When Should I Post to Social Media?
Understanding the best time to post for your brand on social media can be tricky. Most of the pros will tell you to “test and see what works for your audience.” But if you’re not into conducting a science fair-type experiment just to figure out the best time to post to Instagram, read on.
It seems like so many different questions with marketing are often answered with, try it, see how it affects your stats, and then adjust accordingly. Which is certainly sound advice. When people come to me for help, though, they’re often looking for what most people do, and what mostly works because they are ready to get started.. Then they can go in and tweak and figure out how to improve those numbers.
Consider this your starting point. (Then if you want different results from what you’re getting, take a look at your numbers, adjust your strategy, and then reevaluate.)
After creating dozens of content calendars for many different kinds of brands (although most of them have been in the arts in some way), I have a method that I rely on that takes the guess work out of the process. In this post, you’ll find out how to set up your own posting schedule based on the platforms that you’ll be using.
Note: You should already know which two platforms you’re going to be posting on before going any farther. Not sure? Read this. TikTok? Instagram? Picking Your Social Platforms.
Think in Terms of Weeks
Planning out content for an entire year - or even a month - can seem pretty daunting. By thinking “I’m going to post this kind of stuff on Mondays” you break the task into smaller, more manageable doses. Then all you have to do is come up with five or six of those kinds of posts, upload them to your scheduler or automator (MeetEdgar is my personal favorite), and voila! You’ll have a little over a month’s worth of posts for that day in the can.
If you are using a social media automation tool like MeetEdgar, many of those work best by having a weekly schedule of content. So besides just helping your brain compartmentalize which types of content to make, you’ll already have it planned in a way that complements the platform you’re using.
Note: have an entire FREE webinar on what kinds of content to create. Want it? Drop me a line with your email address and I’ll send it your way. Here’s the quick version.
Types of Weekly Content to Create
Social media platforms love it when you post regularly. Here are five different categories of posts to put out weekly. (Note: I use a 90s throwback as a pneumonic device. PAGER.)
P: Promotions, initiatives, events.
The stuff that you want to know about.
A: Articles
Long form content that you’ve written, appeared in, or curated for your audience. This also includes blog posts, podcast episodes, and long form videos
G: General.
Posts that talk about your niche, solve problems, discuss what your audience loves, and more. Rachel Miller’s Social System goes into this better than I ever could.
E: Engagement
Polls, games, conversation starters, open ended questions. The kind of stuff that gets your audience clicking, sliding, commenting, and sharing.
R: Random
A random mix of all of the above.
I’ve written a great deal about the PAGER Model. For further reading, head here.
What Time of Day to Post During the Week
You know which platforms you’re going to post on.
You know how often you’re going to post.
You know what kind of content to post.
Now, you need to know what time of day to post on each platform.
The easy answer is to follow what the pros recommend. Then test within your audience after awhile.
First, I like to start with this post from Hootsuite, The Best Time to Post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn as a jumping off point. To summarize, it says:
Post when your audience is online
Look at top-performing posts from the past
See when other accounts in your niche are posting
Post in your audience’s time zone, not yours
Test and optimize (See? They always tell you that!)
Regularly keep an eye on things to make any necessary adjustments
Next, some automation or scheduling tools will recommend times for you based on the platforms you’re posting to. It’s perfectly fine to use these recommendations too. Platforms like MeetEdgar make it their jobs to know the best time to post. Take them up on it, and set up your schedule accordingly.
MeetEdgar is the social media scheduling and automation tool that has saved me hours every week. I get a tiny affiliate commission from recommending them to you. I’d do it for free, though, because this product is such a time saver.
A Few Tricks I’ve Picked Up Along the Way
Here are some quick hits:
When posting 5 times a week, schedule a Story the evening before a day you aren’t going to be posting. For example, a Saturday night. This way, your post will still be active on a day you’re not
Engagement posts that are more fun work on Fridays after lunch time and throughout the weekend, since people are more relaxed.
Articles posts work well on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. People are often looking to dive deeper into learning during the work week, but Mondays are still getting caught up from the weekend.
People start thinking about their weekend plans on Wednesday and Thursday nights. These are great times for Promotions and Events-based posts.
General posts work well when they are about your audience, your niche, and the problems you solve. Rachel Miller’s Social System is an excellent resource. As is her Post Deck app. (Note: only one of these pays me. I just find them both incredibly valuable tools, and everyone whom I’ve recommended them to agrees.)
Applying This to Your Social Media Strategy
Your social media content strategy is coming together! You know where to post, how often to post there, what kind of content to create, and what time of the day to do it. How amazing!
If you want help putting all of this together, and getting it to align with your goals, I’m here to help! Schedule an Intro Call and we can create a Content Strategy that is handmade for you!