It is well documented that social media plays an integral role in our lives – from news consumption to entertainment, socialization, education, career opportunities, accessing products and services among countless other benefits.
However, one of the many issues social media marketers and business owners struggle with is to determine when is the most appropriate time to post content on social media. In order to yield maximum visibility and audience engagement so that they can grow their businesses and stand out in the competition.
It is a fact! Social Media Marketing (SMM) has increased exponentially and with greater prominence over the last year-and-a-half due to the sudden onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic which has negatively impacted businesses on a global scale.
Most traditional small businesses, without prior knowledge or experience in Social Media Marketing (SMM)had to quickly pivot online in order to remain viable and relevant.
The influx of new social media businesses into the environment makes online marketing even more challenging.
As it becomes increasingly overwhelming for businesses to compete for visibility and engagement on social media, understanding the most ideal time to post content on the various platforms is very critical to an effective marketing strategy.
Many social media pundits discuss various times that marketers need to post on social media in order to gain the desired outcome. For example, some researchers suggest that posting on Twitter before the start of business each day (6am-8am) and again between 6pm and 9pm in your target market or country is the best time to gain visibility. Since most Twitter users are visible on the platform first thing in the morning for early news updates. These times also correlate with both morning and evening commutes when consumers are heavily interacting with their smart phones.
Others claim that posting on Facebook on Wednesdays between 11am and 2pm yields the highest level of engagement for businesses.
No matter what the various findings suggest the most important rule in this business is to understand that there is no one-size-fits- all strategy.
In order to unlock the secret as it relates to the most ideal time to post content that will reach your target audience requires an understanding of how to interpret your social media metrics, such as likes, impressions, and engagement rate.
Once this is achieved, you can now analyze when you publish content and the level of engagement those contents generate and take note of the times. The posts with the highest engagement rate would be the current best times to post content on those specific social media platforms.
While this may be a simple example, deciding on the best social media schedule for your business can be a very tricky exercise. The lack of proper insights can lead to poor decision-making and severely impact your social media marketing strategy.
In order to gain helpful insights, there are many social media management companies that employ the services of data scientists that analyze contents with the highest and lowest engagement rate, and best and worst times to post on social media. These include: Sprout Social which is one of the leading social media management platforms, Hootsuite, Hubspot, Quicksprout, Creator Studio, Later among many others.
It is also very important to bear in mind that each social media platform functions differently and algorithms and people’s social media usage continuously change. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to study these variables especially the consumption habits of your social media audience.
Once you ascertain the type of content they are interested in and when they are mostly visible on the platforms, you can now determine the best and worst times to post. This data will greatly assist you in creating an effective posting schedule tailored to audience needs.
As you extend your reach and grow your audience you may be required to update your posting schedule due to new audience data such as, demographics, locations, and interests in order to stay a head of the game.
Not to worry! There are myriads of social media marketing platforms and analytics free tools that are available at your finger tips to help you create a strategic social media content schedule for your business.
In this pervasive digital environment social media continue to be the driving force behind brands’ success. Understanding how to navigate the demands of consumers, social media networks, algorithms, and fierce market competition – is the only way to thrive in the global digital environment.
For more information on how to grow your small business on social media please leave comments below.
Caren Waugh is the CEO of CW Media Consultants, a proven communications and social media strategist, blogger, and print media contributor who helps small businesses to create brand awareness, strengthen customer relations, and shape their online marketing endeavors with winning social media strategies.
