If you reached here by searching for “optimal times to post,” you’ve likely read a number of articles and studies on the topic. And do you know what the information in this article will be? It’s hard to say. Totally agree.
Let me elaborate on the factors involved and how you may find out more particular information; we have it, don’t worry.
Do we really care about the “ideal time to post on social media” in 2023?
Well, not if you’re looking for a single rule that applies everywhere and ignores caveats like this.
company type (B2B or B2C), field, audience demographics (age, gender, and income), preferred time zone, location, and social media platform(s), as well as preferred device for accessing said material.
And so forth; you get the point. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I can’t advise you that “the greatest time to post on Facebook is Monday, 2 pm,” even if that turns out to be the case. For the simple reason that I do not have complete knowledge of the foregoing with regards to you and your company.
Good news: you do. So, we shouldn’t expect any major difficulties.
Let’s start with what (some of) the existing evidence suggests
To begin, it’s important to keep in mind that while marketing may be reduced to a series of statistics, they are by no means uniform. There is no handbook or guidebook that can help you organise your social media schedule (like Facebook or Instagram). (If there was, I wouldn’t have a career writing these things).
And I know how much that stinks.
But, in another sense, it does not.
Indeed, studies have shown that specific times of day are optimal for posting to various social media platforms on average. To give only one example:
Periods of time throughout the workday when employees are allowed to relax and recharge.
When they’re sipping coffee and checking Facebook in the morning.
While they’re finishing off work for the day, or after supper when they’re doing a little browsing or checking email on their phones or computers.
Maybe on a Monday night, when your consumers are getting ready for the week ahead.
Indeed, as you can probably already understand, depending on the demographics of the audience, we may be able to arrive at some sort of mean. If you’re in the business of selling something to healthcare professionals, for instance, you should know that they probably won’t have time to browse social media sites like Facebook or Instagram over the course of their day. Alternatively, self-employed mothers who continue working after putting their children to bed.
For example, B2C companies should prioritise posting on Facebook between 9 and 10 am, 11 and 12 pm, and 4 and 5 pm, as recommended by CoSchedule. These hours make sense, as they correspond with lunch and leaving for the day.
Naturally, though, this is only a fraction of the whole reality.
Now here’s the deal…
As such, that time of day is ideal for social media updates. yours
Of course, you will likely fit in a bigger industry context, and it’s a good idea to check the benchmarks for your business type, but no one will know the optimal time to publish for your individual audience better than you. (Was that a shock to you?)
You only need tracking tools (I know, I’m making it seem ridiculously simple).
To track the performance of your material on social media, you can use tools like:
Instances where people react to your online content
Who responds to what sort of social media messages, and why.
Working up a plan of action
Establish a normal publishing schedule for social media
This may take more iteration, but at least you have solid information to work with now. Some things to think about are:
- The means at your disposal for developing and distributing content. Consider the additional time needed to produce material like videos. The idea is to compose your pieces in bulk and then set up automatic publication.
With the tools at your disposal, you can efficiently oversee comments on your posts (which, of course, you want to be having to increase engagement rates). There is a helpful piece of technology called auto-moderation that you can use.
- The business you’re in, the product or service you’re offering, and the kinds of material you’re hoping to create and capable of making.
Establish the scope of the discussion
You may use the information on how many people interact with a post to learn when they are most interested in talking about a certain subject. So get in and organise your days according to certain categories.
The wise move is to establish weekly publishing schedules for recurrent content forms. People will start to recognise your postings and look forward to them (if they’re interesting, of course).
Plan out your articles in advance
To help reduce your workload and provide you better control over when you publish. With a bird’s-eye perspective of your material, you may make broad modifications and revisions and also know what to anticipate and when.
Be prompt in your reply
Your interaction rate is dependent on a number of factors, including (obviously) the time and substance of your social media post and how you handle comments. Your quick, pertinent comments will not only keep the conversation going, but will also bring you closer to your audience.
While it’s true that time equals money, that’s just half the picture
Correct timing is everything when it comes to social media. Even if the content you provide is highly relevant and fascinating, if you publish it at an inopportune moment, your audience may never see it. Nevertheless, time is not everything when it comes to keeping your audience interested.
After you’ve established the optimal posting schedule for generating interest, you’ll want to ensure that your content strategy is in step with the things that are most important to your target audience.