Best Times to Post on Social Media: Australia, UK, USA & EU Guide for 2026

Most "best time to post" guides pick one time zone and call it done. That works if your business serves one country. But if you're posting to multiple markets — or just want to understand when your international followers are actually online — you need a reference that covers all the major regions in their own local time.

This guide covers four markets: Australia (AEST, UTC+10), UK (GMT, UTC+0 / BST UTC+1 in summer), USA (EST, UTC-5), and EU (CET, UTC+1 / CEST UTC+2 in summer). All times are local to each region. A UTC quick-reference table at the end lets you schedule across time zones from a single calendar.

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Australia (AEST) — Best Times to Post

AEST = UTC+10. During Daylight Saving (October–April), AEDT = UTC+11 — add one hour.

Instagram

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 6:00am–8:00am AEST — Morning commute and pre-work scrolling
• 12:00pm–1:00pm AEST — Lunch break
• 7:00pm–9:00pm AEST — Evening wind-down

Avoid: 2pm–5pm on weekdays. Saturday morning works well for lifestyle and retail brands.

LinkedIn

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 7:00am–9:00am AEST — Pre-work professional browsing (highest reach of the week)
• 12:00pm–1:00pm AEST — Lunch break
• 5:00pm–7:00pm AEST — Post-work browsing

Avoid: Weekends entirely — engagement drops 60–70%. Monday mornings also underperform.

TikTok

Best days: Tuesday through Saturday
Peak windows:

• 6:00am–8:00am AEST — Commute (highest reach, particularly 18–34)
• 7:00pm–10:00pm AEST — Evening peak (highest engagement rate)
• Saturday 10:00am–12:00pm AEST — Weekend browsing

Facebook

Best days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Peak windows:

• 9:00am–11:00am AEST — Mid-morning browsing
• 1:00pm–3:00pm AEST — Post-lunch engagement
• 7:00pm–9:00pm AEST — Evening browsing

Threads

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 8:00am–10:00am AEST — Morning peak
• 7:00pm–9:00pm AEST — Evening conversation window

Twitter/X

Best days: Weekdays, particularly Wednesday and Thursday
Peak windows:

• 7:00am–9:00am AEST — Commute window
• 12:00pm–1:00pm AEST — Lunch
• 6:00pm–8:00pm AEST — Evening

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United Kingdom (GMT/BST) — Best Times to Post

GMT = UTC+0 (late October–late March). BST = UTC+1 (late March–late October). Add one hour to all windows below during British Summer Time.

Instagram

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 7:00am–9:00am GMT — Morning commute
• 12:00pm–1:00pm GMT — Lunch break
• 7:00pm–9:00pm GMT — Evening wind-down

Avoid: 2pm–5pm weekdays. Sunday evenings (7pm–9pm) can work well for lifestyle brands targeting a UK audience.

LinkedIn

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 7:00am–9:00am GMT — Pre-work browsing (strongest reach window)
• 12:00pm–1:00pm GMT — Lunch break
• 5:00pm–6:30pm GMT — Post-work scroll

Avoid: Weekends. Friday afternoons also underperform as UK professionals disengage earlier.

TikTok

Best days: Tuesday through Saturday
Peak windows:

• 7:00am–9:00am GMT — Morning commute
• 6:00pm–9:00pm GMT — Evening peak (strongest engagement for UK 18–35 audience)
• Saturday 10:00am–1:00pm GMT — Weekend browsing

Facebook

Best days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Peak windows:

• 9:00am–11:00am GMT — Mid-morning
• 1:00pm–3:00pm GMT — Post-lunch engagement
• 7:00pm–9:00pm GMT — Evening browsing

Threads

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 8:00am–10:00am GMT — Morning
• 7:00pm–9:00pm GMT — Evening conversation window

Twitter/X

Best days: Weekdays, with Wednesday performing strongest
Peak windows:

• 8:00am–10:00am GMT — Commute / pre-work
• 12:00pm–1:00pm GMT — Lunch
• 6:00pm–8:00pm GMT — Evening

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United States (EST) — Best Times to Post

EST = UTC-5 (November–mid-March). EDT = UTC-4 (mid-March–November). US West Coast (PST/PDT) is 3 hours behind EST — add 3 hours to all windows below for Pacific audiences.

Instagram

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 6:00am–8:00am EST — Pre-work morning scroll
• 12:00pm–1:00pm EST — Lunch break
• 7:00pm–9:00pm EST — Evening wind-down

Note for West Coast: 6am–8am PST = 9am–11am EST. Posting at 9am EST captures both the East Coast morning and the West Coast pre-work window simultaneously.

LinkedIn

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 7:00am–9:00am EST — Pre-work browsing
• 12:00pm–1:00pm EST — Lunch
• 5:00pm–6:00pm EST — End-of-day check

Avoid: Weekends and Monday mornings. For B2B US audiences, Tuesday 8am EST consistently outperforms all other slots.

