Best times to post on TikTok in 2025

TikTok, one of the fastest-growing entertainment apps, is a powerhouse social media app. Audiences are captivated with its short, engaging video format. For marketers, it’s a goldmine of opportunity to reach a younger, highly active demographic. But creating entertaining content isn’t enough. To make an impact for your business on TikTok, you need to understand the platform’s unique traits.

Understanding the best times to post on social media, especially on TikTok, allows you to maximize your visibility, boost engagement and capitalize on trends. The 2025 Sprout Social Index™ revealed that 37% of consumers prefer to keep up with trends and cultural moments on TikTok. With 82% of Gen Z users who have TikTok profiles, there’s an opportunity to engage with targeted demographics.

Brands who have a follower base in the US will need to reevaluate their network strategy to remain successful. Here’s what you need to know.

Learn how to identify your best times to post globally on TikTok with a free trial of Sprout Social and test our ViralPost® feature.

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When is the best time to post on TikTok?

 

Beyond viral and cultural trends, TikTok’s advanced algorithms and precise targeting capabilities have made it an indispensable platform for data-driven marketers. With over 2.65 billion monthly visits globally, understanding optimal posting times on TikTok is essential for maximizing reach for any brand on the app.

The best times to post on TikTok are Wednesdays between 2 and 5 p.m., as those hours experience higher engagement than the rest of the week. Our data suggests that posting Mondays through Thursdays beginning at noon through 5 p.m. also sees above-average engagement on the app.

With TikTok trends changing quickly, it’s important to understand trend lifecycles and how they influence consumer behavior and expectations. Once you understand how trends evolve and how consumers use the network to keep up with cultural moments, you can create a proactive TikTok marketing strategy rather than participate reactively.

What is the best day and time to post on TikTok?

We know the best time to post on TikTok overall, but what about for each day of the week?

Best time to post on TikTok on Monday

The best time to post on TikTok on Monday is from noon to 5 p.m. 

Afternoons see the highest engagement for TikTok Business Profiles, which align with afternoon social media user behavior.

Best time to post on TikTok on Tuesday

The hour that’s the best time to post on TikTok on Tuesdays is 5 p.m.

Despite the single hour of peak engagement, TikTok business accounts see similar above-average engagements during the afternoon hours.

Best time to post on TikTok on Wednesday

The best times to post on TikTok on Wednesdays are from 2 to 5 p.m.

Wednesdays on TikTok see the highest optimal send times for business pages compared to the rest of the week. In fact, there are 4x more peak hours of engagement on Wednesdays than on Tuesdays alone.

Best time to post on TikTok on Thursday

The best times to post on TikTok on Thursdays are from 3 to 5 p.m.

Similar to Wednesdays, there are above-average engagement with TikTok Business Profiles all throughout the day. Our data shows Thursdays, especially late afternoon hours, are the second-best days to post on TikTok. Keep in mind, your industry, business type and target audience as a few factors into when you’ll see similar high activity on the app.

Best time to post on TikTok on Friday

The best time to post on TikTok on Fridays is 5 p.m.

With only moderate engagement on the app throughout the day, the only above-average hour of engagement on TikTok is 5 p.m. Users are already winding down and kicking off their weekend activities.

Best time to post on TikTok on Saturday

The best time to post on TikTok on Saturdays is 9 to 11 a.m. and again at 5 p.m.

Peak hours of optimal send times on Saturday are in the mornings and once more in the late afternoon. Generally speaking, we noticed that Saturdays and Sundays see less engagement compared with the rest of the week across most social networks.

Best time to post on TikTok on Sunday

The best times to post on TikTok on Sundays are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sundays have less engagement throughout the day across most, if not all, social platforms. So, the best time to post on TikTok on Sundays is any time from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to see average engagement.

What are the best times to post on TikTok by industry?

The data above provides a global outlook on when the best times to post on TikTok are, but there are a few factors that determine when your peak hours of engagement on the app are. Industry is just one factor that plays into the success of your social posts. Content type, audience demographics and business location are just a few other factors to consider if you’re looking to get more views and engagement.

Use this industry-level data to help inform your publishing calendar, and test your optimal send times with social media experiments.

• Education & Schools
• Financial Services Industry
• Food & Beverage Industry
• Government
• Hospitals & Healthcare
• Nonprofit
• Retail
• Travel & Hospitality

Best times to post on TikTok for education and schools

 

A social media strategy for schools needs to engage with students past, present and future, as well as keep a pulse on brand health. From K12 to higher education institutions, schools saw more concentrated engagement times on TikTok on weekday evenings, especially Tuesdays and Wednesdays, compared to last year.

