Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Transformation
    Operations
    Data
    Experience
    Performance
    Management
    Special Reports
    All Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech
    Mission
    Team
    Newsletter
    Search Engine Land
    Third Door Media

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Customer & Digital Experience » For Social Success, Post To Twitter & Facebook In Early Afternoons, Tumblr In Evenings

For Social Success, Post To Twitter & Facebook In Early Afternoons, Tumblr In Evenings

When’s the best time to post to social media platforms to ensure your content is most seen? URL shortening service Bitly has crunched some new numbers. Success on Twitter and Facebook means posting in the early afternoons, while Tumblr likes the night life. Bitly looked at the amount of clicks that links posted through its […]

Danny Sullivan on May 8, 2012 at 4:24 pm

When’s the best time to post to social media platforms to ensure your content is most seen? URL shortening service Bitly has crunched some new numbers. Success on Twitter and Facebook means posting in the early afternoons, while Tumblr likes the night life.

Bitly looked at the amount of clicks that links posted through its service generated on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr (sorry, Google+, you got left out). It also looked at when these sites seemed to have the most activity overall.

Bitly even generated fancy looking plots of clicks and activity, like this:

I found it easier, however, to skip the charts and read the findings. Below, my summary of the best times.

Note that all times are in Eastern Time, which makes sense in terms of activity. From 1pm-3pm ET, for example, corresponds to 10am-Noon Pacific Time. During those hours, most of the entire United States is awake.

For those dealing with non-US audiences, I suspect adjusting these peak times to your own local “waking hours” might prove effective.

Twitter

  • Post 9am-3pm ET, Monday through Thursday
  • Especially post 1-3pm ET, Monday through Thursday
  • Avoid posting after 8pm ET during the weekends
  • Avoid posting after 3pm ET on Friday and at all on weekends

Facebook

  • Post 1-4pm ET during the week
  • Especially post midweek 1-3pm ET
  • The very best time is Wednesday at 3pm ET
  • Avoid posting between 8pm ET and 8am ET during the week
  • Avoid posting on weekends

Tumblr

  • Post from 4pm ET onward
  • Especially post from 7pm-10pm ET onward, with Monday and Tuesdays being good
  • Post on Friday evenings

Remember, ultimately it will be up to your own individual findings to know the optimal time to post content. For some, posting during the weekend might not drive a ton of initial clicks but could pick up some additional traffic, or “second chance” activity, as I’ve called it.

Related Articles

  • Most Mobile Time Spent In Apps: Google Has Top Reach, Facebook Has Highest Engagement
  • Dissecting “Hot On Google+,” A Look At How Posts Become Hot
  • Why “Second Chance” Tweets Matter: After 3 Hours, Few Care About Socially Shared Links
  • Why We Are On Tumblr

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    Webinar: Overcome third-party data challenges for CX success

    Public wants to know where brands stand on issues, surveys show

    Why event technology is critical to marketing success

    HubSpot expands App Accelerator program internationally

    The power and limitations of universal IDs

About The Author

Danny Sullivan
Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Related Topics

Customer & Digital ExperiencePerformance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

June 7, 2022: Master Classes

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Discovering Now: Spring

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

Webinars

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

Dominate Your Competition with Google Auction Insights and Search Intelligence

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

The Progressive Marketer’s Ultimate Events Strategy 2022 Worksheet

CMO Guide: How to Plan Smart and Pivot Fast

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.