What’s the best time to post on Twitter? If we could tell you it’s Tuesdays at 8:38 exactly, we would. But the answer is a bit more complex than that! In fact, there are a few factors that can impact when the best time for YOU to post to Twitter might be.
What really matters for your business goes beyond those numbers. The goals you have for your Twitter efforts will definitely play a role, as will the type of content you choose to share at a given time.
And whether you want to get more eyes on your tweets, more followers on the platform, or engagement from your current followers, determining the best times to tweet can help you do that.
Today we’re covering those factors, giving you some Twitter research insights we’ve found helpful, and setting you up for success with some best practices for finding the best time to post to Twitter.
Why is Knowing the Best Time to Post on Twitter So Powerful?
Deciding to add Twitter to your company’s marketing plan is a smart move. Twitter has over 192 million users and each day those users tweet over 500 million times (Oberlo).
So, even though Twitter allows users to see Tweets they’re most likely to care about at the top of their timeline, they most likely follow an overwhelming amount of others too. So the best way to reach them is to provide amazing content when they’re on the platform in real-time.
That way, you have the chance to reach thousands with each of your Twitter posts and that kind of exposure can be an amazing growth machine for your brand.
While every platform has its challenges, posting to Twitter is a simple process of sharing a single message with the world. The engagement is streamlined and, while you can find yourself exploring Twitter for hours, it’s also often the place your followers will go to learn, laugh, and engage with you in a different way than on platforms like Instagram or Pinterest where the content is largely visual.
And for many brands, this means you’ll be reaching people who connect best with your message, not just stunning visuals.
So before we explore when is the best time to post to Twitter for you, let’s dive into why proper timing is essential when it comes to using Twitter as a marketing tool.
1. Learning the Best Time to Send a Tweet Means You’ll Be Seen
The volume of Twitter posts per hour is astounding. So, if you’re not careful with the pieces you post to Twitter you could get lost in an endless sea of noise for your audience.
Just like stories and posts on Instagram, posting on Twitter can feel like a daily exercise in asking “Did they see it?”. With thousands of posters vying for followers’ eyes, the competition for engagement is fierce. And if you have a message, product, or service worth sharing the stakes are even higher.
Understanding the best time to post on Twitter gives you more confidence that the answer to that question is “yes.” From there you can work through how many people saw your post and engaged with it. But the first step is to make sure your audience has the chance to view and engage with the things you’re tweeting. So, if you want your posts to be seen by your audience at all, it’s important to spend some time getting clear not just on what to post, but when.
2. Tweeting At the Right Time Helps You Reach the Right People
Another benefit of finding the right time to post to Twitter is that you have a better chance of reaching the intended audience for your tweets. While it’s great to get some eyes on your posts, the right eyes can increase your chances of engaging with followers and turning them into clients and customers.
One way to make sure that you’re reaching your perfect audience is to decide exactly who on the platform you want to connect with in the first place.
Some brands have a different audience that they work to reach on each platform (Moms on Twitter and daughters on Instagram, for example) and others are always vying for the same type of follower across all platforms (Like focusing on health-conscious women regardless of the platform). Whatever approach you choose, tweeting at the right time will help you reach the right people for your business goals.
Twitter used to have its own audience insights tool that you could use to learn about your audience. You could use this information to discover the best time of day to post on Twitter. You can no longer use the Twitter audience insights but why not check out one of these alternative tools to get more insight into your followers and their behavior.
3. You’ll Understand the Best Time to Tweet for Engagement
Once you’ve decided who you want to reach when you tweet, you can begin to focus on engaging with your audience on Twitter.
Posting to Twitter at the right time can give you the opportunity to know when it’s best to hop onto the platform yourself (or have a member of your team do so) and connect with your clients, customers, and followers on the platform. Real-time interaction sends an awesome message to your followers. It feels like you’re right there because, well, you are. And it can give them the opportunity to feel truly connected to you as they give feedback, offer insights, and ask questions.
Making the most of this awesome opportunity will give you a more committed fanbase and can lead to a stronger relationship with those who follow you. It can also help to establish your brand identity as one that’s authentic, thoughtful, and present online when you’re needed most.
4. Posting At The Right Time Helps You Plan Future Marketing Efforts
The other benefit of finding the best time to Tweet is that learning the engagement patterns of your followers can help you plan your content more effectively.
If your posts asking questions are getting more engagement than those where you share a link, you’ll be able to make decisions about how to write future tweets.
But if not enough eyes find their way to that post in the first place, you’d never have much data to make that judgement. Knowing when to post gives you a chance to try out new marketing strategies in real-time and to see if they’re working or falling flat. You’ll get insights into the best time to post pictures on Twitter vs. the best time to Tweet for engagement.
So, when is the best time to post on Twitter and how do you find out?
How to Find the Best Time to Post on Twitter
When it comes to finding the perfect time for your account to tweet on the platform, there is no one size fits all answer. Instead, you’ll want to explore the factors below and review your own marketing goal and metrics to make sure you are posting when your followers are most likely to see and engage with your tweets.
Recent data suggests that more than half of Twitter’s users are between the ages of 35 and 65, more than 60% of them are male, and they tend to be active in the morning (7-9 am) and the highest usage is on Wednesdays and Fridays.
