LinkedIn counts with over 900 millions registered users! It's the go-to social platform for those who mean business.
The huge surge in creators and personal brands being built on LinkedIn has made it more important than ever to know what to post and when to post. Understanding when to post on LinkedIn is crucial for maximizing your content's reach and engagement.
In this comprehensive guide, we'll use the analyzed data from millions of posts to identify patterns and answer the question "What are the best times to post on LinkedIn?"
We'll explore the best times to post on LinkedIn for each day of the week, discuss how to find the ideal posting times for your specific audience, and talk about what influences how you schedule your LinkedIn content. Let's get started!
When is The Best Time to Post on LinkedIn?
The best time to post on LinkedIn is actually composed of 3 time ranges:
- 🌅 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM (before people start work, while having breakfast, commuting, etc)
- 🥗 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM (just right before and during lunch time as people take a break and scroll on their phones)
- 🚋 4:30 PM to 7PM (as people leave work and check social media again)
You can easily pre-select and save these as your preferred options with Typefully to make scheduling LinkedIn posts much simpler and faster.
These ranges accommodate all weekdays and all types of posts from all accounts (big, small, active, inactive, etc). However, the important rationale here is that in order to find the best time to post on LinkedIn, you have to find the time when most people are active on LinkedIn.
Whether you're growing a LinkedIn Page or your own personal brand on LinkedIn, each target audience is active at a different time. We'll go into more detail below so you can learn how to find the best posting times for your LinkedIn audience.
Is There a Best Day and Time to Post on LinkedIn?
No, there isn't a silver bullet for scheduling LinkedIn content during the week. Don't believe any of the stuff online that claims there is. Why would Tuesday be a better day than Wednesday to post on LinkedIn?
However, are there days and times when you should NOT post because reach and engagement will be lower? Yes, of course.
- 🍸 Fridays after 3:00 PM - by this time of the week, most people are logging off for the weekends and turning all things work-related off. LinkedIn starts getting a ghost town so the chances people see your content in the following hours is much lower.
- 🎳 Weekends - as LinkedIn is a work-focused social platform, weekends see the lowest levels of activity so it's unlikely you'll get the best out of content on these days.
On the weekends, what people usually do is planning their week and scheduling their LinkedIn posts in advance with tools like Typefully. This makes sure they go out at the best times during the week without you having to worry about it.
Best Time to Post on LinkedIn on Monday
Mondays start off slow on LinkedIn as people are focused on catching up with emails and planning their week. Your best shot is at around lunch time.
⏱️ Best time to post on LinkedIn on Monday: 11:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Best Time to Post on LinkedIn on Tuesday
Tuesday is often considered one of the best day to post on LinkedIn, as professionals are fully engaged in their work week and more likely to be active on the platform as they've cleared their catch-ups from the weekend.
⏱️ Best time to post on LinkedIn on Tuesday: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Best Time to Post on LinkedIn on Wednesday
Wednesday, being the middle of the workweek, is another strong day for LinkedIn reach and engagement. Professionals are typically in full work mode and may be more likely to engage with industry-related content (specially the ones using LinkedIn as a work tool).
⏱️ Best times to post on LinkedIn on Wednesday: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Best Time to Post on LinkedIn on Thursday
Thursday maintains the strong reach and engagement trends seen earlier in the week, making it another excellent day for sharing content on LinkedIn.
⏱️ Best times to post on LinkedIn on Thursday: 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Best Time to Post on LinkedIn on Friday
As the workweek winds down, activity on LinkedIn starts to decrease. However, there are still opportunities to reach your audience effectively on Fridays if you get your posts out early enough.
⏱️ Best times to post on LinkedIn on Friday: 7:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Best Time to Post on LinkedIn on Saturday
While weekends generally see lower engagement rates on LinkedIn compared to weekdays, there are still opportunities to reach your audience, particularly for content that's more casual or inspirational (LinkedIn is becoming more personal).
⏱️ Best time to post on LinkedIn on Saturday: 6:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Best Time to Post on LinkedIn on Sunday
Sunday typically sees the lowest activity levels on LinkedIn. However, some professionals use this day to prepare for the upcoming workweek, providing a small window to reach them.
