Last Updated on: April 5th, 2016
People share things on social media all the time.
Big shock. This is not news!
Nor is it that some times are better than others for posting updates and sharing blog posts on social media.
The big controversy, however, is what those BEST times ARE, and whether it’s even important to have a social media posting schedule at all.
Hint: It’s Important!
Of course it’s important. You want others to read and view your stuff, don’t you? 😉
Today we are going to look at some reasons for having a social media posting schedule, what the suggested “best times” are — and for what — and figure out this whole scheduling controversy once and for all.
The Benefits of Having A Social Media Posting Schedule
There are many benefits of having a social media posting schedule, with the main one being: more eyeballs on your content.
Others include:
- social shares
- likes
- +1s
- reTweets
- re-pins
- comments
- links to your work
Suggested frequencies, however, are not requirements for success. But they help. 😉
[Tweet “Learn the benefits of having a solid posting schedule. #blogginglikeaboss”]A Proposed Schedule
Buffer posts according to this social media frequency schedule:
Facebook – 2 times per day, seven days a week, 10:08 a.m. and 3:04 p.m.
LinkedIn – 1 time per day, 8:14 a.m., no weekends
Google+ – 2 times per day, 9:03 a.m. and 7:04 p.m., no weekends
Twitter – 14 times per day, at 12:06 am, 2:02 am, 3:06 am, 6:13 am, 7:32 am, 9:11 am, 10:14 am, 12:07 pm, 2:19 pm, 3:07 pm, 5:15 pm, 6:04 pm, 8:13 pm, and 10:08 pm
[Tweet “See Buffer’s social media posting schedule. #socialmedia (Thanks, @buffer!) “]Neil Patel’s Research
According to Neil Patel (a genius in his own right), the following times are the optimal times to post to social media:
Monday
Google+ – 9-11 am
Tuesday
Google+ – 9-11 am
LinkedIn – 7-8 am, 10-11 am, and 5-6 pm
Wednesday
Google+ – 9-11 am
LinkedIn – 7-8 am, 10-11 am, and 5-6 pm
Twitter – 12 pm, 5 pm, and 6 pm
Thursday
Google+ – 9-11 am
LinkedIn – 7-8 am, 10-11 am, and 5-6 pm
Facebook – 1 pm and 3 pm (for most shares and most clicks)
Friday
Google+ – 9-11 am
Facebook – 1 pm and 3 pm (for most shares and most clicks)
Saturday
Twitter – 12 pm, 5 pm, and 6 pm
Pinterest – 2-4am, 2-4 pm, 8-11 pm
Sunday
Twitter – 12 pm, 5 pm, and 6 pm
The awesome Mr. Patel also offers 7 Tips for Increasing Your Click-Through Rates on Facebook. Plus, he has condensed the above information into the following infographic for your convenience:
More Social Media Posting Advice
According to Slideshare’s A Complete Guide To The Best Times To Post On Social Media, the best time to post to Twitter is between 10 and 11 pm. They claim that the most ReTweets (RTs) on Twitter happen on Sundays, too.
Further claims are as follow: blog posts are more effective on weekends and see the most interactions between 10 and 11 pm (even though Mondays and Thursdays are great days to post, too), and Facebook interactions skyrocket on weekends, with optimal posting time being between 12:00 midnight and 1 am.
This information conflicts with that provided by Buffer, who say that engagement rates on Facebook are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays and Twitter ReTweets are highest around 5pm, with click-through-rates peaking around 12:00 noon and 6 pm.
The best time for emailing is another thing entirely, although many studies have been done regarding email marketing.
Kissmetrics and Dan Zarella (@danzarrella) from Hubspot have found:
*10 pm – 6am is the dead zone, when hardly any emails get opened.
*Emails related to property and financial services are generally opened between 3pm and 5pm.
*Email bounce rates occur highest in the early morning during all days of the week, with the weekend being the highest.
*Email open rates and click rates are highest in the early morning during all days of the week, with the weekend being the highest.
*For more general emails, the open rates, click-through rates and abuse reports were all found to be highest during early mornings and on weekends.
*The optimal email sending frequency is generally 1 to 4 emails a month.
Tools to Use
HootSuite
HootSuite is more complicated and takes longer to set up than the other services in this round-up, but it’s worth the extra legwork. Free users can add up to three social networks to one HootSuite account, including LinkedIn, Google+ Pages, and Foursquare. HootSuite Pro starts at $8.99/month and lets you add up to 100 social network accounts/profiles and bulk schedule up to 350 updates at once by uploading a spreadsheet. ~source
Followerwonk
Followerwonk is a Moz tool you can use free for 30 days, which will help you:
*search Twitter bios to connect with anyone and compare Twitter accounts to find overlaps and target new influencers.
*Breakout your followers by location, bio, who they follow, and more.
*Contrast your relationships with your competitors and friends.
*Match your activities to gains and losses in followers to give your followers what they like best.
*Follow and unfollow in-app to hone your social graph like a razor’s edge.
