Best time to post on Facebook in 2024

Have you ever wondered about the best time to post on Facebook?

Most social media users don’t care much about the optimal posting frequency and days to post on social media. No wonder an average Joe doesn’t get many followers on social media.

However, most social media influencers keep track of their social media content performance. Hence, they figure out the best time and day to publish on specific platforms.

Facebook has over 3 billion monthly active users. So, creating the best-quality content isn’t good enough. Instead, you must craft a solid, data-driven content strategy for Facebook to get noticed.

Therefore, figuring out the best time and day to post content is crucial to building a robust social media marketing campaign.

I’ll dig deeper into the topic and explain why you should care about publishing Facebook content at the right time.

Why do you need to find the best time to post on Facebook?

Social media is a crowded space. A gazillion posts are coming every minute. As a result, it poses a challenge for brands and individuals to reach their target audience.

A lot of businesses and creators fail to dominate the social media market just because they remain unable to calibrate the following things:

• Type of content that works
• What audience wants
• Optimal posting time
• Suitable social media platform
• Content publishing frequency

Therefore, it becomes difficult for those brands and content creators to penetrate a competitive social media environment.

Since Facebook is one of the top-tier social media platforms, it’s crucial to devise an out-of-the-box strategy to capture the audience’s attention.

We all know that hundreds of new posts appear on the timeline every few seconds, regardless of the platform. Facebook algorithm equally plays an important role.

In fact, the attention span of an average user is very short, especially on all major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.

Therefore, it’s vital to find the best time to post on Facebook so that our content gets the attention it deserves.

The overall best times to post on Facebook (by Day)

In order to understand the best time to post on any social media platform, it’s important to comprehend the user demographics. It helps us determine the type of user base we will deal with.

The data from Statista tells that 18-24 and 25-34 are the most significant user age brackets in the Facebook global audience distribution.

Based on 22 million posts scheduled and published via ContentStudio, our internal data chart revealed that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday are the best days to attract engagement on Facebook.

Based on ContentStudio’s study, we classified the optimal times for posting on Facebook according to different days:

• Best time to post on Facebook on Monday: 2 pm – 3 PM, and 7 pm EST
• Best time to post on Facebook on Tuesday: 2 pm – 3 pm, and 5 pm – 6 pm  EST
• Best time to post on Facebook on Wednesday: 8 am – 9 am, and 6 pm EST
• Best time to post on Facebook on Thursday: 2 pm and 10 pm EST
• Best time to post on Facebook on Friday: 2 pm and 5 pm EST
• Best time to post on Facebook on Saturday: 1 pm, 2 pm, and 3 pm EST
• Best time to post on Facebook on Sunday: 6 pm and 10 pm EST

The ContentStudio study determined the best days to post on Facebook based on the most engagements. Tuesday and Thursday seem to be the days when most people prefer to post, and they get a lot of engagement.

On the other hand, ContentStudio users get the lowest engagement on Facebook on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Surprisingly, Thursday appears to be the day when the majority of the users get the most attention on Facebook.

Whether you’re posting on Facebook manually or scheduling your content for Facebook using a social media scheduler like ContentStudio, you’ll be better off opting for the optimal days to post.

Don’t sleep on this opportunity of getting a lot of engagement on Facebook – try posting 4 to 5 posts a week on Facebook.

Always schedule or publish Facebook content on Fridays to drive loads of engagement. Furthermore, create content to share on Facebook on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Tuesdays.

Quick recap: Best days to post on Facebook

• Tuesday
• Thursday
• Wednesday
• Friday

The best times to post on Facebook by location

There is no right or wrong answer to this query. There are many factors, however, that define the best time for someone to post on Facebook at or from a particular location.

Some people think way too much before posting on social media, and that hinders their publishing process.

By no means I’m against content planning, content scheduling, or social media strategies. However, if all this makes someone overthink the whole process, then it’s a red flag, for sure.

In order to find the best time to post on Facebook based on the location, it’s essential to discuss the factors that define the specific day as good or bad for social media posting.

Factors that affect the best time to post on Facebook

Several factors influence the best time to post on Facebook or any other social media platform.

The reason why these factors matter is that they impact the social media poster or the target social media audience belonging to the specific location.

Hence, it’s essential to understand the factors that come into play when determining the best time to post on Facebook or any other social media platform based on the targeted location.

Let’s take a look at those factors:

Weekends

Many social media experts try to capitalize on weekdays when it comes to social media and often schedule a few posts or Facebook stories for the weekend.

