Everyone wants to hit their peak and get the optimum results. This is no different when it comes to posting content on your Social Media business pages. If you post content on your Social Media when no one is there to see it, does it meet its purpose? No. You want people to interact with your content. If no one sees your content, it can become a lot of effort without much gain.
When you post on your social media pages, you want as many people to see that content as possible. Therefore, timing becomes an important part of your social media strategy. This poses the question: When is the best time to launch content on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other social media networks?
In a recent case study, bit.ly revealed that the optimum time of traffic on Twitter and Facebook is Monday-Thursday 1pm-4pm EST (10am-2pm PST). This is the peak period for users to click on links made in social posts. For Google+, this peak period is between 9am-11am. Also, they revealed that there was a big surge in traffic after 9am and a drop after 8pm.
Other peak periods were 7pm-8pm and 3pm-4pm on Wednesdays.
Another investigation made by Budding Media (a social media analytics tool) showed that the best time to post for dental practices was after 5pm on Thursdays and Fridays.
So, what should we take from these results? Well, they certainly are useful to help us decide when to start posting on our social networks. However, are they an authority on when we should post? Will we ALL get the best engagement at these times? It is a possibility, but in all likelihood, no. So, you may be asking: how can we find out when our patients are online?
The answer to this: Measure the response to your content through interactions, such as likes, comments, shares, +1s, re-tweets, and so on. Use analytics tools such as Facebook Insights and Google Analytics to determine when your content gets the best results.
For example, Facebook Insights can provide details about the posts you have put up recently. It gives results on the “Reach” of a post (who saw it), “Engaged Users” (who clicked on your post) and “Talking About This” (those who interacted through liking, commenting, etc).
Your results could reveal that the best time to post for your practice is first thing in the morning or it could be last thing at night. Be sure to keep a record of when works and when doesn’t. Before long, you will notice a pattern and be able to post your content at the optimum time for your patients to engage.
Below, we have included a useful infographic from Social Caffeine which summarizes these findings and supplies some more specific information.
If you would like assistance with monitoring your Social Media, our marketing team will be happy to assist you. Please contact us at team@roadsidemultimedia.com to find out about our exclusive social media campaign packages!
I know the times stated are averages, but I have yet to see a consistent
pattern when it comes to Reach and/or Engagement for posts on my
practice Facebook Page. And trial and error can be fairly time consuming
(but still worth it, IMO). Regards the infographic, which states not to
post on weekends, it contradicts Dan Zarella (another “pro”) that
weekends are great times to post since there is less competition.
Definitely not a simple or predictable puzzle!
Thanks for sharing your insights! You’re absolutely right – there is certainly no simple answer. Trial and error seems to be the best source of information about your specific audience.