TikTok

Best days: Tuesday through Saturday
Peak windows:

• 6:00am–8:00am EST — Morning commute
• 7:00pm–9:00pm EST — Evening prime (highest engagement rate for US audiences)
• Saturday 10:00am–12:00pm EST — Weekend morning

Facebook

Best days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Peak windows:

• 9:00am–11:00am EST — Mid-morning
• 1:00pm–3:00pm EST — Post-lunch engagement (historically the strongest US Facebook window)
• 7:00pm–9:00pm EST — Evening browsing

Threads

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 9:00am–11:00am EST — Morning peak
• 7:00pm–9:00pm EST — Evening conversation window

Twitter/X

Best days: Weekdays — highest volume platform in the US
Peak windows:

• 8:00am–10:00am EST — Commute and pre-work
• 12:00pm–1:00pm EST — Lunch
• 6:00pm–8:00pm EST — Evening

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Europe (CET) — Best Times to Post

CET = UTC+1 (late October–late March). CEST = UTC+2 (late March–late October). These windows apply broadly across Western and Central Europe (Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland). Nordics and Eastern Europe may vary slightly.

Instagram

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 7:00am–9:00am CET — Morning commute
• 12:00pm–2:00pm CET — Extended European lunch window (longer than AU/UK/US)
• 7:00pm–9:00pm CET — Evening wind-down

Note: European lunch breaks tend to run longer — the 12pm–2pm window is noticeably stronger for EU Instagram than for other markets.

LinkedIn

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 8:00am–10:00am CET — Pre-work (EU professionals start slightly later than AU/UK)
• 12:00pm–1:30pm CET — Lunch
• 5:30pm–7:00pm CET — Post-work

Avoid: Weekends and August (European summer holidays significantly reduce LinkedIn engagement across the entire continent).

TikTok

Best days: Tuesday through Saturday
Peak windows:

• 7:00am–9:00am CET — Morning commute
• 7:00pm–10:00pm CET — Evening peak (strongest engagement window for EU 18–35)
• Saturday 11:00am–1:00pm CET — Weekend mid-morning

Facebook

Best days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Peak windows:

• 12:00pm–2:00pm CET — Lunch
• 6:00pm–8:00pm CET — Evening

Note: Facebook skews older in most EU markets. Evening slots (6pm–8pm CET) often outperform morning windows for this demographic.

Threads

Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Peak windows:

• 9:00am–11:00am CET — Morning
• 7:00pm–9:00pm CET — Evening conversation window

Twitter/X

Best days: Weekdays
Peak windows:

• 8:00am–10:00am CET — Commute / pre-work
• 12:00pm–1:00pm CET — Lunch
• 6:00pm–8:00pm CET — Evening

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UTC Quick Reference: Posting Across All Four Markets

If you schedule using UTC (as most scheduling tools do internally), this table gives you the equivalent UTC time for each market's morning peak window — the most reliable high-reach slot for professional and general audiences.

Region	Local Morning Peak	UTC Equivalent (Standard Time)
Australia (AEST)	7:00am–9:00am AEST	21:00–23:00 UTC (previous day)
United Kingdom (GMT)	7:00am–9:00am GMT	07:00–09:00 UTC
United States (EST)	7:00am–9:00am EST	12:00–14:00 UTC
Europe (CET)	8:00am–10:00am CET	07:00–09:00 UTC

UK and EU morning peaks are nearly identical in UTC — a post timed for 8am UK time also hits 9am in Central Europe. This overlap means a single post can cover both markets effectively. AU and US do not overlap with each other or with EU/UK — to cover all four markets, you need at minimum two posts per piece of content: one timed for the AU/NZ morning (UTC 21:00–23:00 the prior day) and one timed for the UK/EU/US morning (UTC 07:00–14:00).

Cross-Market Strategy

If your business serves all four markets, the practical approach is to assign each post a "primary market" and alternate across your posting calendar:

• Post 1: Timed for AU morning (Tuesday, 7am AEST)
• Post 2: Timed for UK/EU morning (Wednesday, 8am GMT)
• Post 3: Timed for US morning (Thursday, 8am EST)
• Post 4: Repeat the cycle

This rotation ensures every market gets content at peak time at least once per cycle, without requiring you to post more frequently. Post Reel's campaign scheduler handles this automatically — the AI picks optimal UTC hours across AU and US markets and alternates them throughout the campaign.

The Most Important Caveat

These windows are averages across large datasets. Your specific audience will have different habits. Once you've posted consistently for 30 days, check native analytics on each platform — Instagram Insights, LinkedIn Analytics, and TikTok Analytics all show exactly when your followers are most active. Use these averages as your starting point, then tune for your actual data.