Determining the intricacies of timing social media can be difficult for new content marketers. While some are happy to simply share or post a blog on Facebook or twitter whenever it is ready for publishing, the reality is that posting at different times of the day, and even different days of the week, will bring varied results.If you want to optimize the value that you get from your content by posting at the right time, then learning about the trends of different social networks will be of great benefit.

Timing Social Media, Why Does It Matter?

The reason that anyone posts on social media is to engage with a wider audience and generate traffic back towards a blog page or website. While there are literally billions of social media users around the world, only a relatively small segment of your market will be active at any given time of the day. The people who make up your target market have jobs, they have families and personal commitments, and they have time during the day when they are doing things outside of social media and the internet. If you want to ensure that your posts reach your audience, then you’ll need to know the times that social networks are most active, and timing social media accordingly. As you might have guessed, there are different rules for different networks, so you’ll need to carefully manage your publishing schedule based on the networks that you want to distribute on.

So What are the Best Times for Your Content?

Let’s take a look at the most popular social networks and find out when you should start publishing…

Pinterest – Pinterest continually grows in popularity, and is a great place for sharing trending content that relates to personal interests like food, fitness, travel, and gadgets. If you have relevant content, then almost every day is ok to post on Pinterest, but you’ll see much better engagement on Saturdays and Sundays. The peak times are between 8PM–11PM, and the worst time to post is during general business hours from 8AM–6PM.

Instagram – For marketers targeting a youthful demographic, Instagram can be a good platform to share visual content that can raise brand awareness and drive traffic towards a main website. Mondays and Thursdays are the best days to post images and video on Instagram, and Sunday is the day that sees the least engagement. Mornings are best for posting, from 8–9AM. 5PM is also a peak time for advertising, so you could consider posting twice a day on peak days. As a general rule, stay out of business hours when you’re using Instagram to share content.

Facebook – Facebook is fairly robust, and will allow you more days to engage. Thursday to Sunday are the best days on which to share content, and you’ll find peak times at 9AM, 1PM, and 3PM. Analytics reveal that 1PM is the ideal time for generating shares, whereas 3PM is the best time to get the most post views. If you have a business page on Facebook, you can make use of the built–in analytics to track your success in your own market.

Twitter – This network is active every day, but most reports reveal that Wednesday is the busiest day of the week. If you’re targeting businesses and professionals, then business hours on any week day are considered to be good for posting. Peak commute times in your local area are also ideal for this audience, so consider posting between 5PM–6PM. If you’re targeting general consumers, then Saturday and Sunday will get the most views and engagement, and the best times are from 12PM until evening.

LinkedIn – LinkedIn posts will perform best during mid–week, so aim for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Professionals generally engage less on weekends and the days around them, so avoid posting from Friday to Monday. As a network focused on professionals, the best times to post are in the mornings from 7–8AM, at 12PM, and between 5–6PM. While 12PM performs better when compared to other networks, it’s still safest to target the commute times before and after business hours.

Make Sure You’re Targeting an Appropriate Network

Timing social media is tricky, but now that you know the best times to post, remember that you’ll also need to post to the right network to engage with your preferred audience.

• LinkedIn is almost exclusively used by professionals and businesses, so is a great place for B2B and business focused products and services.

• Twitter is used by all key demographics, but engagement can be slow and difficult. Try looking at competitors in your niche and see if Twitter is a viable platform.
• Facebook is a good network to target, because the users cover virtually every demographic available.
• Pinterest is used by general consumers, in the sense that it provides family friendly content relating to general interests. If you’re selling a basic product or service, then the chances are that this is a valuable platform.
• Instagram is great for younger and fashionable market segments, and is a great place to market clothing, footwear, beauty, and fitness businesses.

By using the right social media platforms at the right times, you’ll be able to market your on–page blog content, while continually expanding your reach and increasing your brand presence. If you want to talk to professional content creators about producing blogs or short form content tailored for social media, then contact the team at Low Price Articles, and start timing social media today.