When is the best time to post on Social Media?

“Martin, when is the best time to post on Social Media?”

A question that I get asked again and again…

So I will throw the question right back at you…When do you think is the best time to post?

Do you know when your audience are on Facebook, Twitter or GooglePlus?

Do you just post as things come in to your head?

The simple answer is that there is no `one size fits all` solution as there are many factors that will determine the optimum time to post, the main one being what industry or niche are you in? However there are a few guidelines that can help you as it is crucial to take in to account not just what you are posting but when you are posting. Social engagement is crucial if your business is to succeed with your online marketing, it is an extension of your business and is often the first impression of your business to potential clients and customers.

You may be posting fantastic content but if you`re getting the timing all wrong then your audience are not going to see it, respond to it or share it. So let`s look at so facts and research that has been carried out to help you.

When to post on Twitter

When using Twitter it can be fast and furious, once you start to gain more followers your news feed will be like a greyhound on steroids! The fact that individual Tweets have a very short life span (around 18 minutes) doesn`t help either. The guys at TechRepublic have created this short video with 4 great tips on the best times to post on Social Media.

Various studies have shown that engagement on Twitter peaks at the weekends with an approximate increase of 30% and during the week it is best to Tweet between 1:00pm and 3:00pm as most workers are taking their lunch break at this time.

When to post on Facebook

So if a Tweet only `lives` for around 18 minutes what can we expect from your Facebook posts? Usually around 90 minutes is the estimated time to receive those all-important Likes, Shares and comments. It appears that Thursdays and Fridays are the best days so towards the end of your working week is probably the best time to schedule those posts. If you post everyday (which I recommend) then you need to be looking at around 1:00pm if you want more shares and between 2:00pm and 3:00pm to gain more Likes or click throughs.

However I would strongly recommend testing and measuring and using your Facebook Insights to find the optimum day and time for your posts and what type of content is gaining more engagement and when. For arguments sake if your target audience are teachers then posting between 2:00pm and 3:00pm just isn`t going to work for you!

The best time to post on GooglePlus

Are you using GooglePlus? If yes, great! If no, why not?

Now GooglePlus bucks the trend here a bit as my own research has found that my own posts and that of my clients has the most engagement between 9:00am and 12:00pm and the worst has shown to be between 7:00pm and 1:00am, and Wednesday`s appear to be the most popular. Therefore if you`re only going to post once a week on Google Plus then look at Wednesday mornings for the best engagement rate. But let me repeat this as it is important…this is just a general guide and it all depends on what industry or niche you are servicing.

LinkedIn, the best time to post?

If you are serving B2B then LinkedIn is essential and research has found that the peak times on LinkedIn are before and after the working day. So I would recommend anything between 6:30am and 8:30am and also 5:00pm and 7:00pm with Tuesday`s and Thursday`s appearing to be the most popular days of the week. Again, try your own research, track and measure your posts and the engagement over a 28 day period and gauge when is the best time and best day for you.

Summary

As you can see there is some variation in peak times and best days to post on Social Media and the 4 major platforms. Therefore I would recommend looking at and using Social Media Management platforms, such as Hootsuite, Buffer or Sprout Social, to help you schedule your posts and maximise engagement as for most businesses and business owners it is just not feasible or possible to be devoting such time to Social Media marketing, you need to be running your business at the end of the day!

A quick guide for you then based on these results: