TrackMaven has analyzed more than 17.5 million social media posts from more than 17,000 brands in order to provide a listing of the best times to post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.

The overall best times of day (Eastern) and days of the week to post on social media are:

Twitter: 5 p.m., Thursday
Facebook: 8 p.m., Thursday
LinkedIn: 9 a.m., Wednesday
Instagram: 7 p.m., Friday
Pinterest: 1 a.m., Friday

But TrackMaven has gone a step further, breaking down the posts by industry—75 in all! "Industry-specific information for the best times to post on social media is incredibly important when considering how audiences interact with different content," they wrote. "The best time to post varies depending on what your brand is writing about and which audiences you are trying to reach." 

So for say Hospital and Health Care, the best Twitter time shifts to 3 am Wednesday—middle of the week, before most people rise. And for Facebook it's Thursday at 9 am. LinkedIn is Friday at 6 am, maybe a time when that community can take a breath. For Higher Education, the best Twitter time is Wednesday at 3 pm, Facebook Tuesday at 5 am, and LinkedIn Saturday at 5 pm.

"Our findings also highlight just how necessary it is for businesses to develop a channel-specific social media strategy for distributing their content," they wrote.

Click here to access the TrackMaven report.

At the SIPA Annual 2017 Conference, June 5-7, in Washington, D.C., Jaclyn Baldovin, online content manager for Business Management Daily, will lead a session titled LinkedIn Marketing to Grow Your Lists and Maximize SEO. I get the sense she will be more concerned with how you use LinkedIn vs. the exact timing.

"Focus on building a community around your brand," Baldovin has said. "LinkedIn marketing is really trial and error; it's not a one size fits all. It's also [designed to be] always changing, so stay on top of it. If you add a skill or win an award, add that. And keep continuing to grow your personal network."

She also favors creating showcase pages as your sub-brands and then tying those sub-brands back to the main company. "We want to tie our sub-brands back to Business Management Daily."

Ragan Communications had an informative post about LinkedIn last week. They highlighted these features:

Matched Audiences - which enables brand managers to bring in specific groups outside LinkedIn and use the platform to deliver targeted messages.

Website Retargeting - where marketers can tailor ads to LinkedIn users who have visited their websites.

Account Targeting - enables you to upload a list of company names, which it will then match against the roughly 12 million company pages on the platform.

Contact Targeting - enables you to upload lists of individuals' email addresses.

Ragan also had three tips for using LinkedIn:

1. Keep it professional. Share lessons you've learned while working, interesting articles that relate to your industry or thoughtful questions that you'd ask during a conference or networking event.

2. Flex your writing muscles. Use as a content-marketing vehicle

3. Personalize interactions and cut out spam. When connecting with someone on LinkedIn, send a brief message about why you'd like to connect. This is especially useful if you'd like to chat with them about a potential opportunity or you recently met them at an event. It's also much better than a blank request.

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Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 and SIIA in 2013 as editorial director…