Most of us in the world of social media know that there are certain times throughout the day that are better than others to post. So what is the best time to post on TikTok for more views, likes and follows?
What is the best day of the week to post? What if I’m in a different time zone? We’ve gathered all of the best research and insight from the top sources of all things social media so you can adjust your posting schedule and ensure you know the best time to post on TikTok!
What Is The Best Time To Post On TikTok?
First of all, let’s talk about why it’s important to post your TikTok videos at the right time.
TikTok was born in 2016 and at that time, posts were displayed in chronological order, similar to how Instagram started out.
But in 2020, TikTok was updated to deliver posts based on an algorithm, so videos with more watch time, likes, comments and other engagement are now given priority over videos that don’t necessarily resonate with the viewers.
So when thinking about best times to post, we need to make sure we have a grasp on what that best time is specific to our audience. Basically, we want to know when our audience is most active so that we receive maximum engagement as soon as the post goes live.
The higher our engagement rates in the first few hours our new post is live, the more likely it is for the TikTok algorithm to push that video out to a larger audience, resulting in even more engagement, likes, comments, followers, profile views, etc.
So again, why is this important? Well, we wrote on article on how to start an affiliate marketing business with the main traffic source being TikTok.
Generally speaking, the more followers you have, the more money you will make promoting various products and services. So in order to make more money with your TikTok account, we better know when the best time to post is for our target audience.
Check When Your Audience Is Most Active
So the first step to determining the best time to post is to check your TikTok analytics within your account. Analytics are available to normal creator accounts so there is no need to switch to pro account to check when your TikTok users and followers are most active.
To do this, tap the three dots or three tabs in the top right corner when viewing your TikTok profile, then select Creator Tools. Again, you should be able to do this with or without a TikTok pro account.
From there, click Analytics select the followers tab.
Here, you’ll be able to see your total followers, new followers, growth rate, gender, top territories, and most important, Follower Activity.
As you can see in the image below, my followers are most active at 2PM Eastern Standard Time, so I know that the best time to post, and when my TikTok audience is active is 2PM.
So whether you like to create your TikTok content on the fly and post right away, or batch create all your content, make sure it is in line with TikTok’s analytics and post your best performing content when your audience is the most active for a maximum number of views!
Again, this will ensure you are getting the most engagement on your post, which will prompt TikTok to push it out to a larger audience so you can gain more followers and make more money!
Now let’s talk about the best time to post on TikTok based on where you are located and where your audience is located.
Does My Time Zone Matter?
So now that we know how to check our follower activity, what is the best time to post based on our time zone?
Well, the rule of thumb here is to post based on whatever time zone you are in. Believe it or not, TikTok will push your posts locally before expanding the audience to other time zones.
So let’s say you’re in the Philippines, you are actually doing yourself a disservice to post at 4AM because that is the best time to post for the audience located in the eastern standard time zone. Even if EST is one of the top territories shown in your analytics, no one in your local audience will engage with your post, and therefore TikTok won’t push it out to the masses.
So even if you have a global audience, make sure to post your content based on wherever you are in the world!
What Do The Influencer Marketing Experts Say?
This discussion about the best time to post on TikTok is widely debated, so let’s take a look at what some of the top influencer marketing experts have to say.
After all, they have tested this for every social media platform that has come before, so why wouldn’t we trust them when it comes to TikTok? Here’s what each has to say about the best time to post in order to attract as many followers as you can.
Forbes
Forbes has yet to confirm a best time to post on TikTok, but they did publish an article with a number of useful tips for how to quickly gain followers on TikTok. Here are some of the main takeaways:
- Post Every Day. I’ve seen countless articles and YouTube videos provide this same advice. TikTok rewards consistency, especially as a new creator. At a bare minimum, aim to post at least once per day when you are just starting out.
- Be Relevant. Posting on TikTok isn’t the same as other social media platforms. The pace is quick and generally TikTok posts are more light and fun in nature. Find the best medium between pace, information and get a little goofy with it.
- Try A Trend That Is Outside Your Comfort Zone. We see this all the time from new creators, and it works wonders for them. A couple that come to mind are Harry Higgs and Jay Bilas (I love sports). Harry Higgs’ first TikTok videos were of him riding around on a skateboard drinking cranberry juice listening to Fleetwood Mac. This was part of the Dreams Challenge that was going viral on TikTok. @Harry, want to manage my account? As for Jay Bilas, he just recently joined TikTok and is already killing it with his content. One of his first videos is in reverse of him jumping in (or out) of the pool with a full suit on. Videos in reverse are trending at the moment, something he took full advantage of with his first TikTok post. Get out and do something out of the norm!
- Recreate Successful Videos. This is a big one. If you stick to a posting schedule, find the best content to create and post in the right time slots, eventually you will have a post that goes viral, earning you plenty of video views and new followers. When this happens, double down on this type of post! Recreate this post over and over again, but with a different twist. This is the best way to grow your account and cut down the time it takes to get to your next big post!
HootSuite
Hootsuite conducted a test based on 30,000 posts and determined the absolute best time to post on TikTok is Thursday at 7PM.
