Whether you’re a business owner or an individual creator, developing a TikTok strategy takes a little planning and a lot of experimentation. After creating your TikTok content, you’ll need to find the best times to post on TikTok to maximize engagement from TikTok users.
Luckily, data can help you reach the right audience at the right time.
Ahead, learn what the experts think are the best times to post on TikTok for each day of the week, within the US and beyond. And, find out how to analyze your own TikTok data to discover the optimal posting schedule for your social media calendar and specific target audience.
Best times to post on TikTok in the US (in ET)
The best times to post on TikTok vary by day. Here are the best daily times:
- Monday: 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 10 p.m.
- Tuesday: 2 a.m., 4 a.m., 9 a.m.
- Wednesday: 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 11 p.m.
- Thursday: 9 a.m., 12 a.m., 7 p.m.
- Friday: 5 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m.
- Saturday: 11 a.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m.
- Sunday: 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 4 p.m.
Let’s take a deeper look at these best times to post, broken out by day.
Daily TikTok posting schedule
Follow this schedule of optimal posting times to get maximum engagement from your audience:
Best time to post on TikTok on Monday
In general, the best times to post on TikTok on Mondays are 6 a.m., 10 a.m., or 10 p.m ET.
These times cover a global audience while also fitting into daily schedules in the US, such as when users are scrolling TikTok videos before school or work, before lunch, and before bed.
Best time to post on TikTok on Tuesday
The best times to post on TikTok on Tuesdays are 2 a.m., 4 a.m., and 9 p.m ET.
This suggests people are checking TikTok when they wake up, and again late in the evening. Posting during these hours will ensure fresh content is ready when users open the app.
Best time to post on TikTok on Wednesday
The best times to post on TikTok on Wednesdays are 7 a.m., 8 a.m., or 11 p.m ET.
If you post video content on TikTok during these times, you can catch people on the platform before work or school—and then again right before bed.
Best time to post on TikTok on Thursday
The best times to post on TikTok on Thursdays are 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 7 p.m. ET.
Your content may receive extra reach if you post them on Thursdays around lunchtime. Many sources recommend scheduling the majority of your posts for early mornings, midday, and evenings across the midweek.
Best time to post on TikTok on Friday
The best times to post on TikTok on Fridays are 5 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. ET.
More engagement in the early evening suggests viewership reduces on Friday nights, when some people may switch to other forms of media, such as streaming, or head out for a Friday night activity. Post on TikTok earlier on Fridays when more of your audience are checking their socials.
Best time to post on TikTok on Saturday
The best times to post on TikTok on Saturdays are 11 a.m., 7 p.m., or 8 p.m. ET.
TikTok’s viewership decreases on the weekends. However, you can make the most of Saturday posts by scheduling them late morning and later in the evening.
Best time to post on TikTok on Sunday
The best times to post on TikTok on Sundays are 7 a.m., 8 a.m., or 4 p.m. ET.
Schedule video content to go out early on Sundays to capture people who rise and shine for a morning workout, jump on social media before grabbing breakfast with friends, or who just like to scroll in bed.
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The best time to post on TikTok by location
The best time for you to post on TikTok won’t be exactly the same as the best time for Shopify’s social team or for other TikTok users—it will depend on your time zone and location of your target viewers.
If you have a global audience, pay attention to when people are most active across multiple time zones, and try to calculate time differences so that you can post content when the largest section of your audience is online.
For example, if your TikTok audience is primarily located in the UK and most active around 9 a.m. GMT, the best time for you to post on TikTok is 2 p.m. ET.
Keep scrolling for information on when your TikTok audience is most active.
When do the experts say is the best time to post?
Not everybody agrees on the best time to post content. Here’s what several social media management companies found when they analyzed the timing and reach of TikTok posts sent via their platforms.
SocialPilot TikTok study
After analyzing seven million TikTok posts published by more than 50,000 accounts connected to SocialPilot, the team at this social platform found that top-performing content was most often posted at these times (ET):
- Monday: 6 a.m.
- Tuesday: 2 a.m.
- Wednesday: 7 a.m.
- Thursday: 9 a.m.
- Friday: 5 a.m.
- Saturday: 11 a.m.
- Sunday: 7 a.m.
Buffer TikTok study
When the team at Bufferanalyzed more than a million TikTok videos sent through their platform, they found that hourly reach peaked during these times:
- Monday: 2 p.m.
- Tuesday: 10 a.m.
- Wednesday: 4 p.m.
- Thursday: 4 p.m.
- Friday: 10 a.m.
- Saturday: 8 a.m.
- Sunday: 10 a.m.
The study concluded that TikTok videos posted on Tuesdays have the widest reach, with the lowest reach occurring on Saturdays.
