I often hear the following:

“Post outside of working hours and during lunchtime, for people who want something to read during their lunch break…”

I personally have a problem with generic recommendations on best times and days to post, as well as “scientific guides on best and worst times to post on social media”. Here’s why.

Just imagine if we were all to post at the same, on Facebook, altogether. That “best time” would soon become the worst time to post – ever. Facebook would then filter out all the content that it deems “uninteresting” for users, and your post reach will quickly, but surely, go down.

There are best times to post for a brand, and that time differs depending on industry vertical and brand. Ideal times differ from platform to platform too – perhaps your Facebook fans are more engaged in the evening, while your Twitter followers are more engaged during the day. So many factors can come into this, but the main one is your audience – where is your audience? Perhaps you’re based in the UK, yet you have a big following from Australia; or perhaps you’re based in New York, but your Facebook is getting a lot of attention from a lot of Canadians.

Luckily most platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube, offer insights into demographics, so instead of making educated guesses, you can make a data-driven decision as to when is the best time for you to post on what social network.