If you’ve ever mustered the courage to sing karaoke and accidentally started belting out the chorus to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer” a little too soon, then you know–timing is everything.
So is pitch, but that’s a conversation for another day. I digress.
Nothing can ruin a fantastic effort like getting the timing wrong, and the same goes for social media posts aimed at growing your business. If you want to tank your B2B sales and have to live on a wing and a prayer (shout out to Jovi), then by all means, post an Insta ad at 4 pm on Friday. I dare you.
If, however, you want to increase conversions and gain higher engagement (likes, comments, and shares, oh my!), then you need to get the skinny on the best times to schedule your social media posts. Sure, you could test out many posts at random times–kind of like throwing rocks into a pond to see how far the ripples go–or even research to see what the competition is doing. But honestly, who has time for that?
Based on some nifty research done by companies like Hootsuite, Oberlo, Later, and more, it turns out that there is no perfect time to post…but there are some guidelines that can serve as a starting point for your specific target audience. Timing your posts to reach the right followers depends on a few factors, such as your target audience and the social media platforms you want to use; so without further ado, here are some helpful tips for finding your audience’s peak engagement time.
Daytime, Weekdays?
For B2B business, common sense dictates that you’ll want to target the times when your market–other companies–are busy, productive, and actively using their employee accounts. Traditional work hours are critical here, but even then, you can’t be posting all the good stuff across all platforms from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. It’s best to hone in on each specific social media platform, as they each have their peak engagement times.
Getting traffic from Facebook to reach its 2.8 billion active monthly users isn’t as easy as it used to be. Organic growth has declined for years, but it is still the world’s biggest social media platform and worth investing in. According to the latest research, B2B marketing reaches the most users between 9 am and 2 pm EST on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
If your B2B brand uses Tweeter (as my Grandma likes to call it), then you need your tweets to stand out. With over 500 million tweets posted per day, your lead conversion is likely to decrease without timing your content to appear just at the right moment…even if your tweet is the best tweet of all the tweets. Twitter also uses an algorithm to prioritize posts it thinks people will want to see instead of posting tweets in chronological order. Between 11 am to 1 pm EST on Monday or Thursday are the peak times for B2B marketing.
LinkedIn is the hub of all things business. Companies increasingly use LinkedIn business pages to build their brand. Still, it takes compelling, well-timed content to get that precious engagement (even Cinderella had to dress up nicely and get to the ball on time to get her Prince). Studies found that the best time to post on LinkedIn for B2B business owners is Wednesday at 9 am. However, I also recommend posting to LinkedIn at least once per day, as well as commenting, liking, and sharing content created by others in your network.
Instagram is sexy and complicated. It uses an algorithm showing the “latest posts,” but not in chronological order; your best bet for maximum engagement is to post during peak hours. Research revealed that the best times to post are Wednesday at 11 am and Friday at 10–11 am.
- The overall best day is Wednesday.
- The most consistent engagement happens Tuesday through Thursday from 10 am–3 pm.
Complicated, amiright? However, I have some good news about the high-maintenance platform. If you have a business account on Instagram, you can see when your followers are most active using Instagram’s analytics tool. Aha!
Getting the timing right is the gift you give yourself as it will increase conversion rates and finally get the kind of peak engagement your business needs to thrive.
Are you still looking to get the timing right so you can increase engagement for your business? Megan Killion Consulting is an experienced marketing team with the expertise and know-how to help you meet your media marketing goals. Book a chat today to get started on addressing your unique business needs and how we could help move your brand forward together.