What day of the week should you advertise on? What is the best time to post photos on Instagram for likes on weekdays and on weekends?
When is the best time to place advertisements or important viral posts in VKontakte communities? Even Google cannot answer this question. Seriously. I have been monitoring publications on this topic for several months now - and not a single one contains a clear answer that could be applied in practice without reservations.
The answers come down to the following options:
- Everything is very complicated, it takes a long, long time to test; but in general - depending on your luck.
- We analyzed N communities and concluded that the maximum activity is at such and such hours.
- The maximum audience on the social network is at 19-21 hours, it is logical to try to get into this “prime time”.
All these theses are true to some extent. But, I repeat, using them in practice is difficult. It's easy to understand that:
Long-term testing- this is a waste of money and time, and by the end of the period everything can change. Social media is dynamic and fickle.
Average data by community is the average temperature in the hospital. And each community is individual, even publics that are similar in type and overlap in audience differ in the return on advertising.
Maximum audience encourages public page owners to compete for it; during prime time, the number of publications and their competition in the user’s feed increases. The records quickly descend into depths to which they may not be able to reach.
What to do? When to publish?
The cats are amazed: you can do without them in SMM, with a dry analysis!It's obvious that you need to use a method that would allow you to take into account the individual distribution of activity for a specific public, Moreover, a relatively short period of time should be analyzed.
Not finding such a method on the Internet, I set about developing my own. The result of this work was the creation of an online service that automates the process.
The idea behind it is quite simple:
We are collecting a series of posts for lately, determine the number of likes and reposts for each post, and then count median value of responses for each hour on weekdays. This is how we get the most active time.
The median value is used, not the mean. This allows us to partially get rid of the effect " average temperature around the hospital." You can read about what a median is on specialized resources. Here, for understanding, I will give good example from Wikipedia:
Let's say there are 19 poor people and one billionaire in one room. Everyone puts money on the table - the poor from their pockets, and the billionaire from his suitcase. Each poor person contributes $5, and the billionaire contributes $1 billion (109). The total is $1,000,000,095. If we divide the money equally among 20 people, we get $50,000,004.75. This will be the arithmetic average of the amount of cash that all 20 people in that room had.
The median in this case will be $5. This can be interpreted as follows. Having divided our company into two equal groups of 10 people, we can say that in the first group everyone put no more than $5 on the table, and in the second no less than $5. In general, we can say that the median this is how much the average person brought with him.
We're done with theory, let's move on to practice.
How to use the SmmUp service: examples
Placing the tool in general access I was primarily focused on SMM specialists, who already understand everything. Therefore, the site provides data, not advice, a fishing rod, not a fish. However, judging by the questions that arise, some clarifications need to be made. Let's feed the analyzer a few links and try to understand what its responses mean in each case. All screenshots are clickable.
First, let's look at some public page with quotes and beautiful photos. This is an ideal, almost laboratory object for study: posts are published frequently, the content is homogeneous and arouses keen interest among its audience.
Everything is quite obvious: the optimal placement time is 16-18 hours. Please note that 17 hours - the period located exactly in the middle - is not included in the chart. This is evidence that relatively few posts are posted in the community between 5 and 6 p.m. This indirectly confirms the reliability of the analysis: fewer posts - more attention to each of them! Obviously, it is more profitable to be located closer to the beginning of the interval, that is, before 17:00, and not after. The natural delay in the release of posts is only to our advantage.
Let's pay attention to the large news public.
The picture is quite expected: the most popular posts are those published in the morning: when people look at world news (what happened there overnight?). It's expected, but without an analyzer we could have set it at 8 or 7 o'clock, and we would have missed the mark.
There are also two less pronounced (since they do not coincide with reposts) spikes in the evening. It is significant that night hours, which are sometimes among the leaders among other public sites, show average indicators here, and 15 o’clock is characterized by a minimum of activity. Why is this so? It’s simple: RIA Novosti’s audience is more mature than many other public sites; These are people with traditional working hours. They go to bed earlier compared to young people, and also switch to TV more often in the evening. Well, 15 o’clock is the afternoon, office workers are trying to do a little work with fresh energy.
Another news public, with similar but different dynamics.
IN working hours There are no peaks in popularity.
Let's watch an entertaining public.
Clear peaks of popularity at 16 and 22 hours. The interval of 16 - 17 hours looks more profitable, since there are no periods with low activity next to it.
No matter how much the owners of public spaces on social networks would like it, there is no clear best time to publish posts. This depends on many factors, the most significant of them: type social network, the audience of the group or public, the topic of the public and much more.