Influencer Marketing Hub TikTok study
To determine the best times to post on TikTok, Influencer Marketing Hubanalyzed more than 100,000 TikTok posts and looked for engagement trends. They found that the best times (ET) to post are:
- Monday: 12 p.m, 4 p.m.
- Tuesday: 4 a.m., 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 3 p.m.
- Wednesday: 1 p.m., 2 p.m.
- Thursday: 5 a.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m.
- Friday: 1 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m.
- Saturday: 5 p.m.
- Sunday: 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 10 p.m.
Arguably, these studies reveal that there is no single best time to post on TikTok. In other words, the best posting time for you is likely to be unique, based on your audience’s viewing habits.
Next, let’s go beyond the general advice and look at how to use your TikTok app to find personalized data that will tell you exactly when to post.
How to find the best time to post on TikTok for your target audience
If you really want to find out the best time to schedule posts for your audience, you’ll need to use data analytics from your TikTok account.
General posting schedule recommendations are good for those crafting their initial content strategy and posting their first TikTok videos. If you’ve been a TikTok creator for some time, however, you can access personalized analytics to see when you should post to reach specific target audiences.
Leverage your TikTok posting data by following these steps:
- Create a TikTok Business account
- Open your TikTok analytics dashboard
- Find your follower activity
- Check your activity on individual TikTok posts
1. Create a TikTok Business account (formerly TikTok Pro)
First, you need to make sure you have a TikTok Business account set up on the app. It’s free and simple to switch back and forth with your personal account. Just go to Settings and Privacy, then Manage Account, then tap Switch to Business Account. This gives you access to analytics as well as other features.
2. Open your TikTok analytics dashboard
Next, you’ll want to look at your TikTok analytics. You can get there by clicking the menu at the top right of your profile screen, clicking Creator Tools, then Analytics. This opens TikTok’s analytics dashboard in your Business account, which offers insights into your account and your followers.
Here’s where you’ll find information like the average watch time of video content and other TikTok insights that will help you determine when to post videos across multiple time zones.
3. Find your follower activity
If you’re looking to find the best time to post on TikTok, you’ll want to check the Followers tab at the top. From there, scroll down, and you’ll see a pane titled “Follower activity.”
This is what it looks like on mobile:
This is the best TikTok analytics pane to use if you’re trying to figure out when your followers are most active.
Convert times from UTC
In the image above, the graph shows that follower activity increases during the day and peaks at 8 p.m. TikTok always displays times in UTC, so remember to convert any data to your local time zone.
For example, 8 p.m. UTC converts to 3 p.m. ET. So this account should aim to post around that time for the best chance at maximum engagement.
You can also find this information on a desktop by logging into your account and selecting “View analytics” under your profile. This gives a more detailed view (see below). You can download your data from the desktop dashboard.
Find the right times for your global audience
TikTok’s analytics dashboard shows not just when general users are active, but when your own followers are most often online. This can help you figure out the best posting schedule for your brand when you need to hit multiple time zones.
Bear in mind that your followers andTikTok customers may have different peak activity times compared to the general TikTok viewership. If your target audience or customer base is parents, for example, their activity might peak in the evening when they have more free time. If your target is students, their activity might peak after school hours.
This is the method thatShopify’s TikTok team uses to determine the best time to post. Shopify’s community of entrepreneurs is most active in the late afternoon but, again, this might be different for your audience.
The dashboard will also show where your followers are located. If, for example, you’re based in the US but notice you have a lot of followers in the UK, you may want to split your posts to target different time zones.
4. Check activity on individual TikTok posts
You have the best chance of receiving likes, comments, and views when your followers are most active. To get more detailed information about follower activity from your analytics dashboard, navigate to the Content tab.
From there, you can see data on individual posts from the past seven days, including:
- Total play time
- Average watch time
- How many people your video reached
- Where your video was found (your profile or the For You page)
This tab also shows the time and date your videos were posted. By combining your follower analytics with your TikTok account data, you can figure out when to post your TikTok videos for the most views and engagement.
After looking at your data, you may find that certain content does better at particular times of the day compared to other posts. Again, activity is likely to be highly individualized, so digging into your personal dashboard is key to finding the best TikTok posting times for your business.
💡Tip: The best time to post on TikTok may not be the same as the best times for other social media platforms. Check your analytics across each platform to find the optimal time to post content.
Learn more:
- Uncover the Best Time to Post on Instagram
- How to Find the Best Time to Post YouTube Shorts
- When is the Best Time to Post on LinkedIn?
How to optimize your TikTok videos for engagement
Finding the best time to post on TikTok for your brand is only valuable if your content can successfully engage your audience.
Success on social media platforms like TikTok goes beyond posting your content at the right time. Quality content that offers value to your target audience and has clear goals. Even if you schedule content to go live at peak times, the content won’t perform if you don’t have a great strategy and brand voice.
Here are some ways you can optimize your TikTok content.
💡 Did you know? You canmanage TikTok ads directly from Shopify.
