At Buffer, we just lately launched into an bold mission: uncovering the perfect time to publish on social media in 2025 — throughout all main platforms.
We pored over tens of millions of posts, reels, TikToks, shorts, movies, and extra to pinpoint when the best-performing content material was printed.
We analyzed the info right here in one in all two methods: To foretell the perfect time to publish on Fb, LinkedIn, and X, we seemed on the timeslots with the very best median social media engagement on every platform. To foretell the perfect occasions to publish on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, we checked out median attain and video views.
In each circumstances, we discovered some clear patterns — and may make some clear suggestions on the perfect time to publish on social media. Particular timeslots see extra engagement or views than others, which is a crucial consideration in your social media advertising and marketing technique.
Use these occasions as a place to begin to provide your content material the absolute best likelihood of success.
Earlier than we get into this, an necessary caveat: sharing your social media posts on the ‘proper’ time will not be the key sauce for content material success.
(If there have been a secret sauce, it could be consistency. However extra on that in a sec.)
There are literally thousands of alerts that decide content material efficiency all every of the social media platform’s a number of algorithms — engagement, watch time, person preferences, location… Put up recency is probably going only one small a part of a reasonably complicated puzzle.
Nonetheless, should you really feel such as you’re hitting all the fitting notes together with your content material and wish to give your social media technique a useful little increase, it’s price testing the perfect time to publish on social media in your platform of alternative.
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Is there an total greatest time to publish on social media?
There is no such thing as a single greatest time to publish on social media that applies to all social media platforms. Why? They’re all used for various causes, by very completely different customers.
For instance, in contrast to different social media platforms, LinkedIn is used for skilled networking and thrives throughout working hours. TikTok is extra targeted on leisure — so movies and carousels there usually tend to get views after hours. Posts on X are likely to get extra engagement on Tuesdays, whereas Fridays are the perfect days for Instagram.
As you’ll see from all our graphs, there’s not a lot overlap, particularly throughout all main social media platforms.
So, whereas we won’t be as particular as we will on a per-platform foundation, we will make broad suggestions which are largely frequent sense. For instance, social media posts shared on weekends are likely to get much less attain and engagement, as does content material posted in the midst of the night time.
With all that in thoughts, you’re much better off with a digital advertising and marketing plan and social media calendar with a singular posting schedule for every platform. Let’s get into our suggestions for all of them.
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What time zone? To make this knowledge simpler to know, our knowledge scientist Bufferoo has carried out some mathematical magic to make the advisable time zones universally relevant. In different phrases, no have to convert — take into account all of the suggestions native time. Whether or not you are in EST (Jap Customary Time), PST (Pacific Customary Time), or IST (Indian Customary Time), the occasions apply to you.
Finest time to publish on social media: a fast information
Right here’s a cheat sheet for the perfect time to publish on social media (it’s price scrolling down for extra choices, too!)
- Finest time to publish on Fb: 5 a.m. – 7 a.m. on weekdays
- Finest time to publish on Instagram: 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. on weekdays
- Finest time to publish on LinkedIn: 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. on weekdays
- Finest time to publish on TikTok: 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. on weekdays
- Finest time to publish on YouTube: 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. on weekdays
- Finest time to publish on X/Twitter: 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. on weekdays
- Finest time to publish on Threads: 7 a.m. — 9 a.m. on weekdays
The most effective time to publish on Fb
The most effective time to publish on Fb is 5 a.m. on Monday.Fb customers are the earliest birds of the bunch. Early morning posts — particularly in the beginning of the week — are likely to carry out greatest.
That pre-sunrise slot on Monday tends to get probably the most engagement, however Tuesday at 5 a.m. and Thursday at 7 a.m. aren’t far behind.
Basically, the morning hours are the place the magic occurs on Fb. Engagement ranges are likely to rise by way of mid-morning, peak round noon, and progressively taper off later within the day.
Relating to the perfect day to publish on Fb, Wednesday leads the pack by way of total engagement. Tuesday and Thursday comply with intently — and also you’ll discover from the graph beneath that every one weekdays are likely to boast related efficiency on Fb.
The weekends are one other story. Engagement takes a noticeable dip on posts on social media on weekends, with Sunday coming in because the quietest day on the platform. Posts shared on Sundays see round 15% much less engagement than these shared midweek, and Saturday about 10%.
📚 Learn our full information to the greatest time to publish on Fb to see the optimum occasions for every single day of the week, plus the perfect kind of content material to publish.
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One factor to bear in mind: Posting occasions aren’t the identical as viewers energetic occasions. So for Fb, it does not essentially imply 5 a.m. is when persons are seeing your Fb posts. It is probably the content material wants time to percolate on the information feed, and your followers and followers will discover it there after they go surfing to the platform at a extra cheap hour. The identical goes for all of the occasions advisable on this information.
