Social Media Scheduling – Times, Tips and Tools
If your reading this you’re probably ready to take your social media marketing to a whole new level. Statistically speaking, that’s exactly what scheduling does for your social media presence. Social media scheduling helps put your content in front of the people that care about your products at the perfect time, on the perfect day, and in a way that is far more effective than you could achieve through manual efforts.
Note: Pin scheduler Traffic Wonker has sadly gone out of business, but owner and CEO Andy Fling has given me permission to share his useful Pinterest research and other information on my site. I jumped at the chance as Andy is the smartest guy I know when it comes to Pinterest!
The Perfect Day
The “perfect day” to schedule to social media is the day when your content will be the most meaningful and the most viewed on your perferred social media platforms.
Monday through Thursday are the biggest days of the week for internet traffic. They’re also the days when most people are working. Scheduling social media content that helps people make their jobs more meaningful, more productive, or maybe just a little more fun will be most successful.
Friday is a day when people begin to think more about the weekend. Providing ideas for the family will be the most successful.
Saturday morning is a great time to share your best home improvement tips and more activities for the day.
On Sunday people are thinking about Monday. It’s a great time to start sharing products and ideas for the workplace again.
The big idea here is to consider what your target market needs and be there when they need it. Because I’ve identified days that are best of certain things doesn’t mean you limit your products/content to just those days, or ignore the weekends. People are always searching for solutions. You’re goal is to be there when they do.
The Perfect Time
Just as there are perfect days to post, there are also perfect times to post. Posting at these peak times will likely put your posts in front of the largest audience. However don’t abandon marketing during the down time. People that need your products/content are searching for solutions at those times too. Just put your best foot forward during those peak hours.
Pinterest is always bustling with activity and your pins will almost always find an audience no matter when you post to Pinterest. However, some days and times are better than others.
High traffic times are between 2PM-4PM EST and 8PM-12MID EST
High traffic days are Monday through Thursday
Our study, The Science of Pinterest Pin Scheduling, indicates that the best times per day is ideal for maximum saves and improved ranking in Pinterest search.
Posts made on Facebook accounts only reach 6% of their followers and the half-life of a Facebook post is only 90 minutes. Keep posting original updates and recycle the updates that resonate most with your audience.
High traffic time is around 12NOON
The best day to post is Saturday
Experts recommend posting one update every other day
Only 46% of Twitter users visit the site daily and the half-life of a tweet is only about 24 minutes. Keep posting original tweets and recycle the tweets that resonate most with your audience.
The best times to tweet and retweet are between 12NOON and 6PM EST
The best days to tweet are during the middle of the week and on the weekend
Experts recommend tweeting 1-4 times per hour
The Perfect Social Media Scheduling Tools
Now that you have “when” and “how often” squared away you’re ready for a list of tools to achieve your goals.
Facebook and Twitter – I use and recommend RecurPost. It’s affordable and easy to use. Organizing your content is a breeze with the Content Library, and posting at the best times is a no-brainer thanks to their Best Times tool. If you don’t want to schedule more than 100 posts at any one time, it’s free.
If you’re already posting to Facebook with RecurPost adding your Twitter account is easy and posting to Twitter would be automatic. You just need to limit your message to 280 characters for both social media sites.
Pinterest – For Pinterest, TrafficWonker offers tools that makes marketing on Pinterest easy for newbies and small business owners will save so much time that you’ll actually have time to work at your business – not on Pinterest. Social media scheduling is always a better choice than manual posting. It gives you a way to maintain consistency, which is critical for high ranking on all platforms.
by Andy Fling
Founder and CEO of TrafficWonker.com
Other posts by Andy you might enjoy:
How to become a Pinterest Superhero
Pinterest Tips from Top Bloggers
Reasons Businesses FAIL at Pinterest
