Look, I'll be straight with you. When I started managing Facebook pages for small businesses in the U.S., I did what everyone does—Googled "best time to post on Facebook" and followed whatever the top article said. Posted at 1 PM like clockwork. Results? Pretty mediocre.
So I decided to actually test this myself. For 90 days, I tracked every single post across five different pages (a restaurant, a fitness studio, an e-commerce brand, a local service business, and a content creator). Different industries, different audiences, but all targeting people in the United States.
What I found surprised me. And it's probably not what you've been told.
The Two Windows That Consistently Won
After thousands of data points, two time slots emerged as clear winners for U.S. audiences:
7-9 PM EST — This was the undisputed champion. Evening posts consistently outperformed everything else by a significant margin.
12-1 PM EST — The lunch hour proved to be the reliable secondary window, especially for quick-hit content.
Here's the thing that took me a while to understand: these aren't arbitrary times. They match exactly when people are actually on Facebook, not when it's convenient for you to post.
Why 7-9 PM EST Dominates
Think about your own evening routine. You've finished dinner, you're on the couch, TV's on in the background, and you're scrolling. That's when most Americans are on Facebook.
During my testing period, posts published between 7-9 PM EST got:
- 2.8x more reactions than morning posts
- 3.2x more shares (the holy grail for reach)
- Significantly longer read times on linked articles
- More meaningful comments, not just emoji reactions
The evening crowd is different. They're not rushing. They're not sneaking a peek between meetings. They're actually consuming content, which means they're more likely to engage deeply with what you post.
One of the pages I managed—a local restaurant—saw their post reach jump from an average of 1,200 people to over 3,800 people just by shifting from 1 PM to 8 PM. Same content. Same page. Different time.
The Lunch Hour Sweet Spot
Now, 12-1 PM EST wasn't quite as powerful, but it had its own advantages. Office workers on lunch breaks, students between classes, stay-at-home parents during naptime—this is when people take that quick Facebook check.
What worked best during lunch:
- Shorter posts (people are scrolling fast)
- Visual content that catches attention immediately
- Polls and questions (easy to engage with quickly)
- Time-sensitive offers or announcements
The engagement rate wasn't quite as high as evening posts, but the speed of initial reactions was faster. If your post can catch fire in that first hour, Facebook's algorithm takes notice.
What About Mornings and Late Nights?
I tested those too. Early mornings (6-8 AM) and late nights (10 PM-midnight) both underperformed consistently.
Mornings make sense when you think about it—people are getting ready for work, dealing with kids, commuting. They might glance at Facebook, but they're not engaging deeply.
Late nights had sporadic success, but the audience was too inconsistent. Some nights it worked, others it totally flopped.
The Day of the Week Factor
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday emerged as the strongest days overall. Here's what I noticed:
Mondays were hit or miss. People are catching up from the weekend, dealing with work backlogs. Not ideal.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays were rock solid. People are in their routine, receptive to content, and more likely to engage.
Thursdays were decent but slightly weaker than Tue/Wed.
Fridays surprised me—especially Friday evenings. People are in a good mood, the weekend's approaching, and they're more likely to share fun or lighthearted content.
Weekends were the weakest overall. Saturday afternoons in particular were terrible for reach. People are out living their lives, not scrolling Facebook.
What This Means for Different Time Zones
The data I gathered was based on EST because that's where the majority of the U.S. population lives. But what if your audience is on the West Coast?
Simple: shift everything three hours earlier for PST.
- Main peak: 4-6 PM PST
- Secondary: 9 AM-12 PM PST
For Central or Mountain time, adjust accordingly. The behavior patterns remain the same—people are most active in the evening and during lunch—just in their local time.
If you're running a national brand and want to cover all bases, consider posting twice: once for East Coast evening (8 PM EST) and again for West Coast evening (8 PM PST). Yes, that means two posts of the same content at different times. And yes, it works.
Industry-Specific Patterns I Noticed
Restaurants: Lunch posts (11:45 AM-12:15 PM) did surprisingly well for same-day specials. Evening posts (7:30 PM) worked better for next-day reservations or weekend promotions.
Fitness/Wellness: Early evening (6-7 PM) caught people right as they were thinking about their health goals or planning tomorrow's workout.
E-commerce: Evening posts (8-9 PM) drove more actual purchases. People are relaxed, browsing, more likely to impulse buy.
Local Services: Tuesday/Wednesday at 8 PM consistently generated the most quote requests and inquiry messages.
Content Creators: Evenings dominated, but they could get away with more frequent posting (2-3 times per day) without audience fatigue.
The Mistakes I Made (So You Don't Have To)
Mistake #1: Posting the same type of content at the same time every day. It gets stale. Mix it up—videos one day, photos the next, text posts occasionally.
Mistake #2: Ignoring the first 30 minutes after posting. The initial engagement signals to Facebook whether to show your post to more people. Be online, respond to early comments, and engage with people who interact.
Mistake #3: Scheduling posts and walking away. Scheduled posts are fine, but if you're not around to engage when they go live, you're leaving performance on the table.
Mistake #4: Following the same timing advice for Facebook as Instagram or Twitter. Each platform has different user behavior. What works on Instagram often doesn't work on Facebook.
My Current Posting Strategy
Based on everything I learned, here's what I do now:
For most clients: One post per day at 8 PM EST (or their local equivalent). This captures the main evening traffic.
For more active pages: Two posts—one at 12:15 PM and one at 8 PM. Different content for each slot.
For local businesses: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, sometimes adding Friday evening if there's a weekend promotion.
For national brands: Staggered times to hit both coasts during their respective evening peaks.
Testing Your Own Audience
Here's the honest truth: my results might not perfectly match yours. Your specific audience might have slightly different habits. Maybe they're night owls. Maybe they work non-traditional hours.
The value in my 90-day experiment isn't that you should blindly copy my times. It's that you should test systematically instead of guessing.
Try this:
- Pick two times: 12:30 PM and 8 PM (your local time)
- Post the same type of content at each time on different days
- Track reach, engagement, and click-throughs for two weeks
- Double down on whatever performs better
Facebook's own analytics will show you when your followers are online. Use that as a starting point, but don't treat it as gospel. Sometimes people are online but not engaged. You want to post when they're online AND receptive.
The Bottom Line
After 90 days and way too many spreadsheets, the pattern was clear: evenings win for U.S. audiences, with lunch as a solid backup option.
But here's what matters more than the specific times: consistency and actually showing up when your audience is paying attention. You can have the perfect content, but if nobody sees it because you posted at a dead time, it doesn't matter.
Start with 7-9 PM EST as your default. Test it for a few weeks. Track your results. Adjust based on what you see, not what some article (including this one) tells you is "best."
Because at the end of the day, the best time to post is whenever your specific audience is ready to see it. These windows are just the most likely starting point.
Want to get even more specific? Check out our timing finder tool that shows you optimal posting times based on your exact target country and platform. It pulls from actual engagement data across 177 countries, not just educated guesses.
Now stop reading and go schedule that evening post.