Social media has become indispensable to marketing. If you want to maintain a strong Internet presence, reach more people, and promote your products and services more effectively online, social media is necessary – a view summed up in the title of a recent article from Forbes: “It’s No Longer Internet Marketing Without Social Media.”
Many considerations go into using social media optimally. These include choosing the right kind of media, tailoring the content to fit each site, and focusing on the platforms where you’re most likely to reach current and prospective customers. However, there’s a critical factor businesses often overlook: the timing of their social media posts.
Timing is critical
Social media has an avalanche of content pouring through it. Making your posts stand out requires more than just creating informative, engaging, and eye-catching content.
You may come up with a clever tweet, only to have relatively few people see it. The Facebook post you carefully crafted may go unnoticed (or get noticed, but with fewer likes or click-throughs) if you share it at the wrong time, or on a less-than-favorable day. Coming up with a social media posting schedule is essential. Consider the best times to post on different sites.
Choosing the best social media posting times
Facebook. In general, the weekend or the end of the week (Thursday and Friday) are the best days for posting on the world’s largest social media platform. By the end of the week people are in a more relaxed state of mind, and perhaps more receptive to the content you post, especially if it’s something they’ll be eager to share with family and friends on the site. Good times of day tend to be in the first few hours of the afternoon or during mid-morning.
Twitter. People seek Twitter for quick bites of content, including when they’re swamped with work but just need a brief distraction. Some of the best times to post are in the middle of week, especially on Wednesday (hump day) from mid-afternoon to early evening.
YouTube. Given that people are generally less likely to watch new videos in the middle of the work day, what tends to be a better time to post them are weekends, particularly in the mid to late morning. If you do post them during the work week, later in the week is usually better, around when people would be eating lunch.
Pinterest. Saturday is good day for this popular platform. Evenings and nights are also a good bet; people often like to relax with Pinterest after a long day, and search for the most striking or beautiful visuals to build up their boards.
LinkedIn. People use this site in the course of their work for networking and looking up job applicants, potential clients, and other people they need to work with. Posting to LinkedIn on weekdays, sometime between 9-5, is effective (with afternoons more favorable than mornings).
Instagram. Another site people love to check for a quick break and much-needed distraction. One popular time to post content is during the work week lunch hour; however, evenings and nights are also favorable Instagram times.
Are these times set in stone?
Although these social media posting times are a useful general guide, keep in mind that you always have to double-check the specifics when it comes to your current and prospective customers.
Your customers may have their own patterns of social media use and engagement that don’t precisely match up with the times suggested here. Their demographics, preferences, likely jobs/careers, and similar attributes play an influential role; you also have to consider the kinds of content you share, including its emotional quality and themes. Plus, think about the time zones many of them are concentrated in.
It’s important to use data analytics to check what your customers are actually doing and adjust your social media posting schedule accordingly. Think of the days and times in this guide as a general framework to get you started.
If you have any questions or need assistance with mapping out the best possible social media marketing strategy, please contact us. We’ll help you figure out the posting schedule that will significantly increase the chances of customers spotting your content, engaging with it, and doing business with you.
