How Paying Attention to Posting Times Nabs Social Media Engagement
At McCauley Marketing Services, we spend a lot of time coming up with marketing strategies that most effectively reach our clients’ target audiences. This includes a lot of trial and error, tried-and-true methods, and discussion to determine what works and what simply does not. It may sound obvious, but one way that has proven effective to pulling in and engaging fans and followers is watching the clock. No, no…we don’t mean monitoring social media 24/7 or bolting out of the office at 5:00PM—we mean determining the right posting time for each client to reach the right people.
Posting times vary greatly depending on the social media platform you are using. Various research studies exist touting to know the exact time to post on Facebook each day, but we find that this really varies depending on our audiences. We use Facebook Insights to determine what time the most people are online for each of our clients, and will try to post around that time unless the social content we are posting is time specific (i.e. an event that is occurring that day will be posted early in the day, regardless). According to Social Media Today, engagement rates on Facebook tend to increase 18% when workers hit a “slump,” usually on Tuesdays or Fridays. Research from BufferSocial suggests that around 1:00PM is the ideal time to get shares, while posting at 3:00PM can get you some extra clicks.
When it comes to Twitter, use your weekends wisely. Twitter usage highly increases on the weekends, so it’s best to schedule more tweets on Saturday and Sunday. Scheduling tools like Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, and Buffer are all reliable options for scheduling tweets ahead of time. Don’t be afraid of Twitter overload if you’re just posting 2 to 4 times per day—it’s easy for your tweet to get lost in the user’s stream if you don’t post often enough. On the other hand, posting on the weekends on LinkedIn offers no real benefits, as most people check it before or after work.
While statistics show that certain times are effective for upping post engagement, we notice a lot of adjustments and differences in our varying client’s social media based on demographics. Remember to always do what is best for your specific audience. For more insights on social media or if you’re interested in learning how to effectively take hold of your marketing, contact us today. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.