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When is the best time to post on LinkedIn?
This is one of the most common questions I’m asked, but it’s not always a straightforward question to answer. Nor do I believe it’s the right question.
Let me explain.
Challenge 1 – If everyone posts at the Optimum Time, no one posts at the Optimum Time
When you ask the question to a search engine, you’re generally fed the same answer:
- Right before people clock in for work / while on the commute (8:30am ish)
- Lunch time when people are more likely to look at their phones during some down-time (12.30pm / 1pm ish)
- Right before they clock out for work/while on the commute (5:30pm ish)
The challenge with this generic response is that if everyone posts at these times, it’s likely no longer the best time to post – as your content is soon to be lost in a sea of other posts.
Challenge 2 – Not everyone works a standard workday – anyone hear of Covid?
With flexible work schedules, working from home and an increasingly disparate workforce, people are engaging with content and their devices differently. What was once a consistent behaviour to follow a set routine is now a mishmash of different styles. Any attempt to capture an audience needs to take this into account.
Likewise, it’s interesting to note that weekends don’t even feature in the typical responses you saw above. Why? Well, there’s an assumption people don’t look at professional things on a weekend. Is this your experience? Or have you known yourself to respond to the odd notification you receive of a cool article or story you see on social media over the weekend?
Challenge 3 – Assumptions lead to stuff ups
What do you actually know about your audience?
Not just assumptions based on what everyone else does, but what do your audience really need?
Taking the generic times suggested is never going to be the right information for you as an individual. Which was the whole point in asking the question to begin with, right?
When considering the right time to post for your audience, I suggest you consider:
- Where are you located vs. your audience – you might be in one location but need to post in another. If so, time your posts for when that audience is likely to engage, not just where you are.
- What is your audience interested in – do some research on what they are looking for when it comes to content. Chances are, you’ll find some useful nuggets of information that help guide when you should post and what you should post about.
- Look at your past posts – did you see better engagement at a certain time vs. others? If you don’t have any past posts, experiment with different types/topics at different times and see what results you get.
- Don’t be afraid to stray out of the well-worn path – posting on a Friday afternoon or a weekend can be highly effective, so long as your message is on point. Consider, do you want to be thinking about work during these times? Or is it something more personal? Chances are it’s the latter. Customise your message.
Tools can help you
If all of the above feels too overwhelming or if you’d just prefer an easier way to do it, there are tools like MySocial.ai’s Intelligent Post Scheduler that can help you overcome the challenges of knowing when to post for your audience.
By integrating research and observations from what makes the best posts perform from thousands of high performing leaders and influencers across business social media, MySocial.ai gives you an easy way to sidestep the hassle of not knowing what to write or when the best time is to post.
Discover our plans on the pricing page.
With MySocial.ai, you can take the guesswork out with structured posts written for you that have been demonstrated to drive engagement. The issue in asking “when is the best time to post on LinkedIn” is – this way of thinking isn’t optimal. Instead, you should be asking:
When is the best time to post for my intended audience to see it?
Photo by Harman Sandhu on Unsplash
