Although not as dominant as Facebook or Twitter, the business networking site LinkedIn is becoming increasingly popular, especially among business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) audiences. As of March 2021, it had more than 740 million users. Therefore, Internet marketers and others who have an e-commerce component to their business have reasons to optimize its use.

As a business-oriented website, it should be natural to use time analytics to drive traffic, increase brand awareness, generate leads, and increase sales on the LinkedIn platform.

Functionally, LinkedIn has elements similar to Twitter and Facebook, giving you the flexibility to personalize messages for specific audiences, share status updates, and send messages directly to people. Thanks to accurate timing information, your performance on LinkedIn can improve quickly.

Although the paid advertising opportunities on LinkedIn are not as ubiquitous as other social media platforms; The ability to connect 1-1 with people and directly reach business professionals makes LinkedIn a great website for building relationships that can turn into business opportunities (which is why this network is particularly well suited to the B2B market).

The main difference between LinkedIn and other social media platforms from a business point of view is that LinkedIn is less of a mass marketing/advertising medium and more of a network platform.

All that said, there are two main ways to use the LinkedIn platform.

First, you can use LinkedIn in a passive boost marketing capacity, where you simply add status updates, announce new blog posts, and publish your content to reach people with valuable information and potentially get them coming back to your site.

Second, you can use LinkedIn less passively and more personally, making connection requests and messaging people directly to build a real personal relationship and explore potential business opportunities. The key here is to make these legitimate connections one by one and not blow them all up with the same standard model.

Both are great ways to take advantage of the LinkedIn platform. Let’s explore the best time to get involved on LinkedIn and effectively reach more people.

LinkedIn Timing Facts

Business networks are different from more general social networks, so it should come as no surprise that the best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday through Thursday.

Many people prefer to use Mondays to set their week offline and/or recover from a business or work trip the weekend before. Usually, most people are very busy on Mondays, so this may not be the ideal time to try to make a new connection, get a response, or have someone view the content you have posted.

On the other hand, entrepreneurs can cut down on social media time on Fridays to prepare for family activities or the next business trip (e.g., sales mission, seminar, conference, exhibitions, etc.), making it at a less than ideal time to make initial contact with someone. Combine that with a weekend and Monday frenzy and you can completely lose yourself in the confusion.

Online businesses are increasingly 24/7 with a global presence, but the following time-zone independent observations have been observed on LinkedIn:

• More Clicks and Shares: Tuesdays, 11 AM-12 PM.
• Worst time for LinkedIn: Bedtime (10 PM to 6 AM) Just before Monday and after Friday night.
• Best times to post: 7-8 AM; 5-6 PM.
• Peak usage time during an average day: 12 PM; 5-6 PM.

LinkedIn members are part of the general trend to use mobile devices. According to the Foundation, there are more than 63 million unique mobile users on LinkedIn each month.

Catering Your LinkedIn Posting Schedule to Your Target Market

Internet marketers rank LinkedIn as the best social media source for business-to-business (B2B) lead generation. Not surprising as this is primarily an accessible B2B audience during business hours and on weekdays.

To get your LinkedIn content seen, read, shared, and put to use, post it at lunchtime or just before 5 p.m. Not surprising, as busy professionals often reserve their social media interaction for lunch and at the end of the workday.

This is especially true in the middle of the week when employee thoughts are no longer about last weekend and managers are moving forward with the current schedule.

By signing up for the LinkedIn publishing platform, you can gain better access to real decision makers. Post extensive blogs that enhance your experience and increase the chance that your material will go viral.

They will be part of the news of your followers and links can be sent by email to other related articles. When you meet specific criteria, your posts can also show up on relevant high-traffic LinkedIn channels.

While all of these guidelines are helpful, you’ll want to dig deeper to see exactly when your specific audience is interacting, engaging, and responding to your individual posts, updates, and emails. You can use LinkedIn and third-party analytics to monitor the best days and times to post for your specific audience.

The only exception to these general guidelines would be if you are reaching a more consumer-oriented audience, who may consume more content on weekends or after hours in their spare time; how to spend time in a LinkedIn group related to a hobby.

Also, with the growing number of people using LinkedIn on their mobile phones, the general trend will be for more people to use LinkedIn at night and on weekends.

Conclusion

Thanks to LinkedIn, Internet marketers can connect with each other and with their target audience through a variety of cutting-edge and accessible materials. At the same time, they need to know when not just how and what, to post.

It makes sense for you or your social media marketing manager to schedule your LinkedIn posts to get your best content in front of the right people at the right time. It can mean the difference between a great success and a repetitive failure.

Given the nature of internet commerce and marketing, the moment of social media deserves a serious look. Review the basics of LinkedIn and your posting schedule to better reach and serve your target audience.

If you’re interested in maximizing your social media marketing, you may also want to see the best times to post to Facebook and the best times to post to Twitter for maximum exposure, reach, and sales.