The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life as we know it and that includes social media practices and online behavior. The question, “When should I post on LinkedIn?” was on the mind of digital strategists and content creators everywhere. With people working at home and remotely around the world, social media networks that weren’t popular outside of business hours were seeing unparalleled engagement at all hours of the day and night.
Now as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have begun to wind down, and people either settle into their more-permanent remote working schedule or head back to the office, how has optimizing for posting time on LinkedIn changed?
When Should I Post on LinkedIn? The Pre Pandemic Guide
Before COVID-19 changed working routines around the world, the research around optimal LinkedIn posting times showed that posting times mimicked business hours. The best times to post were weekdays, especially Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Even within those days, posts that were shared before the start of the work day, during lunchtime hours, or after didn’t do as well as posts that been shared during business hours.
The idea was that people would be busy catching on Mondays and less likely to check social media as their work day was filled with emails, meetings, and phone calls in addition to planning out the rest of the work week. Fridays, on the other hand, were a wind down day as people got ready for the weekend ahead also leaving them less likely to start scrolling on LinkedIn.
People not only being at work but with enough free time to look at content related to their work was the key to getting the largest audience possible on LinkedIn.
So what has changed?
When Should I Post on LinkedIn in 2022?
Between 2019 and 2021, the amount of remote-workers more than tripled from 5% to 17.9% of the U.S. workforce. Currently, 26% of U.S. employees are working fully remote and 66% of U.S. employees are working remotely or in hybrid roles. Upwork’s research forecast predicts that approximately 22% of the American workforce will continue to work remotely by 2025.
This has disrupted the previous optimized post times for LinkedIn as people’s work schedules have changed dramatically. According to research done by the digital marketing firm HubSpot, the best times to post on LinkedIn are very different than what they were in 2019.
The best times to post on LinkedIn in 2022 are now Wednesdays, and Thursdays between the hours of approximately 9:00am and 3:00pm and Fridays between then hours of 9:00am and 12:00pm. While some of the conventions of the workweek hold true– engagement drops off on Mondays and the weekend, a more remote workforce now allows for more engagement during lunchtime hours and more evenly distributed engagement across the workday.
When Should I Post on LinkedIn as an Immigration Professional?
While I think the above research is fantastic starting point if you are new to posting on LinkedIn, I think that immigration and global mobility professionals have some unique considerations.
The most important factor to consider is the very nature of the immigration and global mobility workspace. In both industries, you will be working with clients and colleagues across timezones, and countries. This complicates the ideal posting times because, for example, if you are based in New York but your colleagues and clients are based in Melbourne, Australia, posting on at 1pm EST means that your target audience will most likely be fast asleep, or at the very least, definitely not using LinkedIn at 5 am!
Our connections tend to be more global than other industries and with that global schedule comes a lot more variations in work schedules, holiday times, and daily shifts. This means that LinkedIn could be very effective for you at any time during the day or week and in any time zone!
So if I am working in immigration or global mobility, when should I post on LinkedIn?
The key to posting on LinkedIn as an immigration or global mobility professional is not your best time, it’s your audience’s best time. Your posts will have the biggest impact if you are posting when your target audience is online and engaged. The best way to find out when your audience is online, is to experiment. Try posting different kinds of content at different times both during the workday and the week and see what lands you the most engagement.
If you’re not sure who your target audience is, I can help! Here’s my guide to figuring out who your target audience is and how you can create content with them in mind.
