Tips For Learning the Best (and Worst) Times to Post on Social Media

Have you ever published what you thought was a great post, but didn’t see the reaction you were hoping for?

Let’s face it. The trickiest part of increasing engagement and awareness on social media for your brand can very well be knowing the best (and worst) times to reach your audience! Although, it can be the most difficult aspect of social media to master, it’s also one of the most important, because the time of a post determines how many people see and interact with your brand.

Below are a few tips to help your brand’s messaging reach the largest number of people on social media!

 1. Know Your Target Audience:

Figuring out the habits of your target audience, and when your audience logs onto their social media accounts is key. It’s important to always be mindful of where your target audience is during the day. For example, if your target audience is teenagers or young adults, you should probably stay away from posting during school hours. If your target audience is men, ages 35-50, before and after work hours may be your best bet! Think logically, about where your target audience may be, or what they may be doing on certain days and at certain times. 

2.  Use Your Tools:

If you’re a company who already uses analytic tools for social media. It’s important to use these tools regularly. If you don’t use any tools, you may want to consider investing in one.  For example, a program called, Crowdbooster, can track your top and worst preforming posts over any period of time. It’s important to check these top and worst performing posts often, and look for patterns in the time of day those posts were scheduled for. For example, if your two top performing posts were both around 6pm, then it’s your best bet that 6pm is the best time for you to continue to post.

3.  Do Your Research:

There are several studies on the best (and worst) times to post on social media. For example, FastCompany.com states that the highest average click through on Facebook happens daily between 1pm-4pm, with the peak being Wednesdays at 3pm. Also, peak scheduling times for Twitter are Mondays-Thursday 9am-3pm.

Overall, a combination of knowing your target audience, using your analytical tools, and doing research outside of your company, can help you learn the best and worst times to post on your social media pages. It may be tricky at first, but once you figure out what works and what doesn’t for your social media, the process becomes much easier.

Taken from: http://www.fastcompany.com/

 

This post was written by Bethany Couture. Bethany is a Social Media Content Specialist with Media Connect Partners.