Navigating the TikTok landscape can feel like an endless dance of timing and trends. But when exactly should you hit “post” to maximize your reach and engagement? Understanding the optimal moments to share your content can be the key to unlocking viral success and building a loyal following.
In this article, we’ll break down the best times to post on TikTok based on current data and trends, helping you realize when the time that makes the most sense for you to post and grow your TikTok.
When is the best time to post on TikTok?
People tend to focus on when they post a lot more than they should, if we’re being honest. That tendency comes from articles that suggest that there is a perfect time to post, and while that’s true to a degree and there are times you should and when you shouldn’t post, it’s less about the “when” and more about the “what” that you post.
Creating good content comes in handy in a lot of ways more than just the obvious “well, the content needs to be readable and informative”. You should work on creating good content by researching your topics well ahead of when you write, and doing things like mapping out search intent research and writing outlines for yourself to follow are good tactics to go about this.
How do you find out what is the best content to post on TikTok?
Deciding what to post and when to post it can be confusing, and it depends on a number of things, but the best way to figure it out is to use your follower analytics. You should have a TikTok Business account, as this gives you access to those analytics.
Examining your best-performing content and seeing when those are being posted can be give you insights based off those analytics and from there, the journey becomes easier. Knowing what your audience wants and creating solid content that fills in what that is is what you need to focus on.
When should you be posting on TikTok each day?
There were three data studies done that break down what time(s) you should be posting on TikTok each day of the week. Those studies were done by Buffer, Social Pilot, and Influencer Marketing Hub
While these studies have different times that they recommend is the best time to post on TikTok, they do all note that your audience plays a large role on when you should post.
It’s important to note that societal trends can play a role here as well, like for example Fridays tend to do better earlier in the day due to evening plans with the end of the week. The same goes for Saturdays and Sundays, as TikTok viewership as a whole tends to decline on weekends.
Monday
- Buffer: 2 PM
- Social Pilot: 6 AM, 10 AM, 10 PM
- Influencer Marketing Hub: 12 PM, 4 PM
On Mondays, people are going to work for the first time all week. They’re likely to browse a little bit before their day gets going, and then there are some spike times when they get off of work and when their day starts to settle down.
Tuesday
- Buffer: 10 AM
- Social Pilot: 2 AM, 4 AM, 9 AM
- Influencer Marketing Hub: 4 AM, 8 AM, 10 AM, 3 PM
Tuesday has widely been considered to be one of the best days to post on TikTok and there are a lot of spike times early in the morning.
Wednesday
- Buffer: 4 AM
- Social Pilot: 7 AM, 8 AM, 11 PM
- Influencer Marketing Hub: 1 PM, 2 PM
As with the other days so far, early mornings continue to be a popular time to post, given people’s attention spans when waking up and getting ready to work seems to be higher for TikTok.
Thursday
- Buffer: 4 PM
- Social Pilot: 12 AM, 9 AM, 7 PM
- Influencer Marketing Hub: 5 AM, 3 PM, 6 PM
Thursdays start to show up people looking later in the day, perhaps lining up with the end of the work week starting to approach. Mornings still showing as popular, however.
Friday
- Buffer: 10 AM
- Social Pilot: 5 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM
- Influencer Marketing Hub: 1 AM, 11 AM, 7 PM, 9 PM
We see our latest time spikes of the work week on Fridays, with plenty of people checking TikTok after they finish up work.
Saturday
- Buffer: 8 AM
- Social Pilot: 11 AM, 7 PM, 8 PM
- Influencer Marketing Hub: 5 PM
Saturdays we see a bit of a traffic fall-off, with people spending more time with their families. We see a spike in late-afternoon and night traffic though, with people scrolling before they go on night time activities.
Sunday
- Buffer: 10 AM
- Social Pilot: 7 AM, 8 AM, 4 PM
- Influencer Marketing Hub: 1 AM, 2 AM, 1 PM, 2 PM, 10 PM
Sunday is popular for late morning wake-ups and people going to sleep late.
Best time to post on TikTok by industry
Restaurants
- Monday to Thursday, 2-5 PM in the afternoons
Photographers
- 2-3 PM in the afternoon post-lunch hours
Schools
- Tuesday-Thursday, from 11 AM-3 PM
Lawyers
- Tuesday-Thursday from 3-9 PM
Real Estate Agents
- Tuesday-Thursday at 10 AM
Musicians
- Saturday at 9 AM and Sunday at 1 PM
Dentists
- Thursday-Saturday, 9-10 AM or 4-5 PM
Doctors
- Monday-Friday, 12-1 PM
Artists
- Weekdays from 1-2:30 PM and from 7-9 PM
Churches
- 12-3 PM on weekdays and 9-11 AM on Sunday
Fashion
- Saturday and Sunday, 10 PM-7 AM
Insurance Agents
- Monday-Friday, 9 AM-noon
Gamers
- 10 AM-noon
Best times to post on TikTok by country
Surprisingly, where you are posting from can have just as much of an impact on your TikTok’s performance as what time you are posting. For example, the best times to post on TikTok in Australia and Malysia are either earlier in the morning, around 8 or 9 AM, or 7 PM, because that’s when most people are watching videos, according to the Social Pilot study. However, in Germany and Canada, the popular times to post on TikTok are dominated by morning times.
Users’ opinions about when the best time to post on TikTok is
There are plenty of studies done, most importantly the Buffer, Social Pilot and Influencer Marketing Hub studies that we showed above on when the best time to post on TikTok may be, and truthfully the answers will vary. We decided to go straight to the source, though: the people using TikTok themselves, and see what they thought were the best times to post on TikTok.
The most consistent factor seems to be your personal audience on your account. Targeting specific age ranges can have you posting at different times to grab that audience, like for example targeting teenagers once they get out of school at 3 PM, or adults in the later afternoon/evening times when they’re done work and family business.
A lot of users have found that experimenting with tools and marketing services helps them boost their exposure as well, noting that some tools like Pallyy can push your post in local time zones that see more user traffic. Pallyy is a social media management tool that you can use to schedule posts, reply to comments and other traffic, and check your analytics.
Going live on TikTok
Another interesting wrinkle with TikTok is the ability to go live, if your account is at a certain size. Some people will choose to go live over posting because it creates more of a community feel in which you get to interact with your community in real time versus posting and answering comments after the fact.
Another benefit to going live on TikTok rather than just posting your TikTok is that you can build longer content on live streams. With a post, there is a limit of 10 minutes and the algorithm does prioritize shorter content, so people will go live in order to build on that content because it gives viewers more time to watch as well as more opportunities to engage with you on trends and things of that nature.
What you should be doing if you want to go live on TikTok is creating a consistent schedule that includes what times that you want to go live vs. when you want to post. Some people, for example, will go live directly after posting a new video because you can drive promotional engagement to both your newly posted video as well as your live community while you’re streaming to them.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, there are a couple things that matter most when deciding the best times to post on TikTok. You need to take stock of your current audience and what aligns best with them. Creating content that fits with what your audience is looking for/at the times they’re looking for it will help you maximize your reach and get the most possible views.
In reality, when you post your content tends to not have as big of an influence as people might say it does. There are plenty of extenuating circumstances and situations that we’ll talk about that can come into play but you should be focusing chiefly on creating good content.
While most of the time, people are going to use TikTok in the evenings when they’re finished work and in the mornings before they go, you’re able to learn exactly what time frames work for that target audience. Every industry can be different, and even different times work better on different days. Make sure you’re focusing on creating great content for your target audience, and slowly, people will gravitate towards that content even if it’s not in the perfect time frame.