Remember that the weekend is mostly Saturdays and Sundays for the world. However, the weekend or off day in the middle east is Friday. People go to work on Saturdays and Sundays in middle eastern countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia.

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t post on the weekend, even if you’re targeting an audience in the middle east. All you need is to take this fact into account that the response from all parts of the world won’t be the same even on the weekends.

Public holidays

One of the factors that might affect social media responses, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter, is the public holiday. The same rule applies here. Entire Europe and America celebrate New Year and Christmas – the offices close for at least a week.

On the other hand, China celebrates the Chinese New Year according to their traditional lunar-solar Chinese calendar somewhere between January and February.

Therefore, it’s necessary to factor in the essential dates of your targeted territories before scheduling or posting Facebook content.

Unusual circumstances

Sometimes, countries go through unusual circumstances that massively impact people’s lives. The basic needs like water, electricity, and shelter could be wiped out overnight.

In such circumstances, it’s impossible to pay attention to social media. In fact, most people don’t have access to the internet in such difficult times. We’ve seen horrific scenes from the Russia-Ukraine war lately.

Therefore, unusual circumstances completely change how people react to the usual stuff.

Natural catastrophes

Natural catastrophes such as earthquakes and floods destroy the communication infrastructure – telecom, internet, and mobile services.

Social media marketing becomes irrelevant in such areas or territories when a natural catastrophe hits. Often, people fight for their lives when they go through such difficult times.

Therefore, there is no point in reaching out to those people (with your marketing messages) when they’re going through a rough patch.

National mourning or tragedies

Social media publishing quickly becomes unrelated when a tragedy or the government announces national mourning. Usually, companies and marketers avoid publishing social media content during those times.

The recent demise of England’s Queen Elizabeth ll is a prime example of how people pay respect to such events.

The best times to post on Facebook by industry

Wordstream compiled the data about the best time to post on Facebook by industry from Hubspot, SproutSocial, and CoSchedule and put it together in an article.

The below-mentioned findings were taken from that piece from Wordstream, as well as some other sources that showed similar results.

Moreover, we also dug deeper into our internal data at ContentStudio and learned that those insights are pretty similar to what we have in our ContentStudio statistics.

Here are the best times to post on Facebook by industry:

• Food and beverages: 9 am to 12 am on weekdays
• Education: 8 to 10 am on Mondays and Wednesdays, 9 to 11 am on Fridays
• Finance: 11 am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10 am to 12 pm on Thursdays
• Technology: – 3 pm to 5 pm on Tuesdays, 9 am, 11 am, and 12 pm on Fridays,
• Software/SAAS: 7 am to 9 am, 6 pm to 8 pm, and 2 pm to 4 pm – mostly on weekdays
• Healthcare: 5 am to 8 am – before and after the shifts
• Hospitality: 9 am to 12 am – customers usually check in or check out between 9 am to 12 pm. Furthermore, most restaurants serve around 12 am.
• Media: media consumers usually consume social media before 9 am, during lunch around 2 pm, and after 8 pm at night.

Related Read: Facebook carousel posts

How to find out the best time to post on Facebook for your business

It’s pretty much clear that the best time to post on any social media platform depends on the industry, demographics, and location.

However, it shouldn’t be difficult for an average entrepreneur or business to figure out the best time to post on a social media platform.

If you’re curious about the best time to post on Facebook, for instance, then there are a few things that you could do to find out.

Find the best time to post on Facebook using a social media scheduling tool

One of the simplest ways to find the best time to post on Facebook for your business is to go through the social media analytics or reporting section of your social media management tool and check out the data.

My go-to social media scheduling tool is ContentStudio. You could do the same with your social media scheduling tool if it has an analytics section.

How to check the best time to post on Facebook using ContentStudio

ContentStudio is an all-in-one social media management tool that provides content scheduling, planning, analytics, and management.

It has a robust social media dashboard that offers several social management tools for influencers, businesses, and agencies.

The key features include social media scheduling, social analytics, content curation, workspaces, and social media approval workflows. In short, it’s a powerful social media suite to manage social media accounts for a business or agency.

Related read: Beat your social competition with Facebook competitors’ analytics

Here’s the step-by-step process of finding the best time to post on Facebook using the ContentStudio social media scheduling tool:

Step #1: Log in to your ContentStudio

To start with the process, log in to your ContentStudio account. If you haven’t signed up for a ContentStudio account, you can do it right away. Sign up for a 14-day free trial to test out – no credit card is required.