Keep in mind that some schools manage multiple social profiles (per college, athletics, etc.) to meet their goals and effectively target distinct audiences at the right time. Think of cultural moments that schools participate in, like March Madness, to keep their audiences engaged.

Schools and education social media resources

• Higher education social media strategy: How Gettysburg College makes the grade
• Post Performance Report: Higher ed institutions raising the bar on social
• 15 ways to use social media for education
• All aboard: How Purdue University increased their social media engagement by 24%

Best times to post on TikTok for financial services industry

 

Having a social media presence, even for regulated industries, is crucial. The financial services industry is no different. Businesses within the industry can use social media to build trust, manage customer relationships and educate their customers about financial products. Whether it’s to highlight market trends or risk management best practices, financial services businesses can use TikTok to create short, edutainment videos to directly engage target audiences.

On TikTok, the financial services industry sees above-average optimal send-time engagement during late afternoons or early evenings, but Mondays between the 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. hours see the highest engagement.

Financial services industry social media resources

• Social media for financial services: 5 tips to ace your marketing strategy
• For financial services brands, social media is a risk mitigation friend—not foe
• Navigating social media compliance across regulated industries

Best times to post on TikTok for food and beverage industry

 

The food and beverage industry, which includes restaurants, has evolved over the last several years. Online orders, apps, delivery services—all of these play into how these brands engage with customers. Offering unique promotions and updates suited to each social platform will keep your restaurant in mind for potential customers. Food and beverage brands use TikTok to share UGC as a creative way to build interest on new menu items and promotions to build interest and create buzz.

Food and beverage industry social media resources

• 5 tips from the man behind #Sprinklegate
• Papa Johns cuts customer service response time in half with Sprout Social
• How Sprout helps GRDC increase engagement with multiple generations of Australia’s grain farmers

Best times to post on TikTok for government

 

In today’s digital landscape, a strong social media presence is vital for government agencies, as citizens increasingly turn to these platforms for information and engagement. Agencies can leverage social media to disseminate critical public information, enhance citizen dialogue, provide educational resources, manage public perception and offer service updates. This improves transparency, strengthens community relations and builds public trust. On TikTok, government entities saw the highest engagement Tuesday evenings.

Government social media resources

• What government agencies need to know about social media archiving
• Social media tools for government: What your team needs for success
• Social media and government: how to keep citizens engaged
• How Lake Metroparks stays a step ahead on social media using Sprout Social

Best times to post on TikTok for hospitals and healthcare

 

Hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers use social media to educate the public, help patients feel prepared for their upcoming appointments, promote their programs for aspiring physicians, build trust and connect with their communities. Having an active social media presence allows hospitals and healthcare centers to engage directly with patients and answer questions.

Use TikTok to share short, engaging videos to educate the public on health topics, dispel common myths and promote overall wellness to their target audience. By showcasing their staff and sharing behind-the-scenes video, they can humanize their brand and build trust within the community.

Hospital and healthcare social media resources

• Social media for healthcare: How to keep patients engaged in the digital age
• The pros and cons of social media in healthcare
• How to realize the ROI of social media in healthcare
• A healthcare team’s guide to HIPAA compliance on social media
• The power of social listening for healthcare organizations

Best times to post on TikTok for nonprofit organizations

 

Civic, nonprofit and membership organizations use social media to amplify their missions and connect with their communities. Whether it’s to raise awareness about their causes, gain the support of volunteers and donors or foster a community, social media enables them to create those connections.

On TikTok, civic and nonprofit organizations saw above-average engagement throughout the day on Wednesdays. But we see the highest concentration of engagement content in the mornings between 6 and 9 a.m. Civic and nonprofit organizations’ goals are to foster connections necessary to promote their causes and educate audiences.

Nonprofit organizations social media resources

• 2 nonprofit social marketers share how they build & measure their social media strategies
• How the Royal National Institute of Blind People found a dedicated accessibility partner in Sprout
• Mission critical: How to find the right social media management tools for nonprofits

Best times to post on TikTok for retail

 

It’s not a surprise that nearly every stage of the customer journey happens on social media. Retailers and brands must use social media algorithms to their advantage. Consumers engage with brands on TikTok on most weekdays, in the afternoons. While we don’t have data on whether purchases are being made, we can assume product discovery, brand awareness and social shopping purchases are factored in these posts.

Retail social media resources

• How Patagonia Leads from a Foundation of Authenticity and Community [Webinar]
• What is social commerce? Stats, trends and tips marketers should know
• How to master social media for retail in the UK
• The best gifts for social media managers

Best times to post on TikTok for travel and hospitality

 

The travel and hospitality industries saw a concentrated shift in engagement on TikTok. From inspiring wanderlust with destination photos or showcasing hotel amenities or travel packages, travel and hospitality brands can engage audiences with high-quality video content.

