By Brandi Marcene · 6 min read

Last Updated on September 22, 2022

Along with the quality and relevancy of your post, the time on which you publish it also matters greatly. If you Google “the best time to post on Facebook or any other platform,” you may find a set list of timelines that can supposedly make your content explode. However, this is far from the truth. Before you start contemplating the best times to share your post on Facebook, you need to realize that you have a different audience than other Facebook pages.

If there were a specific time frame that got you maximum exposure, then this would've resulted in a flood of content on social media applications. Your post would probably be sidelined due to the uploads.

The best times to post will vary according to your specific audience, making it primarily custom. In other words, you will benefit from posting at a time when most of your audience is online. Posting while your audience is actively using Facebook helps you boost engagement. Fortunately, there are many ways to find out when your audience is actively using Facebook.

Reaching Your Target Audience in the Best Possible Time

There are two ways through which you can reach your target audience. Getting good exposure on Facebook requires you to follow steps, and utilizing the time you post is one of them. It would help if you had deep insights into your target audience to find the best time to post on any social media platform.

For instance, the majority of your target audience will have a common time frame in which they use social media. The best way to find out when your target audience is online is by assessing their general lifestyle. Imagine you are a parent, and you have children. Your children will likely go to bed around 9 pm on weekdays.

After the children are asleep, parents are most likely to use social media. Once their kids fall asleep, between 7 and 9, they will pick up the phone and start scrolling their Facebook timelines. If your target audience is parents with kids, then this is the time when you should be posting to get maximum exposure.

Dinner Time Posting

A majority of families have dinner around 7 pm in the United States. This is the most common time for families to sit down and have dinner. Despite it not being the ethical thing to do, today's generation likes to consume social media while they are having dinner. For this reason, 7-9 pm is a good time to upload posts on social media.

Not only that, but the time range of 7-9 pm is also when children go to bed. Thus, if the age demographic of your target audience consists of adults above the age of 23, then simply by using the common sense approach, you can strategize the best time to post.

Another common sense approach to determining a time for an adult audience would include when the children go to school. This is the timeframe from morning to afternoon. However, this time would be more effective if your target audience consisted of stay-at-home moms.

Facebook Page Insights

Apart from the common sense approach, the other, more data-driven way to find out what time you should post is to look at the page's Facebook insights. Facebook provides this data analytics platform that tells you when your audience, or people who like your page, are online. It not only tells you the actual time when your audience is online, but it also informs you about the days when people are actively online.

If these insights tell you that your audience is online at 8pm, then that is your ideal time to share a post. Therefore, even though you can use a common sense approach to defining the best time according to your audience's demographics, using an analytics tool will help you get a more precise estimate of the time.

The common sense approach may not apply to your target audience. For instance, you may have a target audience that browses Facebook during working hours. Nonetheless, the common sense approach and the data analytics approach are the two ways to find the best possible time in finding the common sense approach.

How to Navigate Facebook Insights?

It is very easy to access Facebook insights. All you have to do is click on insights and then click on posts. Once you do this, you will get access to a graph that shows you the best time you should post on Facebook. The graphical representation shows the increase and decline of your audience's online status on Facebook. Go to your Facebook page, insights, and post. Facebook offers Page Managers the opportunity to see the best time and days to post online.

Highest Engagement Days – Facebook

According to data, the days with the most engagements on Facebook include Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. If you are new to Facebook marketing and do not have a proper audience count for analytics, the best rule of thumb would be to upload posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. According to Facebook data, these are times when you can get the highest engagement.

Exact Day and Time to Post

Considering all the factors determining the best time to post on Facebook, it is impossible for there to be an exact time and day for Facebook posts. Every business will differ in the target audience, and every target audience member consumes social media at different times.

How Often Should You Post on Facebook?

If you are wondering how often you should post on Facebook, most experts will tell you that posting once a day is a good rule of thumb. It is also recommended not to post fewer than three times a week. It is also not beneficial to have big gaps in between your posts. The worst thing you can do is post five times in a single day and then go on a two-month break from posting.

One of the best ways you can determine the frequency of your Facebook posts is to use automated tools to schedule your Facebook posts. You will also benefit from posting several posts in a particular week and posting according to the time that Facebook insights provide. This will increase your chances of getting your posts' best engagement.

Importance of Post Timings

Many people running Facebook pages will spend plenty of time and effort finding the best times to post on Facebook. However, is it all worth it? Data shows that the visibility and exposure of your posts depend on many factors, including time. This is not to say that it is one of the biggest factors. The quality and relevance of your post are the two primary drivers of traffic and engagement.

Final Thoughts

Even though it may not guarantee exposure and engagement, finding the best time to post on Facebook and scheduling your posts accordingly will increase your chances of getting engagement. It can also put you in a better position in regards to the visibility of your Facebook page. The best time to post on Facebook, in general, includes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 10 to 11 am, according to data on the Eastern Time zone. However, finding the best time for your particular business will need a better understanding of your audience.