What's the Best Time For Your Business To Post To Social Media?
Dear Mister Beard, you're always banging on about marketing exposure and getting your brand in front of more potential clients. But when I posted my video out, I didn't get as many views as I expected... what can I do about this? IF I can avoid it, I don't want to spend lots of money on promotional posts! Can you help me and my business?
And this is a common question that I get asked.... well, in some form or another, but still with the same underlying point. Which is basically - When can I time my posts to capture the most amount of people?
So let's crack into it!
So the truth is that Facebook wants you to post using their paid promotional system. It's how their company makes pretty much all of its money. So ultimately, if you want to reach large numbers of people then you will need to boost (pay for) your marketing to reach more people.
That said you can, and should, still consider a few things before posting - focusing around whether it's the right time for your business to be posting.
The most common mistake I see from small business owners with regard to posting is that of timing. Often they are so keen to post out a completed video, picture or blog article, that they will do so at 2pm on a Tuesday. And the big question to ask at this point is - who will see it?
The potential issue with that time, or just timing in general is around their followers.
What happens if their potential target market are office workers working a Mon-Fri 9-5 job, and the business has posted at 2pm? It's likely that their target market won;t see the post - they're likely to be looking at social media until they get home, or are on their way home and by then its too far down the feed. Add into the mix the Facebook algorithm;- that without some initial interaction when the post is first made, that in all probability, the post is likely to be burred down the feed, going unnoticed.
The time and effort invested in creating (and in some cases paying for) the content will be for nothing.
Ok, so we've talked the negative side... Whats the answer?
I think key here, is an understanding of your business' target market. Or at least a good majority of your target market - the common factors. That it's also key to know that every social media platform, and the way that the average user uses it, differs - so you cannot copy and paste from one platform to another. And that, finally, the country you're operating in also changes use of the platform; as each operates differently to the next.
As mentioned in the video, there's no real magic pill here - I believe it's important to try and plan some strategy to your posting. Have methodology in the madness!
But some general thoughts to try and help guide you.
If you're aiming for the average 9-5 worker, then look at posting first thing in the morning and in the evening. According to the 2017 Sensis Social Media Report, 57% of social media users in Australia do so in the morning, with 71% getting their fix in the evening. Now whilst statistically 47% checked during 'breaks' and 'lunch' - these would be hard to time the delivery of these posts to suit - so it's probably ok to ignore these time brackets.
Most people are active on social media when they first wake up - consider it like looking at the newspaper. And then in the evening, and you would be surprised (or not) at how late some check socials. Here at GINGERBEARD Media, we used to post at around 6/630 - hoping to catch people as they finished worked. But we've found more success posting later in the evening - our thought here is that once finishing work and travelling home, many will be looking for dinner, perhaps doing some exercise or looking after their children - it is not until 8-9pm that they sit down to relax, usually having a scroll of their socials and watching TV at the same time.
I talk about some other thoughts n types of people in the video, so if you haven't watched that, have a scroll back up and watch that.
So I've got some thoughts on when to post, but any tips on how to post?
Awesome! Have a plan is an awesome first step.
So the next usual problem encountered is that of posting at the appropriate time - no one likes hanging around to 9pm at night to make sure a post goes out.
And there's a few answers here, but basically they focus around scheduling.
Facebook itself has a scheduler built within the platform itself - so making use of this can really help ensure that posts go out at the appropriate time without interrupting your day. If you've got content good to go, then why not spend an afternoon setting up a week, fortnight or month's content setting up your posts?
If you're looking at alternative or multiple social media platforms, then perhaps consider an 3rd party manager - like Hootsuite. These help to manage schedule posts for you, pushing out the content at the appropriate time on your behalf.
Going Forward...
As you start to move forward and get more and more content out, you'll probably start to feel overloaded in the overall direction, type of content and frequency of posts. Don't worry, this is perfectly normal - it just means that you probably need to develop a written schedule and potentially a social media strategy - these documents will help you plan what you're trying to communicate and where you're heading.
Wrap it up Beard!
As ever I hope this article and video have been of use to you. If you want to discuss any of the concepts mentioned further then feel free to comment below, or you have any comments or questions you can always get in touch with us directly.
Until next time, Beard out!
