An astonishing 34 million videos are posted on TikTok every single day, and a user base of 1.5 billion is gobbling up the very best ones. From funny pranks, singing, dancing, how-to’s and storytelling, TikTok is where your brand or that of your clients can rise to the dizzy heights of viral fame without spending a cent.
But you need your videos to be seen for that to happen. That fact leaves marketers asking the question: What is the best time to post on TikTok to get your videos noticed?
Here’s what you need to know for 2024. And if you’re short on time and would rather watch a video, then here you go:
What Is the Best Time to Post on TikTok?
These are the best times to post on TikTok in EST:
- Monday: 6 am, 10 am, 10 pm
- Tuesday: 2 am, 4 am, 9 am
- Wednesday: 7 am, 8 am, 11 pm
- Thursday: 9 am, 12 am, 7 pm
- Friday: 5 am, 1 pm, 3 pm
- Saturday: 11 am, 7 pm, 8 pm
- Sunday: 7 am, 8 am, 4 pm
The peak traffic hours have shifted slightly since last year, and it seems you’re all going to bed slightly earlier or browsing less in the middle of the night. Could it be that more early nighter Gen X and Boomers have joined the TikTok party? Aside from Tuesdays. What is it with Tuesdays at 2 am?
Does It Really Matter When You Post on TikTok?
You may be wondering if it even makes a difference what time you post on TikTok. I know that at Contentworks Agency, we are asked this a lot. Usually when a client has a last-minute idea and wants to post it NOW!
Let’s break it down. If you’re posting for fun on TikTok and you’re not aiming for engagement or revenue, when you post is probably not something you’re worrying about. Your video could still hit the sweet spot with the following:
- Viral music or trending soundtracks
- A catchy thumbnail image or title
- Trending or popular hashtags
- Great content (informative, funny, emotive)
- A subject matter that hits the sweet spot with your audience. Like that annoying moment someone asks a question at the end of a meeting!
@contentworks It’s over Jenny. Let it go. #clientsbelike #meetings #zoom #marketingagency #marketing #contentworks #worklife
So, keep posting those cat videos, poems, dance routines and grandma cooking videos. We love them!
If, however, your brand has social media KPIs that include TikTok, then yes it matters what time you post on TikTok. TikTok’s algorithm will prioritize recent and relevant content, so the best time to post on TikTok is when your audience is most active.
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Benefits of Posting to TikTok at the Right Time
If you’re an active TikTok user, you know that its algorithm is one of the best out there. “Like” a couple of videos on how to make a Christmas cake, and the algorithm will start serving up baking videos, cooking influencers and cake stories almost instantly. In my experience, the TikTok algorithm is the sharpest of all the platforms. It decides whether to push a video based on how much watch time, views, and engagement a video gets.
Here are some of the benefits of posting to TikTok at the right time.
1. It improves your engagement rate
Posting at the right time can be both the time of day, and the time during the month or year when you launch your campaigns. For example, most Black Friday promotions are now launched from the beginning of November to entice consumers. Many consumers have already done their Black Friday shopping by the time it’s Black Friday. Check out Walmart’s viral Mean Girls Black Friday ad, which was launched on Nov. 1, 2023. Walmart reunited cast members from “Mean Girls” for a Black Friday advertising push that recreated key scenes from the 2004 teen comedy.
@whatsupdanny Gretchen is in her cool mom era. 😘🍹@walmart #BlackFriday #sponsoredSample
With nearly 600K likes, 4K comments, and 4.5 million watches, we can say they made fetch happen. Remember though, this is also down to excellent content, humor, and product placement.
2. Posting at the right time increases your TikTok ROI
There’s a price attached to creating great content, even if you’re not paying for social media advertising. Your costs might include your marketing agency, content writers, social media manager, videographer, equipment, influencers, giveaways or discounts.
If you’re promoting your videos, then the costs shoot up from there.
The average CPM (cost per mille/thousand) on TikTok is $9.16 as of November 2023. A minimum budget of $500 is required for a campaign. Higher-end ad types have a flat rate from $50,000 to $150,000 for the first six days. A branded takeover or branded hashtag challenge can cost $150,000+.
Whether you’re an agency or brand, you will need to account for ROI (return on investment) for your TikTok efforts.
