What are the best times to publish on TikTok and optimize engagement?

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With over a billion monthly active users, TikTok is one of the most popular social platforms on the Internet. What started out as a site to showcase fun dances quickly exploded. Today, big and small brands, influencers, celebrities and ordinary people use TikTok.

Would you like to join the fray? You know that competition is fierce on TikTok, and to get seen you need to post at the right times. Here's how.

Understanding the TikTok algorithm

Like all social networks, TikTok has an algorithm that recommends content to other users. This content appears on the "For You" page. The "For You" page is constantly updated to introduce new accounts to TikTok users. But how does TikTok prioritize content on the "For You" page? For example, if you bake cakes, why would TikTok recommend your content to the millions of other bakers and cake decorators on the platform? Good question! There are several reasons for this.

User account settings

Believe it or not, TikTok relies on user account settings to assess which content to prioritize. Everything from category selection to device type, language settings and country affects the content a TikTok user sees.

Video data

A video without hashtags and captions is harder for the platform to identify. This makes it more difficult to identify the type of content and classify it appropriately. Even the use of sounds can contribute to better visibility. Remember to use descriptive (and popular) hashtags to increase your chances of appearing on a "For You" page.

Interaction with users

TikTok looks at the type of content users create, as well as the number and type of accounts they follow, to make recommendations tailored to their unique needs and interests.

Our commitment

Best for last. Engagement is by far the biggest benchmark for priority content on TikTok. The platform studies which TikTok videos users like, which they watch to the end, which they comment on and which they share to find related content.

Factors influencing the best time to post on TikTok

Now that you know the basics of how TikTok chooses the content users will see, let's look at the optimal time to publish on TikTok?

Spoiler: There's no right time to post on TikTok. It depends on several factors. Which factors?

Content type

TikTok hosts many unique types of content: from TikTok challenges to influencer collaborations, duet videos, tutorials, lip-syncing and classic dance videos. Some content works better than others. Don't hesitate to give it a try.

Audience location and hours of operation

Where is your target audience? Depending on how you answer, half of them are usually asleep when the other half are awake. So it's important to find out when your audience is most active. This could be morning or evening for your audience, depending on their age. For example, younger audiences have fewer responsibilities and are more likely to use their phones. They can therefore see the content you publish throughout the day. On the other hand, if your target is an active woman with children... her time slots will be much more limited.

Be careful: your target audience's hours of activity will correspond to those of your competitors. While there may be an oversaturation of content during this period, you can't run the risk of not publishing during key periods.

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The best times of the week to publish on TikTok

When to publish on TikTok on Monday

By Monday morning, most people are groggy, dreading the work week ahead. The weekend is over and the mood is rather gloomy...

Tip: let the morning pass before posting on TikTok. At midday and afterwards, you'll get more hits. Mondays don't really have optimal planning times, but don't miss the opportunity to start the week on a high note with some Good Vibes content to put a smile back on the faces of those who already regret that the weekend wasn't long enough.

When to publish on TikTok on Tuesday

Tuesdays offer more opportunities. You can start posting very early in the morning, around 6 a.m. for example. And if you don't feel like getting up at the crack of dawn (which is understandable), you can schedule your posts. In the morning, you have two extra opportunities: at 8 and 10 o'clock. Let the lunch rush play itself out, then publish at 3 p.m. This is the last great opportunity to post on Tuesday.

When to publish on TikTok on Wednesdays

You're now halfway through the work week. Hump Day is just around the corner. There are two prime times to post: 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

When to publish on TikTok on Thursday

You can publish early on Thursday morning at 5 a.m. Again, it's a good idea to plan ahead, unless you're already an early riser. The next window is around 3 p.m. Many people start dreaming of the weekend ahead. Another good time to publish on TikTok is 5 p.m. on Thursday.

When to publish on TikTok on Fridays

It's the last day of the week, and some of you didn't wait for the weekend to go to bed late... You can try your luck at 1 a.m., just as Friday officially begins. Not a very conventional schedule, but it's an option. Alternatively, you can post at 11 a.m., giving your audience something to smile about as the last lunch of the working week approaches. Engagement on TikTok picks up on Friday evening when people are enjoying their free time. You can post at 7 or 9 p.m. and should see good engagement.

When to publish on TikTok on Saturday

Expect engagement on TikTok to be generally lower at weekends. While most people don't work and therefore have more free time, they often spend it dealing with what they didn't have time to do during the week, or enjoying friends and family. On Saturdays, your ideal publishing window is at 5 p.m.

Tip: Adapt to the weather. On a rainy weekend, people may decide to lounge around on their sofas.

When to post on TikTok on Sunday

Sunday is often a day of rest. Engagement is therefore higher on Sundays than on Saturdays, giving you more opportunities to publish on TikTok.

You can, for example, attract night owls by posting at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. The next window will be 12 hours later, at 1 or 2 pm. If you miss it, you can post one more time at around 10 p.m., before most people have gone to bed for the night (and wrapped up the weekend).

How to find your best time to post on TikTok

The above recommendations are generalized and not gospel. Your audience may react better to morning publications than to evening ones, or to the opposite of the above recommendations.

How do you determine the best times to connect with your TikTok audience? Examining your statistics will be your best reference. TikTok produces detailed analyses, including:

• Views per subscriber
• Videos per week
• Videos with mentions
• Subscriber growth rate per month
• Hashtags used per video
• Engagement rate per follower
• Rate of engagement per view
• Total commitment

Not all of these KPIs are relevant to your concerns. Focus on the last three. Track the publications that generate the most engagement and look for common links. Are they published around the same time or on the same day each week? This will give you clues as to when your audience interacts most with your TikTok content.

Admittedly, it's largely a case of throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks. Sometimes, a slight increase in engagement can be coincidental, leading you to believe that day X and publication time Y on TikTok are your peak viewing periods. In other cases, an event or the weather may have had an impact on lifestyles. Test and learn and continuous review of your traffic are essential to maintaining a TikTok publishing schedule that your audience will connect with.

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