After that, pricing starts. Followerwonk is currently only offered via the Moz Pro package, which costs $99/month. This comes straight from a conversation I had with them three months ago on Twitter, and which hasn’t changed during this time.
Here is a screenshot of our Twitter conversation:
Moz also offers different services, depending on your needs (or those of your business), but they have some free beginner guides/resources, too, where you can learn about SEO, link building, and social media.
[Tweet “Consider separate pricing for Followerwonk, @followerwonk! #bloggersblogonbudgets”]Fanpage Karma – For Facebook
Fanpage Karma is a tool you can use free for 14 days. They offer two services: analytics and social monitoring. Each comes with its own price, and pricing will depend on your needs.
How to Create a Social Media Posting Schedule offers the following recap, which fits nicely here:
*Find the networks that are right for your business.
*Learn the type of content that works well on each network.
*Start with your most important social networks, and add others over time.
*Find the tools you need to improve social media productivity.
*Track your results and make adjustments when needed.
Spreadsheets
Many bloggers keep track of their posting schedules through spreadsheets, too. You can do this, too, recording the days of the week, the times of your postings, the content of your posts, and what you observe (how many times your content gets shared, how many “likes” each gets, etc.
What You Need to Remember
The important thing to remember is to find a schedule that works for YOU, and to test, test, test.
Sure, this is a lot of work, but your findings will be worth it.
Then again, you can always just “wing it” and hope for the best. 😉
Whatever you do, remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your social media posting strategy won’t be, either.
Have Your Say
Do you have a social media posting schedule, or do you simply just “wing it” and post whenever you’re online?
Do think it’s necessary to nail down the best times and then stick to them? Or is it better to share content whenever you feel like it?
Share your thoughts in the comments. I’d really like to hear what you think of this controversial topic!
Share this post, too.
Pin the opening image (courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net). Pin the awesome infographic Neil Patel created. Share this great content on Twitter (feel free to delete the “via @lorrainereguly” from the Tweet so that YOUR Tweet will get ReTweeted!). Tell your Facebook friends about it. And don’t forget about Google+. There are tons of people there just waiting to hear about this news!
Thanks, and see you in the comments! 🙂
“Whatever strategy you use, the thing to remember is to engage with your audience. That is, first and foremost, extremely important.” – Another well-struck nail, again hit firmly on the head there, Lorraine! This is what I’m all about and firmly believe that it should be at the very core of all that we do.
Thanks again, I look forward to reading your next post! 🙂
Glenn, that’s great to hear! 🙂
Hi Lorraine,
Thanks for putting all this together. It’s very interesting and I think the biggest takeaway from this is to test what works best for your own audience.
I’ve seen many, many of these types of social media stats posts, yet, for me, one vital piece of information is missing – what is the actual source of their data? What I mean by this is that one person will do a series of tests and cite A, B and C as being the definitive strategy, but then someone else will say that they have done the tests and X, Y and Z works best. For example, let’s say that Blogger A says that it’s best to tweet at 5:00 PM. Blogger B may have found that tweeting at 10:00 AM is better.
If we all worked off the same time zone that would be one thing, but the thing is not everyone is in the same part of the world, nor do they have the same audience. Equally, two people could be, say, five times zones apart, yet have the same audience. Furthermore, many people will take action based on when they see the post and not when it was posted. Then again, they may have different habits depending on which social media account they are checking. For example, the way I use my Twitter music account is totally different from the way I do so my Twitter IM account.
Ultimately, what works for one may differ hugely to what works for another, as Harleena highlighted. Many of the times that have been found to be best may so be with regards to the recipient and those times may not fluctuate so much, but when it comes to us as posters I don’t think we can really know for sure, especially as what works this week may not work so well next week, or next month or whenever. I think that constant testing and analysing is the only way to be sure what works for us ourselves.
So, for me personally, I try to stay away from concerning myself too much about what others have found regarding ‘this’ and ‘that’ time being better. It is certainly interesting to see what results people get but I think that there are far too many factors at play to give one definitive strategy.
I think you hit the nail on the head by highlighting the points from “How to Create a Social Media Posting Schedule ” and also what you said under “What You Need to Remember” about finding a schedule that works for us individually and to spend the time testing.
Thanks for an interesting post, Lorraine. I hope you’re having a great weekend. 🙂
»Glenn«
Glenn, thanks for weighing in!
Whatever strategy you use, the thing to remember is to engage with your audience. That is, first and foremost, extremely important.
If you end up finding the best times to post, that’s great. If not, to me it’s not THAT big of a deal.
Time is a precious resource, and so devoting so much time to testing might not make sense for everyone!
I’m having a great weekend, by the way. It’s Easter! 😉
Happy Easter, and visit again! 🙂
Does a social media schedule like that leave a person time to have a life?
I wonder the same thing! LOL
Hey Lorraine,
I really don’t have a schedule. I guess you can say right now I’m winging it. I use an automated plugin called Revive Old Post where I send tweets out very 3 hours.
