What is the best time to post on TikTok? Does it even matter? Well, the truth is that it matters. And, if you want your post to go viral and make money, you should try to figure this out.
The internet has become a money-making tool for many people in recent times. Whether you are an entrepreneur, an artist, or even a freelancer, the internet has something for everyone.
TikTok is one major platform where content creators are making enormous amounts of money. But how do they do it?
Interesting content and consistency are the two major factors helping people to garner large followings, increase their videos' average watch time, and subsequently make money.
But did you know that TikTok posting times matter? Well, it absolutely does. It's one of the most effective strategies to help make your video go viral.
Today we take a deeper look at this, to discover the best time to post on TikTok and learn how you can leverage it for better results. Remember, it's all about the number of followers your content gets.
And if you so badly want to make good money on TikTok, go through our comprehensive piece on how to make money on TikTok.
Table of Contents
What Is the Best Time to Post on TikTok?
Generally, the best time to post on TikTok varies depending on several factors like your time zone and the time your audience is active. However, several timelines have been suggested as the best times to put your post out there. For instance, the platform has the most active users during morning hours from 6 to 10 am and evening hours from 7 to 11 pm EST (Eastern Standard Time).
A study by Influencer Marketing Hub that analyzed more than 100,000 posts came up with several findings. They discovered that TikTokers behaved differently during different days of the week and that posts had high levels of engagement during the following times (in EST):
- Sun – 7 am, 8 am, and 4 pm
- Mon – 6 am, 10 am, and 10 pm
- Tuesday – 2 am, 4 am, and *9 am
- Wednesday – 7 am, 8 am, and 11 am
- Thursday – 9 am, *12 pm, and 7 pm
- Friday – *5 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm
- Sat – 11 am, 7 pm, and 8 pm
According to the results above, some of these periods also experience high engagement levels than others. For instance, the periods marked with an Asterisk had the highest engagement level (Tuesdays at 9 am, Thursdays at 12 pm, and Fridays at 5 am).
This means that if you routinely post during these time frames, your videos or posts will have a better chance of reaching more people. The more people your post reaches, the more likely it is to go viral.
But as you can see, these timelines are given in EST time. But different content creators have audiences in different time zones. Also, audiences are different in terms of age, interests, and gender. Therefore you must also consider these factors in determining your best time to post on TikTok.
Day or Night? When It is Better to Post
According to the Influencer Marketing Hub, the best time to post on TikTok is between 6 am and 10 am and 7 pm and 11 pm EST.
The days with the highest engagement are Tuesday by 9 am, Thursday by 12 noon, and Friday by 5 pm. Therefore you can post both in the morning and night, but you can try posting at different timings.
But you have to go through your TikTok analytics and find out when your target audience is online. Carry out some tests to see when you are getting a high engagement.
Is Saturday a Good Day to Post?
Research shows that posting on Saturdays doesn't have a high engagement as other days in the week.
Why?
Despite most people being off from work and school, they are more into catching up with family or running errands, leaving little time to watch TikTok videos.
Therefore, it's recommended for small business owners not to post their business on Saturdays. If you are looking for a large TikTok audience for your posts Saturday is not the most suitable day.
Why TikTok Posting Time Matters
Contrary to other social media platforms, it's difficult to determine the best time to post on TikTok. For starters, TikTok's audience not only suggests your videos but also shares them around the world. Thus, the audience views the TikTok videos at different times due to the multiple time zones.
To add to that, your consistency in uploading engaging content dictates the nature of your audience. When you create high-quality content, your global audience will constantly check for updates on your account. Furthermore, location plays a crucial role in determining when to post.
Despite expert opinions on when it's the best time to post, you've to research your audience. Each audience has different browsing times and habits, and the suggestions may not work for you.
How to Know the Best Time to Post on TikTok
While it might seem tricky, it isn’t. TikTok has this covered for you. The platform offers content creators all the information they need about their audience through TikTok analytics.
For this reason, you must familiarize yourself with TikTok analytics if you want to know more about your audience. For instance, the feature gives you accurate information about the audience, including when they are most active. This allows you to post videos when they are most likely to be seen.
So, how do you make use of TikTok analytics? Check out these steps:
1. Switch your Account to TikTok Pro
Switching to the TikTok Pro account is the only way you can access TikTok analytics. This is done in three simple steps:
- On the top right-hand side of your profile, click on the three dots to access the “Manage your Account” section.
- Here, simply click on the button, “switch to Pro Account.”
