Everyone seems to be influenced by the disruption created by ByteDance’s child app TikTok.
In 7 short years, the app has already crossed the 1 billion monthly active users mark; something that immediately got the attention of the social community as well as the businesses around the globe.
With a smart integration of interesting features to make video creation and publishing fun more than a tedious task, the app is loved by millennials, Gen Zers, and Zoomers.
One of the many factors that affect the reach, impressions, and thus virality of a video is the time of posting.
This blog post will go through the best times to post on TikTok, how that compares to Instagram and more.
The Best Time to Post on TikTok
Interestingly, there are not many studies on the best posting times on TikTok. As of now, Influencer Marketing Hub seems to be the only company digging into the matter and coming up with some solid data.
Here are the best times to post on TikTok;
- On Monday: 6 AM, 10 AM, and 10 PM
- On Tuesday: 2 AM, 4 AM, and *9 AM
- On Wednesday: 7 AM, 8 AM, and 11 PM
- On Thursday: 9 AM, *12 PM, and 7 PM
- On Friday: *5 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM
- On Saturday: 11 AM, 7 PM, and 8 PM
- On Sunday: 7 AM, 8 AM, and 4 PM
Note: The times with “*” see a higher engagement on the posts.
What Are the Worst Times to Post on TikTok?
Another interesting finding of the study is the worst times to post your TikTok videos. If you publish at these times, your videos will not perform well and you will face limited reach and number of views.
Here are the times you should avoid posting on the Tiktok app;
- 5 PM, 6 PM, and 9 PM on any weekday
- 10 AM – 3 PM on Sunday through Wednesday
- 12 AM – 4 AM on Friday through Monday
- After 9 AM on Tuesday
TikTok vs Instagram: The Best Times to Post
Considering the overwhelming audience response on the two platforms, a lot of research has been carried out to find the similarities between content consumption and engagement patterns on the two.
There’s not much overlap between the two popular social platforms because of the striking demographic differences. The largest demographic group on TikTok is between 10 and 19 years old. While on Instagram, the largest age group is between 18 and 34.
The only overlapping times are Monday at 6 AM, Friday at 5 AM, and Sunday at 7 AM. A growing number of brands and influencers buy TikTok views to attract more eyeballs to their TikTok videos and grow their audience.
How to Find the Best Times to Post on TikTok?
While studies give a good guess to decide when you should be publishing on the TikTok app, there can’t be a universal bracket for every account. Here are some of the handy ways you can find the best times to post depending on your audience.
Your Audience Avatar
Your best friend in guessing the prime times for posting is to create your audience avatar. You should spend some time researching when your target audience is most likely live on the app, take a break from social, are busy, or want to relax after a long tiring day. Let’s say you are a fashion brand selling party dresses to young college-going females, you might try to post after college is over.TikTok Analytics
TikTok Analytics is a goldmine of real data that best describes the user pattern of your audience. From age to sex to device to maximum engagement, you get a ton of vital data to pivot your content publishing strategy. You should have a professional account to have access to Analytics.Translate Analytics into Viable Data
Interpreting your Analytics data is equally critical as having access to it. If you don’t know how to use this data to your advantage, you are not going to have great days ahead. Here is what you should do. Let’s say your audience is most active at 5 PM, this doesn’t imply you should publish at sharp 5 PM. Instead, you should publish around noon so that by the peak time, your video has already gotten some engagement and views and is ready to hit more feeds, and has the potential to go viral.Spy on Your Competitors
Why not get inspiration and clues from your competitors or popular accounts in your niche? If their videos are getting a ton of views and engagement, then there is a good chance they have already figured out their prime hours. If your target audience overlaps with theirs, then you might get the shot as well if you follow their publishing pattern. It’s just a matter of trying and seeing if that works.
TikTok Tips to Get More Engagement
Be Creative
TikTok is fueled by creative ideas and novel trends that go viral within a few hours. You never know when a simple raw video explodes on Tikok, making a random creator a Tiktok star. You can blend relatable stories with something that’s never been done or heard before. The platform is never short of novel sounds going viral and random challenges getting an insane response from the users.
Use Hooks to Stop the Scroll
Users on TikTok are shown videos in an infinite vertical feed of random videos tailored for individual users. Not two feeds are the same. With users scrolling carelessly, you need to say or show something that stops them in their ranks. These are called hooks. Something novel, shocking, or intriguing enough to stop the scroll and make them want to know more.
Short Videos Do Better
While TikTok allows you to make videos more than 60 seconds now, the best practice is to keep your videos below 15 seconds. This will dramatically increase the retention rate and so, the reach of your videos, getting them in front of a larger audience.
Author Bio: Azeem Ahmad is an avid digital marketer, guest blogger, and content writer with extensive experience writing about social media marketing, search engine optimization, marketing strategies, and lead generation. Besides writing, he enjoys playing table tennis, reading blogs, and surfing the internet.