on X.

After the third post in a day, data suggests engagement significantly decreases. It also matters what day and time you post on X. All this being said, having independent conversations as they come up will help you engage with your community in a way that scheduling a post cannot. While all social media is, at its best, a conversation, X is the easiest platform to engage with your followers on a friendship level by regularly responding to questions or re-sharing and liking other people’s content. The more you interact with fellow X users — especially your followers — the more likely people will pay attention when you post original content.

Wednesday at 11am and 1pm

Friday at 10am and 11am

Although these are the all-time best times to post, these days or times may not work out with your posting schedule. Let’s break it down further.

The best time to post on Instagram on Monday is 11am-1pm. Catch your followers during their lunch breaks and bless their feeds with whatever you post.

The best time to post on Instagram on Tuesday is anytime during the peak hours of 10am-3pm. Instagrammers seem to use the app during their breaks at work and at home after the workday has ended.

The best time to post on Instagram on Wednesday is 11am or 1pm. Overall, engagement on Instagram increases on Wednesday, so posting anytime between 9 am-3pm would be ideal.

The best time to post on Instagram on Thursday is 9am -3pm. If you want to avoid posting during the workday, consider the alternative off-work hours of 4 pm-7pm.

The best time to post on Instagram on Friday is between 10am and 11am. Instagrammers are excited about the weekend and are checking out their feeds during work breaks. Utilize the excitement about the weekend to post before everyone goes out on Friday night.

The best time to post on Instagram on Saturday is between 8am-11am. People are often out and about on Saturdays, so overall, Instagram engagement is low. Try catching your followers early in the day before they head out for weekend activities to maximize engagement.

The best time to post on Instagram on Sunday is between the hours of 7 am-12pm. Instagram has the lowest engagement on Sundays, meaning it might be a good idea to avoid posting content that you are hoping creates engagement on Sundays.

Wednesday and Friday are the best days to post on Instagram.

Sunday is the worst day to post on Instagram.

Since 2020, the time-of-day sweet spot for posting on Instagram has expanded, with more people working flexibly from home. Midday engagement (10am-3pm) during weekdays has increased in recent years, while evenings and weekends remain popular times for engagement.

Although Sunday is usually the least effective day to post, weekends aren’t necessarily a bad time to post overall and can still generate engagement. The worst time to post on Instagram Monday through Friday is after 7pm when people have finished work for the day and are probably taking a break from their screens.

Reels are one of the fastest-growing features of Instagram. In fact, Instagram Reels typically get more engagement and views than videos posted on Instagram. If you are trying to grow an engaged following, consider posting reels on Instagram to supplement your main content. But when is the best time to post reels on Instagram? According to a study analyzing more than 10,000 Instagram posts and engagement rates done by Influencer Marketing Hub here are the best times to post reels on Instagram (in EST):

Try to make reels that intrigue people enough that they want to click on your account to learn more. Utilize relevant hashtags and peak reel-posting times to reach out to potential new followers. Reels are an excellent way to drive more people to your account, increase engagement, and gain more followers.

If you want to learn more about your target audience, when most of your followers are online, and how Instagram’s algorithm works, convert your Instagram to a business account in order to make use of the Meta Business Suite.

Through the Meta Business Suite you’ll be able to see how your previous Instagram posts performed, and discover key demographic information about your followers, such as gender, age, and location. You’ll be able to build a complete picture of the best time to post to your social media platforms.

With the data within the Meta Business Suite, you’ll have a much clearer idea of the best time to post on Instagram for high engagement. You can then tweak your posting schedule accordingly. When are the peak times your followers are online? Early morning? During their lunch hour? Are they primarily located in PST or EST? The Meta Business Suite will provide all this information and more so you can find your best posting times. It’s good practice to regularly check your social media analytics to monitor and optimize performance.

You should post 1–2 Instagram reels per day.

Add 1 image or carousel post per day on Instagram.

Instagram’s heavy push for video content lately has skewed stats for post popularity between image posts and video content like reels. Posting one or two reels per day at strategic times, as well as utilizing trending reel audio and hashtags will help push your posts to the top of your followers’ feeds.

We suggest posting at least one photo per day, but how often you post depends more on your goals and your brand. What matters most for staying on top of the algorithm is consistency; establish a few set time windows and post regularly during those times.