Timing is Everything!
As a small business, your presence on social media can be vital to your success. But, how do you know if your posts are being seen? One way is to carefully time the release of your posts to correspond with heavier internet traffic. Thankfully, many companies (e.g., Postcron, Google, and Fast Company) have done market-focused research on this very issue.
These three companies report the following:
Facebook:
Saturday is the day of the week which gets the most engagement on Facebook (Likes, Click throughs, and comments). PRO TIP: Google and Fast Company report that the worst time for a Saturday post is anytime after 8:00 PM;
Thursday and Friday have 18% more participation than other days of the week;
During the rest of the week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), posts published outside of normal “business hours,” get more engagement. PRO TIP: This means that on these days, you should post to social media either really early in the morning or late at night – avoid middle of the day posts, as they get less traffic. If you must post in the middle of the day, Google reports that, on average, posts between 1:00 – 4:00 PM receive the most clicks, with the optimal middle of the day post time being Wednesday at 3:00 PM.
Emails:
·Email subscribers most often check email after 12:00 PM during the week. PRO TIP: The optimal time to send an email to your subscribers is between 2:00 and 5:00 PM.
Tuesday, and especially Thursday, are the days which register a larger percentage of mailings and "open rate." PRO TIP: this means that these are the days more people are opening their mail and sending mail out. Sending an email blast on a Tuesday or Thursday means you will have a higher chance of your customer seeing it.
When thinking about the timing of your social media posts, keep in mind that there is no perfect answer. Trends in social media participation and engagement may differ, especially if your small business is catering to a niche market. The best strategy for posting may come from simple trial and error. Use the above information as a guide to get you started—then track your own posts, noting which posts are most popular. If a particular post seems more popular than most, evaluate its content—what made that post really “pop” and did time of posting enhance its effectiveness?
“But Claire,” you’re thinking, “between running my business and creating basic posts, I don’t have time to track my data too!” It’s true that keeping up with social media is a challenge for any small business owner. This is why it is imperative that you put the leg work—gathering that data—in early, so you can reap the rewards of higher visibility throughout the life of your business.
Now let’s start posting!
