“When should I post on my business’s social media?” is a pretty frequently asked question amongst business owners. Unfortunately, while there are a lot of answers to this online, it all boils down to the same kind of answer: it’s up to you.
This is a very unsatisfying response, we know! Sometimes it’s hard to not feel jealous when we see our social media posts get 1 like and 1 share, and maybe the odd comment while others have tens or even hundreds more of those. 1 like and 1 share every time you post though is still better than nothing at all.
If this lacking statistic still makes you feel blue, then hopefully these suggestions can help you out. Here are a few timing tips for posting to your business’s social media accounts.
- Check the Insights
On every social media platform for business owners, there is usually a section in your account where you can check on how your posts are doing called ‘Insights’. Each platform will display these in a different manner, but they all do the same thing: they add up the metrics that were accumulated after a post on your social media was published, or when an advertisement from your company was displayed for a specific period of time.
These insights usually can give you a good indication as to what people thought was really popular, the reactions they had to the post, and even (although it’s less pleasant) any negative feedback such as hiding the post. These insights can also tell you if you’re either doing something right or wrong with the context of the posts in general. It may take a little detective work to figure out what that sense of right or wrong may be, and reposting and recycling content meanwhile to be certain. At the end of the day though, it’s best to keep posting content consistently and regularly than not to post anything at all.
- Check Your Website’s Analytics
Google Analytics is a handy tool to have when it comes to understanding the how and when of incoming traffic to your website, especially if you do run a blog on it (if you don’t, you’re missing out! Here are some reasons why you need a blog on your site.). You can also check the audience numbers per month, demographics, and referral traffic coming in so that you can identify where the traffic is coming from and what links people are clicking on the most frequently to reach your site and from what source.
While, again, you will have to do a little digging further on the whyof the traffic, Google Analytics can tell you if there are certain patterns and trends in the way people are accessing your business via social media as well as the rest of your site’s marketing efforts. If this step is a little too technical for your time to study and understand it best, there’s no harm in asking for help from the team who built your site in the first place.
- Create a Plan of Action
Just like you would with any marketing campaign, the whole posting on social media task will fall apart if there’s no structure behind it. Come up with a plan on when you think it would be best to post to your business’s social media after examining the analytics and insights fully.
Sure, you can check online for tips and suggestions from other websites, but again, timing on your business’s social media really comes down to doing your homework before you post anything. It also comes down to whether or not your company has any content worth sharing in the first place; after all, ‘content is king’ as the saying goes. No content means there’s no good reason for your customers to visit your social media or your website in the first place.
Once you’ve figured out your plan of action and the kind of content you want to share on your business’s social media, the next thing you may need to do is:
- Invest in a Scheduling Tool
Successful business owners know that being consistent with your posting is key to seeing long-term results. If consistency is something your business is struggling with, there’s no harm in investing in a social media scheduling tool for your content strategies and other marketing campaigns.
These types of programs can help you re-organize, schedule according to recommended times, re-post successful content strategies, and even create new content for your social media with hashtag recommendations. They’re also streamlined in terms of usability and are easy to use once you’ve learned how to use it. You can train your staff to use these programs if you don’t have a person who can specifically assist you with your marketing efforts and social media on board.
Lastly, it’s important to remember one big tip about your social media in the first place….
- No Website = No Good Time to Post
While any business can have social media now, without a website or content worth posting about all of the tips we’ve outlined will prove themselves useless in the long-term. If you want to market your business online, you’ve either got to be in it for the long haul and have a website with social media as a suppository, or neither. You can’t have social media and expect people to trust you immediately if there isn’t a website in the first place. A website secures that sense of trust in your brand to your customers.
So, before you go about creating social media posts based on better timing, give us a call and let us help you out with getting you a website that works first and foremost. If you’re in it for the long haul online, then a website is your business’s best tool and chance to grow and prosper.