High-quality social media content is undoubtedly indispensable for a successful social media strategy. But almost as important: When do I actually post to generate the optimal engagement? Does this one optimal time even exist?

Of course, there is no clear answer to this question. Some studies have looked at the optimal times for social media posts on the various platforms, but there is no clear result. We've compiled some results for you to get an overview and a rough guideline of when a post tends to be most effective on which platform. Of course, we have to differentiate between the different platforms for this. We focused our analysis on the three platforms Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

According to a Hubspot study, on LinkedIn the days Tuesday and Wednesday are best suited for achieving high click rates. One explanation for this is that LinkedIn is a business platform and users tend not to want to spend their time working on the weekend. On Mondays, on the other hand, most people are too busy with work to engage with LinkedIn posts. The most reasonable time to post on LinkedIn is between 8:00 am and 12:00 pm. It is likely that users often spend time on the platform before work and during their lunch break. Between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm, the response to posts increases once again, since most people probably finish work in this time window and linger on the platform once again here as well.

Basically, a Facebook post for B2B companies makes the most sense during the week (Monday to Friday). You should adjust the frequency to your capacities. For the optimal time for a Facebook post, the same pattern can be seen as on LinkedIn, as the first time when posts tend to perform best is at 9:00 am, when many people start working. The second time slot for a Facebook post with high engagement is between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm, and between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm the likelihood of higher engagement increases again.

For a post on Instagram, midday (12:00 pm to 2:00 pm) is the best performing time for B2B companies right now. Otherwise, mornings before work starts (6:00 am to 8:00 am) and after work hours (5:00 pm to 6:00 pm) are also the times to be active on Instagram.

If you stick to these guidelines, according to various studies, the likelihood of increased response to your posts increases. Of course, you don't have to post on every recommended day and time. Match post volume to your capacity. mate's social media plan is designed primarily for B2B companies and includes recommended actions on the optimal post times for the various social media platforms. For each of the three platforms, the plan contains two time periods per optimal day on which to post. Of course, not all times mentioned here in the text are entered here. If the times included in the plan do not fit into your workday, you can of course change as you wish and also include the remaining days and times in your planning. For a Facebook post, for example, any day during the week is suitable, as mentioned above. Try out mate's social media schedule and see which days and times your posts hit the roof!