The information in this blog post was obtained from Hootsuite Blog and HubSpot Blog.
One of the biggest questions I personally had when going into social media marketing was, when is the best time to post? There are so many different areas to look at when scheduling or posting to social media. I assume many others may have this same exact question. So I am here with a few tips and tricks to help you better understand when to post on social media and how frequently you should be posting. Aside from using the native scheduling features on social media platforms or other scheduling software such as that from Hootsuite. There are some other tips to keep in mind when it comes to posting and when you should post! The scheduling features are super helpful but what good are they if you don't know when the sweet spot is for you to post!
Things to review before you post:
who/where is my audience?
What has been successful/unsuccessful in the past?
What tools are available for me to use?
Keeping these few questions in mind let's dive into the important stuff! When should you post on social media, and how often?
When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?
Instagram is the place we all go for photos and fun content from our favorite people. From friends to celebrities. However, did you know that there is a perfect time to post on Instagram? Well, good news! There is a perfect time for posting on Instagram. We find here in a blog post from Hootsuite the complete rundown of when we as social media marketers should be posting on Instagram to get the best results! In the blog from Hootsuite, we do learn that the best time and day to post is not what we would expect. It is actually 11:00 am on Wednesday! This may not seem like a good day to post, but the blog from Hootsuite does go on to explain that it is perfect for a few reasons. If you post on the weekend you may not get as much engagement because people are out doing fun life things. They are more likely to be spending time with their friends or family. In the middle of the week on Wednesday people are trying to get over the hump. They may need a break from work or school, so let the scrolling commence! I think most of us can relate to that mid-week feeling! The blog from Hootsuite also provides us with other times that are good to post on your social media. This would typically look like the mornings between 8 am and 12 pm during the week.
While we can use this information as a starting point, it is important to remember that everyone's page including yours will be different. Just as we as humans are unique. When your audience is using Instagram it will be unique and different from someone else most likely. So in this case you must remember to use analytics to your advantage. Look at your most successful posts and your least successful posts. When did you post these and how can you adjust in the future to utilize this information to the best of your ability? So get out there and do your research for your own social platforms and use this as a starting point and find what works best for you! It sucks that there is no secret code to posting on social media; however, we can take these little bits of information and use them to our advantage and work towards a successful social media platform.
Frequency of Posting
Now that you have been able to find the best time to post, how often should you be posting on social media? You must remember that each social media platform is different. Not just in the fact of who uses the platform. As a social media marketer, you must remember HOW they use the platform. Starting off with Twitter, it's much different than other social platforms. From limited character counts, to how people use it. In this blog from HubSpot, you can read “Time doesn't really matter”. You can go on to learn in the blog post that when it comes to Twitter you shouldn't worry as much about how often you are posting. So go ahead and post 5 times a day if you want! Many users like myself and probably you follow a large number of people on the platform, I know that I never scroll all the way down my recent post feed. I scroll for a little while then switch platforms. Therefore, if you post more frequently on Twitter you are more likely to be noticed on the platform and not get lost in the enormous amount of tweets!
Now for the other social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, you will need to take a different approach. In the same blog post from HubSpot, they do not recommend posting more than 5 times per week. In their blog, they found that posting more than 5 times per week on these platforms can actually decrease performance. In the case of Facebook and LinkedIn, we should go back to that old saying about friends. “Friends: It’s not the quantity, but the quality that matters”. We can use this for more than just friends. When posting to Facebook or LinkedIn your focus should be on the quality of content you are sharing on the platforms. If you are providing your audience with amazing content they will engage with you and your brand!
Scheduling Posts on TikTok
You heard me right! You can schedule a TikTok post natively now! So how does this work and how can you use it to your advantage? This is extremely new to TikTok but is also an amazing tool to use! You will have to use the platform from your browser instead of the app to accomplish scheduling for your post. You will create your video for TikTok as normal, however, when using your browser there will be a new button to use. It is the “schedule video” button.
In this blog from Hootsuite, you can learn when the best times to post to TikTok are. Those times are Tuesdays at 7 am, Thursdays at 10 am, and Fridays at 5 am. Use this information to your advantage when using the new scheduling tool offered by TikTok. You won't have to wake up early to post anymore on Fridays. Set it the night or week before and get your well-earned beauty rest! Of course, as we discussed before, you will want to take into account your past performance “no two snowflakes are alike”.
People use TikTok all over the world so your posting time may need to be different from others. Use those analytics to your advantage, they do tell us which countries are viewing our videos! While this new scheduling feature will only allow up to 10 days of scheduling out your content it is still a super useful tool for the social media marketer! In the same blog from Hootsuite, you can also learn about how frequently to post on the platform. With the new scheduling feature, it may be easy to over publish. However, this blog from Hootsuite tells us that 1-4 posts per day are sufficient. You don't want to over publish on TikTok, but you also don't want to under publish and get lost on the For You page! Just as we discussed before there is no one size fits all when it comes to publishing on social media. Hopefully, some of these tips will help as you move forward. May your posting be successful and a little easier now!
For more information on when to post check out my colleague Jordan's post here.
Resources
Cooper, Paige. “The Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2022, According to Experts.” Social
Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 1 Apr. 2022, https://blog.hootsuite.com/best-time-to-post-on-instagram/.
Macready, Hannah. “How to Perfect Your Tiktok Schedule and Schedule TikTok Posts.” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 7 Apr. 2022, https://blog.hootsuite.com/schedule-posts-for-tiktok/.
Marmer, Daria. “How Frequently Should I Publish on Social Media? A Hubspot Experiment.” HubSpot Blog, 8 Oct. 2020, https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-frequently-should-i-publish-on-social-media.
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