Of course, we just talked about posting every day, so here is the list of full recommendations on the best time to post:
Best time to post on TikTok on Monday
The best time to post on TikTok on Monday is 10:00 PM. It seems the majority of TikTok users may like to start their week off strong at work and wind down with some light entertainment at night.
Best time to post on TikTok on Tuesday
The best time to post on TikTok on Tuesday is 9:00 AM. Engagement seems to be stronger in the earlier parts of the morning from 6 AM onwards.
Best time to post on TikTok on Wednesday
The best time to post on TikTok on Wednesday is 7:00 AM. Another engaged crowd of morning people!
Best time to post on TikTok on Thursday
The best time to post on TikTok on Thursday is 7:00 PM. This is also the highest weekday for engagement on TikTok, as far as we can tell.
Best time to post on TikTok on Friday
3:00 PM is the best time to post on TikTok on Friday, though engagement is pretty consistent all through the afternoon starting at lunch hour.
Best time to post on TikTok on Saturday
11:00 AM is the best time to post on TikTok on Saturday. For once, the early bird doesn’t get the worm.
Best time to post on TikTok on Sunday
The best time to post on TikTok on Sunday is 4:00 PM, though engagement is second highest in the early morning (again!) between 7:00 and 8:00 AM.
Influencer Marketing hub
Influencer Marketing Hub compiled results from over 100,000 posts and ranked them based on engagement rates to determine the best times to post on TikTok. Here are their findings (all expressed in EST and ignoring sectors):
Best Times to Post on TikTok:
- 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
Canva
Canva concludes that it is best to post on TikTok when your audience is awake and using the app! Whether you have a TikTok pro account or a normal creator account, you can access data on your target audience, including the time that they are most active on the app. Similarly, you can use your other social media analytics to find out your audience’s active hours online.
Later
When it comes to honing in on your best time to post on Tiktok, take note of the content that performed the best each week on your TikTok Analytics and identify when it was posted. Video Performance + Time Posted + Audience Timezone = Best Time to Post
Of course, there is still a bit of guesswork left in the mix, there is no definitive answer to when every brand should post to TikTok. But this should give you a strong indication of what time will work for you and your audience.
From here, you can fine-tune as you start to manage and measure your content performance. You may notice that as your profile grows, your audience location and online behaviors change too, so keep checking in on your reporting and altering your strategy.
Sprout Social
The best time to post on TikTok depends on several factors. While your choice of platform and your industry both matter, your audience activity plays the biggest role. So ideally, you should look at your post-performance to get valuable data about the perfect post timing for your business. You can also use Sprout Social’s guide on the best time to post as a starting point before you find what works best for your business and industry.
WordStream
Wordstream noted the study done by Influencer Marketing Hub and generally agreed with their findings related to the best time to post on TikTok. They also noted a couple of broader patterns, noted below:
- People are checking into TikTok multiple times throughout the day.
- Earlier seems to be better for the beginning of the week.
- Tuesday and Saturday’s ideal time slots are the closest together, so you might be able to capitalize on that.
Digital Trends
Again, Digital Trends concurs with the findings of the Influencer Marketing Hub study, but includes some additional commentary worth noting.
At a high level there are a number of things you need to get right when posting on TikTok. Your videos need to be high quality & unique, and they need to be posted at the right times with the appropriate frequency.
Getting this right will help get your videos more views and engagement initially, which leads to TikTok’s algorithm boosting its recommendation of your content in other users’ For You Page suggestions.
Conclusion: What Is The Best Time To Post On TikTok?
So taking everything we know about TikTok and reviewing the advice of all the popular social media marketing authorities, it’s clear that Influencer Marketing Hub is the most trusted source of information, having analyzed over 100,000 posts in the process.
Again, here is what they found as far as the best times to post on TikTok:
- 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
With that said, the other big takeaway is that it’s important to check your own TikTok analytics, specifically your followers activity tab, to determine the best posting times specific to your account.
Posting quality content at the right time will help achieve more watch time on your video from your target audience, which in turn will dramatically increase your chances of going viral.
So make sure you are checking your TikTok analytics for the best times to post for each day of the week, then stick to a schedule for maximum reach and influence!
How To Make Money On TikTok
So what is the point of doing all these things to ensure maximum growth on TikTok? Well, of course the ultimate goal is to monetize your audience to start making some passive income from your following.
Lucky for you, we’ve got you covered. The simplest method for making money on TikTok is affiliate marketing.
This is the most passive and easiest to get started with, and involves promoting other people’s products in exchange for a commission when someone you referred to their site makes a purchase.
We’ve written about how to go from Zero to $1,000 per month on TikTok, which covers a number of different ways to make money on the platform.
Finally, we posted a case study on a TikToker making $30K per month without showing their face, so make sure to check that out as well if you need some inspiration.
There are endless ways to make some extra passive income with TikTok, which is why I believe it is one of the largest opportunities right now for anyone looking to start a side hustle that eventually provides a full time income.
Of course, our best advice we can ever give is to JUST START 🚀
As always, we wish you nothing but success!
