X / Twitter users post about 6,000 tweets to the social network every second and about 350,000 every minute. With so much content competing for attention, it’s important to post yours when it’s most likely to get maximum reach and engagement.
So when is the best time of day to post on Twitter / X? Plenty of studies recommend optimal posting times and even best days of the week to tweet. But it’s important to note that these studies provide general findings that may not be ideal for your account.
In this article, we’ll cover how to find an ideal best time to post for your particular community on X with the free community management tool Audiense Connect. With the data it provides, you’ll have the best chance of connecting with the followers that matter to your account. In addition, we will also cover the standard X / Twitter timing.
The related reading: The ultimate guide to Twitter analytics.
Best time to post on Twitter
The answer is – there is no an ideal general best time to post that will work for everyone. Different studies found different best times to post on Twitter. It makes it hard to decide which time to choose in your particular case. Most importantly, every X account has a unique community with the unique social browsing habits and preferences. So, the best way to find the best time to post on X that will work for you is to run your followers activity report that will show you your followers activity over weekdays. There are plenty of tools that can provide this data. Audiense Connect is a free one of them.
Sign up for Audiense Connect here and get your report.
Is there a best time to post on Twitter?
The studies above suggest that the ideal times to tweet are relatively early in the day. For example, you might post when your audience is checking the news early in the day or seeking entertainment during their lunch breaks.
But here’s the thing with X / Twitter: best times to post studies like the ones above reflect averages across various industries and user bases. They don’t consider your industry or your audience’s preferences or typical behaviors.
So should you really pay attention to these general recommendations? In my experience, there are two main reasons to use these averages to guide to schedule your tweets:
- You have a brand new X / Twitter account, and you’re building an audience from scratch. Since you don’t have any of your own data yet, using standard times is a good way to begin.
- You’ve been working to build your audience and improve your engagement, but growth has plateaued. As a result, you want to experiment with a new posting schedule to boost metrics.
In most other cases, it’s a much better idea to use your own audience data to find the ideal time to tweet. After all, your followers are a unique group. They have their own activity patterns and preferred times to be online. They may even be scattered across time zones.
Why does it matter when you post to Twitter / X?
Compared to most other social media networks, Twitter / X is one of the most fast moving. As a result, most tweets don’t stay in the spotlight for very long.
A recent study by the Technical University of Munich found that for most tweets, impressions per second peak just 72 seconds after you post. When it comes to determine the best time to post, Twitter / X requires more exact planning than you might think.
The study found that the half-life of a tweet is just 80 minutes. In other words, most tweets get half of all the impressions they’ll ever receive within 80 minutes after posting. As reach and impressions decrease, engagement often does too.
Keep in mind that recency is also a key factor for the X / Twitter recommendation algorithm. The For You tab features both popular recent tweets from accounts you follow and tweets that users you follow recently engaged with—from accounts you don’t yet follow.
What does all this mean for your posting schedule? If you miss the ideal posting window for your audience by an hour or two, you could lose out on a lot of impressions and engagement.
How to Find Your Best Time to Post on Twitter
With Audiense Connect, you don’t have to rely on general recommendations. Instead, you can see exactly when to post, given your audience’s activity.
Discover When to Post on Twitter / X Based on Your Top Followers
To quickly find your audience’s ideal time, open your Audiense Connect dashboard. Click to view your list of followers. Open the “Analytics” menu at the top of the screen and select “Best Time to Tweet.”
On the next screen, click the orange “Get My Report Now” button in the upper left corner.
You’ll see a custom report based on when your followers are online, breaking down the best times for each day of the week. Since the data is in your account’s time zone, you can easily apply the times to your X / Twitter schedule.
As you can see, the best times to tweet for this account are completely different from the general recommendations above. While Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to tweet, the best times are later in the day, usually between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Sign up for Audiense Connect here.
Learn When to Post on Twitter / X for Different Audience Segments
Following the steps above, you can easily find the best times to tweet for your entire audience. But what is the best time to post on Twitter / X when you want to reach more specific segments?
From your Audiense Connect dashboard, open your list of followers. Use the filters in the left menu to narrow down your audience. For example, say you want to reach accounts that have over 1,000 followers and that tweet at least once per day.
You can also use the demographic filters to build your segment. For example, say you want to reach accounts in the Central European Standard time zone.
Once you’ve filtered your followers, open the “All Criteria” menu at the bottom of the screen. Select “Best Time to Tweet Report” and give the report a name.
Then check the best time to tweet report for this segment. As you can see in the report below, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the ideal times for this audience.
