Timing is key to maximize social media reach and engagement. You need to put out content when your target audience is online and is most likely to pay attention. The best time to post on each social network varies as there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. This is because of the difference in when people are likely to be active on each platform and how differently they engage with each platform. Timing and its impact on engagement should not be studied in isolation. In order to zero in on the best time for your social media activity, you will need to look at other factors that could explain why, for example, a post at 11 PM got high engagement.
The most important rule in deciding when to post on social media is to be attentive to data and decide what works and what doesn’t for your brand. The particular goal of each of your brand posts, your target audience, industry, and the region will potentially determine when you decide to publish content. Combining the insights you gain from your past performance with a close analysis of your audience activity and the performance of the industry or peer group can help you identify if you are missing any engagement opportunities. The team at Unmetric analyzed the engagement and timing patterns of the top 100 brands from various industries. Here are a few takeaways from each social media site:
The assumption that posting to Instagram in the evenings and weekend is the best strategy to get engagement, does not completely hold true for brands. The best days to post on Instagram are weekdays – with posts published on Tuesday and Wednesday getting the highest engagement. Posting to Instagram from 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. resulted in good engagement for brands. Interactions on posts peaked between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m, while there was a flurry of audience activity between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. coinciding with the onset of off-work hours.
Posting on weekend is a big no-no for brands. Most people need some motivation to get through the weekday slump and Wednesdays and Thursdays guarantee the highest engagement. Posting to Facebook between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. results in the highest interactions for brand posts as brands also tend to post during office hours. Audience activity peaked during the late evening hours of 8 -9 p.m.
Twitter’s dynamic nature makes it a platform where things can get lost easily. The best days for brands to tweet is Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Weekends and Mondays are dull in terms of engagement. Pre-lunch hours between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m is the most rewarding for brands.
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