- Best times: Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m.
- Best days: Wednesday and Friday
- Worst day: Saturday
Twitter remains a top destination for connecting with your audiences directly, through everything from mentions to direct message to threads that may not even mention your brand directly. Use a Twitter listening solution to tap into these opportunities to get truly authentic feedback about what your fans want to see more of, or what aspects of your products, services or content they aren’t loving as much.
Of course, staying on top of incoming conversation is just a small part of your overall Twitter marketing strategy. In order to get the best engagement for the Tweets you’re lining up in your content strategy, you need to know when to post on Twitter so that your content gets your audience’s full attention. Schedule around the peak times we found above, or the safest times for engagement found Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. In general, across all industries, it appears that Twitter audiences are tapping into the platform daily in the early morning to catch up on the latest news and updates they may have missed, including on weekends. Engagement drops off later in the day, with the lowest periods happening every day before 4 a.m. and after 10 p.m.
Best times to post on Twitter for consumer goods
- Best times: Sunday at 11 a.m.
- Best day: Sunday
- Worst day: Monday
Twitter is a key channel for social customer care, so it’s essential for consumer goods and retail brands to develop their strategy for managing and responding to incoming customer messages. Consumer goods brands need to be proactive as well as reactive on the platform, though–including promoting product, shouting out positive customer mentions, and maintaining an ongoing content calendar.
Maximize the value of the posts you schedule by planning around peak times on the network. In addition to the peak time we found during the week, the safest time for engagement happens on Sunday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Compared to consumer goods engagement on other platforms, weekends are the top days for Twitter, so make sure your team is ready to adjust coverage and schedule content accordingly.
Best times to post on Twitter for media
- Best times: Wednesday at 9 a.m. and Thursday at 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
- Best day: Thursday and Friday
- Worst day: Saturday
Twitter has established itself as an essential space for media, with many journalists, authors and thought leaders sharing ideas and opinions–often around the clock. If you’re in the media and looking to stay on top of a particular beat or subject area, make sure you know advanced Twitter search and monitoring techniques so you can consistently find the most relevant conversations and expand the base of users you follow.
According to our findings, media companies have a lot of flexibility in their publishing calendar for Twitter. While the most consistent engagement occurs Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.–1 p.m, there’s more activity on weekends than some industries, as well as unique period of engagement that lasts from the peak time on Thursday all the way through Friday. Engagement does drop off to a low Monday through Wednesday before 5 a.m. and after 9 p.m.
Best times to post on Twitter for education
- Best times: Saturday, 5–6 p.m.
- Best day: Saturday
- Worst day: Sunday
Twitter allows schools and universities to stay in touch with families, market to prospective students and engage alumni through timely updates. Similar to the engagement patterns seen for this niche on Instagram, the best time to post for educational institutions falls on the weekend. Overall, the most consistent engagement aside from this peak can be found Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.–2 p.m.
Best times to post on Twitter for nonprofit
- Best times: Wednesday at 7 a.m.
- Best day: Wednesday
- Worst day: Saturday
For nonprofits, Twitter is an ideal destination to activate their fan base, raising not only awareness of their mission and message but also activating followers to drive traffic and engage donors. Supplement your strategy on Twitter with platform-specific approaches like using unique hashtags to organize and drive conversation around events or specific campaigns.
No matter what your nonprofit’s next move is on Twitter, we found that the most consistent times to post occurred earlier in the day Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–3 p.m. After that, engagement falls off every day before 4 a.m. and after 9 p.m.
Best times to post on Twitter for tech
- Best times: Tuesday at 9 a.m.
- Best days: Tuesday and Wednesday
- Worst day: Sunday
It’s no surprise that tech-savvy audiences are highly active on Twitter, making it a busy channel where all types of tech and software companies are striving to stand out from competitors. If you’re developing a social marketing strategy for the SaaS space, you need to know the best times to get your content seen by potential new customers.
We found that mornings are where activity peaks, with further opportunity for consistent engagement from Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m.–1 p.m. Outside of working hours, engagement drops somewhat every day before 6 a.m. and after 8 p.m.
Best times to post on Twitter for healthcare
- Best times: Wednesday from 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
- Best day: Wednesday
- Worst day: Sunday
Twitter is an ideal place for healthcare services and institutions to engage directly with their customers about their questions and concerns about health and wellness. Given the serious nature of these questions, it’s important that you develop a thorough set of guidelines that can help your social team respond both quickly and accurately, and while following the HIPAA guidelines that cover this space.
Top times for the healthcare space occur earlier in the day, with the most reliable engagement occurring Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–2 p.m. We found that the lowest engagement for healthcare on Twitter happened every day before 4 a.m. and after 8 p.m.
Best times to post on Twitter for finance
- Best times: Tuesday from 1–5 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
- Best day: Tuesday
- Worst day: Saturday
Twitter has become a major destination to discuss happenings in the financial world, facilitated by features like stock symbols that function just like hashtags in terms of search and visibility. In many cases, these conversations are taking place on a global level, and keep going as markets close and open in different regions. Our findings also indicated this, with a unique level of early-morning engagement found for financial institutions. Additionally, we found consistent engagement occurring earlier in the day, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m.–1 p.m. As with any industry, there’s inevitably a quieter period of lower engagement, which happens every day before 1 a.m. and after 7 p.m.
If your brand needs to stay connected to global markets around the clock, make sure you’ve established a global social media strategy that helps you manage the complexities of distributed teams or multiple local accounts, all with a consistent voice.
Best times to post on Twitter for recreation
- Best times: Friday at 9 a.m.
- Best day: Friday
- Worst day: Saturday and Sunday
For recreational destinations, a robust review management strategy and attention to social customer care can make a huge impact in terms of awareness and credibility that help you differentiate from competitors.
While our findings suggest that fewer brands are focusing on Twitter as heavily as other networks in this industry, you shouldn’t overlook the chance to engage directly with your dedicated fanbase and extend your reach to a new audience. In addition to the peak time we found on Friday, there’s consistent engagement occurring every day at 9 a.m. Meanwhile, the lowest engagement happens throughout the rest of the day on Saturday and Sunday.