When should brands tweet for the greatest reach?

The subject and wording of a tweet is often (though not always) less important than its timing. Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for when to tweet, but there’s plenty of research and tools to help you make the most of the Twitter account you manage.

Time of day

According to data compiled by the marketing firm Lemon.ly, the most traffic on Twitter occurs from 9 to 11 a.m. ET and 1 to 3 p.m. ET. Research from HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella found that the best time to tweet is 5 p.m. ET.

The takeaway: Spread your tweets out throughout the day with an emphasis on late afternoon.

KISSMetrics pulled data compiled by Zarrella to show the breakdown of tweets in the United States:

• 48 percent of tweets are from the East Coast;
• 33 percent of tweets are from the Central time zone;
• 14 percent are from the West Coast.
• Nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population is located in the Central and Eastern Time zones.

The takeaway: Think East Coast time.

Day of the week