Introduction

Throughout 2020 and 2021, social media became more important than ever as a way for people to maintain instantaneous connections, discover new trends and hobbies, and stay current on current events.

To thrive in an unexpectedly rapid digital transformation, brands had to pivot, and social marketers had to fight burnout as the volume of social interactions and messaging demands increased. See our COVID-19 learnings and resources review for more information on the strategies brands used to respond to these changes.

With this in mind, it’s no surprise that our review of the best times to post on social media for 2021 revealed many significant changes in the data, with increased and varying engagement across platforms and industries. Both brands and their customers were constantly adapting their online operations, resulting in new patterns of interaction and engagement on social media. As many of us continue to refine and reimagine strategy for 2021, this data can assist marketers in understanding the current social landscape.

We collaborated closely with our data science team to review findings and trends in social media usage from Sprout Social’s 20,000+ customers over the past year and understand when their content was most and least frequently engaged with, broken down by platform and industry.

We’ve highlighted the best and worst times to post on each social platform, as well as the best and worst days to post overall. Use this data to help inform your publishing calendar’s scheduling, or continue reading for ideas on how to incorporate these findings into your analysis of your specific account’s peak engagement times.

Finally, if you want a quick reference of the best times to post globally across each network, download your copy by clicking the button below. In addition, the best times to post on social media in GMT are included in this quick reference guide.

Disclaimer: Sprout Social data includes users from a variety of plan types, industries, and locations. All time frames are captured in the Central Time Zone (CST). The number of engagements represents the total number of engagements received by a brand on a specific channel during that hour’s time frame. Mid- to high-level engagement times are included in industry-specific data.

When is it best to post on FaceBook?

• Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday are the best days from 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday are the best days.
• Saturday is the worst day.

Given Facebook’s position as the most popular social media platform in the world, it’s not surprising that there was a nearly constant engagement in 2020.

When comparing the previous year’s data to previous years, there were few completely “off” times for Facebook. Weekdays, evenings, and early mornings all showed higher levels of engagement and have become much more advantageous times for brands to get eyes on their content.

Keep in mind that the top times shown above are in US Central Time, so the high engagement seen in the early morning, as well as the more traditional US workday, reflects Facebook’s large global audience. As a result, Facebook is an ideal platform for any brand with an international or multi-location strategy.

While this may appear to be an almost overwhelming amount of organic content to plan, keeping these peak times for when to post on Facebook in mind can assist you in effectively planning your content calendar.