If you didn’t know by now, social media is a necessity in marketing strategies. Social media is such a massive part of brands – their message, voice, and a way of communication. Strong business pages on social have an engaged audience and generate leads faster than competitors. But to build a strong page, you have to know your target market and ensure you're posting on social media at a time when they are there and ready to engage with you. Timing is a constant struggle for businesses. They aren’t able to pin the best time to post content to get the most engagement. Unfortunately, when posting on social platforms, it isn’t as easy as just posting at any time you wish, you have to be smart about it. 🤦♀ï¸
So, what is the best time to post on social media?
Social media timing is tricky, and it varies per region, job role, gender, goals, etc. With all the different factors, there is no simple answer. Trust me; I wish it was as easy as, post on Instagram on Thursday at 7 pm and automatically receive 1 million likes and 200,000 comments. Who doesn’t want that? Unfortunately, it looks like only Jennifer Aniston can do this. Posting on social does have to do a lot about time, but there are other factors involved too — for instance, type of content, specific target market, and so much more. However, today, I am just going to focus on how to get your timing right.
When it comes to different social platforms, posting your content isn’t always the same. All platforms have different hours of engagement, ways to engage, as well as the life span of a piece of content. To help you reach your target market on social, I am breaking down how to find the best time for your business to post on social. Time’s up, let’s get into this blog.
Best time to post on Instagram
Generally, the best time to post on Instagram is Monday through Friday between 10 am and 3 pm, as they tend to have the highest engagement rate. Mentionlytics says that Monday is the most effective day to post, and Thursday is the most popular day to post. However, we suggest finding out what works best for your business by checking out your Instagram Insights. If you have a business profile, you can easily find your Insights tab on your app in the top right hamburger bar, where all your insights are stored. If you select the Audience section under your Instagram profile, scroll down to the bottom, there is a graph of hours of a day or days in the week that your followers are on the platform. With the specific days and hours, you can’t miss a high engagement hour or two. There is nothing better than analytics just handed to you!
For small businesses, Instagram is a platform that can help you get your brand and voice out there. If you know your target market, you do research and find out when is best to post on Instagram. Time really does matter when it comes to Instagram; trust me. 👠It shows in the number of likes and engagement one post gets rather than another.
Best time to post on Facebook
While doing some research for you, my small business friends, I was shocked. The Huffington Post says the best days to post on Facebook are Thursday and Friday; spikes by 10% on Fridays. Some of the best times to post are between 1 pm and 3 pm, and the broader spectrum is 9 am to 7 pm. My favorite time is 5 pm, when most people are off work and checking social platforms.
Just like Instagram (well, duh they are the combined), you can view your Facebook Insights on your audience right in the app. Under insights on your page, select ‘when your fans are online’ in posts section. This gives you the specific times and days when your audience is active on Facebook. Use that to your advantage when planning content. For small businesses, it is best to hit the specific times on the dot to get the most engagement.
Best time to post on Twitter
When it comes to finding that right time to post on Twitter, it doesn’t exactly exist. I know that doesn’t sound like I am helping you, but with Twitter’s newsfeed based on retweets, commenting, and hashtags, time isn’t such a big deal. Unlike Facebook and Instagram, Twitter's audience insights section is minimal. They don't provide you with granular details on the location, gender, or timing. So, Twitter leaves it up to you to figure out what is working and what isn’t on your channel.
Tara Needles, DirectLync’s Social Media Manager, said, “the best time to post on Twitter may not always be a specific time, but based on certain opportunities. You want to stay in the loop and post about a topic that is trending or hashtags that are popular at that moment. Use the Trends For You section to your advantage. It helps puts you on the explore page, and you can be found and gain engagement that way.”
Taking advantage of trends is very important for small businesses. Research also shows that the peak hours that are the busiest would be during the workers' break from 5 pm to 6 pm. There is a 181% Twitter user increase to be on the network around those hours. Even though 5 pm is the peak time, it is recommended to also tweet during midday. Since Twitter Analytics doesn’t show you much insight into your audience, Followerwonk is known for analyzing social growth. Test different times with your content and see what works best for you. Different types of content can have a larger audience depending on the demographics and psychographics. Small businesses market to a specific target, so the timing of when to post needs to be thoughtful.
We're giving you 4 ways for your small business to increase brand awareness.
What time is it?
It’s time for you to start posting! Get your marketing team together and look at your target market. If you don’t have a target market yet, check out this blog on How to Identify Your Target Market. Once determined, gather your insights for all social platforms, even more than the ones I talked about in this blog. Then, organize your social calendar with the specific times of when to post your content.
Having a social calendar comes in handy to plan and manage posts. In DirectLync, it's as easy as just choosing a time and a date when scheduling your posts or even emails. With being able to select a specific time, you can reach your target market when they are most likely to be on that platform. Have your team gather audience insights and arrange times for platforms of when to post. Give yourself a break and make it simple. Just like our informative blogs, DirectLync is all about making your marketing efforts easy for you. Try DirectLync for free today.