- Select your business category, then click “done.”
Once that is done, your Pro account will be active, and you can now access the TikTok analytics section.
2. Identify your Audience’s Top Territories
This allows you to know exactly where your top audience lives. It is crucial in determining the best time to post on TikTok, helping you structure your posting schedule.
And, this is simple! Just scroll down on the “Followers” tab to see the regions where most of your audience resides. From this, you can now structure your posting timelines.
But does the location of your audience matter? Absolutely, Yes!
Just like other social media apps, TikTok users are spread all over the planet. Therefore, even if you have a small account, you will have a few followers beyond your country. And a global audience influences the amount and type of content you produce.
Time zones determine the busy hours of your account and the viewing of your content. But if you want to concentrate on a local audience, you should post based on your time zone. As your localized account grows, you'll get more followers from your location.
However, you have to determine if you're localized or cater to international audiences from the start, to choose the right to post.
3. Determine when Your Audience is most Active
After you know where your audience is located, it’s time to determine when they are active on the platform. And TikTok analytics offers this solution too.
From the “Followers tab,” scroll down to the “Followers Activity.” Here, you’ll find accurate data about when most of your followers were active. It gives you the data in terms of days and even hours. This way, you can easily tailor your postings to fit your audience’s active timelines.
4. Change the UTC Times to Your Local Timezone
Now, the timelines given on TikTok analytics won’t help you if you are not under the UTC zone (Coordinated Universal Time), as given on the platform. Therefore, change these timelines to your local timezone to have a clear picture of when the best time to post on TikTok is for you would be.
For instance, if you are in Delaware, which is in the EST time zone, you must deduct 5 hours from the UTC timeline to get your exact local timeline. This is because EST time is 5 hours behind UTC time.
Now armed with the best time to post on TikTok for your audience, you can leverage the information to make viral posts that will make you money.
5. Create a Tracking Spreadsheet
TikTok only gives you the data on your content performance for the past seven days. Thus, having a spreadsheet that records data on the best-performing times helps you make informed decisions.
Finding out when you achieved the best results helps you know your best time to post on TikTok and increase traffic and playtime.
How to Go Viral on TikTok
1. Create Your Brand.
This is the first and most important step while seeking to go viral and make money on TikTok. You need to define who you are, what you are good at, and who your target market is. This will guide you on the type of content to post.
You need to specialize in a certain niche that people can identify you with. For instance, will you post funny videos, romantic ones, or educational ones? Your brand is how the people and companies looking for influencers will view you.
2. Create Interesting Content
You can’t post just any type of video on TikTok and expect to garner enough following. You have to post content that people will love and which keeps them glued to your account.
Remember, your influence on TikTok will be determined by your content. You need to work hard to identify the right content and deliver it to your audience the right way. Make fresh, unique, and engaging content.
Also, be consistent. With the right videos and consistency, you will certainly get enough following to start making money.
Also, making quality videos is paramount here. If you wish to use external video editing tools/apps besides the platform’s built-in ones, here are some incredible options:
- ViaMaker – this is a video editing app by Bytedance that lets you create incredible videos.
- BeeCut – another free video editing tool specifically designed to make things easy for beginners.
- Zoomerang – the app allows you to watch TikTok videos as you learn to make some yourself.
Having quality, interesting videos, and knowing the best time to post on TikTok, are three ingredients of success you cant ignore.
Understanding the For You Page on TikTok
The ‘For You' section is significant on TikTok because it's the most frequented page and suggests specific videos for each user. From here, users can explore content from creators that they don't even follow. So, when you post your videos at the right time, you increase your chances of a positive reaction.
If your videos can appear on the For You page, you are in luck. It means that you can reach even the TikTok users that aren't following you.
However, your content has to meet TikTok algorithms' requirements to feature on the page. These algorithms are a closely kept secret, although it all depends on the interactions with posts, followed accounts, watched videos, and dismissed videos. Therefore, hashtags, captions, data, and sound play a significant role during curation.
TikTok uses the account settings to recommend a video by considering the user's location, language preference, selected categories, and mobile device type. Switching to a pro account provides you with the information on where your videos are popping up.
Most importantly, TikTok trends change frequently, and whatever may have worked before may not work again. So, you have to research and create high-quality content that your audience can't get enough of.
How the Algorithm Works
The TikTok algorithm is different from other social media platforms. It curates tailor-made videos for the user depending on their data and history. And, previous well-performing videos and follower counts don't affect the algorithm's suggestions.
