We love creating great content, not only does it give us something interesting to share with our followers; it gets our creative juices flowing and keeps us sane!
So, after you’ve spent time creating the perfect blog article or graphic that your customers are going to love, you’ll want as many of them to see it as possible. Social Media is a wonderful way to share your work across your network, but posting at the right time is essential for maximum exposure.
Where do your customers hangout?
The key to posting at the right time on social media is to start by thinking about your audience and which networks they are most likely to be on. Focus on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter if you are catering for B2B customers or try Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you want to reach a B2C audience.
What are your social media goals?
Having a clear idea of what you want from your customers once you’ve shared your content will help you find the right time to post online. Do you want your customers to click-through to your website and browse further pages? Do you want them to comment on or share your post? Do you want them to perform a specific action such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading something? Whatever your intention is for the post, keep this in mind when choosing the best time to share it.
Why is this important? Imagine you are commuting to work in the morning, sitting on the train with time to kill. If you’re anything like us, you’ll probably be browsing twitter for interesting articles to read so you feel like you’ve spent your time productively. This would make the morning commute a great time for a business to share an article for people to read in-depth.
Or perhaps your customers are more likely to browse Facebook on the weekends and evenings while they are relaxing. They will have time to read posts that grab their attention and perhaps even share them with friends if they really like it!
Some guidelines to get you started
There has been a lot of research into finding the best times to post on social media. The list below shows the best posting times for each social media network.
Mostly used for keeping up with friends and family, people are most active on Facebook during the hours of 12-1pm on Saturday and Sunday, 3-4pm on Wednesday and 1-4pm on Thursday and Friday.
Twitter is used at home and at work, usually when people are commuting or during breaks. The best time to post on Twitter is 12-3pm Monday to Friday and 5-6pm on a Wednesday afternoon.
Linkedin is a social network used by professionals and mostly during business hours. The best times to post on Linkedin are 7:30-8:30am weekday mornings, 12-1pm weekday afternoons and again at 5-6pm during the working week.
Linkedin users are also active from 10-11am on Tuesday mornings.
Currently Pinterest has a higher number of female users, but it is becoming more popular with male users too. The best time to post on Pinterest is during the afternoon and evening between 2pm and 5pm in the week. When posting on Pinterest on the weekend it is best to post 8 and 11pm on Saturdays.
Designed for mobile use, Instagram can be used anywhere at any time but is mostly used between Monday and Thursday and less so during the hour between 3pm and 4pm.
The important thing to remember when posting on social media is to think about your audience and their habits and lifestyle. The more you understand your customers, the easier it is to talk to them!