The times skew much earlier for this segment, with the best times on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and Thursday at 8 a.m. When it’s important to reach a specific audience, this kind of segment-based report can be especially helpful.
To capture the attention of these followers, tailor your tweets to their interest. Audiense Connect’s best time to tweet report also features interest and hashtag clouds that you can use to guide your content.
Sign up for Audiense Connect here.
Determine When You’ll Get the Most Exposure on Twitter / X
These Audiense Connect reports are designed to help you reach the largest percentage of users in your community. But it’s important to remember that some followers may have more influence than others.
To get your X / Twitter posts in front of your most influential followers, scroll down to see Audiense Connect’s potential exposure reports. These reports forecast potential exposure by the day and by the hour.
Using these reports, you can see when your content is most likely to make the biggest impact. If you plan to make a big announcement or launch something new, it’s a good idea to use these forecasts to time your tweets.
Sign up for Audiense Connect here.
Export Your Twitter / X Posting Schedule to Hootsuite for Testing
Once you’ve found your ideal Twitter / X posting schedule in Audiense Connect, it’s easy to test it on your audience. At the top of the report, click the “Export Hootsuite Schedule” button.
Then choose your settings. Check the days of the week you want to include in the schedule. Then set a number of tweets per day and a minimum interval.
Finally, input the copy for each tweet. Audiense Connect will automatically assign times for each post based on your account’s ideal schedule.
Export the list of tweets, and then import them using Hootsuite’s bulk message uploader. Monitor reach and engagement for your content to ensure that these metrics meet your goals and that they make the impact you expect.
Sign up for Audiense Connect here.
What time of day is best to post on Twitter?
What’s the best time to post on Twitter / X each day of the week? Here are the average results:
- Monday: 10-11 am, 2 -4 pm
- Tuesday: 1-3 pm, 9-10 pm
- Wednesday: 1-3 pm, 6-7 pm
- Thursday: 3 pm, 4-5 pm, 8-9 pm
- Friday: 5-6 am, 1-3 pm
- Saturday: 1-3 pm, 10 pm
- Sunday: 1-3 pm, 9-10 pm
Keep in mind that the general times won’t work for every single following community on X. Make sure you analysed best time to post on X for your own followers here.
Best time to post on Twitter on Monday
On Monday, your followers are likely catching up after the weekend and seeking content that helps them prepare for the week ahead. The best time to tweet on Monday is usually 10-11 am, 2 -4 pm.
Best time to post on Twitter on Tuesday
On Tuesday, the ideal time to share content is generally between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. On Tuesdays, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. can also be a good time to connect with your audience after work.
Best time to post on Twitter on Wednesday
On Wednesday, the optimal time to tweet is typically between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. By posting content in the morning and in the afternoon, you can reach your audience as they start their workday and while they take breaks.
Best time to post on Twitter on Thursday
On Thursday, the right time to post is generally between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. By posting hourly during this window, you can reach your audience more effectively and have more consistent conversations.
Best time to post on Twitter on Friday
On Friday, your followers are probably starting to think about the weekend ahead. Keep your topics as light as possible, and plan to tweet relatively early in the day, ideally between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m.
Best time to post on Twitter on Saturday
On Saturday, your audience is likely enjoying free time and may be offline for much of the day. The best time to post tends to be in the morning, between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Best time to post on Twitter on Sunday
On Sunday, your followers are likely starting to think about the week ahead. Post content that makes them look forward to starting the week, ideally between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m.
What is the highest traffic time on Twitter?
Nonetheless, the peak times for posting on Twitter are from 8 to 10 in the morning and 6 to 9 in the evening. For improved engagement, it’s advisable to post either in the early hours of the morning (7 to 9.30 am) or late in the evening (8 to 11.30 pm).
What is the best day and time to post?
As a general rule, weekdays—specifically Tuesdays through Thursdays—are the best days to tweet. Sundays are the worst day to post for most accounts.
What is the best frequency to post on twitter?
Should you focus your content on the best days and skip tweeting on other days? Not necessarily. From our experience we recommend posting on Twitter / X two to three times per day to keep conversations going with your audience.
Finding the Best Time to Post on Twitter for Engagement
When you post compelling content at the right time for your audience, you’ll be much more likely to spark conversations and engage your followers. As a result, you can continue to grow your audience and meet your X / Twitter marketing goals.
Finding the best times to post doesn’t have to be as difficult as you might think. Sign up for Audiense Connect to create your own custoёm best time to tweet report—and start connecting with your X / Twitter audience when they’re online.
Anna Sonnenberg is a social media marketer for B2C CPG brands and a B2B SaaS writer specializing in product-led and strategic content marketing for martech, sales automation, and productivity platforms.