The ideal publication time for one public page or social network as a whole may be completely inappropriate for another similar resource.
Optimal time to post on VKontakte
When posting on the social network VKontakte, you should take into account the following factors: the time when the social network’s traffic is maximum, the topic of the public in which the post will be posted, the characteristics of the public’s audience (age, interests) and other smaller features.
With the time of maximum traffic on VKontakte, everything is extremely simple, the largest online is from 19 to 21 hours Moscow time. For most publics, this time is ideal, but not for everyone. For example, in different public pages designed for teenage audiences, attendance times differ in general. In such public pages, it is best to post during the daytime, because that is when the largest number of teenagers are on VKontakte.
There are also public pages designed for an audience of a specific region or time zone. For example: public pages with local news or other similar groups. In this case, you should focus exclusively on local time.
Optimal time to post on Odnoklassniki
In general, all recommendations for publishing posts will be approximately the same as for the VKontakte social network. These resources have the same audience, so there will be virtually no differences in publication time.
The best time to post on Facebook
With the social network FaceBook, everything is somewhat more complicated, since Russian-speaking users make up only a small part of the entire audience of this resource. Therefore, when publishing your post, in addition to the previously listed things, it is worth considering many new factors that are absent in exclusively Russian-language social networks.
If you look at the audience in general, then the time of greatest attendance begins at 13:00 and ends at 15:00 Moscow time. It is better to post English-language posts at this time. Also, the period of maximum traffic on Facebook is perfect for publishing posts that do not contain text ( various pictures, songs, music videos), on English-language public pages.
With Russian-language posts, you should follow the same tips as for Russian social networks (Vkontakte or Odnoklassniki). The overwhelming majority of the Russian-speaking Facebook audience visits the site at the same time as VKontakte with Odnoklassniki.
Optimal time to post on Twitter
Twitter is less demanding when it comes to posting times. In this social network, high traffic lasts much longer than in most other similar resources. But even taking this into account, you should not publish your posts at random.
You definitely shouldn’t post at night; at this time, traffic to the resource is almost minimal, which makes publishing a pointless exercise. There are no other specific guidelines for posting on Twitter. Many tips that apply to other social networks can also be applied to Twitter.
Optimal time to post on Instagram
First of all, the time of publication on Instagram depends on the number of your subscribers. If you have no subscribers other than your friends, you should publish at a time that is convenient for them. You don’t even have to try to publish posts during peak traffic times on Instagram; site users only view posts by popular personalities, and they simply won’t visit your publications. At the same time, your friends may find it inconvenient to view such publications.
If you were able to gain an impressive number of subscribers (at least several hundred), you should start publishing posts during the time of the highest traffic to the site (approximately from 10 to 20 Moscow time). This will increase the number of views of your photos, which will have a positive impact on the development of your Instagram account.
General tips for posting.
- You can determine the approximate publication time by looking at popular public pages. You need to find a popular public page with a similar topic and choose the same publication time for your public page.
- Don't be afraid to post on different times days. Through trial and error, you can achieve results that most of the most popular resources cannot achieve.
We released new book“Content Marketing on Social Media: How to Get into Your Followers’ Heads and Make Them Fall in Love with Your Brand.”
Companies create accounts on Instagram in order to disseminate information about products and services, promotions and discounts among subscribers as much as possible. At one moment, users are active and hearts and comments appear on posts, and at the next, almost no one pays attention. Is it important for a brand to choose the best time to post on Instagram in order to reach all followers as much as possible? Let's check.
If you are interested comprehensive promotion business on Instagram - read our guide to marketing on this site!
Instagram Algorithms: Why Post Timing Still Matters
The social network supports the smart feed algorithm. The user sees posts not in chronological order, but depending on interests. How does the algorithm determine what is liked and what is not? By behavior: what a person comments and likes, and what posts he simply skips. Important role plays a person’s attitude towards the account.
With a smart algorithm, the audience coverage changes: not all subscribers can see the information. What time to make and post posts still remains relevant on Instagram, albeit not at the same level.
How to find the best time to post on Instagram
Pay attention to your target audience. Young people are active throughout the day and even night, and working people are most likely to check their feed in the morning or evening. Determine when your subscribers are most willing to interact with you and adapt to their times. This way you will achieve maximum coverage. Watch for any signs of activity.
Second important point- these are time zones. If clients are located all over the world, it will be more difficult to choose the optimal hours, because one client is awake, and the second on the other half of the ball is already falling asleep.
