Figuring out the best time to post on TikTok isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. For obvious reasons, it makes sense to upload content when your target TikTok audience is most active. But given how different audiences are active at very different times, the whole thing can be challenging.
Like all social media platforms, TikTok is engineered to recommend highly personalized content to its users. Recommendations are based on their interests, age, their location, and so on. But what’s also taken into account is freshness – i.e., how recently a post was published. Understandably, TikTok doesn’t want to recommend content that’s already yesterday’s news.
Given the millions of videos published on the platform every hour, things go stale pretty quick on TikTok. Fail to post at the right times, and you run the risk of your content fading silently into the background. By contrast, post at the right times, and you’re far more likely to get a positive response.
Do TikTok Posting Times Matter?
According to TikTok, posting between one and four times per day is the way to go. All is well and good, but what’s the best time to publish these posts? TikTok posting times matter because engagement is everything. When one TikTok audience is active and engaged, another may be almost completely offline.
For obvious reasons, peak TikTok in the USA isn’t the same as those in China. It’s always prime time somewhere, just as it’s always an antisocial hour somewhere else. Common sense, therefore, dictates that everything you post should be timed in accordance with your audience’s TikTok habits.
Something that can be simplified with a scheduling tool if you’d prefer not to publish each of your posts manually. Either way, boosting engagement (and getting on the FYP) is all about reaching the right people at the right time. Hence, the answer is yes – TikTok posting times matter a lot!
What is the Best Time to Post on TikTok?
If targeting a global audience on TikTok, it technically doesn’t matter when you post. The best times to post differ in accordance with location, making a global campaign difficult to coordinate. Ideally, you should be prioritizing the top territories for your TikTok videos – those that consistently deliver the best content performance.
Analytics holds all the information you need to determine these top territories. Otherwise, figuring out when to post on TikTok is as simple as defining your audience’s most active hours. Whether it’s better to post in the morning, post in the afternoon or post in the evening will be determined by who you are targeting and what you are targeting them with.
To put things into some kind of perspective, here’s a brief rundown of TikTok’s top posting times for the USA. All listed in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), so should only be used as an illustration of how the whole thing works:
- Monday: 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 10 p.m.
- Tuesday: 2 a.m., 4 a.m., 9 a.m.
- Wednesday: 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 11 p.m.
- Thursday: 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 7 p.m.
- Friday: 5 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m.
- Saturday: 11 a.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m.
- Sunday: 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 4 p.m.
Technically speaking, these times should also apply to most mainstream TikTok audiences worldwide. Nevertheless, taking things for granted is a recipe for the disappointing performance. It’s up to you to determine when your audience is most active and engaged, which calls for ongoing experimentation.
How to Find Your Best Time to Post on TikTok
Find the best times to post on TikTok, and you stand to benefit from the highest engagement rate possible for your content. Knowing where to start can be tricky, but the following tips could help point your campaign in the right direction:
1. Figure Out When Your Audience Awake
It sounds obvious (and it is), but the first thing to do is figure out when your audience is awake. Something that’s as simple as noting where your audience is located and taking time zones into account. This alone should put you in a good position the publish when your audience is active, engaged, and responsive.
2. Review Your Best Performing Videos
Use TikTok’s analytics to continuously monitor the performance of your content. In order to do so, you’ll first need to switch to a Pro account, which is well worth doing. With analytics, you’re presented with all the data you need to determine when your audience is at its most active.
Rather than simply assuming you’re posting at the right times, you’ll gain access to the facts you need to ensure this is the case.
3. Look At Your Competitors
Of course, you could always simply check out your competitors’ publishing strategies and follow their lead. If they’re a noted leader in your niche and clearly know what they’re doing, there’s no shame in taking inspiration.
Best of all, monitoring the competition could help you find opportunities to post when they’re not posting—perhaps filling a gap in the market that could work in your favor.
4. Experiment with Posting Times
Trial and error often hold the key to making things work on TikTok. Assuming you’re keeping an eye on analytics, experimenting with posting times comes highly recommended. Switch up your publishing schedule on a regular basis and see what happens.
If your posts benefit from a better engagement rate, keep it up. If your experiment has the opposite of the intended effect, take things in a different direction.
Other Ways to Get More Views on your TikTok
Publishing at the right times is ultimately about getting more views and boosting engagement. But there are other factors that need to be taken into account if looking to run a successful TikTok campaign. Along with publishing at the right times, each of the following could help get more eyes on your content and more followers in your corner:
1. Create Unique Content
Original content is always more appealing than generic or copied content. TikTok is the kind of place people head to see something they’ve never seen before. If you’re serious about building influence and appeal on TikTok, you need to put out a steady stream of 100% unique content.
2. Use Trending Songs
That said, jumping on the bandwagon with trending songs is never a bad idea. This can be a great way of adding appeal and engagement to your videos while giving you the freedom to do whatever you want with the actual content. To make it even more accessible, you can easily find TikTok trending songs and seamlessly integrate them into your creative process.
3. Use Relevant Hashtags
The hashtags you use tell TikTok which audiences your content should be showcased too. Hence, the hashtags you use need to be 100% relevant to your content. Hashtags form the basis of TikTok’s take on SEO – they make your posts easier to find by the right people.
For more tips and tricks on how to get more views on TikTok, check out our in-depth guide for creators here.
Conclusion
In short, the best time to post on TikTok depends entirely on who you are targeting. In any case, figuring out exactly when you should be posting shouldn’t be too difficult.
Using TikTok’s analytics is by far the easiest way of finding out when your audience is active and engaged, as is taking note of their location and time zone while being sure to focus on your most important territories if running a global TikTok campaign.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How Many Times a Day Should You Post on TikTok?
According to TikTok itself, posting between one and four times a day is the way to go. In practice, research has shown that three posts per day are pretty much the sweet spot for a successful campaign. Posting too often is inadvisable, but not posting often enough is even worse.
2. Is Posting too Much on TikTok Really a Bad Thing?
Yes, for the simple reason that too much of a good thing is never a good thing. The more often you post, the less impactful and appealing each individual post becomes. Posting in moderation and ensuring each clip is of the same flawless quality holds the key to maximum engagement.
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