Facebook is one of the largest social platforms, with over 3 billion active users today. This makes it a powerful marketing channel for businesses and sellers. A key part of any content distribution strategy is identifying the best time and post format to publish on Facebook in order to maximize engagement.

We analyzed the performance of over 900,000 Facebook posts published through SO9 by businesses, sellers, and content creators to determine the best timing and formats for Facebook posts. Let’s dive in below!

>> Related topic: Best Time to Post TikTok Videos in 2025 — Latest Update

Is There Really a Best Time to Post on Facebook?

Let’s be clear: there’s no one-size-fits-all moment when posting on Facebook guarantees viral success (if only it were that simple!).

The optimal time to post depends largely on your unique audience — and we’ll show you how to uncover that later in this guide.

That said, our data analysis reveals some strong patterns between specific posting times and higher engagement rates. If you’re just getting started, these can serve as a helpful starting point.

Use them as a launchpad to test, learn, and refine what works best for your brand. Fortunately, Facebook offers a wide window of high-engagement opportunities to explore.

Best Time to Post on Facebook

According to SO9 data, the best time to post on Facebook is 5:00 AM on Monday. Our analysis shows that posting early in the morning significantly boosts engagement throughout the week.

Morning posts tend to perform best — we also identified other “hot” time slots, including 5:00 AM on Tuesday and 7:00 AM on Thursday, ranking second and third on the list of top-performing posting times.

🌅 In general, posting early in the morning — between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM on weekdays — leads to consistently high engagement, as illustrated in the chart below.

The chart shows that the best time to post on Facebook is early in the weekday mornings. The darkest sections highlight the times with the highest engagement rates, which we infer to be the most optimal posting windows.

Engagement levels tend to remain strong through mid-morning until around noon (with a slight peak during lunch hours), then gradually decline in the evening.

The largest user group on Facebook is aged 25–34, followed by those 35–44. This suggests users tend to check Facebook first thing in the morning before starting their workday, making early morning the ideal time for posting.

A report from the Pew Research Center found that 93% of users cited staying updated with friends and family as the main reason they use Facebook. In contrast, users primarily turn to platforms like Instagram (86%) and TikTok (95%) for entertainment. This makes Facebook the first social app many people check each morning — a space for catching up on meaningful updates, rather than scrolling through endless Reels or TikTok videos.

Summary of the Best Times to Post on Facebook:

• Monday: 🥇 5:00 AM (best), followed by 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM

• Tuesday: 🥈 5:00 AM (second-best), with other strong times at 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM — a similar pattern to Monday

• Wednesday: 5:00 AM, followed by 7:00 AM and 10:00 AM

• Thursday: 🥉 7:00 AM (third-best), with other peak times at 9:00 AM and 5:00 AM

• Friday: 9:00 AM, followed by 7:00 AM and 6:00 AM

• Saturday: 7:00 AM, 9:00 AM, then 6:00 AM — although these times are less effective compared to weekdays, with significantly lower engagement

• Sunday: 7:00 AM, with stable performance also at 9:00 AM and 6:00 AM — but Sunday generally sees the lowest engagement of the week, so consider shifting your posts to another day for better results.

Best Day to Post on Facebook

The best day of the week to post on Facebook is Wednesday — midweek posts tend to receive the highest engagement.

However, when looking at weekday posting overall, the differences are quite minimal, as shown in the chart above — every weekday generally performs well in terms of engagement.

Thursday and Tuesday come in second and third place, only slightly ahead of Monday and Friday.

That said, there's a noticeable drop in engagement over the weekend. The worst day to post on Facebook is Sunday, with posts receiving 15% less engagement than those on Wednesday. Saturday also performs poorly, with engagement rates dropping by 10.4%.

Best Type of Content to Post on Facebook

Interestingly, the best-performing content format on Facebook isn’t video — it’s images. Our analysis shows that image posts receive the highest engagement, followed by text-only posts.

• Image posts see 34.7% more engagement than text-only posts

• And 43.8% more than video posts.

As you can see, video posts come in third. While that may be surprising, it aligns with our recent Instagram analysis, where we found that carousel images — not Reels — had the highest engagement.

That said, Reels tend to generate the most reach, and I’ve explained why that happens in a separate article (we’re working on a Facebook-specific comparison and will share results soon!).

💡 The worst-performing content on the Facebook News Feed? Link-only posts — unsurprisingly, since Facebook prefers to keep users within the platform.

How to Discover Your Optimal Facebook Posting Time

1. Use Meta Business Suite

Meta Business Suite is Facebook and Instagram’s built-in analytics platform — and while it may take a little time to learn, it offers valuable insights to help you optimize performance (check out our full guide if you're new to it).

For casual creators, the simplified Facebook Insights tool provides basic page performance metrics, which may be enough for occasional use.

One of its most useful features? It reveals when your followers are most active — a key clue in identifying your ideal posting times.

To access it easily, log into Facebook through your business page (not your personal profile), and head to the Meta Business Suite dashboard.

Step 1. Select Meta Business Suite from the left-hand menu.

Step 2. Click Insights.

Step 3. Choose Audience on the left side

Step 4. At the top of the graph, click Trends.

Step 5. Scroll down to Most Active Times to see when your followers are typically online.

Keep in mind: this shows when your audience is online — not necessarily when your posts will perform best.

To find your ideal posting time, experiment with publishing during these peak activity windows and track which ones lead to the highest engagement.

2. Use SO9

The channel performance report system in SO9 gives you a comprehensive overview of how your social media pages are performing. It helps you assess the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and make informed adjustments to your strategy.

On the report dashboard, you can select any social media platform to monitor. Here, you can filter by channel and date range. Each platform includes different performance metrics.

Key Facebook Metrics in SO9:

• Reach: See how many users your content is reaching. Track reach, engagement rate, organic reach rate, and paid reach rate.

• Followers: Understand follower activity by tracking total followers, new followers, and active followers.

• General Metrics: Get an overall performance summary of your Fanpage, including total page likes, page clicks, new likes, total reach, people reached, and total engagement.

• Demographics: Get insights into your audience’s location, gender, age, and peak activity times — allowing you to tailor content and schedule posts at the most effective times.

By analyzing your followers' active time, SO9 helps you identify your personal golden posting hours. The system also continuously updates to save you from repetitive manual analysis — freeing up more time to improve your content quality.

🚀 Want to see it in action? Try SO9 FREE for 3 days and create your personalized demo today

Conclusion

Posting during Facebook’s golden hours not only boosts customer engagement and expands your reach to new audiences, but it’s also a key factor in the success of your overall marketing strategy. We hope the insights shared in this article help you better manage your posting schedule on Facebook.

Don’t forget to visit SO9.io to explore more up-to-date business and social media management tips. Wishing you great success!

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