When REALLY is The Best Time To Post On Facebook In 2023?

Being one of the most-used platforms by marketers, Facebook has nearly 3 billion monthly active users, making it a marketing goldmine. With so many active users available, the platform has great potential to attract more eyeballs and encourage engagement with your brand.

That is why finding the best time to post on Facebook can be a great way to boost brand engagement and gain new followers. Brands that want to leverage the platform’s benefits for maximum visibility need to know the active status of their audience, especially from their industry.

But the posting schedule for all Facebook Pages cannot be the same, right? So how do you find the best time to post on Facebook?

In this blog, we’ll share the importance of posting time, how to find your best time to post on Facebook, the factors that affect it, and the studies and insights from leading marketing companies (industry-wise). 

Facebook Post Timing: Why Is It Important?

Yes, timing matters! 

Because what’s the point of investing so much effort and time in a post if nobody gets to see it? 

The reality is most of your target audience on Facebook doesn’t even get to know what you post on social media since the organic reach of Facebook pages is at an all-time low. Hootsuite estimates that the average reach of an organic post hovers at around 5%.  That means only 5 people out of 100 get to see your post. 

Because of the dwindling organic reach, you must make the most of what’s available and post when your fans are most likely to see your posts.

To do this, you need to monitor the active status of your target audience to know the best time to post on Facebook. Besides, you need that engagement as it is the best way to seek the attention of the Facebook algorithm.

This algorithm is a proprietary formula that helps Facebook to gauge the most relevant content for the user by scoring them. The main objective is to keep the target audience longer on the site. 

While the details of the formula are unknown, here is what it consists of: 

Who posted it:  Your target audience will get post updates of the brand pages they follow more actively than the ones they don’t follow. 

User’s preferred content: Facebook will prioritize the user’s preferred content in their feed. For example, (photos, videos, posts, etc.) they are most likely to interact with.

Post engagement: The post engagement will depend on the number of (likes, comments, saves, and shares) it has received.

So, what are the best times to post on Facebook in 2023?

While there is no single best time to post on Facebook, CoSchedule shares that the best times to post on Facebook in 2023 are around 7:00 a.m., 3:15 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. 

Best times to post on Facebook on weekdays:

1. Monday: 1:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m.
2. Tuesday: 1:00 p.m. 2 p.m. 3:00 p.m.
3. Wednesday: 11:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m.
4. Thursday: 5:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
5. Friday: 11:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m.

Best day to post on Facebook: Wednesday

The worst day to post on Facebook: Sunday

The best times to post on Facebook based on studies and insights from leading marketing companies

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to finding the right time to post on Facebook, various leading platforms and alternatives have different opinions on the same. Among them, we have elaborated on the studies of the top 5 platforms, which include HubSpot, Coschedule, Hootsuite, Later, Buffer, and Sprout Social. 

To drill deeper into these insights, let’s dive into each one to discover why. Here is what you need to know about the best time to post on Facebook:

1. Hootsuite

According to Hootsuite, the best time to post on social media overall is 10:00 AM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. 

Besides, they also found that: 

• The best time to post on Instagram is 11:00 AM on Wednesdays.
• The best time to post on Twitter is 8:00 AM on Mondays and Thursdays.
• The best time to post on LinkedIn is 9:00 AM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

After analyzing 30,000 social posts, they have gathered that the best time to post on Facebook is around 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, it’s important to consider your audience’s time zones when planning these posting times.

2. Sprout Social

Sprout Social’s research, on the other hand, conveyed absolutely different data from that of Hootsuite. After looking at the metrics from over 30,000 of its customers, it concludes that mid-morning is no longer the ideal posting time, considering the international audience. 

According to Sprout Social, early morning is now the best time to post on Facebook, which includes:

1. Mondays through Fridays at 3 a.m., Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and noon. 
2. Best days to post on Facebook: Tuesdays through Fridays
3. Worst days to post on Facebook: Saturdays

However, these times are in CST considering international audiences, which means the odd posting times are from audiences of international countries. For example, 3 am in Chicago is 9 am in London.

3. Buffer

According to Buffer’s study, the best time to post to Facebook is between 1 pm – 3 pm on weekdays and Saturdays. Besides this, they also found that engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays.

4. Later

Since each Facebook Page has different audiences, cities, and time zones to consider, some marketers opine that the best time to post on Facebook is at 9 am, no matter the day. However, the social media team of Later contradicts the same. 

According to them, the best time to post on Facebook is between the hours of 6 am-12 pm PST.

