The best time to post on LinkedIn

With the rise of software and paid advertising, social media isn't only a place for connecting and sharing — they've also evolved into places where companies can build their brands. For example, social media activity can expose companies to extensive target group members that could turn into leads and new or additional business deals.

LinkedIn, the world's largest business network, has about 303 million active monthly users.

Attracting an engaged target audience on LinkedIn requires you to be able to craft relevant and compelling content. And if you don't post content at the right time, most followers will never see your postings and updates. So how can you figure out the best time to post your content to attract your target audience? Unfortunately, there is no correct answer. Instead, you can scrutinise research to make assumptions about the best times to post for your target audience. 

The best time to post on LinkedIn

I think thinking about your target audience's behaviour is essential. I'd like you to conduct market research to learn more about when and how your target audience is online or refer to your personas if you've collected that information. It's safe to assume they will need more time to be able to check their social media during business hours.

There are pockets throughout your potential and existing customers' day where they check on LinkedIn, like during lunch and commuting. So you can estimate when you're expected to reach your target audience.

In B2B, the target audiences' online behaviour reflects being busy during regular business hours. During the periods described above, the target audience is getting ready for work, starting their day, or having an afternoon coffee. 

Even though it isn't a one-size-fits-all, many have found success on LinkedIn by posting Tuesday to Thursday between 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

The worst time to post content is on weekends or outside business hours. 

But there is one exception, Sunday evening, when many decision-makers and influencers send an email and start preparing for the upcoming work week.

You and your company should test to aim for outside 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can judge when your content postings will earn the most engagement based on your competitors' behaviour and target audience members. For B2Bs, analysing web behaviour is an excellent indicator. Your target audience is business professionals, so it's ideal for catching them before they start working, during lunch hours when they commute, and when they catch up on things in the evening.

If you post content to LinkedIn when most of your audience is offline, you will receive different views and interactions than you hoped.

Remember, if you want to build a trusted brand on LinkedIn, it's determining when your target audience prefers to visit the site. So you'll have a better idea of how to pin your content posts' timing almost every time you want to update your followers.

How often should you post on LinkedIn?

Research has found that you shouldn't publish more than five times per week on LinkedIn — and you'll find the highest engagement for your first two posts. After that, depending on your industry, target audience, and the content type you plan to publish, I'd suggest anywhere between three to five times per week.

Nevertheless, quantity should stay the same as quality. When posting content, you'll want to ensure that you're thoughtful, strategic, and helpful with every content piece you post on LinkedIn. If you post low-quality content to hit the five content pieces mark, you'll damage your engagement on LinkedIn, and LinkedIn will most likely display your content less often to your followers. As with all social media, the algorithm prioritises excellent and relevant content.

If you publish three to five weekly posts on LinkedIn, consider how you vary your content types. For instance: 

• Mondays, you publish videos.
• Tuesdays, you publish a knowledge article.
• Wednesdays, you share a presentation. 
• Thursdays, share a compelling status and ask users to provide feedback or answers.
• Finally, Fridays, you publish an image with text.

When growing your LinkedIn strategy, you should iterate over time as you determine which content types perform best on your page.

A LinkedIn strategy is a long game. However, you can test the above tactics and try some experiments yourself. Your target audience is always unique, and you will uncover content insights as you continue to post relevant content while engaging with other industry-relevant posts. 

Are you interested in more LinkedIn tricks? LinkedIn's algorithm plays a big part in deciding your success on the platform. We've prepared a presentation explaining how the algorithm works and how to use it to your advantage - click the button below to access it.