Best Time To Post On LinkedIn
Although not as prevalent as Instagram or Facebook, the world’s largest professional network LinkedIn, is still gaining popularity amongst the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) party. LinkedIn boasts approximately 740 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. In Canada specifically, there are over 17 million users.
Benefits of using LinkedIn
What makes LinkedIn different from other social media platforms is that LinkedIn focuses on creating business networking opportunities. The primary function is to build business relationships by sending out connection requests. As statistics show, over 40 million people use LinkedIn to search for jobs each week. Every minute, an average of 3 people are hired through LinkedIn.
However, one essential factor to note is LinkedIn has recently gained 15x more content impressions than job postings — nine billion content impressions, to be accurate. This means that marketers are gradually leaning towards LinkedIn to promote informational and educational content. Indeed, apart from getting recruited for a job, there are many things you can do on the platform. You can expand your profile by posting status updates, including images and videos. You can also send direct messages to users, like, comment on, and share people’s posts.
If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably planning to leverage the LinkedIn platform for your business as well. You’ve already found the right channel and created content for your target audience. Now what? After all that planning, the final part of your social media strategy is to find the best time to post on LinkedIn.
Why does timing matter?
Because social media platforms rank posts on user’s newsfeed using an algorithm to ensure that the most relevant content is displayed. This algorithm highly depends on the “recency” of the posts. Posting your content when your followers are online is one of the simplest ways to improve your organic reach.
The top content marketers know that timing is an integral part of the equation. It can be the difference between great success and repetitive failure. Think about it; you’ve already spent so much time crafting a high-quality post. Unfortunately, if you don’t post it at the right time, your followers will most likely miss it.
Finding the right time to post ensures that your content reaches out to as many people as possible and receives the engagement it deserves. As such, you should aim to deliver your post when most of your audience is online and available to act on it.
The best time to post on LinkedIn
To cut straight to the chase, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. There are too many variables that can influence the “best” time for you to post, for example, the nature of your target audience, your business industry, the type of content, and more. Ideally, you’ll have a marketing agency research the field specifically for your niche audience. However, several marketing corporations have taken up the onus to research when is the right time to post on LinkedIn. Here is a summary of their suggestions.
Oberlo: 10 AM - 11 AM on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Quintly: 7 - 8 AM, 12 PM, and 5 - 6 PM.
Hubspot: 10 AM to noon and Wednesday.
SproutSocial: Wednesday 8 -10 AM and noon, Thursday at 9 AM and 1 - 2 PM, and Friday at 9 AM
Thebalancesmb: 7 - 8 AM and 5 - 6 PM.
Buffer: 7 - 8:30 AM and 5 - 6 PM on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
According to all these data compiled by various marketing corporations, we can safely bet that posting on LinkedIn during these timeframes would garner substantial results.
Working hours from 10 AM to 6 PM
Activity on LinkedIn is pretty high during the first few hours of work. This shows that individuals enjoy surfing through the network to get up-to-date with new research, opinions, inspiration before diving into their work.
Commuting hours from 7 to 9 AM
Considering that there is a LinkedIn app version on mobiles, and mobile devices generate about half of all website traffic globally, it is not surprising that people would cruise the platform while on their way to work.
The worst time to post on LinkedIn
While you keep an eye on the best timing, it is essential to note when not to post as well. Based on the findings above, these are the timings that brands should try to avoid when posting on LinkedIn.
Weekends
Towards the end of the week, most users will want to take time off from any work-related subjects. After all, LinkedIn is a professional business network. Individuals would prefer to spend time with their friends and families during the weekends. Some might simply cut off from social media to socialize in the real world instead. Therefore, it’s wise to save your posts for the weekdays.
Monday
This day showed minor engagement compared to other weekdays. It makes sense that workers would be piled up with a new workload and adjusting back to work-mode right after the weekends. Generally, Mondays are one of the week’s busiest days and “Monday blues” has a real toll on users. As such, they may not have the luxury of enough free time to fill by scrolling their LinkedIn feed.
After working hours
Once people leave their office, many prefer to abandon all their work duties too. They are also more likely to switch to more personal social media platforms to wind down after a long day at work. To gain the most vital impressions on your LinkedIn content, try to post no later than 5 PM.
Finding the best time for your brand
Like how it helps to test the release of new types of content, you should try different timings to find the ones that work best. This applies to other social media platforms, too — not just LinkedIn.
As we’ve mentioned, there is no correct answer as to when is the best time to post on LinkedIn. These findings are just a rough guide for businesses to follow. If you want to find a more accurate timeframe to post, you would have to dig deeper and experiment first.
You can start by breaking down a SMART goal that you wish to achieve. For example, you want to reach 100 likes on each post within one month. By having a target, you can keep track of your progress.
Next, begin scheduling your posts for the month. Plan your posts to go up at specific timeslots in the morning, noon, and evening. After a month of experimenting, you should review the data that you’ve collected and pinpoint the timings that generated the most engagement.
To simplify this process, you can use LinkedIn analytics to observe your posts’ performances and when your target audience is engaged. There are also a few analytical tools to monitor the best days and times to post; for example, Socialinsider, Buffer, and Hootsuite. These tools provide a closer insight into the metrics and help you identify ways to improve your digital marketing plan.
If you prefer to track your analytics by yourself, you can key them into a spreadsheet and update it regularly. After some time, you will be able to notice a trend and find a timing that works best for your brand.
Time to start posting
The “best” timings that were provided in this blog simply serve as a general guideline, especially for businesses that are new to internet marketing. Nonetheless, there are no strict rules that you must follow. This is also the fun of using social media; you get to control it however you like!
Still, we highly recommend that you experiment at various timings. This is because there are several exceptions to consider, such as the type of audience you’re targetting. Let’s say your ideal customer works during the weekends and has the weekdays off. Then you would have to tweak your timing accordingly. Perhaps you might realize that the “worst” time to post actually works best for you.
The point is, every business is different and caters to specific needs. Therefore, it is crucial to find your sweet spot to post on LinkedIn.
FAQ
Is the best time to post on LinkedIn the same for other social media platforms?
Each social media channel plays a distinctive role in people’s lives. For example, the primary use of Instagram is to connect with close friends and family. LinkedIn, in contrast, is a professional business network. As we’ve learned, people are most active on LinkedIn during work hours. Whereas the best time to post on Instagram is usually in the evening. Both social platforms serve different purposes, which explains why people use them at different times of the day.
The best time to post on the different networks is almost as unique as each platform itself.
How often should I post on LinkedIn?
We recommend individuals not to post more than five times a week on LinkedIn. A good rule of thumb is to post between two to five times a week.
However, be sure that you aren’t just posting for the sake of posting more. You want to ensure that every piece of content you publish is strategic and beneficial. As the saying goes: quality is better than quantity. Photos are a great way to build your online presence.
Would the best time to post on LinkedIn vary over time?
Eventually, a LinkedIn strategy is a long game of learning how to adapt to new changes. Remember, the best timing is dependant on when the majority of your followers are online. Their activity might vary over time as they age, get a new job, or settle down. Additionally, seeing how there is a growing number of mobile users on LinkedIn, we can expect people active outside regular office hours.
As you grow your brand identity, you should constantly reevaluate the performance of your posts. Test out new tactics to uncover valuable insights; it’s a continuous learning process!
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