A complete guide for a stress free social media strategy
Part Four
THE WHEN & HOW TO POST
WHEN SHOULD I POST?
Everyone will tell you different “best times” to post, because everyone’s audience is unique. The only way to figure out the best times to post for you is to look at your own analytics. The stats don’t lie.
Facebook:
Use the Facebook platform itself to update your Facebook page. Why I hear you ask? Facebook uses an great algorithm called EdgeRank to determine which updates are shown in your fans’ news feeds. Users on Facebook can block third-party apps. So this means that pages with updates from third-party apps may not get as much engagement, which is never good!
Different industries do vary, but most tend to post at the end of the week. For me, I find that the best days to post are Thursday & Friday. The optimal times to post your content in my experience is 1pm for the most shares & 3pm for the most clicks.
Remember, the less people want to be at work, the more they are on Facebook!
Twitter:
Connect your Twitter account to Tweriod. Its an amazing tool. Tweriod give you hourly graphs showing you the best times to post on weekdays and weekends based on your audiences past interactions with your tweets.
So based on my most recent Tweriod analysis, the best times for me to post during the week are 10am, 12pm – 1pm, 4pm & 6pm.
Pinterest:
Try out Tailwind. Another great tool. You can schedule 100 free pins & they give you suggested best times. They will also schedule your pins for you if you want, which makes pinning twenty times faster.
Saturday is the day of pinning. Every social media expert will tell you to post on Saturday mornings and nights. I have the highest number of pins scheduled to go out Saturday mornings between 8am – 11am. If I have time Saturday morning. Early mornings & later nights during the week are also good for early bird inspiration seekers and night owl insomniacs too.
Instagram:
Go on over to Iconosquare to find out when your audience is interacting most.
My latest stats show that my people hang out on Instagram Tuesdays at 10pm, Wednesdays at 11am & 7pm, Thursdays at 2pm, Fridays at 1pm & 3pm, & Saturdays at 5pm.
HOW MANY TIMES A DAY SHOULD I POST?
Twitter:
Shoot for three to five times per day during the week and at least one or two times on the weekend. I started implementing this schedule a few months ago and have modified it a bit now by adding in more posts everyday. Just make sure you’re sticking to the 80/20 sharing rule here! (Share 80% of other people’s work for every 20% you share your own work.)
Pin at least five times per day. My advice is to schedule 100 pins per week. (It’s actually a lot easier to do than you’d think!)
Instagram:
Shoot for posting at least once per day. Personally, I’m not to the point where I share daily yet. Right now, I attempt to post at least five times per week. I’m a believer in quality over quantity, especially when it comes to Instagram, the queen of visuals. With that said, the more consistently you post, the more followers and engagement you will see.
Check out this great video by Buffer on the best times to post
PHEW! YOU MADE IT!
The more you practice posting consistently on social media, the more routine it gets and the faster it goes. I also created a simple guide recapping everything we talked about today, which you can download below.Start by blocking off an hour at the end of every month to plan out your next month’s weekly themes. Then block off two to three hours every Sunday or Monday to find, plan, and schedule your Twitter (and Facebook, if you use it) posts for the week. Also use this time to plan, photograph, edit, and caption your Instagram posts. Lastly, block off an hour to schedule 100 pins, have a Pining Party while you veg out on Netflix, or pin as you go throughout the week!
That’s roughly three hours per week or two (eight hour) days per month dedicated to growing your brand through social media. This is time you’re spending actively marketing, attracting your dream clients, and growing a thriving community. You know all of that time you spend just scrolling through social media feeds? (Guilty. I know, we all do it.) Start using that time to work on your own social media strategy!