Creating great content is all for nothing if no one ever sees it. If you want to maximize your exposure, then posting that content at the proper time is an important part of the process.
We’ve broken down the best times to post your material to your favorite social media sites, letting you focus on producing compelling content for your followers.
Facebook use is highest Monday-Friday from 1-3 in the afternoon, with the heaviest traffic on Thursdays.
With almost 2 billion users, this site has the best chance to get your social media posts noticed. Take full advantage and post content when the largest numbers of people are visiting the site.
Using your Facebook metrics can help you determine what works best for your brand. The metrics here are easy to use and they provide a lot of information about the best types of content to post and when to post it.
Make sure you’re paying attention to your follower’s social media habits and plan accordingly!
Twitter is checked most often during lunch (from 12pm – 3pm), much like Facebook.
Noon on Thursday is the best time for Twitter, but you should really be posting multiple times a day Monday – Friday. Save the best content for prime time in order to maximize its effect.
Because of Twitter’s large number of posts and linear nature, posting at the right time can be the difference between going viral and going broke, so make sure you’re posting when your followers are watching.
Remember, the best time to monitor Twitter is all the time. Set up alerts so you can respond when someone mentions you and stay on top of compliments and complaints.
LinkedIn is all business, and like most businesses all the work gets done from Tuesday through Thursday.
Lunchtime and at the end of the day (12pm and 5pm) are the best times to post content here, with weekends being the worst times (about what you’d expect from a business oriented site).
9am posts can catch the early birds, but users check this site the most at the end of the day, with traffic highest at 5pm.
Everyone seems to be killing time before finally deciding it’s late enough in the day to leave without looking lazy. Help them (us) out by posting social media content at the right time.
Google+
Since it seems no actual people are on Google+ (G+), you might think that it doesn’t matter when you post your social media content here.
While you’re probably right, studies show that Wednesday mornings at 9am get the best traffic.
The most important parts of G+ aren’t interactions with your posts, but reviews of your business by customers and indexing by Google bots.
Any new content posted to G+ will be almost immediately crawled by Google, so posting content here can really help your SEO efforts.
Reviews posted here are used in SEO rankings (they lend authority to your site), and the reviews can show up in rich snippets and the G+ box in search results.
This makes customer interactions on G+ a vital part of your business’s SEO plan, so make sure you’re encouraging your customers to join your circles and leave reviews here.
People seem to check their Instagram fairly regularly throughout the day, so there isn’t really a wrong time to post content here, although some studies show that 3pm is the worst time.
Using your buyer personas can help you decide on the best time for your company to post on Instagram. Figure out when your personas check Instagram and then stick to those times.
It’s important to remember that Instagram is a mostly visual social media platform, so pictures, videos, and emojis work well here.
Snapchat & Pintrest
Snapchat and Pintrest are mostly late night social media sites. You’re going to get the most bang for your buck later in the evening here.
Pintrest seems to be something people seem to do after dinner, so late evenings are the way to go here. Schedule your Pintrest posts for 9pm Monday – Friday for the best results.
The majority of Snapchat users are under 25, so they’re up a little later than the average social media user.
This makes late night the best time to post content to this site. Traffic on Snapchat is highest between 10pm and 1am.
You’re going to want to schedule posts to these sites ahead of time or you’ll end up missing a lot of sleep.
Schedule for Success
Knowing the best times to post your social media content can be just as important as the content itself. Posting to the right site at the right time can make or break a social media campaign.
By using these times as a guideline you can increase the chances that your content will be seen, getting the best ROI for your marketing dollar.
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