SOCIAL MEDIA

Reaching your online audience requires careful planning – and timing

By our News Team | 2022

The American Marketing Association has some advice on when your social media posts are most likely to grab your audience’s attention.

What are the best times for businesses to post on social media? This is a question that the American Marketing Association (AMA) has sought to answer, using research gleaned from sources such as Sprout Social and Hootsuite.

Overall, the best time is early morning on a weekday, the AMA found. This way, when your audience wakes up in the and starts scrolling through their favourite social media platform, your post will be one of the top pieces of content in their feed. 

“This information is the most helpful for brand new social media accounts that are working on building a following. Once you do have an audience, however, there are plenty of tools and services you can use to find out the best days and times to post for your own brand, which might be different,” the AMA notes in a blog post.

Social media

Photo by Cottonbro from Pexels

Looking specifically at Facebook, the most opportune times to post are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday between 9am and 1pm. Skip posting on Saturdays, as it is the day of the week with the lowest engagement.

There is 24/7 audience engagement with Facebook

“Facebook remains undefeated as the top social media platform in the world, which means that you really can’t go wrong with when you post. Facebook enjoys 24/7 engagement. However, weekdays, evenings and early mornings show the most consistent engagement and opportunities for brands to get eyes on their content,” the AMA advises.

Turning to Instagram, the platform that started life as a place to post pretty photos has now evolved into a shopping app awash with influencers marketing products and services for brands, as well as micro-businesses selling everything from health foods to bespoke children’s toys.

The best times to post on Instagram are between 11am and 2pm on Tuesday, and at 11am on the other weekdays.

 

“Many companies have pivoted to Instagram for business purposes. In the last few years, Instagram has updated with several new features, including Reels, Instagram Shopping and other fun additions. Instagram is the perfect place for brands to post new content, whether it’s high-quality photos, a fun reel or even infographics,” according to the AMA post.

 

Twitter, though, has slightly different characteristics. The best time to post is early in the morning on weekdays: ideally at 8am on Mondays and Thursdays. If you need to post on the weekend, still aim for the morning, but a little later when users are awake.

“However, since tweets are so fleeting, don’t be afraid to schedule tweets … at all hours of the day. You can’t really over-post on Twitter, like you can on other platforms,” says the association.

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