⏱️ Best time to post on LinkedIn on Sunday: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Summary: Best Times to Post on LinkedIn by Day of the Week
To provide a quick summary of the findings above, here's a summary of the best times to post on LinkedIn for each day of the week:
- Monday: 11:30 AM - 2:00 PM
- Tuesday: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
- Wednesday: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
- Thursday: 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
- Friday: 7:00 AM - 1:00 PM
- Saturday: 6:00 AM - 12:00 PM
- Sunday: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Remember that these times are general guidelines based on aggregated data. The best time to post on LinkedIn for your specific audience may vary, which brings us to our next section.
How to Find the Best Time to Post on LinkedIn for Your Audience
Well, to be honest, there is only one right answer to this: you need to test a lot of time slots, publish multiple posts and collect a significant amount of data to properly understand how your audience uses LinkedIn. An easy way to schedule your posts in a consistent way is to use a tool like Typefully.
However, you can be smart about it instead of starting from scratch. Just think about these three questions:
- Who is your target audience? Be specific about job role and title.
- What does their day look like? You need to know what they do and when.
- When are they more likely to be on LinkedIn?
Each audience spends their time on LinkedIn differently. For examples, marketers, recruiters and salespeople are probably on it from 9 to 5. However, product managers and CEOs are more likely to only check it during breaks. Knowing who you are trying to reach and what they day to day looks like is crucial to help you find the best time to post on LinkedIn.
Once you get a feeling for that, follow these steps to further optimize posting times for your LinkedIn content:
- Analyze your LinkedIn analytics: pay attention to when your followers are most active and what publishing days and times receive the highest reach and engagement.
- Experiment with different posting times: try publishing content at various times throughout the week and track the performance of each post. This will help you identify patterns specific to your audience.
- Use social media management tools: platforms like Typefully let you schedule multiple posts in advance and look back into your content calendar to see on/at what days/times they were published.
- Consider your target audience's time zone: if you're targeting a global audience, be mindful of different time zones and make sure you are reaching everyone at an optimal time.
Things to Consider When Scheduling LinkedIn Content
Determining the best time to post on LinkedIn depends on multiple things but these three elements are key:
1) Content Type and Purpose
The type of content you're sharing and its intended purpose can influence the optimal posting time. Consider the following:
- Thought leadership posts: these tend to perform well during business hours when professionals are looking for industry insights.
- Job postings: early morning or late afternoon on weekdays can be effective, as people may be job searching before or after work.
- Company news: mid-week mornings often work well for important announcements.
- Personal content: performs better during lunch hours or towards the end of the workday when people are looking for a mental break.
2) Posting Frequency and Consistency
While timing is crucial, the frequency and consistency of your posts plays an even bigger role in your LinkedIn success. Consider these points:
- Aim for a consistent posting time so people get used to seeing your content always around the same time of the day.
- Go for quality over quantity but don't go below 2 posts per week in order not to lose traction and familiarity.
- Experiment with different posting frequencies to find the sweet spot for your audience.
- Schedule your posts for LinkedIn with a tool like Typefully so you make sure you are still posting even during busy periods.
3) Dealing with Timezones
Trying to reach a worldwide audience with your content makes it harder to find the best times to post on LinkedIn because you'll never be able to reach everyone at the best time.
If you can find the majority of your audience is in a particular timezone, considering using that timezone as a reference since you'll get more reach and engagement vs trying to reach everyone at the same time.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, while there is data available on the best times to post on LinkedIn, you should always experiment with your own audience to see what works best.
To recap the key points:
- The best times to post on LinkedIn generally fall between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM on weekdays.
- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday tend to be the best days to post on LinkedIn.
- Each day of the week has specific time slots that tend to perform better for LinkedIn reach and engagement.
- Analyze your own audience's behavior to determine the best posting times for your specific situation.
- Consider factors such as content type, posting frequency and timezones when scheduling your LinkedIn content.
Remember that the LinkedIn algorithm and user behavior are constantly evolving, so it's important to regularly review and adjust your posting times. So make sure you use a tool like Typefully to schedule your content and test your LinkedIn posting times constantly.
