What are the best times to post on social media?

As social media marketing becomes one of the primary services for advertising agencies in Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere, you may be wondering: When should I post on social media?

Whether you have your own side gig or you help clients, having a good schedule for different social media platforms is crucial, so you get to reach your intended target audience. 

If you’re a digital marketer in Malaysia, it is paramount to figure out the best time to post because the country is “mobile-first”- 96.4% of Malaysia’s internet users access the web via smartphones (even in the early morning), according to the digital business lab.

Social media apps remain one of the most accessed internet applications for people in the country to get information and connect with others, so it’s only natural that your brand will only go as far as your social media engagement.

Meanwhile, statista.com estimates that in 2022, there are 20.56 million Malaysians on social networking sites – a whopping 89% of the population (in 2016, only 62% of the population were social media users). Malaysians spend an average of 3 hours a day on social media platforms.

By 2025, there will supposedly be around 30.4 million social media users in the country.

Reaching this online market share is, therefore, a non-negotiable for the modern marketer.

We understand that it might be a bit tricky, so here’s the best time to post on social media to maximise your reach according to different platforms: 

Facebook

Facebook is arguably one of the most accessed social networking site in Malaysia, with 24.31 million users in the country as of February 2022.

For businesses and digital marketers, Facebook presence is essential to reach their target market as these 24.31 million users represent all sorts of individuals from a variety of income brackets. This includes parents, homeowners, and young, earning adults with greater disposable income. 

Social media analytics software Sprout Social reports that the best time to post on Facebook for audience engagement is between 9 am- 1 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. 

You should think about skipping Saturday posts in your social media calendar, as it attracts the lowest engagement. 

Regardless of the time, it would still benefit you to post on Facebook, as it remains the top global social media platform with pretty much round-the-clock engagement. 

Facebook is one of the most accessed social networking sites in Malaysia, with 24.31 million users as of February 2022.

However, weekdays, evenings, and early mornings have shown the most consistent engagement.

Instagram

What started as a fun photo-sharing app has morphed into a full-blown multi-functional platform with many new interesting features for e-commerce and business.

In Malaysia, Instagram has a potential ad audience reach of 15.5 million people or 47.2% of the country’s total population.

In the last few years especially, Instagram has seen a gradual shift into e-commerce, with updates to the app such as Instagram Shopping, an algorithmic feed and others.

Interestingly, while Insta-users in Malaysia tend to be younger, there is a rising trend of the ‘Insta-Gran’ – or users aged 55-65.

Over half of Malaysian Internet users in this age bracket are beginning to pivot to Instagram as their preferred platform for a nice, leisurely scroll. 

Instagram has onboarded new features for e-commerce and business, making it the go-to platform to reach your audience.

It is most important for you to leverage Instagram’s wide user base and features, especially if you’re looking to reach a female audience (56.4% of total ad reach is female).

The best time to post on Instagram for the most engagement is mid-mornings – on Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and Monday to Friday at 11 a.m.

Tik Tok

TikTok is reportedly the fastest-growing content-sharing channel with a variety of creative user-generated posts.

It is the place for the most serious, educational content to entertainment parodies.

TikTok has about 4 million users in Malaysia. Most are under 30, while 41% are between 16-24.

The platform’s growing popularity among young Malaysians makes it the next marketing platform for you to include in your arsenal, especially if you are a fashion or beauty brand wanting to reach young Malaysian women.

Overall, 56.8% of TikTok Malaysia’s users are female, with the highest interest category being Fashion and Beauty. 

Brands should study, predict and utilise the trending hashtags on the platform and take advantage of the Malaysian festive periods because relevant hashtags have garnered over a billion total views in Malaysia.

Even though it is not the biggest platform (yet), just like Facebook 9 years ago, the earlier you adopt TikTok into your social media offering, the better. 

The best times to post are between 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. – 11 p.m., on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. 

Generate Your Own Posting Schedule

You can try to find all the rough guidelines out there, but the best times to post can still vary.

It really depends on your specific business needs. Are you trying to raise awareness or sell an item? Are you a restaurant or a software company? There are so many factors – and not to mention social media trends – to consider.

Therefore, a bit of testing and analytics won’t hurt.

It is also wise sometimes to go against the grain and post at an off time, so you face less competition for engagement, especially for posts meant to educate or raise awareness. It gets confusing, so why not consult a digital marketing agency like us to get you up to speed?

Here are some tips for you to get started on the social network: 

 1) Track your online traffic

Set up tracking to analyse the visitors to your site. 

2) Check When Your Audience Is Most Active Online

Utilise social media data analytics to find out your followers’ social media usage and when your followers are actually online, so the algorithm will show them your post.

 3) Find Your Top-Performing Posts From the Past

Take a look at your past impression reports provided by your social media platforms. 

What were your last few top-performing posts? What times were they published? This can give you a framework for the best times to post in the future.

 4) Research, research, research!

Look out for your competitors’ posts (don’t worry, it’s not cheating!) to see how they market their stuff on social media. 

Using available social media data analytics software online, you can get insights on their top-performing posts and look at what time they schedule them, or you can get a facebook ads agency to do the analysis for you.

To conclude, social media marketing is tricky and saturated, but with some tricks up your sleeve, you can be a whizz at it, just like any other digital marketing experts!