And the fact about TikTok is a great driver for ecommerce and instrumental in generating meaningful ROI. The popular hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt—where influencers and brands show off purchases, has over 12B views. In fact, 78% of small business owners reported that TikTok ads have a positive ROI.
Working strategically on TikTok helped American Eagle drive sales of their summer collection. American Eagle saw 40% higher ROAS (return on ad spend) with TikTok’s product ads (or TikTok dynamic ads). These are personalized video advertisements generated in real time.
TikTok tip: Getting the timing right on TikTok ads can be part of the ROI generation.
58.2% of TikTok users said they used the platform for shopping inspiration.
Contrary to what you might think, online shopping sales are less at weekends! This is when people are perhaps busy with friends and family or can actually go shopping in the real world! 10 AM and 8 PM during the week seem to generate the most ROI.
Learn more: Create a winning TikTok strategy
3. It improves brand visibility
When you’re scrolling videos on TikTok, you will be in one of two tabs. Either “Following” or “For You.” “Following” is the brands you’re actively following and their videos will always show in this feed, But the “For You” feed is an endless stream of videos that TikTok thinks you will like based on certain factors. These factors include the videos you’ve interacted with, captions and hashtags and of course, the freshest newest content in your time zone. Understanding your target audience, what they like and the times they are online will help get your videos in the “For you” feed and therefore increase your brand visibility.
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TikTok tip: Start observing the videos that appear in your “For You” feed. Understand how the creators utilise their target audience info to create the videos you want to see. Funny cats, Gen X problems, social media manager humour? I’m here for it. You found me.
TikTok Post Inspo For Every Day of The Week
Looking for some TikTok content inspiration? Or unsure what to post on each day of the week? Let’s look at some TikTok videos that work well for each day. Remember that you can also research popular hashtags for your video niche and industry, and combine them with the day of the week. For example: #Office #MondayMotivation #JustForFun #WorkLife.
Best Times To Post On TikTok On Monday: 6 AM, 10 AM, 10 PM
Our peak times data shows that the best times to post on TikTok on Mondays are 6AM, 10 AM, and 10 PM. Our guess is that TikTok users are checking before school or work, during a morning break, and before bed. If you want to post on TikTok on a Monday, think about your value add. Will you post a funny Monday video like or perk viewers up with a great offer? Love this one from @Yellowstone who nail that Monday slump with Kevin Costner.
@yellowstone A new work week? No thanks. ✋ #yellowstonetv @kevincostner #johndutton #mondaymotivation
Best Times To Post On TikTok On Tuesday: 2 AM, 4 AM, 9 AM
Apparently people like to stay up late on Tuesdays, because the best times to post on TikTok on Tuesdays are 2 AM, 4 AM, and 9 AM. Which begs the question: Why are you all waking up in the middle of the night on Tuesdays to check TikTok? Why don’t you come back in the evenings? I have questions. Travel Tuesday is a Black Friday for holiday bookings, and it happens every single week! I love this Travel Tuesday vibe from @destinationinspiration.
@destinationinspiration 🚨Travel Tuesday Deals Are In!! 🚨 This is your chance to save 30-50% on flights, hotels, cruises, luggage, and more! Lets goooo ✈️🌍 #traveltuesday #greenscreen
Best Times to Post on TikTok on Wednesday: 7 AM, 8 AM, 11 PM
Again, the best time for TikTok posts on Wednesdays seems to be before school/work or late at night while in bed. Think about what your viewers would want to see at 7 AM. A breakfast offer, tips for having a great day, funny videos about going to work or school also work well. Wednesday is also Humpday because we are half way through the week. Yay for that. I love this cute #Humpday video from @central23official. Remember, if you don’t have the time or resources to make a video from scratch, look out for #Capcut templates which are easy to edit and personalize.
@central23official How is it only Wednesday?😞 #sloth #relatable #wednesday #humpday
Best Times to Post on TikTok on Thursday: 9 AM, 12 AM, 7 PM
The best times to post on Thursday are around the lunch hour. So, if you’re a social media marketer or social media manager for a restaurant or food delivery service, take note! 70% of customers prefer ordering food online and want it delivered. Up to 40% will spend money on restaurants that they have engaged with on social media. @kentuckyfriedchicken hit the mark with a Halloween themed special. Apparently, I should dress up as a vampire on Halloween. Team chicken sandwich!