Optimize TikTok video length
One of the key factors that impacts TikTok engagement is the length of your videos. As of spring 2024, TikTok will allow video uploads of up to three minutes in length, but what is the optimal video length for maximum engagement?
Data suggests two potential strategies for optimizing TikTok video length. One approach is to make videos shorter than 10 seconds. These videos received an engagement rate of 6.09% from March to August 2023.
For maximum engagement, however, videos should be longer than 54 seconds. Posts of this length saw a 6.7% engagement rate over the same time period.
Why short videos can work
Even though longer videos are the best overall engagement play, a short or micro-video strategy can work well on TikTok, thanks to the platform’s fast-paced nature. Users typically scroll through their feeds quickly, so posts that instantly capture attention are likely to generate engagement.
Short videos are worth considering, given that they may be easier to make, consume, and share. The more videos you post, the greater your chances of making content that goes viral.
Tailor video length to your audience
While general rules can guide you, optimal video length can vary depending on your audience. It’s important to use your analytics dashboard and experiment with different video lengths to find the right format for your most-valued audience.
💡Learn more:TikTok for Ecommerce: How To Convert Fans to Customers.
Follow TikTok trends
Another aspect of maximizing engagement on TikTok is staying up to date with current trends. Whether or not you follow TikTok trends can influence the best times for you to post.
The impact of trends on posting times
TikTok trends can dictate the type of content users interact with. For example, if a trending song or dance challenge becomes viral, videos featuring that trend are more likely to see higher engagement. This may affect the best times to post, as users may be more active during times when they can participate in trends or challenges.
Content featuring trending challenges often receives engagement during after-school hours (3 p.m. to 5 p.m.) and in the evening (7 p.m. to 9 p.m.). Posting content related to a trend during these times could increase your engagement.
Keeping up with TikTok trends
You’ll need to use TikTok regularly to stay up to date with the latest trends. Join the TikTok community by:
- Following creators: TikTok creators start and propagate trends. Following them can give you early insight into what might become popular.
- Using the Discover tab: Discover shows trending hashtags and sounds, providing a snapshot of what’s currently popular on TikTok.
- Engaging with your audience: Pay attention to the trends your audience is participating in. This can provide ideas for relevant content that your audience is likely to engage with.
The best time to post on TikTok is now
Insights from Shopify’s social media team and other studies can give you a general idea of the best time to post on TikTok for your brand. Even better, analytics from your TikTok account will tell you when your audience is most likely to engage with your posts.
However, the best thing you can do to build engagement on TikTok is to post consistently over days, weeks, and months. TikTok recommends that businesses post authentic, engaging content between one and four times per day for best results.
The more you post on TikTok, the more data, feedback, and followers you’ll gain—and the more you’ll be able to pinpoint the best time to post on TikTok for your business.
Best time to post on TikTok FAQ
Does posting time matter on TikTok?
Yes, posting time does matter on TikTok. TikTok’s algorithm prioritizes recent and relevant content, so it’s best to post on TikTok when your audience is most active and engaged. This will increase the chances of your content being seen by more people.
Experiment with different posting times and analyze the performance of your videos using your dashboard to find the best schedule for your specific audience. The best time to post on TikTok will differ for each audience.
Is Sunday the best time to post on TikTok?
Survey’s of TikTok post popularity have shown that posting on Sunday mornings may generate more engagement. However, weekend posts generally see lower reach and engagement than TikTok videos posted during the week. Ultimately, posting consistency and video quality are more important than the specific day or time of your TikTok posts.
Why does my TikTok get no views?
There are several reasons why your TikTok videos may not be getting any views. Here are a few possibilities:
- Inappropriate content: TikTok has community guidelines that prohibit certain types of content such as nudity, hate speech, and violence. If your content goes against these guidelines, it may not be recommended to users.
- Low-quality content: High resolution video and audio is likely to get more views than videos that are poorly shot or have low-quality sound.
- Lack of hashtags: Hashtags help your videos reach a wider audience. If you don’t include relevant hashtags in your video, it may not show up in popular searches.
- Timing: Posting your content at the right time is important. If you post when most of your followers are asleep or busy, your video may not get as much engagement. The best time to post on TikTok depends on your audience’s time zone, as well as data from your TikTok analytics dashboard.
- Lack of engagement: To grow your account, you need to engage with other users, respond to comments, and create content that encourages conversation.
Is it better to post TikTok videos at night or in the day?
There isn’t one simple answer to this question. The best time to post on TikTok depends on a number of factors, including your audience’s location, your time zone, the multiple time zones of your followers, and the most popular times to post on TikTok, according to your analytics data.
How do I analyze my target audience behavior through my TikTok account?
As you post on TikTok, you will gain access to insights via the app to help you determine when to post. Open a TikTok Business account, navigate to Insights, and check your follower activity.
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