Special statistics tools, such as Iconosquare and Buffer, will help you determine when it’s best to post on Instagram.
How often to delight your subscribers with posts
Regardless of the most popular time for posts, the quality of the content posted on Instagram plays a decisive role. However, posting frequency also helps a brand grow faster.
According to Buffer research, different companies with the number of publications from 1 to 10, engagement may not have dropped.
Tailwind analyzed 100,000 records to see the importance of frequency. Companies that updated their profiles more than 7 times a week received more likes, comments and subscribers.
When choosing a frequency for a brand, you need to focus on the audience, whether it is ready to receive large number information or should it be reduced. Publishing requires preparation and high-quality materials, which takes a lot of time. Perhaps it will not be enough for too active introduction of the profile.
Optimal time of day
Try experimenting with different periods of time. Each period has its advantages:
- Morning hours. Many people go to social networks to wake up and get inspired for the next day. A fresh post will attract their attention.
- The middle of the day when subscribers have a lunch break. Typically during these hours they check updates and share news with others.
- Evening. Most people return from work, travel by transport, and rest. Mobile phone always at hand, you can check the feed updates.
- Night. Almost no one posts when everyone is asleep. Low competition will make it more visible. The first likes will come from young people who like to stay up late.
Don’t get hung up on one period, combine and analyze the results.
When is the best time to post on Instagram, taking into account the content?
Photos can be viewed at any time, but with videos it’s not so easy. When is the best time to publish video posts on Instagram? Research says that in the evening. And there is an explanation for this: people have returned from work, can turn on the sound and concentrate on the video. Or weekends when subscribers have a lot of free time.
It is also better to move the live broadcast to the end of the week or to the evening. If this is not possible, warn the audience in advance: publish an announcement with the date and time of the event, expand on the topic to convince the subscriber to join you.
Let's analyze the days of the week:
- Monday. Not the best day for information that makes you think and make a decision. On this day it is best to add entertainment content: funny pictures, tips, motivation, etc.
- Tuesday. The transition from weekend to work is over, subscribers are already ready to perceive important information. Talk about analytics and numbers.
- Wednesday. Many brands prefer to post the internal process and show the results of the work. Share your participation in important conferences and contributions to social projects. Show that the work is in full swing and is bearing fruit.
- Thursday. Tell us about your clients. Share your activities with clients. Many companies use this trick.
- Friday. Just like on Monday, it’s better not to leave important information in subscribers' feeds. They will be more likely to enjoy fun and encouraging content heading into the weekend.
- Weekend. If you still want, you can publish light and pleasant content or plans for the next week, motivating your subscribers.
Things to remember
- In 4 hours the recording is gaining greatest number views and likes.
- The speed of gaining likes and subscribers contributes to promotion using hashtags. Make content high quality and unique.
- Diversify your content. Publish not only products and services, but also news, articles on the topic, and don’t forget about entertainment content.
- Don't forget about feedback with subscribers. Organize giveaways: they significantly increase audience engagement.
- Research and select hashtags. By increasing the reach of the display, you will show the publication not only to followers, but also to other, possibly potential clients.
- Unlike other social networks, Instagram does not allow publishing without the participation of the author. However, you can use dedicated notification tools. They allow you to prepare a post in advance and remind you when to press the last button.
About research
Huffington Post, MarketingProfs, CoSchedule and SumAll conducted research on the best time to post on Instagram and found the optimal time. Here's what each one got:
- from 2:00 to 17:00;
- from 13:00 to 14:00;
- 14:00 on Tuesdays;
- 17:00-18:00 on weekdays, 20:00 - day off.
Conclusion: there is no universally good time to publish posts. It is different for each company and you need to display it yourself.
Let's sum it up
Each brand chooses what time to publish posts on Instagram. Many studies were conducted, but they did not lead to a single result. It all depends target audience: when she is active, what she is interested in and how she relates to the company profile. Special tools for collecting statistics will help you track the best time to publish. Don't forget that Instagram is mobile application, and it's always at hand.
GoldCoach SMM specialist Andrey Dovgy spent more than a year analyzing when it is best to publish posts on Instagram, Facebook and VKontakte so that they are seen by as many people as possible more people. Based on the results, he created a cheat sheet that he uses every day in his work, promoting GoldCoach products and our brand on social networks. © Olga Lutsenko.
From the cheat sheet you will learn when to publish posts on social networks to get more clients.
Time to post on Facebook
Subscriber age: 25-50 years.
Number of subscribers: more than 1.5 billion people.
Who's on Facebook?