@kentuckyfriedchicken That’s our OPINION. Should we do a part 2?
Best Times to Post on TikTok on Friday: 5 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM
It’s nearly the weekend, and that means lots of us are on TikTok throughout the day. So that means the best times for your Friday TikTok posts are 5 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM. This makes sense, as at night people are out more and not using the platform. Also, if you’re a marketer don’t be posting serious TikToks on a Friday. None of us want to watch your CEO reading a presentation on Fridays. Or at any time to be honest. Go behind the scenes as Kevin from accounts prepares to sneak out of the office at 3 PM. Or record that Friday pizza sesh. Keep the mood upbeat or lose the likes. Loving this one from @shesjustmac.
@shesjustmac Friday feels 🍷 #momsoftiktok #momlife #momcomedy #funny #wine #fyp
Best Times to Post on TikTok on Saturday: 11 AM, 7 PM, 8 PM
Posting on TikTok later in the morning gets better results on Saturdays as you’re all waking up later and sleeping in, so try posting at 11 AM, 7 AM, or 8 PM for optimal results. If you’re a B2B business, then Saturdays might not be right for you. Many B2B decision makers switch off entirely at weekends. Pay attention to trends like #SelfCareSaturday. These videos are especially popular in the wellness and beauty spaces. Planning, organizing and watching gift guides are also popular for Saturdays. This Mom gift guide from @nitsanraiter is nice for affiliates and influencers who can drop their tracked link in the commons or a Linktree in the bio.
@nitsanraiter Replying to @milena gift guide for the mom who has everything 🤝🏻🎄🎁❄️ all linked in my bio! LMK what gift guide to do next!! #giftguide2023 #holidayshopping #giftideas #giftsformom #christmas2023 #christmasgiftideas
Best Times to Post on TikTok on Sunday: 7 AM, 8 AM, 4 PM
On Sundays, TikTok users are up and about early. So, schedule posts to go out early or catch them later in the day. Content can be inspirational and relaxed, featuring leisure activities, nature, food and drink or sports. Think #SundayFunday. If you’re posting later in the day then capture that “back to school” dread but in a fun way! @jamaicanspice43 perfectly captures the #SundayScaries.
@jamaicanspice43 Weekends go too fast #work #sunday #worklife #worktomorrow #sundayblues #worktomorrow #sick #accident #nekodasangel
Overall, the best day to post on TikTok is Friday, and the best times to post to TikTok, according to research at Hubspot are 6 PM to 9 PM. The worst days are Monday and Tuesday.
Navigate to your TikTok analytics panel and you can check this information out for your own followers. Remember, though, this only shows you when your followers are online, not the majority of TikTok users.
Best time to post on TikTok
The TikTok algorithm favors videos that are watched from start to finish, so create scroll-stopping videos that feature trending music, effects, greenscreens and memes. If your content is cutting it then it won’t matter what time you post! Check out our TikTok Marketing FAQs.
Why You May Want to Avoid Peak Times on TikTok
Surely, we should all post on TikTok at peak times and leave it at that?
Here are a few reasons why you’ll want to dig into the actual numbers for your specific brand.
1. TikTok’s best time to post doesn’t work for your industry
We mentioned restaurants and food delivery businesses above. If you’re in the food sector and you want to snare some flash orders from TikTok, posting at 5 AM probably won’t get you orders, even if there are more people online.
t’s important to have a TikTok strategy and understand what you want from the platform. Is it online engagement or is it orders?
Promotions around a store opening, events, or food promos need to center on your region and when people there are most active.
You also need to choose the days and times that work with your events. Create hype for your foodie event like Vitos Tacos in Vegas.
@vitostacoslv Birria everything 🌮🤪 #vitostacoslv #explore #birria #tacos #birriaeverything #lasvegas ♬ Taste – Tyga
2. You’re not in EST
The peak times shown above are EST. That’s Bahamas, Canada, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United States of America.
But if your business or target audience isn’t in those regions, you need a different approach.
Either, schedule your TikToks to meet your audience time zones. Or if you’re a big brand with different languages, regions, and campaigns then create different TikTok accounts to post at different times.
