“𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥?” Short answer: when the majority of 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 followers are active. Algorithmically speaking, both Facebook and Instagram are inclined to show users the best performing posts. By performance, they mean reactions (Hearts, Likes, et al.), comments, shares, and so forth. No surprise, they want social interaction. All this means that the first hour of a post is vitally important to whether or not it “𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚟𝚎 🌊” -- algorithmically speaking.

What I mean is, if you can stir up quick reactions to your next post—again, comments, shares, and so forth—it’s a signal that your 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩, 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩 (which, keep in mind, FB and IG place a premium on “new” content) should be shown to a wider audience.

Here’s my point: you’re the most likely to get those quick reactions from 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 existing followers—not from hashtags, the Explore feed, or out of Facebook Watch. Thus, you should time your posts on each respective network for when the bulk of 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 followers are scrolling their feeds. Extra Credit: you should also promote each post w/ a Story and, using your discretion, tag friends/followers for whom the post is directly relevant. Point is, do what you can to get it in front of as many folks as possible without delay.

I’ve noticed lots of people expect to be told they should post at some specific, 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚-𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀-𝗮𝗹𝗹 point in a day—like a Tuesday at 9:54 AM or something. Consider, however, that there are 910-million IG users and 2.60-billion FB users worldwide. Frankly, the best time to post averaged-out means nothing. You need numbers specific to YOU.

🅰️ For 𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚖, tap 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 on your (**Creator or Business**) Profile, then, under the 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑨𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 heading, tap on your follower count. On the next screen scroll to the bottom and you’ll be able to analyze days and times of day of when 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 followers are typically online, per the past 7-day or 30-day period (there’s a dropdown at the top of the page).

🅱️ For 𝙵𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔, navigate to your Page (on desktop), on the lefthand sidebar, click 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔, then, near the middle of the next screen, select the square titled, 𝑷𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. Once that page loads, you can analyze historical and predicted patterns of when your followers are the most active.