Posting at the right time can help your content gain early momentum and perform better in the long run, but when is the best time to post on LinkedIn to make sure your post gets seen? What about the best day of the week to get the best engagement?
Every audience is unique, so the answer will be different for every brand. However, in some cases everything seems to work better than in others.
Keep reading to learn more about the overall best time to post on LinkedIn and how to determine the right time for your brand (without further data processing).
Is there a better time to post on LinkedIn?
Unfortunately, there is no universal best time or best day to post that always guarantees high reach and engagement. This is because the audience of each brand is different – located in different time zones, busy with work (and not active on social networks) at certain times of the day, etc.
However, there are a few best practices that work for everyone. Like most social media algorithms, LinkedIn’s recommendation system prioritizes relevance, so sending messages when your audience is online is a great place to start. Exploring your analytics data will help you further narrow down your subscriber activity patterns. (If you’re new to LinkedIn and missing historical data, we provide a specific smart starting point in the next section.)
When looking for the best time to post, you should also keep your goals in mind. Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Drive traffic to your site? Get potential clients? Your audience may engage with an inspirational post by scrolling through the platform on Monday morning, but only open the promotional presentation later in the week (and day) when they are most productive. Understanding your goals will help you prepare every piece of LinkedIn content for success by delivering it at the right time.
Generally the best time to post on LinkedIn
According to our research, the best overall time to post on LinkedIn is 9:00 am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Weekends are usually the worst days of the week to post on LinkedIn. The lower engagement may be due to people viewing LinkedIn as a work-related social media platform and something to avoid on the weekends.
Do you plan on posting more than once or twice a week? Below is a breakdown of the best times to post on LinkedIn during the week based on what the Hootsuite social team found:
Disclaimer: The above times are recorded in US Pacific Time and our audience is spread across North America. You may need to adjust this time depending on the geographic location of your target audience.
The best time to post on LinkedIn is Monday
The best time to post on LinkedIn on Monday is 11:00 AM. It looks like people are likely to start Monday with work tasks and then move on to online networking between mid-morning and lunch.
The best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday
The best time to post on LinkedIn on Tuesday is between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM. This range tends to generate the most engagement.
The best time to post on LinkedIn is Wednesday
The best time to post on LinkedIn on Wednesday is 12:00 noon. Lunch breaks are a great time to reach your target audience on LinkedIn.
The best time to post on LinkedIn is Thursday
The best time to post on LinkedIn on Thursday is 2:00 pm. Unlike other days of the week, on Thursday the highest activity occurs in the first half of the day.
The best time to post on LinkedIn is Friday
The best time to post on LinkedIn on Friday is 8:00 AM. Posting after hours results in better engagement as people seem to check out LinkedIn early in the day.
The best time to post on LinkedIn is Saturday
The best time to post on LinkedIn on Saturday is between 4:00 AM and 5:00 AM. Posting early helps brands grab the attention of LinkedIn users who check out the app before heading into their weekend plans.
The best time to post on LinkedIn is Sunday
The best time to post on LinkedIn on Sunday is 6:00 AM. While weekends aren’t as active as business hours, early mornings are your best bet on both Saturday and Sunday.
5 Tips for Finding the Best Time to Post on LinkedIn
Since no two audiences are exactly the same, you need to do your research on what time works best for you. This involves some data analysis, but it shouldn’t be difficult – we’ll walk you through it.
Here are some tips to help you reach your target audience on LinkedIn.
1. Review your top performing posts
If you’ve been posting on LinkedIn for a while, your historical performance data is a mine of information about your audience.
Review your top performing posts and look for trends. Is there a common denominator? Were most of your popular posts published at a particular time or day?
LinkedIn has a built-in analytics tool that you can use for free to identify your top performers. Or, if you don’t feel like digging and manipulating data, use the Hootsuite Best Time to Publish tool.
As the name suggests, Hootsuite’s Best Time to Post feature tells you the best time to post on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok. The recommendations are based on your past performance and tailored to your unique audience and their activity patterns.
But there is no “best” time to post everything. The Best Time to Post tool goes one step further than the others and suggests different times for three key goals:
- Raise awareness
- Increasing Engagement
- Attract traffic
Try it free for 30 days
This allows you to match each piece of content to specific business goals and optimize your publishing schedule for maximum efficiency. (And get a lot of points from your boss. Just saying.)
Once you find the perfect time to post, you can schedule posts in advance right from your Hootsuite dashboard.
2. Keep an eye on your competitors
A little analysis of social competition has never hurt anyone. Looking at your competitors’ profiles can give you an idea of what they think is the best time to post. If the products or services you offer are similar, your audiences may overlap—and you can learn from your competitors without trial and error.
Pro Tip: You may have noticed that many brands schedule their posts to be published right at the hour mark. To avoid competition, try posting a few minutes before or after: 00.
3. Post in your target audience’s time zone
If you’re representing an international brand, make sure you’re posting in the time zone of your target audience. It goes without saying – your audience won’t see or interact with your post when they’re asleep.
Using a social media management tool to schedule posts in advance will help you post on LinkedIn at the right time, no matter where you are. In other words, if your best time to post is 6am on a Tuesday, you don’t need to set an alarm.
Here’s an overview of how you can schedule posts with Hootsuite.
4. Keep track of your results and take turns
Finding the best time to post on LinkedIn is not an easy task. Your audience and strategy will evolve and you will need to adjust your posting schedule accordingly.
Regularly reviewing LinkedIn analytics will help you decide if your strategy is working or if new trends are emerging. If you find that what once worked no longer works, don’t be afraid to test a new chart. Change is part of social media!
5. Be consistent
Posting consistently keeps your audience engaged and has the added benefit of helping you gather even more insights. And the more data, the more opportunities to find out what your audience likes.
Consistent posting will also help your business become more recognized on LinkedIn and help your audience feel more connected to your brand and values. And at the end of the day, when you have a genuine connection with your audience, the LinkedIn algorithm takes notice, and so does your bottom line.
Easily manage your LinkedIn page along with other social channels with Hootsuite. On a single platform, you can schedule and share content, including videos, engage your network, and improve post performance.