In this article I provide a guide on the best times to post on LinkedIn during COVID-19. I recommend you use this information as a reliable starting point to decide when to post content on LinkedIn, and then review your LinkedIn Profile and Company page analytics.
Importantly, your company page analytics do not capture the time you posted, so you’ll need to track this separately (which I recommend you do in the short term). If you are using 3rd party scheduling tools (e.g. Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite, etc) the time of posting will be captured.
Update to LinkedIn Best Times to Post
Sprout Social reports that there has not been a significant change in the best times to post on LinkedIn. Like Twitter, the best time to post did shift a little.
Pre- COVID-19 Best Times to Post on LinkedIn
- Wednesday from 8–10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
- Thursday at 9 a.m. and 1–2 p.m.
- Friday at 9 a.m.
Current best times for LinkedIn
- Wednesday at 3 p.m
- Thursday at 9–10 a.m.
- Friday from 11 a.m. 12 p.m.
This information is thanks to Sprout Social’s detailed statistics based on over 20,000 accounts (2018) and 25,000+ accounts (2019) and April 2020.
Sprout Social’s insights are provided by Sprout Social’s Data Science team and based on Sprout Social’s customers. The data shows when Sprout Social’s customers’ networks were engaged with the most (and the least) across the major networks, including LinkedIn.
In April 2020 Sprout Social updated the data pulled for their yearly review of best times to post to show the latest data through mid-April 2020. Overall, they found that the best times to post have shifted somewhat as more aspects of work and life move online-first. In some cases, they found that these times have shifted more in just the last few weeks of changed behaviour than they did from 2019 to early 2020.
Disclaimer: Data from Sprout Social includes users from various plan types, industries and locations. All time frames are recorded in Central Time Zone (CST). Number of engagements represents total engagements a brand received on the specific channel during that hour time frame.
The Best Times to Post on LinkedIn for Different Industry Types
CoSchedule goes one step further in this article and breaks down the best times to post by some particular industries.
Review Your Best Times to Post with LinkedIn Profile & LinkedIn Company Page Analytics
While Sprout Social and CoSchedule’s insights provide a useful guide to the best time of day to post on LinkedIn, I also recommend your posting plan is based on a well informed understanding of your LinkedIn follower’s and connection’s online behaviours and the analytics available to you via your LinkedIn Company page and LinkedIn Profile.
LinkedIn Profile Analytics
LinkedIn Profile views provide a guide to when traffic is highest to your LinkedIn Profile. Look for the peaks and review what you posted from your profile (and the day of the week and time of the day) to inform when your community are engaging with your content.
Your LinkedIn Profile also provides analytics which allows you to see how many impressions your posts have received. When you click on the small graph next to the no. views of your post, LinkedIn will show you where these views may have come from (by industry, role type and location). Here’s an example from a recent post from my LinkedIn Profile.
LinkedIn Company Page Analytics
Your LinkedIn Company Page provides detailed analytics regarding your followers and post performance by various time periods in terms of:
- impressions
- unique impressions
- clicks
- likes
- comments
- shares
- followers acquired
- social engagement %