How to plan your LinkedIn posting schedule
A posting schedule answers three questions: on which days you post, at what time, and what you post about. The planner above answers all three, but the choices behind it are worth understanding.
- Start with your audience. Decide who you are writing for and where they are. A B2B audience reading during the working day behaves differently from a general audience scrolling in the evening.
- Pick a frequency you can sustain. A schedule you keep for three months is worth more than an ambitious one you drop after two weeks.
- Match themes to your objective. Thought leadership, lead generation and brand awareness call for different kinds of posts.
- Use research as a starting point. Large studies show where engagement tends to be higher. Your own results decide what you keep.
How many times should you post on LinkedIn?
Neither study sets a required number of posts. The practical answer is the number you can publish consistently without dropping quality. For many B2B teams that is two or three posts a week, which is why the planner defaults to three.
If you post more often, spread posts across the week rather than clustering them on one day, and keep the content types varied so each post has a reason to exist.
Best posting times by day
These are the figures the planner uses. Buffer reports the single highest-performing hour for each day. Sprout Social reports broader windows.
| Day | Buffer: top hour | Sprout Social: window | Planner (B2B) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 10 p.m. | 1–2 p.m. | 1 p.m. |
| Tuesday | 4 p.m. | 11 a.m.–5 p.m. | 4 p.m. |
| Wednesday | 4 p.m. | 11 a.m.–4 p.m. | 4 p.m. |
| Thursday | 5 p.m. | 11 a.m. and 1–5 p.m. | 4 p.m. |
| Friday | 3 p.m. | 11 a.m. and 1–2 p.m. | 1 p.m. |
The two studies use different datasets and methods, so their figures are not directly comparable. Weekends are left out because neither study treats them as a strong starting point for B2B content.
How to test your schedule
- Run it for four weeks. Fewer than four weeks gives you too few posts to compare.
- Rotate similar content. If every customer story goes out on Tuesday, you can’t tell whether the day or the content made the difference.
- Record results at the same point. For example, seven days after each post: impressions, reactions, comments, reposts and clicks.
- Compare by slot. Keep the times that consistently do better, and move the ones that don’t.
Plan when you post. Stay informed about what others post.
A great LinkedIn strategy isn't just about publishing at the right time. It's also about knowing what your competitors, customers and industry leaders are talking about.
LIMA helps you monitor selected LinkedIn companies and people with custom feeds, daily briefs and weekly movement reports.
LIMA is not a scheduling tool. It reads posts from the sources you choose and never posts on your behalf. See pricing
Frequently asked questions
Is the LinkedIn Posting Schedule Planner free?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no account, no LinkedIn login and no credit card.
Where do the recommended posting times come from?
From two 2026 studies: Buffer’s analysis of more than 4.8 million LinkedIn posts (September 2026) and Sprout Social’s engagement research (March 2026). Each slot in your schedule shows which study it is based on.
Why are B2B and general audiences given different times?
For B2B audiences the planner keeps posts inside working hours, using Sprout Social’s windows and Buffer’s top hours where they overlap. For a general professional audience it uses Buffer’s highest-engagement hour for each day, which can fall in the evening.
Does the planner post to LinkedIn for me?
No. It creates a schedule you can copy, download as a CSV or add to your calendar as weekly reminders. Posting is up to you or your scheduling tool.
Which time zone should I choose?
The time zone where most of your audience is. Both studies report times in the audience’s local time, so the planner does the same.
How long should I test a schedule?
Four weeks is a reasonable first test. Compare similar posts across the slots, then keep the times that work and change the ones that don’t.