And while that’s helpful information, it’s not the whole story.
That’s because your business or brand isn’t concerned with all 500 million users. You’re concerned with your key audience, the people you want to serve, and the people who want to engage with you and your company.
So, instead of trying to reach all of Twitter or use that general data to make the decision that the best time to post on Twitter on Friday is 8am, it’s best to focus on using your own brand’s data to guide your marketing efforts.
1. Use Analytics
If you Google “when is the best time to tweet” you’ll find plenty of articles and blog posts giving exact days and times.
You can also make use of the insights offered by your scheduling tool.
For example, when you schedule tweets with MeetEdgar you get access to a wealth of helpful data in your Weekly Performance Reports. These vital reports are delivered right to your email box each week and give you data points like how many new followers you have and how posts from each of your topic categories did that week. Plus, if you schedule posts on other platforms in addition to Twitter, you’ll get insight on those accounts as well.
These reports can help you make decisions about when it is the best time to post a Tweet and what you should post. When you combine that feedback with the information that comes directly from your Twitter analytics you’ll make even more informed decisions about your marketing and follower engagement strategies. Reviewing metrics gives you clarity straight from the source and can help you make the right decisions about future posts.
2. Check Out Competitors and Thought Leaders In Your Industry
Another way to determine the right time to post on Twitter is to check out how others in your industry are navigating the posting-time game.
You can also look to industry leaders and relevant thought leaders for guidance as well. While their audience may be slightly different than your own, and their accounts may have a different level of reach (accounting for things like follower counts, for example) the times at which they post can be helpful for two key reasons.
First, if a thought leader or competitor is posting at a particular time, they may have found it to be advantageous to their unique business goals to do so. And if their goals are aligned with or similar to those you may have, that posting time might work for you.
And secondly, even if their target demographic isn’t identical to your own, if you’re aiming to reach the same types of followers or to engage with similar clients and customers, the time and day when they’re posting might work for you as well.
While we wouldn’t suggest making this your only method for choosing a posting time, it may help you by giving you a place to start when it comes to exploring the best day and time to post on Twitter.
3. Experiment and Try Varying Your Content
Another way to determine the best time to tweet is to mix it up when it comes to the topics you cover in your content. When you do this methodically (using a content calendar) you can begin to see what content gets engagement when.
For example, a clothing company might try posting about their sustainability practices on Tuesdays at 5 for a few weeks and see if those posts get engagement. They might then try posting some testimonials or some curated content in that time slot and moving the sustainability post to an earlier point in the day and try that approach for a few weeks. The data they collect would tell them what type of post, if any, got traction in that time slot. They’ll get an understanding of the best time to post on Twitter on Tuesday and also whether the content made a difference in engagement.
Monitoring the type of content you post and when can help you make more informed decisions about your marketing approaches and it can help you sort out when you get the most engagement from your audience each day of the week.
4. Create Engagement Data For Yourself Through Calls to Action
Speaking of engagement, another way to find your best time to tweet on Twitter is to use certain calls to action on posts at different points in the day. Asking a question and getting comments and responses can give you a clear indication of whether your audience is seeing your posts and connecting with them in real-time. Just like the content varying approach, you’re gathering information about your audience’s engagement habits that you can use in future Twitter marketing efforts as you find the best time to post on Twitter.
5. Adjusting Course Can Give You Insight
While we hope you find some great tweeting times right off the bat, that may not always happen. Even using the Twitter guidance and the tools they provide might not give you all the insight you need to make the right decision right away.
So what can you do?
It may be time to adjust the course. When you do, be sure to monitor whether your adjustment made an impact, and try a few new times each week or each month. Adjusting your course can help you find the right time to tweet because you’ll be able to look at your Twitter and other analytics for feedback on the changes you’ve made. And combining this approach with the varied content approach can give you even more vital feedback.
6. Scheduling Posts Can Save You Time And Grow Your Impact
Once you’ve found the sweet spot for your posting time, it’s important to make sure you take full advantage of that newfound information. Creating a content calendar and scheduling out your posts for the month gives you a “set it and forget it” feeling. It also ensures that you are most likely to reach your ideal audience as often as possible.
With Meet Edgar, for example, you can put your tweets into categories and set those up to go out at the right moment (That’s why it’s great to know what content is doing best at which times).
And when you schedule your posts ahead of time, that frees you (and your team) up to hop on to Twitter and engage in real-time with post responders. So, the schedule not only serves as a content calendar but also a cue for you to connect with your audience each day.
The Bottom Line On When To Post To Twitter
So, when is the best time to post on Twitter?
It’s when your audience is on the platform and able to engage with your content. So, the best timing all depends on your brand, industry, and audience demographic. It’s also helpful to use tools, like MeetEdgar’s Weekly Performance Reports to get insight into how your audience is engaging with the content you’re scheduling and posting.
So, when it comes to finding the right time to post, it’s best to let your audience decide and to use your Twitter analytics and scheduling tool feedback reports to guide the decisions you make when it comes to timing and tweets.
Ready to use your content calendar to reach your followers more often? Try Edgar for free for 7 days and see how simple it can be to manage your social media posts!
