What Time Should You Post?

Let’s start Tuesday with the most commonly asked question we get at Coach Social!

“What time should I post?

To be honest, you can search the web and get all sorts of answers to this question. And in some ways, they’re all right.

Why? Because it depends on your audience! 

For example, some of you may know that I work as an actor when I’m not helping people dominate on social media. 😉 

As an actor, I know that auditions mainly happen between 11am and 6pm, Monday – Friday. 

That’s why so many actors work as waiters or bartenders; because they are primarily needed in the evenings or on the weekends which leaves the afternoon open for auditions. 

With this in mind, I can assume that actors will be checking their phones when they wake up, and throughout the mid-morning and mid-afternoon while they wait in waiting rooms for auditions to start. 

That’s why content we use to convert to sales / email subscribes / etc. needs to go out primarily during the work week; that’s when they’re more likely to stumble upon it. 

Now, for those who target people working a more normal 9-5 schedule, we focus on off-work hours instead of between audition hours. 

According to statistics, most check social media during “breaks.”  

For example, the morning after sleep and before they get ready for work, afternoon after their first few hours of work and right before lunch, the evening immediately after work and before they commute home, and the hours after dinner time and before bed time. 

For the purposes of this blog, it’s this audience that I’m focusing most on. 

But let me say this: All audiences require testing. 

As part of your strategy, you should be posting at a number of different times of day and recording what times work best and what types of content work best for your audience. (I’ll get into that later). 

With that in mind, here were my results: 

Instagram: 

For me, 5 PM is the magic hour! Lunch hours don’t work for me at all (although countless blogs say they do) and I have had some success with early morning (6 – 8 AM). But that’s really it. Especially on my business page(s). 

For me, the weekends don’t really convert unless the image is fantastic. 

Twitter: 

Honestly, you should be tweeting quite a bit if you’re looking to convert with Twitter, but I find 8-9am, 11 AM, 12-1 PM, and 5-7 PM to be what works best for me. 

(Side note: The real secret with Twitter is hashtags and consistency!) 

Facebook: 

8am and 12 – 1 PM work best for me. That said — boosting is a non-negotiable for Facebook. All posts require $2-3 at least to be seen. Without it, only 4% of your following is seeing your posts. 

I know, right?????

With this in mind, I’d say you need to be much more diligent about what kind of content you post on Facebook (well, on all platforms, but particularly Facebook…) so that you know you are spending money on content that you really love and that you think will convert. 

So, let’s break this down. 

We covered what times work best for *me.* Here’s what I think you should do with this information: 

  • Give these times a try and see if you get good / better results for your audience. 
  • Record your findings in a spreadsheet along with a few notes about what kind of content you posted:
    • Was it a post with an image or a video? 
    • Was the caption long or short? 
    • What hashtags did you use? 
    • Etc. 

This will help you get a feel for the big picture and all the factors that go into  making an effective post for your business/audience. Because, although the time in which you post can be important, it is NOT the only factor that goes into whether or not a boost is successful. 

  • Lastly, record what your objective was and whether or not you met it. 
    • Was this post geared to growing your email list? 
    • Were you trying to funnel people into a sales sequence? 
    • Were you trying to book a consult? 
    • Did you just want high engagement? 

Knowing your conversion rates won’t only inform you on how successful the time you post is, but it will offer a measurable R.O.I. that can help you determine how you need to tweak your content or messaging so that social media works for you. 

Okay! Lots of info here. If there’s something you want to dive deeper into, comment below and I’ll dive deeper on my Instagram story over @GetCoachSocial!