Besides this, they also recommend avoiding posting during your audience’s inactive hours. This may include slumber or long weekends, as your audiences are less likely to be scrolling during those hours.

5. HubSpot

When it comes to the best times to post on Facebook across all industries, Hubspot opines that mid-to-late afternoon can be ideal, specifically between 6 and 9 p.m., 3 and 6 p.m., and 9 and 12 p.m.

• The best day to post on Facebook is Friday and Saturday. 
• The worst day to post: is Sunday.
• The worst times to post are 6 AM to 9 AM and 9 PM to 12 AM.

Besides this, they have also gathered that industries such as government and nonprofits have more success posting during the early morning.

Posting time on Facebook isn’t a one size fits all solution: Here’s why

There isn’t probably a single best time to post on Facebook. 

Marketers have indulged in various research to uncover the best time to post on Facebook, with each study finding a wide range of results. Some of them may even have contradictory information, which may only add to the confusion. 

While it is a good idea to be informed of these general indicators, what works for one business may not work for the other. 

Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Different Audiences: Different businesses have different target audiences with varied active hours. For example, some may prefer scrolling during lunch breaks or after work, while some may be more active during the day.
2. Different Time Zones: It is important to consider the barriers of time zones, especially if your business operates in one. For example, the posting times will differ on Facebook if you have customers in Europe and the US. 
3. Content-Type: It is also important to consider the type of content you are sharing while figuring out your posting duration. For example, it will be fitter to post on Facebook early if you’re sharing news or industry updates.

According to the research of Hubspot, Sprout Social, and CoSchedule, here are some of the best posting times you might consider for different businesses on Facebook. 

Hubspot

According to HubSpot research, the best time to post for the agriculture, food, beverage, and hospitality industries is around 9 am-12 pm. 

In fact, according to them, 50% of people from the agriculture, food, and beverage industries selected this time frame, while 100% from the hospitality industry chose it.

Sprout Social 

On the other hand, Sprout Social drilled deeper into the posting schedule of 10 different industries to find that some industries still follow their typical before-work/at lunch/after-work schedule. 

Below we have outlined 5 of these industries posting schedules on Facebook: 

1. Education: Mondays at 8-10 am, Tuesdays at 12 pm, Wednesdays at 9 am, Fridays at 9-11 am.
2. Consumer goods (retail): Friday at 10 am.
3. Technology: Tuesdays at 3 pm and 5 pm, Wednesdays at 11 am, Fridays at 9 am, 11 am, and 12 pm.
4. Finance: Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 11 am, Thursdays at 10 am and 12 pm
5. Nonprofits: Fridays at 12 pm.

CoSchedule 

CoSchedule does not recommend one-size-fits-all posting windows per industry. After analyzing 30,000+ accounts, they have opined that each industry has its time preference variances. 

They are the following: 

1. B2C: People refer to posting on Facebook during the break times (before work, during lunch, and in the evening), which is 7 am-9 am, 11 am-1 pm, or after 6 pm.
2. B2B: For B2B, you can catch people around the afternoon break, which is 2 pm-4 pm. 
3. Software: Software companies mainly engage during 7 am-9 am (before work), 6 pm-8 pm (after work), and 2 pm-4 pm (brain break time). 
4. Healthcare: It is ideal for catching the Healthcare workers before their work shift, which is early morning (5 am-8 am). 
5. Media: It is best to catch people from media companies when they wake up, go to lunch, or are just home from work.

While studying the different industry-based Facebook posting schedules is important, it’s better to figure out your own best time based on your analysis of available data. By understanding your audience and analyzing your competition, you can find the optimal posting time on Facebook that works best for your business.

So, how to find out the best personalized time to post on Facebook for your business?

Since there is no one ‘best’ time to post on Facebook, how do you decide when to share your content? 

As tricky as this question sounds, we can take three approaches to this: 

1. Check your page insights and sift through the data
2. Find out when your fans are most active on Facebook
3. Check all your published posts and see if a trend emerges about the best time to post based on the engagement it’s received

1. Sift Through Your Own Data From Facebook Insights

When gauging your posting schedule, nothing can be better than sifting through your own Facebook data. Thankfully, the platform has a ton of data available for all the page owners and admins that will give you an insight into your audience’s activities. A comprehensive understanding of your Facebook audience will help your content perform better, than learning about generic insights drawn from the studies of different brands.

To review this data and find your best time to post on Facebook, Facebook Insights can be an ideal place to start. Here are some steps you can follow to scan through the data with the help of Facebook Insights: 

Step 1: Visit your Facebook Page and click on “Insights” in the left-hand panel below your Professional Dashboard.

