In short
Weekday afternoons. Sprout Social found Tuesdays to Thursdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. [1]. Buffer's 4.8 million posts found 3 to 8 p.m. on weekdays, with Wednesday at 4 p.m. strongest [2]. The overlap is 3 to 5 p.m. midweek. LinkedIn's post analytics don't show when your network is online [3], so your own answer comes from a test.
What the big studies found
| What they looked at | Best times they found | |
|---|---|---|
| Sprout Social[1] | Nearly 2 billion engagements on about 307,000 profiles, November 2025 to February 2026 | Tuesdays to Thursdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; weekends worst |
| Buffer[2] | 4.8 million posts sent through Buffer | Weekdays 3 to 8 p.m.; Wednesday 4 p.m. strongest |
Both read their times on local clocks: Sprout records them in local time [1], and Buffer normalised posting times by local time zone [2]. So 4 p.m. means 4 p.m. where your clients are.
Where they agree
What LinkedIn shows you
LinkedIn's post analytics cover discovery, in network and out of network reach, profile activity, engagement, link clicks and viewer demographics [3]. There's no view of when your network is online. Your creator analytics let you compare posts over a date range [4], which is what a test needs.
Only you can see your post analytics [3], so nobody else learns which posts flopped.
Test it on your own posts
- For two weeks, post at 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, near Buffer's strongest slot [2].
- For the next two weeks, post in the morning on the same days.
- In your creator analytics, compare impressions and engagements per post across the two date ranges [4].
- Keep the slot that wins.
Example
A consultant whose clients are in finance tries 4 p.m. and 9 a.m. His morning posts get more comments from people he'd like to work with, so he keeps mornings even though the studies prefer afternoons.
Postmosis reads the numbers you log for each post and shows which day and hour your posts did best, per network once it has five posts with numbers. Write and the calendar can then suggest that time for your next post. See the audit and analytics
Post at it while you're with clients
Your best slot will often land in the middle of client work. That's what scheduling is for. LinkedIn's own composer can schedule a post from 10 minutes to 3 months ahead [5], and so can most tools.
Once you know your time, schedule the week's posts in Postmosis for that hour, in your own time zone, to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube or Threads. See scheduling
Sources
- Best times to post on social media in 2026, Sprout Social, read 28 October 2026
- The best time to post on LinkedIn in 2026: 4.8 million posts analyzed, Buffer, read 28 October 2026
- View post analytics for your content, LinkedIn Help, read 28 October 2026
- View your creator analytics, LinkedIn Help, read 28 October 2026
- Schedule posts, LinkedIn Help, read 28 October 2026
