We all lead busy lives and it’s no surprise that this translates to our online worlds too. Find a few minutes to log in to Facebook or Twitter and it’s amazing how quickly you’ll see new posts stacking up in your newsfeed.

So, what can you do to make your marketing messages stand out on Social Media?

Creating a message that grabs attention with use of a strong image or video clip and clear strapline is important, as is ensuring that you’re talking to your followers and friends at the right time. After all, you only want to send your thoughtfully crafted campaigns at a time when someone is around to see them.

Research from the team at Hootsuite shows that, the half-life of a tweet is just 24 minutes (which is 4 times shorter than a Facebook post). In reality this means that in (an average of) 24 minutes your tweet will have received half of all the attention it’s going to get. Further reports indicate that more than 90% of retweets happen within 1 day, so the first couple of hours performance of a twitter post are clearly the most important.

Facebook posts are also shown (in general) to reach 75% of their potential engagement in 5 hours. So, if your Facebook post hasn’t had much interaction (ie. been liked, shared, commented on) within the first 5 hours, it’s unlikely to gain much more significant attention beyond this.

The world of social media is constantly evolving, so it’s difficult to know the best time to schedule your posts. What may have been “the perfect time” for posting last year, may no longer be relevant as people’s behaviour on social media changes.

So, what are the best times in 2016 to post for maximum effect?

A helpful infographic from Hubspot is summarised below. It includes data from QuickSprout, SurePayroll, The Huffington Post, Buffer, Fast Company and KISS metrics to suggest the best times to post your social media messages.

 

 

• Facebook - People use Facebook when they’re at work and at home so it’s recommended to post during the week and at weekends. Avoid posting early in the week as people are catching up after the weekend
  • Best Times:
    • Thursday and Friday, 1pm–4pm
    • Wednesday, 3pm–4pm
    • Weekends, Noon–1pm
• Twitter – People generally check Twitter when they’re having “down time” ie during breaks and whilst commuting
  • Best Times:
    • Monday – Friday, Noon–3pm
    • Wednesday, 5-6pm
• Instagram – As this platform is designed for use on mobile devices (not desktop) it tends to be accessed at any time, all the time, when people are on the move or have a few spare minutes
  • Best Times:
    • Monday to Thursday, Anytime except 3-4pm
• LinkedIn – This is a professional network so tends to be used during working hours – or at the beginning or end of the working day
  • Best Times:
    • Tuesday – Thursday, 7:30am-8:30am, Noon, 5pm-6pm
    • Tuesday, 10am-11am
• Pinterest – Most users of Pinterest are female and are most active on the site during evenings and weekends
  • Best Times:
    • Every Day, 2am-4am (yes, seriously!)
    • Friday, 5pm
    • Saturday, 8-11pm
• Google+- Social media posts on Google+ at 9am on Wednesdays do the best in terms of engagement although you can use the tool “Timing+” to find the optimal times for your audience
  • Best Times:
    • Wednesdays, 9-11am
    • Weekdays in general

Know your own audience

Of course it’s great to post at the times when most people are using their social networks but, it’s advisable to do your own research and get to know your specific audience too. Most social media platforms have analytics built-in, so, keep an eye on your accounts and use the data to build up a picture of the times/days that your specific audiences are reading, listening, posting and sharing.

If you post content that will interest your followers, regularly monitor their activity on social media channels and modify your behaviour to reflect this it is likely that you will increase your web traffic and social media interactions.

For help with developing and delivering your next social media campaign, and analysing its success please contact us and talk to Phil.

References and Acknowledgements:

Hootsuite blog
Warrenknight.co.uk
Hubspot blog
Images courtesy of Istock