The algorithm intends to interfere with repetitive patterns by not showing different videos from the same creator in one day. The system avoids repeating previously watched videos.
The algorithm diversifies content by including videos that are not popular or don't relate to the user. This gives a chance to users to discover new content creators without getting stuck with monotonous content.
If you are looking for high engagement for your videos, your content should have the following;
- Likes
- Shares
- Rewatching
- Comments
- Videos watched till the end
Although completion rates and rewatching rank highly, your videos are rated with the above five engagement values.
Also, engagement and velocity trigger the algorithm, and you need some likes to be passed to a larger audience. If your content doesn't engage users from the start, it will be buried and never get a chance to be viewed.
Do People Make Money on TikTok
The truth is people do make good money on TikTok. Influencers can make money on this platform in various ways, right from selling stuff online to sponsorships.
However, how much money each content creator makes varies based on various factors such as the number of followers and the type of content.
Here are the most common ways through which people are making money on TikTok.
1. Growing and Selling Accounts
This is one of the easiest ways of making money on TikTok, which has become quite popular. Like with other platforms such as Instagram and YouTube, TikTok is all about your following. How many people follow and love your content?
If you can create content that attracts a massive following, you can be sure to get incredible offers from interested buyers. As businesses adapt to new ways of reaching potential customers, social media has given them just the right platform. The more following a TikTok account has, the more money it can fetch.
Ideally, all you need is to pick the right niche and produce entertaining content that attracts your target audience. If people love your offering, you can be sure to have an immense following.
Individuals and brands are benefiting from these accounts by selling their products to the massive followings. They do so by live-streaming their product launches or even holding live auctions.
See related: 70 Legit Ways to Make Extra Money (the Ultimate Guide)
2. Management Services
Many businesses and individuals have social media platforms but don’t have the time or knowledge to manage them. If you are good at this, you can offer your expertise for a fee.
Some influencers also get an instant surge of followers, which can be really challenging, and they need someone to help them manage the account.
3. Manage Influencer Campaigns
Another incredible way of making money on TikTok is managing influencer campaigns. This means that you’ll be the broker between an influencer or content creator and a brand seeking to work with the influencer.
You’ll be handling everything from framing the agreement to ensuring that all deliverables are met. You charge a fee for being the coordinator and seeing that everything runs smoothly.
4. Influencer Marketing
This is similar to influencer marketing on other social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. Here, companies hire influencers to promote their products and generate sales.
Companies and brands look for influencers with a massive following, hire them, and use their videos to create awareness and promote the brands’ products to the audience. Influencers are making good money from this.
5. Selling Branded Merchandise
Once you’ve garnered enough following and have become a bigwig on the platform, you can start selling your own products. This means creating your own line of unique products like branded hoodies, makeup products, etc.
6. Sponsored Content Posts
Now, this can make you awesome amounts of money. In 2019, Loren Gray made over $2.6 million, with a following of over 45 million.
She achieved this by landing a major promotion deal from Revlon, where she now creates content for Revlon’s TikTok account. She also creates Revlon-sponsored posts for her account.
Therefore, with enough following, companies are out there looking for you.
See related: 14 Ways to Make Money Online Without a Website (Or Blog!)
How Much Do TikTokers Make?
As I stated earlier, earning money on TikTok is primarily dependent on how many followers you have.
The larger the following, the more money you can make. For instance, TikTokers with over 100,000 followers can easily make somewhere between $200 and $5,000 monthly. Those enjoying a following of 1 million and more can make even better incomes.
However, unlike most social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube, TikTok doesn’t share its ads income with influencers. Instead, they reward TikTokers with a following surpassing 100,000 from a Creator Fund they started. This is paid based on the number of views on videos, among other factors.
This money is not much, according to TikTokers. For instance, Preston Seo, a personal finance influencer, earned around $1,664 from this fund in five months despite his 1.6 million followers.
But, how much does TikTok pay per view? Well, the platform doesn’t have a clear pay for every view, and the payment varies for different people. However, the Creator fund is paying influencers around 2 to 4 cents for every 1000 views.
Much of the money that influencers make on TikTok is from other options like influencer marketing, as mentioned above.
How Many Likes on TikTok to Get Paid
TikTok provides a calculator to help content creators calculate their earnings from videos. The calculator takes into account both the size of your following and the number of likes on TikTok videos posted.
If your TikTok account has over 10,000 followers and around 60,000 likes, you may make up to $32 for each video you post. This will, however, depend on the level of engagement.