In 2018, What Are the Best Times to Post On Social Media?
Social media is one of the best ways to amplify your brand and the great content you’re creating. But it isn’t enough to just post content to social whenever you feel like it. Some day parts are better than others.
If you’re trying to up your digital marketing game in 2018, you don’t need guess about the best times to post on social media. According to research from the various sources, below are the optimal times and days for each platform.
Most of the latest research suggests that if you want eyeballs, clicks, and comments on your content, you’ll want to post to Facebook between 1 and 3 in the afternoon. Maybe everyone should be hard at work then, but who are I to judge? Six out of eight studies that were consulted showed that Facebook usage and engagement peak during early- to mid-afternoon hours. Runners-up – 9 AM & 4 PM.
The week is almost over and everyone is feeling good. Not only do Fridays account for 17% of all Facebook comments and 16% of all likes and shares, they also have the highest happiness index of any day of the week at 10%. User engagement is at an overall high on Fridays, particularly for brands, but Thursdays are a close second.
While it may sound hard to believe, the most-cited posting time to optimize engagement with your brand is 2 AM. I know what you’re thinking. Who’s checking Instagram at 2 AM? But that’s just the thing. Everyone is posting to Instagram during the day, so your content has a lower chance of standing out from the crowd. If you catch your competitors sleeping, on the other hand, your Instagram posts will gain a lot more traction. Runner-up – 5 PM.
Wednesday is the peak day to post to Instagram if you’re looking to rack up clicks, favorites, and comments. And no wonder. Halfway to Friday, everyone is looking for some gorgeous Insta shots to get them through the week.
Twitter is perfect for dishing out tasty little bite-sized nuggets of content when people get a break from their busy workday. With that in mind, it makes sense that engagement with brands’ twitter posts peaks at noon when everyone’s having lunch and from 5 to 6 PM, right after people clock out from their jobs.
In general, putting out Twitter content during the workweek will be your best bet. Twitter usage and engagement is especially high on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so keep that in mind when planning your next post.
Like Twitter, LinkedIn traffic peaks during lunchtime during the workweek and drops off after work and on the weekend. Maybe you’re finally remembering to update your profile after 20 years and changing your education from “the school of hard knocks” to an actual school. Whatever the reason, more people are checking into LinkedIn and engaging with posts at noon than any other time.
People prefer to check their professional network during the week rather than on the weekend. However, posts made on Mondays and Fridays just don’t get as much engagement as posts during the middle of the week. Maybe people are tired on Mondays and by Friday they’re already dreaming of winning big at that high-stakes Saturday night poker tournament.
Summary
While the above information is a great starting point, social media is ever-changing and this information will no doubt be out of date by the end of 2018. Your best bet is to experiment with posting on social media at different times of the day with different types of content to find out what works best for your funeral home. At the end of the day, you must know your audience. With that in mind, might I suggest that you use available analytics to tailor your post times to exactly the right people, your families.
Joe Weigel is the owner of Weigel Strategic Marketing, a communications firm focused on the funeral profession that delivers expertise and results across three interrelated marketing disciplines: strategy, branding and communications. You can visit his website at weigelstrategicmarketing.webs.com. He also can be reached at 317-608-8914 or joseph.weigel@gmail.com.