A platform for specialists, politicians, aspiring and existing entrepreneurs, people who are looking for new business and work opportunities.
Facebook is also a platform for creative people to communicate.
Expensive products, original branded goods (not copies), information products, TOP-segment services (beauty salons, personal care, sports passes), paid books, expensive tours.
Best time to post on Facebook
10-12 am and 8 pm. Peak times are 10am and 8pm.
Necessarily Post on Sunday at 9-11 am.
Worst time to post on Facebook
From 12 to 16 o'clock and until 9 o'clock in the morning.
Avoid post on Monday morning until 10-11 am.
Time to Post on Instagram
Subscriber age: 25-45 years.
Number of subscribers: more than 500 million people.
Who's on Instagram?
On the Instagram social network are those who have something to show in photos and videos: travelers, beauty salon masters, movie stars, fashion stars, music stars, online store owners, models, screen stars, fitness trainers, successful entrepreneurs, “majors” - everyone who has something to show in photos and videos. More than 70% women.
What products are best to promote on this network: clothes, all goods for status - phones, accessories, everything related to fashion. Products and services for women.
Best time to post on Instagram
At 10-12 o'clock and 18-19 pm.
Necessarily Post on Wednesday and Thursday at 6-8 pm.
Worst time to post on Instagram
Before 9 a.m., 1-5 p.m., after 10 p.m.
Avoid post on Sunday and Monday until 10 am.
Time to publish posts on VKontakte
Age of subscribers: different, the most active users are 15-30 years old.
Number of subscribers: more than 390 million.
Who is on VKontakte?
The social network VKontakte is populated by young people who are eager to communicate, actively listen to music and want to keep track of updates in the lives of friends and acquaintances. There are also businessmen, but there are few of them yet. Now this network is considered a social network of “schoolchildren”, but those who were schoolchildren in 2006 are now earning money and are ready to spend it on their favorite social network.
What products are best to promote on this network: inexpensive clothing, copies of branded goods - clothing and equipment, tourism. It's good for young performers to promote.
The best time to post on VKontakte
8-9 am, 12 noon, 6-7 pm.
Necessarily publish posts on Saturday at 18-19 hours.
The worst time to post on VKontakte
From 21 to 6 am, from 12 to 16-17 hours.
Avoid post on Monday until 9 am.
What and when to publish
In the morning time- short entertaining posts.
In the morning, people haven’t really woken up yet and at the same time they are in a hurry. They don't have the time or desire to read a lot. Therefore, short notes and pictures are good at this time.
Day and evening- a time of serious posts in which there are “many letters”.
After 12 o'clock, people are already “turned on”, digest information better and are not in a hurry, so they can devote time to long notes.
Do you like the information? Tell us about it on your social network!
The main goal pursued by companies that own accounts on social networks is to attract the maximum number of users to their page. The successful timing of publication determines how many followers will see the information offered. Therefore, it is important to choose the best time to publish posts, when the majority of the audience is active, but at the same time the social network is not oversaturated with other publications.
The analytical agency Popsters conducted research on the dependence of the time of day and day of the week on user behavior on social networks. Based on the data from this study, we can draw conclusions about what time the effectiveness of publications will be highest. Research provides only average data: to determine the best time to post a specific page, it is necessary to conduct experiments with the period of news posting and monitor the activity of subscribers.
Lifehack: to automate the process of posting publications at the right time, use .
The Instagram social network reaches a predominantly female audience aged 25 to 45 years. The range of interests of this audience: beauty, fashion, cinema, celebrity life, active and healthy lifestyle. Most often, users access Instagram from their mobile devices.
The optimal time for posting largely depends on the target audience: young people and students visit Instagram throughout the day, working users most often go to view news during their lunch break or at the end of the working day. According to the schedule, the greatest activity occurs at 9 a.m., at lunchtime from 3 to 5 p.m., and in the evening from 7 to 9 p.m.. It is also worth noting that between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m., the activity of Instagram users drops slightly.
Latergramme experts say that it is best to post content between 17.00 and 21.00, when most people leave work and go home. The smartphone is always at hand, so you can read the latest news.
Experts point out that in the evening the number of publications is significantly reduced, which increases the chances of reaching a larger audience.
Analyzing the activity of followers by day of the week, we can draw the following conclusions:
- photos can be posted daily at 12, 15, 17-18 or 21 hours. If it is not possible to post every day, then choose Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
- video publish after 20.00 on any day or on weekends when subscribers have more free time (instructions:);
- Live broadcasts are best done at the end of the week or in the evening. If this is not possible, it is necessary to warn users in advance about the broadcast time;
- If your page is popular all over the world, then when choosing a posting time, do not forget about time zones.