The most effective time to publish on Instagram
The most effective time to publish on Instagram is 3 p.m. on Friday. After analyzing over 2 million posts, we discovered this time slot constantly bought the very best attain.
That mentioned, there was not a lot distinction within the attain of posts shared between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on most weekdays.
If you happen to have a look at the heatmap above, you’ll discover a reasonably predictable sample: attain begins to construct from round 6 a.m. on weekdays, picks up steam round 11 a.m. (howdy, lunch time scroll), and hits its stride at 3 p.m. on most days.
Weekends, nonetheless, inform a unique story. Attain tends to dip on Saturdays, dropping even additional on Sundays. Whereas there are just a few small spikes within the early night, they don’t fairly match the efficiency of weekday posts.
Basically, weekdays are a protected guess for stable attain on Instagram — however Monday and Friday come out on high, with barely larger engagement than the remainder of the week.
On the different finish of the size? Sunday is the worst day to publish on Instagram, the place we see a notable dip in publish efficiency.
📚 Learn our full information to the greatest time to publish on Instagram to see the optimum occasions for every single day of the week, plus the perfect kind of content material to publish.
The most effective time to publish on LinkedIn
The most effective time to publish on LinkedIn is 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
Within the greater than 1 million LinkedIn posts we analyzed, this time slot tended to see probably the most engagement — nonetheless (once more!), solely by a smidge.
Posts shared between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays tended to get stable engagement — and there aren’t any prizes for guessing why.
Regardless of LinkedIn turning into a little bit extra informal and creator-friendly lately, it’s nonetheless a work-first platform. Most individuals scroll their feeds throughout working hours.
Evenings, then again, are usually quieter. In contrast to platforms like Instagram or TikTok, engagement on LinkedIn usually trails off as individuals wrap up their workdays and sign off.
Relating to the perfect day to publish on LinkedIn, Thursday comes out tops, intently adopted by Wednesday and Tuesday. However once more engagement is pretty robust throughout all weekdays — so that you’ve bought numerous flexibility.
The weekend tells a unique story. Posts shared on Saturday and Sunday get noticeably much less engagement, with Sunday coming in because the slowest day of the week. Once more, that checks out — most individuals aren’t firing up LinkedIn on their days off.
📚 Learn our full information to the greatest time to publish on LinkedIn to see the optimum occasions for every single day of the week, plus the perfect kind of content material to publish.
The most effective time to publish on TikTok
The most effective time to publish on TikTok is Sunday at 8 p.m., with Tuesday at 4 p.m. and Wednesday at 5 p.m. coming in simply behind.
Movies, carousels, and even text-based posts shared throughout these slots tended to tug in probably the most views throughout the week.
Typically, we discovered that TikTok engagement begins to choose up within the early afternoon, with most peak viewing occasions taking place from 1 p.m. onwards.
TikTok is a little bit of an outlier in comparison with different social platforms — making it all of the extra fascinating to research. Whereas platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn have comparatively constant engagement patterns tied to the workday, TikTok viewers conduct is completely different — presumably as a result of individuals scroll of their downtime, not simply between conferences.
Wednesday is the perfect day to publish on TikTok, with Thursday and Friday tied for second place, so mid-to-late week is a superb window so as to add to your schedule.
The worst day to publish on TikTok is Saturday — the info exhibits a noticeable dip in views for content material shared then, with Sunday not too far behind.
📚 Learn our full information to the greatest time to publish on TikTok to see the optimum occasions for every single day of the week, plus the perfect kind of content material to publish.
The most effective time to publish on YouTube
The most effective time to publish on YouTube is Wednesday at 4 p.m. Movies printed at the moment noticed the very best common views of the week — with Thursday and Monday at 4 p.m. shut behind.
Extra broadly, posting between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays is a wonderful window in your posting schedule. Movies shared late afternoon constantly outperformed different time slots, probably as a result of viewers are winding down after work or examine and have time to settle in with longer-form content material.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are the perfect days to publish on YouTube. These three have been tied for high efficiency in our knowledge, particularly when paired with that late-afternoon posting window between 3 and 5 p.m.
Sunday was the lowest-performing day, adopted intently by Saturday. So should you’re planning your content material calendar, weekdays is perhaps your greatest guess — and value experimenting with should you’re at present posting on weekends.
📚 Learn our full information to the greatest time to publish on YouTube to see the optimum occasions for every single day of the week, plus the perfect kind of content material to publish.
The most effective time to publish on X (previously Twitter)
The most effective time to publish on Twitter/X is 9 a.m. on Wednesday. That’s when content material sees the very best engagement, in accordance with our evaluation of over 1 million posts.
