Working on social media campaigns takes time and effort. But why put all that effort in if your posts and ads aren’t being seen? Taking advantage of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn is one of the best ways to grow your brand and obtain additional recognition. The tricky thing with knowing when to post on social media is that there’s no real answer, unfortunately. All businesses vary and have a different demographic. Not all social media users are on their profiles all day every day, so there needs to be a strategy. After all, if you take the time to come up with an SEO plan, why wouldn’t you do the same with your social accounts, too?
Getting to Grips with the Various Platforms
If you want your audience to engage with your profiles, it’s important that you first understand what the various platforms are for. Once you get to grips with this, you’re more likely to be able to understand why your audience spends time scrolling through their various accounts. Think about it, if your target market is women aged between 18 and 30, their time spent on social media is going to be different from that of men aged between 45 and 60. It all comes down to you knowing the difference between Facebook and Instagram, as well as who your demographic is.
Trial and Error
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Knowing when to post isn’t something you’re going to know straight away. But once you’ve got your accounts active and had some time to delve into the analytics, you should get a much better understanding of what’s happening. You must remember that not all businesses are going to be the same. Just because something works for a breakfast bar that specialises in offering continental cuisine alongside other delicious delights, it doesn’t mean it’ll work for Joe Bloggs; the one-man-band who is a jack of all trades. As a general rule of thumb, however, there are a few times that research shows to work best:
People use Facebook on mobiles or smart devices as well as desktops and laptops. They usually tend to have access to it at home and at work.
- Post between 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, then 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. on weekends.
- Wednesdays at 12:00 p.m. and Thursday at 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. tend to perform well.
- Thursdays have the most engagement while Saturdays have the least.
- Bad times to post on Facebook tend to be on weekends before 8:00 a.m. and after 8:00 p.m.
People are able to access Twitter on mobiles, smart devices, desktop computers, and laptops. Again, it is something that people can use at work and at home. Twitter is treated much like an RSS feed, where people scroll down and browse posts during commutes and breaks.
- Twitter – 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.
- Sunday mornings are likely to receive the least amount of engagement.
Typically used by business professionals. They tend to access LinkedIn while at the office or during their commute as it’s often associated with work life rather than personal life.
- 7:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m., and 5:45 p.m. Monday to Friday.
- You’re more likely to see high engagement midweek (Tuesday – Thursday).
- Less engagement is typically experienced Friday through Monday.
Though you can access Instagram via desktop, it’s mainly used on mobile devices. High engagement times typically tend to be during work breaks or time away from the office, such as evenings and weekends.
- 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.
- 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. during the week, correlating with the commute home.
- Sundays are likely to be the worst day for engagement.
Guesstimate Before You Eliminate
Once you’ve started posting regularly on social media, you’ll be able to see when your accounts are most active. That’s why, to begin with, knowing when to post on social media is very much a trial and error process. You should start with informed guesses or take a look at the competition to see when they’re posting. If your competitors are posting at 1:00 p.m. but they aren’t getting any engagement, try posting a little earlier or later to see if this has any impact. What’s more, thinking logically about your audience should help with knowing when to post. Think about the following possibilities and it may just give you a good starting point:
- Will your audience be commuting to and from work? If so, mornings and evenings may be a great time for you to post as they’ll be able to sit and spend some time on their phone or smart device.
- Is it likely that your target market is in full-time work? If so, they may not get much time to spend on social media. If this is the case, try posting during what could be their lunch break.
Making these informed decisions will help you know when to post, but more importantly, when not to post. After all, what’s the point in doing all the hard work if no one is there to see it?
Analysing the Data
You will be able to know more about when your audience is on social media by looking at the analytics assigned with the account. By digging around in the right areas, you’ll be able to find out a lot more about your target market. This will help you with knowing when and what to post.
Managing and Planning Posts
Figuring out when to post on social media is just the beginning. Once you’ve got the timings nailed down, it’s all about the management of your posts across all of your accounts. While this may sound a little daunting at first, having a proper plan in place will help you out in the long run. When you know what the best times to post on social media are and you know what content gains the most engagement, you’ll be able to create a plan based on these two things. It’ll be worth setting up some kind of calendar or spreadsheet so that you know what’s going on. Try doing this in stages so that you’re able to keep yourself organised and on top of your game. You’ll then be able to schedule your activity in advance for the times that work best for your business.