McDonalds has done this on TikTok as you see below.
3. You want the quieter times to post on TikTok
Wait, what? Why would you want to post at quieter times?
Top marketers know the peak traffic times to post on TikTok. And mostly they use them. That means that there are more people on the platform, but there is more content being posted, too. (Which means more competition.)
If you’re a small business, posting off peak often means you get more attention on your TikTok posts. This actually works well for all the social media platforms and it’s a simple scheduling tweak.
Instead of posting at 1pm Friday, post at 1:08 PM. That small difference could help your video stand out from the crowd.
How to Find the Best Time to Post on TikTok for Your Business
Agorapulse recently added TikTok to its dashboard. So now marketers can analyze their TikTok metrics, schedule posts, repeat share TikToks to other channels, and pull killer reports.
Grab a FREE TikTok Marketing Strategy Guide!
Here are tips to help you to find the best time to post on TikTok.
1. Watch your social media metrics
Once you link your TikTok with Agorapulse, every published TikTok video will be visible in your calendar (even if you didn’t upload the video using Agorapulse.)
And you can get an instant snapshot of your watch metrics without logging into the app. This is a win for agencies who don’t want all the client TikTok apps on their phones! Here you can see: Reach, Video Completion Rate, Video Replays, Watched Fully, Engagement, Impressions, Likes and Comments.
Once you’ve uploaded a few videos, you can compare time frames and content types to get a good idea of what works.
If your TikTok account is positioned as a revenue generating platform, you can track your content to access even more stats! Like: Visitors, Goal Completion, Goal Value, Transactions and Generated Revenue.
2. Schedule content to hit different time zones
At Contentworks Agency, we have clients located in different countries around the world. And their clients are in different countries around the world, too!
So how can we manage time zones and post at the right time on TikTok? The simple answer is to use Agorapulse, an award-winning social media management tool. That way, we can be in the UK, our client in the USA, their client in France and we’re still posting at the right time. We can also share TikToks on other channels like Twitter or Instagram using the calendar tool.
By doing this you can also gain more fans who follow you on other channels and now love your TikTok content!
TIP: Plan out your content calendar to include important events in each region. These might include the start of Ramadan, Chinese New Year, Easter (Orthodox and Catholic) or Diwali. Timing posts and videos in this way will help you to better connect with your target audience.
3. Get to know your demographic
By pulling an instant report, Agorapulse will tell you about your TikTok audience demographic.
Data you can pull includes:
- When your audience engages with you
- Your audience gender and region (helpful for time zones)
- Your audience growth over time
TIP: If you see that your audience is largely located in a particular region, consider posting content applicable to that region and in that time zone, to see if it gets more engagement.
All these juicy metrics, insights and reveals are available in PDF report form, which is an awesome add for our clients who want to know the ROI on their social media accounts.
How Agorapulse Helps Your TikTok Posting Strategy
Never miss a comment. With Agorapulse desktop and mobile app, you receive social media comments in real time. That means you engage with your audience and boost your visibility on the platform.
Find your audience’s locations. Agorapulse gives you geographical details about your TikTok audience which helps you to decide when to schedule your content. Of course, you can also choose to schedule your content for the audience you want!
Share TikTok content on multiple platforms. You can also share TikToks on other channels like Facebook using the Agorapulse calendar tool. By doing this you can also gain more fans who follow you on other channels and now love your TikTok content!
Check when your followers are most active. By keeping track of the time your audience is awake and asleep, you’ll be able to plan and schedule content around their active times. You’ll find the best time to post on TikTok. Our TikTok audience is most active on Saturdays at 4pm and 7pm as you can see below:
Users’ activity for best time to post on TikTok
Pull reports regularly. By watching your TikTok metrics you can check that you’re going in the right direction. You can also see when most people are engaging with your videos. This helps you to forward plan and schedule your future content.
The Best Time to Post on TikTok Is Right Now
Whether you choose to post at peak or off peak times, learning the TikTok algorithm and its audience habits is a worthwhile exercise. Stay updated on your TikTok account by scheduling a monthly Agorapulse report to be delivered straight to your email inbox. Then grab a coffee, review your metrics and start planning more awesome content.
Sign up now for a free trial and find out how you can easily tackle your TikTok marketing with Agorapulse.
