How to Strategize Social Media Timing

by Sandra Wilkins

So you just finished a couple blog posts, maybe an ebook or two, and genuinely want to say hello to your audience. You know that you should communicate using social media but you have important questions:

When? How often? Should I have a set schedule? 

It’s easy to be encompassed by the content we create and forget about the very important other half of the equation – content distribution. This means finding the right balance in frequency and timing that compliments us and our audience.

It’s important to hone in on a posting frequency and timing that will have the best possible chance of reaching your audience without either over-sharing and becoming annoying, or being overshadowed by others who post on a more frequent basis.

So how do you find what posting frequency and timing works best for your company?

We’ll go over that a bit later but right now I want to share some general tips for scheduling your posts on the Big Three (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn).

Facebook:

Facebook is the community building platform that we all love to post on. Generally you should stick to two posts a day, one in the morning and another in the late afternoon/evening. It is also important to maintain posting frequency on the weekends because contrary to popular belief, they convert at an impressive rate.

Twitter:

The important aspect to remember about Twitter is that it promotes conversations. Therefore, posting should be more frequent. Tweet between 3-5 times a day while steering clear of tweeting twice in the same hour. You should definitely tweet on the weekends but you can be a little less frequent.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is our sophisticated platform that promotes longer and more stimulating posts. LinkedIn is also the platform that generates the most leads so if that’s your objective, it’s important to have a solid strategy here. Post once a day, preferably early in the morning. Steer clear of posting on weekends. If you follow this schedule, that should average out to about 20 posts a month which insures that you reach a majority of your audience. 

Even if you’re just managing posts on the Big Three, you have quite a few to distribute during any given day and week. I suggest using tools like Buffer to help you automate your distribution and save time.

But it doesn’t stop at those general frequencies and timings. If you have specific business objectives tied to your social media, you should definitely research what works best for your objectives.

If you have transactional objectives or lead generation objectives, for example, through research you may find that your ideal posting frequency and timing falls outside of the general rule of thumb. That’s ok! Research what works and schedule posting that will best align with your objectives.

How do you research?

Well this is the fun part because it’s totally experimental! Post in the mornings, post in the afternoon, even post at times you normally wouldn’t think beneficial like nights and weekends. Post at different frequencies and measure your outcomes. Outcomes can be any engagement or conversion you deem beneficial (or the lack thereof). With this data you can begin to build an understanding of when and how often you should post to benefit your specific objectives.

Note: This kind of experimenting works better for platforms like Facebook and Twitter. I would stay away from posting excessively on LinkedIn.

And now you’re set to plan the best timing and frequency strategy for your social media distribution. You have the general rule of thumb for posting on the Big Three and the means to research and expand to build a strategy better suited to your company’s needs.

Have anything to add or want to share some frequency and timing successes? Post in the comments below!

It can be difficult to manage posting on all of your social media platforms and though tools like Buffer can be beneficial, I suggest having a calendar in addition to really get organized and make the most of your strategy.

Download our social media planning template below to manage your posting frequencies as well as blog posts and correlating content offers.