Step 2: Scan through the Page Overview, consisting of your Post reach, Post engagement, New Page likes, and New followers along with the Top post, Content, and Audience. 

By following these steps, you can study and analyze these data carefully over a period of time to gauge your best posting time on Facebook.

2. Analyze Your Audience’s Active Status

Facebook Audience Insights was designed to help you analyze and track your audience’s active status, locations, and top time zones. 

Here are some steps that will help you find the same:

• Step 1: Go to your Meta Bussiness Suite and select “Audience” below the Results Tab.
• Step 2: Scroll down to find the top cities and countries where your followers live to identify your top time zones and gauge your audience’s active status. 

For example, if your audiences are from the USA or the UK, you should post around the time when these countries are the most active. 

Alternatively, you can also use a Facebook post scheduler to check the performance analytics and determine your audience’s active status. This will increase your chances of getting higher post-engagement.

3. Check Your Posts And Look For A Pattern

Facebook Insights also records the reach and engagement for every post you share on your Facebook Page. This data lets you look for a pattern related to your posting time and understand which hour works most for you. 

For example, check if posts published around a specific time receive more reach, engagement, or reach than usual. After a careful study, you can experiment around those times to see whether the method is working or not. 

You can find this by following the below-mentioned steps: 

Step 1: Head to your Page Insights and click on “ Meta Bussiness Suite.” 

Step 2: Upon getting redirected to the Meta Bussiness Suite Page, click on the “Content Section” below Overview to check out the following: 

• Time and date of the post published
• Organic and paid reach
• Type of post published
• Like and comments 

However, if your posts are Sponsored or Boosted, this could also alter your data slightly. This is because Boosted posts are likely to gain more reach the organic ones, regardless of the time of publication.

Factors that impact the best time to post on Facebook, organic reach, and engagement

While picking the best times to post on Facebook, consider the following factors affecting your post’s organic reach and engagement. 

1. Your Industry

According to Hubspot’s research, the median engagement rate across all industries on Facebook is 0.08%.

Thus, if you want to boost your post’s organic reach and engagement, many things, like the audience base, posting schedule, type of social media posts, and posting frequency, will depend on the industry you operate in.

Different industries have different active hours requiring different posting schedules on Facebook. To find out your best time posting schedule, you can refer to the section on best posting times for different businesses. 

2. Your Audience’s Geographic Location

If you are a brand with a global reach, you should consider your audience’s geographic location and time zones while deciding the best time to post on Facebook. You can also create a separate Facebook Page for that audience to post around the time they are most active in that region. 

For example, if your target audience is located in the United Kingdom, you’d need to post around 6 am British Summer Time (or Greenwich Mean Time during winter).

3. The Time Your Audience Hangs Out On Facebook 

With 67% of monthly users being active daily on Facebook, marketers should know when best to share content to reach their audience. 

Posting your content on Facebook around your follower’s active hours can increase your post engagement and reach. 

Additionally, consistency can make Facebook’s algorithms push your content during your audience’s active hours and to the feeds of people who don’t follow you yet as well. 

All you need to do is check your Facebook Page Insights to gauge the active hours of your followers to experiment and see if something new works for you.

4. Competition 

As you work towards finding your best posting times on Facebook, take a sneak peek at what your competitors are doing. This will give you an idea of the emerging trends in your industry and might help you alter your posting schedule accordingly. 

Scan through your competitors’ high-performing posts, and check when they usually prefer to publish their content. 

For instance, if you notice that your competitors publish content during a certain hour, you could try posting before or around that time to get ahead of them.

Besides, it’s also important to be abreast of the news concerning your industry to learn strategies worth incorporating, pitfalls to avoid, or opportunities to take advantage of.

Conclusion

Now that you know that there is no secret formula to find out the best time to post on Facebook, divert focus on your experimentation. While the posting schedule may vary depending on your audience and industry, it’s important to remember the general trends and insights as per the leading marketing companies discussed in this blog. 

So, apply these insights to your own Facebook strategy, experiment with different posting times, and, most importantly, stay connected and engaged with your audience. Happy posting!

This is part of a series of blog posts about when is the best time to post on social media. Read these for further advice!

Author Bio

Himashu Roy is a marketing strategist for the social media management platform Statusbrew. He’s spent more than three years working as a marketer with SAAS and IT businesses. He believes marketing has improved his ability to think creatively, crazily, and expressively. He enjoys watching anime and reading after a break from data & analytics.

Hero Photo by Timothy Hales Bennett on Unsplash