Step #2: Select ‘Compose’

Hover on the ‘Compose‘ section from the dashboard and select ‘Social Post’ from the dropdown.

Step #3: Compose your post 

Set up a post of your choice and select the relevant platform(s), category, text, media, etc.

Don’t forget to select your Facebook page or group, write a caption, and upload an image.

Step #4: Select ‘ Best time to Post’

Click on the schedule post option. Upon selection, you will see a clickable link under the calendar view with the message ”View Recommended Times”.

Upon clicking on the ‘Best time to Post,’ a modal will pop up containing a heat map visualizing the engagement probability score in context with given dates and hours of the day. By hovering over the blocks in the heat map, you can see the time-stamp and probability of potential engagement at the given time. By clicking over any block, you can select the time stamp for scheduling the post.

Find the best time to post on Facebook using Facebook analytics

Facebook analytics provides you with valuable information about your Facebook content. Access to content insights and performance data helps you understand what’s working for you.

Once you identify the winner content, you could always double down on the select areas to increase reach, awareness, and popularity on social.

Furthermore, Facebook analytics also gives users insights into the best time and day to post content on Facebook based on the previous content.

Here’s how you can use Facebook analytics to find the best time and day to post content to Facebook:

Step #1: Go to the Facebook Creator Studio

Log in to your Facebook account. Open the Facebook Creator Studio in a separate tab. It’ll take you to the Creator Studio dashboard, where you will find a lot of analytical data about your Facebook pages.

Step #2: Choose the Facebook page

Before you analyze any data, make sure you have chosen the correct Facebook page.

A drop-down menu is available in the header area. Feel free to choose the Facebook page you want to analyze for the best time and day to post content.

Step #3: Head over to the Insights section

Once you’ve selected the desired Facebook page to analyze, click on the “Insights” button from the sidebar. There will be so much data to look into – you could see what content outperforms the other content.

Step #4: Click on the Audience button

To access the best time and day to post to Facebook, you must click on the “Audience” option from the same sidebar on the left side of the dashboard. Scroll down to the middle to find this data.

The worst times to post on Facebook

Our research, experience, and data have shown some of the worst times to post on Facebook, but there may be some exceptions for brands based on different factors.

However, we’re sharing what we have seen and learned so far. You have every right to disagree with our analysis and find out the data of your own.

Here are the worst times and days to post on Facebook:

• Worst times to post on Facebook on Monday: 7 am to 12 pm, 4 pm to 7 pm
• Worst times to post on Facebook on Tuesday: 9 am to 12 pm, 4 pm to 6 pm
• Worst times to post on Facebook on Wednesday: 12 pm to 1 pm, 4 pm to 6 pm
• Worst times to post on Facebook on Thursday: 3 pm to 6 pm, 7 pm to 10 pm
• Worst times to post on Facebook on Friday: 9 am to 11 pm, 3 pm to 6 pm
• Worst times to post on Facebook on Saturday: 8 am to 11 am, 6 pm to 10 pm
• Worst times to post on Facebook on Sunday: 9 am to 11 am, 5 pm to 9 pm

Let’s conclude: What’s the best time and day to post on Facebook?

The ContentStudio data revealed that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are suitable days to post on Facebook.

Surprisingly, one of my Facebook pages’ insights showed a similar trend. However, every Facebook page is different. So don’t take my word on this. Instead, dig deeper into your Facebook insights and find the best time and day for yourself.

Since every social media platform is different, don’t be surprised if you find the best times and days to post on Instagram quite different from Facebook.

Figuring out the best time and day to post on any social media platform means you’re halfway through the process.

Remember that now you need a secret sauce to get attention on that social media platform – a recipe to cook something worth tasting.

It all comes down to the “great content” that hits the bullseye. Don’t shy away from experimenting with different topics to see what your audience likes the best.

We’re curious about the best time and day for you to post on Facebook. Talk to us on Facebook and let us know the best time for you to publish on Facebook.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best time to post on Facebook?

The best time to post on Facebook is on Thursday at 2 PM and 10 PM EST.

What is the best time to post on Facebook on Friday?

The best time to post on Facebook on Friday is 2 PM and 5 PM EST.

What is the worst time to post on Facebook?

The worst times to post on Facebook are on Saturday 8 am to 11 am, 6 pm to 10 pm.

Is it better to post on Facebook in the morning or evening?

Posting in the morning is better. According to our general data, Facebook activity increases in the morning and continues until noon before falling as the night draws closer.