Navigating the minefield that is the best time to post on social media is a topic that has been widely discussed in the digital marketing industry.
Whilst social media is a fantastic tool to showcase who you are and what you offer, build a strong online presence and ultimately grow your business, your content is unlikely to perform well by simply posting content as and when you feel like it.
After spending time crafting engaging content and creating beautiful imagery/video, the last thing you want to do is stifle its performance by posting at the wrong time.
In order to get the best result from your social media marketing, you must consider the following:
- Which platform are we posting on?
- Who is our audience?
- When is our content most and least likely to be seen and interacted with?
Whilst timing is the not the be all and end all in this case, it’s inevitable that posting at some times perform better than others. It is worth noting that there are many other factors that also contribute towards the success of your posts including the quality of your content, the relevance of your post and the algorithm of the social network.
It’s safe to say that understanding how your customers interact and use social media is a tricky task, especially since audience behaviour was significantly impacted by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, so what we once knew about our customers, is now likely to be outdated.
The good news is that social media platforms gather data about your audience and their social media usage which you can review and use to influence your posting schedule. Insights that you can discover include the age, gender and geographic location of your audience, as well of the time of day they’re likely to be online etc.
By taking these findings and trends into account and learning from previous post performance, we’re able to plan content more effectively and increase the likelihood of achieving better results.
This is more difficult if your business’ target audience are in different countries and time zones, as the peak time for engagement will differ depending on where the user is in the world. However, it’s a great starting point to frame your content planning strategy and schedule.
How you run your personal Facebook profile tends to be very different to how you would manage a business Facebook page. Whilst you may post what you had for your breakfast at 11am on a Saturday morning on your personal profile, businesses typically need to adopt more of a strategic approach when considering what content to post and when.
Many have noticed a recent shift in Facebook’s algorithm, with the organic reach of Facebook business posts taking a hit. This means that businesses are facing even more of an uphill battle in order to make their page and content visible, making posting time even more important.
Posting when few of your potential customers are active on Facebook is not a great use of your time and resources, and once your audience then comes online, your post is then likely to be old news.
Whilst the best time to post can alter depending on the day, Facebook users tend to be most active over lunchtime mid-week which suggests that many people like to head to Facebook during the work breaks.
The everchanging Instagram algorithm can be hard to read, but don’t lose hope! There are certain best practices that you can follow to get more eyes on your content and yield great results.
Instagram values recency, so if you post more frequently on the platform at peak times, you can use this to your advantage and gain a higher chance of your posts being shown in feeds.
Typically, people tend to check their Instagram feed while commuting to work in the early morning and during downtime, so posting before people start work, over lunchtime and on an evening is a safe bet.
Whilst Twitter is the go-to platform for keeping up with breaking news and discovering viral content, it is also a popular tool amongst businesses.
When scrolling down your news feed, you may have noticed snippets of conversation between users and brands. Whether it’s to solve a customer service issue or simply a fun interaction with a customer, many brands have hopped on the Twitter train as it’s a great way to connect with people in real-time.
This type of usage means that businesses and delegates are most likely to be present on Twitter during standard work hours, between 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday. Whereas, personal accounts are likely to be more active early in a morning, ahead of the working day, and on a lunchtime.
Depending on who your customer is, you can use this as a guide to base your post schedule on.
LinkedIn is a platform that has been built around connecting professionals and businesses and is commonly used to recruit, network, learn and grow a career.
It is therefore no surprise that the majority of LinkedIn users are active during the working day. To get the most out of your content, we’d recommend concentrating your posting between 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday and avoiding the weekends, where engagement will drop.
That being said, LinkedIn has seen a big shift in engagement and active times since the pandemic, with flexible working becoming more of a norm. Again, it’s worth keeping in mind your target audience, and when they are likely to be working and active.
QUICK TIPS:
- Post when you have something important to say – quality over quantity
- Avoid posting straight after another post has been published – you don’t want to stifle performance by posting too closely together
- There isn’t one universal time to post – get to know your audience and when they’re active
- Keep checking back to your own social media insights and statistics, and tweak to fit your audience
- Test, test, test! We can advise on the best times to post all we like, but the truth is, every business, page, and social media account is different. The only way to know for sure when your best times to post are, is by posting, monitoring performance, switching it up next time, and comparing results. If your last morning post was a flop, try your next post in an evening, and the next in an afternoon – you’ll soon work out when your audience is most likely to engage.
And, as always, if you need further help with your Social Media Management, all you have to do is get in touch: info@socialprogress.co.uk