The following-best occasions are Tuesday at 8 a.m., adopted intently by Monday at 8 a.m.
Basically, although, weekday mornings are your greatest guess. Engagement begins selecting up early — usually round 6 or 7 a.m. — and hits its peak between 8 and 9 a.m. From there, exercise tends to taper off into the afternoon as individuals shift gears into the remainder of their workday.
Many of the top-performing time slots land on this morning window, so should you’re trying to get extra eyes in your tweets, attempt scheduling them earlier than lunchtime.
Tuesday is the perfect day to publish on Twitter/X. Posts shared on Wednesday and Thursday additionally carry out nicely — making the center of the week a good time to indicate up on the platform.
Once more Engagement tends to drop off on posts shared on the weekend. Sunday is the quietest day on Twitter, with Saturday not far behind. Whereas just a few time slots nonetheless maintain up, you’re usually higher off retaining your strongest content material for the workweek.
📚 Learn our full information to the greatest time to publish on X to see the optimum occasions for every single day of the week.
The most effective time to publish on Threads
The most effective time to publish on Threads is 7 a.m. on Wednesday. Posts printed then had the very best median engagement — that’s likes, replies, and reposts — throughout all the info we analyzed.
The following-best occasions have been 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. on weekdays, particularly Tuesday by way of Friday. Typically talking, most weekday mornings are nice home windows to intention for.
An attention-grabbing ‘outlier’ time that popped up in our examine was 1 a.m. on Sunday. As you possibly can see from the heatmap graph above, it ranks within the high 5 posting occasions for Threads.
It’s proof that, whereas the hours with the very best median engagement charges have a tendency to be between 7 and 9, it will probably nonetheless be price experimenting with different posting occasions to see what works greatest for your viewers.
Wednesday is the perfect day to publish on Threads, primarily based on total engagement. It’s adopted intently by Friday and Thursday — midweek is clearly prime Threads time.
On the flip facet, Sunday sees the bottom engagement total, with Saturday not far behind. If you happen to’re batch-scheduling content material for the week, you would possibly wish to give these weekend posts a second thought.
📚 Learn our full information to the greatest time to publish on Threads to see the optimum occasions for every single day of the week.
The right way to discover your greatest occasions to publish in Buffer
I can’t promise that posting your content material at exactly these occasions will assure social media success — if solely it have been that straightforward! It’s necessary to keep in mind that viewers conduct can range. For instance, optimum posting occasions for Buffer’s social media viewers most likely received’t work for my private target market, and vice versa.
Utilizing your social media metrics to information you could be actually useful right here. Some social media platforms, like Instagram and YouTube, will embrace high-engagement occasions of their native analytics. For those that don’t, you are able to do a little bit of handbook work by analyzing your best-performing posts to make some educated guesses in your private greatest time to publish on social media.
Click on on the platform-specific guides I’ve linked above to search out step-by-step directions that will help you entry all of them.
In fact, there’s a neater means. Any social media administration device price utilizing will do the arduous give you the results you want. Buffer’s analytics will crunch the numbers of all of your historic knowledge and suggest the next:
- The most effective time/day of the week so that you can publish
- The most effective content material format to publish (picture, video, textual content, or hyperlink)
- How typically to publish per day or week
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Buffer Analytics is accessible in our paid plans for Fb, Instagram, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn Pages. Our Solutions characteristic can suggest the perfect days and occasions for Instagram posts and the perfect days to publish for Fb, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn Pages.
To search out them:
- Make sure the social community you wish to analyze is related to Buffer (right here’s a information to connecting all our accessible channels). Be aware that if this channel has simply been related to Buffer, it could take a few week for us to assemble all of the required knowledge.
- Click on on the Head to the Analytics tab on the high left.
- Right here, you’ll discover your Analytics Overview. You’ll see how your content material has carried out over the interval you set with the date dropdown on the highest proper.
- Click on on the Solutions tab. You’ll discover all the suggestions I discussed above on this window.
Select the platform you need solutions for within the column on the left.
Timing issues — nevertheless it is not every little thing
As touched on above, discovering the perfect time to publish on social media would possibly assist increase content material efficiency, nevertheless it’s not the magic bullet that may have your content material going viral.
Utilizing optimum posting occasions in your chosen social media platforms is a straightforward field to tick, however your time and power are greatest spent on ensuring your content material resonates together with your target market and can nudge you towards your social media advertising and marketing objectives.
Unsure the place to start? Here is our information to constructing a stable social media technique from scratch — together with a template to get you began!
What have you ever discovered most useful when figuring out your greatest time to publish on social media? Tell us @buffer on all our social media accounts!