With that said, I have LinkedIn and Facebook linked to my twitter account. So whenever I post something on twitter, it also goes out to LinkedIn and Facebook. I post in Google+ and Pinterest whenever I can. I have very limited of time, I have to get in where I fit in so to speak.
But this is great to know for future reference! Especially when I have time off from work. I can put these tips to use whenever I have this time. I’m sure it’s way better than what I’m doing now LOL
Thanks for sharing Lorraine! I hope you’re enjoying your week!
Sherman, I use the same plugin! 🙂
I also have Pinterest linked to Twitter and Facebook. However, when I pin stuff, it’s usually others’ stuff. 😉
It’s good, however, that you are aware of your social media presence.
As bloggers, I think we ALL have a limited amount of time. Especially when we’re also running our businesses!
Lorraine,
Great post! I use social media throughout the day.
I know from research, posting on Google+ in the morning brings in more +1’s and shares.
I also know that posts get the most comments on Thursday onward.
But, for me, I publish my posts on Sunday and use Twitter multiple times a day.
For FB I post twice a day – noon and mid evening. It’s hard trying to keep up with everything. Oh yea, then there’s Pinterest. I hop on there 2 times a day.
It’s a lot, but I know its working!
Elna, it’s great that you are so active on social media. I don’t know how you manage to do so much while raising twin toddlers! Honestly, girl, you amaze me.
It’s wonderful that you have already noticed a trend with your followers, though! Good for you! I’ll have to be more conscious of posting to G+ on Thursdays, too, and keep testing the best days for me. 🙂
I wish you continued success, my friend… and Starbucks latte buddy! 😉
See you IRL soon! (FYI, for those who don’t know what IRL means, it means “In Real Life.” Elna and I regularly meet and hang out because we live in the same city.) 😀
Hi Lorraine,
That’s a great roundup of tips and a super infographic from Mr Patel. Thanks so much for putting this together.
I need to digest this and start planning a schedule that works. Currently I go with what Buffer suggests is the best time, but there may be advice here which contradicts that!
Thanks again!
– David
David, I have to confess that I don’t have a solid social media posting schedule that I stick to. However, I always share the blog posts I read, and generally respond to each and every comment left for me. I also maintain a positive, helpful social media presence across all of my platforms.
Being helpful is part of my brand!
It’s good to know that you are more conscious of what works and what doesn’t, too, and that you actually HAVE a plan for posting.
Thanks for chiming in!
Hi Lorraine,
Resourceful post indeed, and about a topic much talked about 🙂
Yes, what’s the best time – I wonder! There are SO many resources out there, just like you mentioned, and top-notch bloggers who suggest the ideal time for posting on the social media, but you’d hardly find them suggesting the same time! And this surely confuses the rest of us.
I am just like you there, try, test, and share when it is the best time for you. That’s because each one’s audience, fans, followers, are different. They all have different time zones and are located at various places, so it makes sense to schedule your posts, using Hootsuite, Buffer, and others, if need be, or share the posts when your followers are online.
For example, Pinterest works well for me, and I never share it on Saturdays or Sundays! Those days I try to keep off from social media…lol…but sharing a little twice a day works better for me. So, make the choices based on what works for you and you’d always have an audience and followers, who’d be there are various time zones too.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Harleena, you’re so right — bloggers do indeed suffer from information overload and it’s hard to tell what is really the BEST time to share, especially given the different parts of the world we’re all in, the time zone differences, etc.
What is a bit funny, however, is that I often work during the wee hours of the night, which puts some of my sharing times in line with those overseas! I know Ryan Biddulph has mentioned the fact that I “burn the midnight oil” a few times on Twitter, and I told him that I find working at night more relaxing because it’s so quiet. I’m also more productive at night.
Because of this, it’s hard to tell when the best times to share really is, because of the different audiences I reach.
The key is to making note of the patterns that arise and remembering to share at the same times the following week. Of course, holidays and other events will have an impact on the “regular” observations. Plus, flexibility should be incorporated into any schedule, if you are to experience maximum success.
I’m sure everyone would agree with that!b Don’t you?
Hi Lorraine,
Way cool!
I am a hyper tweeter 😉 So I hit many time zones during the day.
I also heard that 5 PM time is optimal for RTs.
With me, I schedule much of the time anyway, since I share through Triberr and also Hootsuite updates quite a bit.
Ensures a steady stream of content for my audience from around the globe.
As is, I’m 12 hours ahead of EST now. Always a bit off until I return to the US.
Thanks for sharing the information Lorraine!
Tweeting from Bali.
Ryan
Ryan, I know you use tools like Hootsuite and Triberr (I use Triberr sometimes, too) and have a strong presence on Twitter. I try to maintain a strong presence across all platforms, and will share posts I read and comment on to my many media accounts.
As I mentioned to Harleena a moment ago — and you on Twitter, recently — I like to work during the late night and early morning hours… sometimes. This allows me to connect with others in different parts of the world in real-time, rather than hours and hours later. Sometimes it’s good to be able to have a conversation with someone on Facebook, G+ or Twitter that takes only minutes instead of days!
Thanks for sharing and commenting. Enjoy paradise! 😉