If you are the person in charge of your company’s social media presence, you’ve likely noticed that some posts garner more attention than others. While some of this attention can be attributed to content, don’t overlook the timing of posts.
The differences in social media venues are as varied as the demographics of their users, and understanding the culture of each is key to timing posts to your advantage. Comprehending why and when users visit their chosen social media venue can make the difference between click-throughs and a post that gets lost in the shuffle. After all, if you’re posting relevant content, you want some validation, right?
Consider the profile of the average Facebook user. Typically, Facebook traffic is higher during mid-week, with usage beginning to rise around 9am, peaking at 3pm and fading around 4pm. This suggests that most people access the site during the workday (surprised?), and are engaged in the content therein during those hours. Posting a link during a peak time, say 3pm on a Wednesday, gives you better chance at click-through.
Twitter users follow a similar traffic pattern, but just different enough that you would need to switch tactics. Twitter followers are more likely to see (and click through) on posts made during the afternoons early in the week, typically from 1-3pm Monday through Thursday.
Want to reach a different audience? Try Tumblr, where the traffic is more in line with the late-night weekend crowd. Peak time on the social sharing site is after 7pm, particularly on Friday.
If you’re going to put forth the effort of posting links on social media sites, timing these posts to peak traffic hours will help assure your efforts aren’t wasted. If your followers see relevant content at peak times, you build goodwill and a level of trust with your customer base. And this content gets shared.
One other thing to consider: posting content on social media sites helps with website search rankings, too. If your postings are shared amongst followers, search engines take notice, pushing your website up the list in rankings. In short, if your content is shared, it’s relevant to search engines. In the ever-reaching quest for first page search rankings, this is about as good as it gets.
Taking the time to learn the traffic patterns of your chosen social media sites can benefit your business in innumerable ways. Don’t make the assumption that all social media is the same or that your audience will interact the same as the audience for other brands. A little bit of time and effort spent on getting relevant content in front of your target audience during peak times helps to build your brand.
Test. Evaluate. Adjust. Repeat.