The active audience of users of the VKontakte social network are young people, schoolchildren, students and freelancers aged 13 to 34 years. VK users communicate, listen to music, post photos and read news in various communities.
Peak activity of VKontakte users occurs at lunchtime from 11 to 13 hours and in the evening from 17 to 23 hours.
During the first time period, users are preparing for their lunch break. Putting aside work matters, they scroll through news feed, waiting for the long-awaited rest. During lunch, most people continue to “sit” on social networks.
In the second period of time, users have already returned from work and continue to monitor VK news, often moving to the computer.
Analyzing audience activity by day of the week, we can conclude that the best days for posting are weekends.
Recommendations for posting content on the VKontakte social network:
- morning is the time for entertainment news, users wake up and start getting ready for work or school, they are not yet ready to perceive information;
- lunch is time for serious content that can contain numbers and analytics. People have already tuned in to the working rhythm and are ready for useful information. Until the evening, post as often as possible, alternate informative posts with entertaining ones;
- In the evening, it is recommended not to slow down the frequency of publications in order to reach the maximum audience. Leave the most interesting and important news for the evening. End the day with nice wishes for your followers.
To more accurately determine the best time to publish posts on VK, taking into account the specifics of the audience, you need to:
- Conduct an analysis: what groups are your users subscribed to, at what time are they most active (likes and comments);
- Determine the rest time for users; during this time you should post only short entertainment news and funny pictures.
- Publish posts at non-standard times: at 12.20, 13.45, etc. During peak activity hours, a large number of publications are posted, which increases the risk of your news getting lost.
Facebook users are predominantly entrepreneurs, top managers, public figures, programmers and people of creative professions aged 25 to 50 years. They are interested in business, political and cultural news. This social network concentrates most of the professional audience that establishes business contacts.
Best time for publications this is the period from 14:00 to 15:00. Facebook is dominated by working users who, after their lunch break, want to read interesting news and comment on friends' updates. Posts published at 13-14 hours collect a large number of reposts; if you need clicks, post the news after 15.00.
User activity increases on Monday and Friday, because... On Monday, users are not yet ready for the work week and spend time on social networks, and on Friday they are already preparing for the weekend.
According to research from HubSpot and Microsoft, the optimal time to post is Thursday and Friday from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Pay attention to the specifics of your target audience (housewives can view the news at any time, and business people only during free hours).
- Study the statistics of visits to competitors' pages depending on the time of day and day of the week.
- Publish news during periods of greatest user activity.
- Experiment with posting times to find best option, try publishing information during periods of less active audience activity. Perhaps the amount of information is dwindling at this time, but your audience is still online.
- Post your news at the same time so that your subscribers get used to the regularity of your posts.
- Experiment with posting days if you post several times a week.
The target audience of the Odnoklassniki social network is similar to the VKontakte audience, but older. Odnoklassniki is visited mainly by women who communicate and look for something interesting. Users do not like to read long posts: they are more interested in entertaining and humorous content, as well as short videos.
The largest number of users log into the social network in the morning from 9 to 11, when they get to work or places of study, in the afternoon from 15 to 17, when students and schoolchildren return home, and in the evening from 19 to 20, when they come home working people. During periods of greatest audience activity, it is recommended to post at least twice a day.
Similar to the social network Vkontakte, most people are on Odnoklassniki on weekends.Recommendations for posting on Odnoklassniki are similar to those given for the VKontakte social network.
When is the best time to post videos on YouTube?
The majority of YouTube users are people aged 18 to 54 years, 10% of the audience are children and teenagers from 12 to 17 years old. Most often, video clips are viewed by men aged 18 to 24 who are interested in cars, electronics, sports and computer games. The most active users are considered to be young people from 25 to 34 years old.
According to data from the Frederator Networks site, the maximum number of users gathers on YouTube from 14 to 16 hours from Monday to Wednesday, from 12 to 15 hours from Thursday to Friday and from 9 to 11 on weekends. This is the best time to post videos on your channel. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the days on which videos receive the most views and likes.
- determine the average age of your target audience. Schoolchildren are free in the afternoon, and working users watch videos most often in the evening;
- take into account the difference in time zones if you want to reach the maximum audience around the world;
- post videos regularly at the same time, so subscribers will know when to come to the channel for a new video clip;
- Monitor the video view statistics to adjust the time if necessary. Statistics can be viewed in Creative studio– YouTube analytics.