In addition to inspirational quotes on leadership and videos about mentors who have inspired us, the professional social networking site LinkedIn is no longer just a place for individuals, but a hotbed for brand building.
Following Microsoft’s $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016, the company released many new tools to help businesses capture larger audiences for larger amounts of time, like a trending stories section and fresh native video feature. Today, LinkedIn has over 575+ million users, with more than 260 million monthly active users. Of those LinkedIn users who are engaging with the platform monthly, 40% access it on a daily basis.
How can you capture the attention of this massive, engaged LinkedIn audience? One of the biggest ways is to post your content at the optimal post time for your targeted audience. Sprout Social, a large social media management platform, analyzed their customer data to see what time and day their customers’ social media posts generated the most engagement. This is what they found:
The winning time and day is…
On average, the best time to post on LinkedIn is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. EST on Wednesdays. Other high engagement times on LinkedIn are between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. EST on Tuesdays, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST on Wednesdays, and 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. EST on Thursdays.
Why are these times ideal? If you look at them closely, you’ll see that these are the windows when people are usually just starting their work day, taking a lunch break, or heading home. They’re also during the most productive work days of the week.
Sprout Social found the best day to post content on LinkedIn is Wednesday, with other days of strong engagement being Tuesday and Thursday. Contrarily, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are usually the days with the lowest engagement and the days you want to avoid posting new content.
Timing is key
The data that Sprout Social shared is important to keep in mind when you’re trying to find the best time to post content on LinkedIn for your audience. However, it’s not fool-proof. Start with these guidelines, but be open to tweaking them to fit your niche. The key is to find when your particular audience is using the site and target your posts for that time. If you succeed, you’ll be well on your way to building your brand in a very visible way.