When is the best time to post? How to find your own answer
Published lists of the best hours describe somebody else's audience. Your own numbers answer the question in a few weeks.
Every year someone publishes the best times to post on each platform. They are averages over millions of accounts in every country and every field, which is exactly why they rarely fit yours. A studio in Lisbon with clients in New York has a different day from a photographer whose followers are mostly in Seoul.
Start from where your audience is
Each platform's professional dashboard shows when your followers are online, by day and by hour: Instagram and TikTok in their insights, YouTube in Studio's audience tab, LinkedIn in your profile's analytics. Note the time zone each one uses; some show your own, some show the audience's.
Then test, one thing at a time
- Pick two times that the dashboard suggests, for example morning and early evening in your audience's main time zone.
- Alternate them for three or four weeks, keeping everything else as similar as you can: the kind of post, the length, the day of the week.
- Compare what happens in the first day, when the time of posting matters most. After that, the post's own quality decides.
Small accounts see noisy numbers. Look for a difference that repeats, not one strong post.
What matters more than the hour
- Being there afterwards. Replying to the first comments in the first hour helps more than the minute you chose. Post when you can answer.
- Being regular. People come back for a rhythm they can expect.
- Different times per platform. The best time on LinkedIn, during working hours, is rarely the best on TikTok.
Posting at those times without being there
Once you know your hours, they are often not hours you are free. Listo posts at the exact minute in your time zone, or in theirs: say "8:00 New York time" and it goes out then, on each platform at the time you gave it. From an agent: Post the reel at 8:00 New York time on Instagram and TikTok, and at 9:00 Lisbon time on LinkedIn.
