Is there such thing as the "perfect time to post"?
In the social media biz, we often hear contradictory opinions on what the best time of day to post is.
But fret no longer social babes! Here are are some solid insights from the experts.
Twitter is constantly over-saturated with content, and as we all know the lifetime of a tweet is super short – 18 minutes to be exact! This makes it one of the most competitive platforms where your posts disappear the fastest. We’ve narrowed effective tweeting down to three things:
-Content is key (duh!) – know your audience and make sure your copy aligns with your brand voice and values, keep the tone conversational and witty, remember you only have 140 characters – make them count!
-Always use an image or a gif, multimedia content will help make your page more visually engaging and entice people into to reading what you have to say.
-You’ve gotta give to get, be active, engage with your peer’s content to make your presence known.
As for timing, here’s 3 opinions according to data gathered from a variety of organizations:
The Huffington Post: “For maximum retweets, post at 5 p.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m. Additionally, 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. also deliver higher click-through rates. The best days to Tweet for business-to-business organizations is Monday through Friday, for business-to-consumer it’s the weekends and Wednesdays.”
Hubspot: Between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Kissmetrics: Weekdays at 5 p.m., where the highest percentage of Retweets occur.
If you feel like every time you post to Facebook you’re taking a shot in the dark, you’re not alone!
Unlike Twitter, a massive 75 percent of your Facebook post’s engagement will happen within the first five hours, which means that while it’s not a huge amount of time, you have more leverage than with a Tweet.
Key Trick! To make the most of this time, you want to ensure you’re paying attention to when your audience is most active.
Discovering the right time to post with Facebook does depend on your audience and business, but here are some recommendations from a few top players!
Quick Sprout: Thursdays and Fridays, either at 1 p.m. for the most shares, or 3 p.m. for the most clicks. As explained, “The less people want to be at work, the more they are on Facebook!”
Optimizely: Mondays through Thursdays between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Microsoft: Thursdays and Fridays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Hubspot: Thursdays and Fridays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Instagram was created under the idea of instantaneous updates – however that is totally not the case these days!
Instagram's new algorithm doesn't deliver content to your feed chronologically, it is now based on engagement, therefore timing isn't as crucial as it used to be. However it should still be taken into account, as the time of day impacts how active the Instagram community is. Think about yourself as the user, what times do you check your Instagram? (and if you’re anything like us it is probably hourly throughout the day…no shame). But even for Insta-addicts there are some prime posting times to help generate engagement. Mornings, lunch breaks, and late at night before falling asleep. You should also be considering your audience, where is your following mainly located? Are you on the same time zone?
In addition to considering these factors, test out some of the following recommended times and see if it impacts your enggement rates.
Hubspot: Anytime from Monday to Thursday except from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Latergramme: Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Weekdays between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m.
Social media isn’t a one size fits all formula, it is ever-changing and with this uncertainty comes great opportunity. Take the time to understand your following and what your market wants. The more you track your engagement, the more successful your posts will become! And at the end of the day be passionate about what you are producing and have fun with it, nobody likes a stickler for the rules!
