Here’s When Social Post Engagement Rates Are Highest

October 10, 2016

This article is included in these additional categories:

Automotive | B2B | Digital | Financial Services | Media & Entertainment | Retail & E-Commerce | Social Media

trackmaven-social-media-post-engagement-peaks-oct2016Social post engagement rates peak at different times depending on the platform, though the latter half of the week tends to see the highest rates, according to an analysis from TrackMaven [download page]. Based on a review of 17.5 million social media posts from brands through the first 7 months of the year, TrackMaven finds that post engagement rates are highest on Facebook at 8PM on Thursdays.

Twitter (5PM on Thursday) sees a similar peak, as does Instagram (7PM on Friday), while LinkedIn’s engagement rate peak is at 9AM on Wednesday and Pinterest’s at 1AM on Friday. While that latter result may be surprising, it could be reflective of a lower volume of posts at that time.

The analysis of social post activity among 17,737 brands spans 75 industries. Below (and in the chart), some highlights from key industries.

[Editor’s Note: We realize that there’s some argument about the effectiveness of these social media post timing analyses. Obviously, the best time varies by individual brand – however, these macro analyses can sometimes offer insights or at least some insights for testing.]

Automotive

As with the all-industry average, automotive engagement rates tend to have their peaks in the latter half of the week. In fact, on Facebook the top engagement rate was observed on Saturdays at 1PM. Meanwhile, LinkedIn and Twitter post engagement rates were highest on Friday at noon and 1PM, respectively.

Business Supplies and Equipment

The B2B space showed more variety in post engagement peaks. Curiously, the top time on LinkedIn (the leading network for B2B marketing) was Saturday at 3PM. This may again relate to post volume…

Entertainment

Entertainment brands saw their highest average Facebook post engagement on Sundays at 4PM. On Instagram, engagement rates were highest on Mondays at 11AM. This could be due to Instagram users reacting to weekend entertainment wrap-ups.

Financial Services

For financial services brands, Twitter engagement rates were highest on Thursdays at noon. On Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest, though, rates tended to be highest in the evening (5PM, 9PM and 9PM, respectively).

Marketing and Advertising

Marketing to marketers? Their post engagement rate peaks vary considerably by network, ranging from Thursday at 4PM on Twitter to Saturday at 9AM on Facebook and Wednesday at 1PM on Instagram…

Publishing

There’s a lot more consistency in the publishing sector, which recorded its top engagement rates for posts made in the morning across each of the 4 networks analyzed for this sector. In fact, both LinkedIn and Twitter had the highest post engagement rates at 11AM on Thursday, while on Facebook 7AM on Thursday was the top time.

Retail

On Facebook, retail brands experienced their highest average post engagement rates on Fridays at 1PM, potentially as users looked forward to shopping on the weekend. Other than that, though, post engagement rates peaked earlier in the week on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

More details are available in the chart above, and the full results can be downloaded here.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This