Hospitality businesses continue to engage with audiences throughout the week, and they’re seeing a return on their efforts throughout most of the day. In general, for travel and hospitality businesses on TikTok, there’s significant engagement late afternoons on Wednesdays.

Travel and hospitality social media resources

• Social media and hospitality: How 3 brands are serving 5-star experiences
• International hotel chain Minor Hotels uses Sprout to boost its online presence
• Sprout Social helps keep NJ TRANSIT’s social strategy on track
• How to set up a travel social media marketing strategy
• How to manage multiple social media accounts

How to find your own best times to post on TikTok

Social marketers can plan content more effectively when they’re armed with data. As social media continues to evolve, brands and consumers will need to evolve with it. Staying aware of new content formats and trends might help you reach your audience in unexpected ways and build more authentic connections.

How to find your best time to post on TikTok with Sprout Social

A social media management tool like Sprout Social can help you drill into your analytics and develop tailored findings for your brand accounts across all networks, holistically and individually. Gain competitive insights by comparing your performance to your competitors, to find new opportunities for engagement.

Sprout’s ViralPost® technology uses the same data we used to look at all our customer accounts to find the best time to post, based on your account. ViralPost® algorithmically determines the results for our Optimal Send Times feature, a publishing option available in Professional and Advanced plans. Our proprietary machine learning feature isn’t new, but we’re constantly learning and improving our product to help brands surface insights faster. Our goal is to help people who use our product work more effectively.

With features like post tagging and cross-network reporting, you can separate different elements like post author or types of content, as well as how your posting time influenced your social success.

Step 1. Start your free Sprout Social trial: Sign up for a free trial of Sprout Social with your business email and connect to your social media profiles. This will allow the platform to gather data from your accounts and personalize the Optimal Send Times feature to your specific audience engagement patterns.

To connect Sprout to a TikTok account, you must be an admin for your brand’s TikTok page.

Step 2. Select networks. Open the Compose window in Sprout to craft your social media post. Select the TikTok profile(s) where you want to publish.

Step 3. Compose your message. Complete your post with a compelling caption, visuals and relevant hashtags.

Step 5. Schedule and publish: After you’ve added your additional details, schedule your TikTok post to publish at your chosen Optimal Send Time.

The specific times offered through Optimal Send Times are based on when your audience engages the most using your publishing history.

ViralPost® also continuously refines these suggestions, saving you time and effort from repeated analysis and allowing you more time to craft great content.

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How to find your best time to post on TikTok with Analytics

You may be ready to post content at these provided best engagement times as part of your strategy. But consider pairing this data with your own TikTok analytics. You may discover that your specific target audience is active at different times or at slightly different hours.

To find your best times to post with native TikTok analytics via desktop, follow these steps:

1. Login to your account at tiktok.com.
2. Hover over your profile icon, then click Business Suite.
3. Then, select Analytics in the left-hand navigation.
4. Under the Followers tab, you’ll find information about audiences, including their most active times.

If you’re looking for more of our findings from this year’s study of our customer data, see what we learned about the best times to post across eight industries on these networks:

• Best times to post on Social Media 2025
• Best times to post on Facebook 2025
• Best times to post on Instagram 2025
• Best times to post on LinkedIn 2025
• Best times to post on Twitter 2025

How Sprout gathered the data

We understand that these reports can raise questions about just where the data is coming from. That’s why we want to be clear about the data we pulled and how we got here.

Sprout Social’s Data Science team gathers this information by analyzing nearly 2.5 billion engagements across 600,000 social profiles across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube over a 4-month period. We synthesize this information in collaboration with our Data Science team to provide you with this article.

Unfortunately, we don’t have engagement data for Threads, yet.

What is the best time to post on TikTok for maximum exposure?

To optimize your TikTok posting schedule, consider posting on weekdays, especially Tuesday through Thursday afternoons between 3 and 5 p.m. These times may vary based on your industry, but engagement is generally high during midday and afternoons.

Sprout’s ViralPost® technology synthesizes your audience’s unique peak engagement times and helps tailor your scheduling strategy for maximum impact. Remember to factor in variables that may affect your posting strategy, such as target audience and demographics, campaign goals, content type and the content itself.

The data we provide is directional to put you on the right track. To find the best times to post on TikTok for your brand, start a free 30-day trial of Sprout Social and see ViralPost® in action. You can also request a personalized demo and try Sprout for yourself.