14 min read
Facebook Posts and Timing
The typical Facebook user shares a post on Facebook whenever they feel the urge to do so. Maybe there’s a cute baby pic that a favorite aunt would just love to wake up and see. Or perhaps a beloved son or daughter did something that you can wait to share with the rest of your Facebook family. For the business owner, though, posts aren’t so easy or casual.
Believe it or not, there is a generally agreed upon best time to post on Facebook. It varies by study – yes, they’ve actually done studies on this – but the consensus overall is that for the Facebook post that comes from a business, there really is a best of times and a worst of times. What that time turns out to be depends on which organization conducted the study and even sometimes what industry the business is posting about.
FACT: Did you know, there are over 2.60 billion monthly active users on Facebook. Moreover, 1.73 billion of those users visit the social networking site on a daily basis. In fact, Facebook is the leading social platform, reaching 60.6% of internet users.
The Goal of Facebook Posts
Social media posts are all about sharing. The post itself is a way to instantly share a thought, picture, video, meme, or event with someone. The end goal of the post is different for personal posters and business posters, though. A non-business person shares a Facebook post just to share. Sure, they want likes and attention as well, but the stakes just aren’t that high on a cute baby pic shown to everyone that already knows you and loves you.
Businesses have a much loftier goal in mind when they make a post, and it’s this goal that makes the standard for a business post so much higher. You can’t casually post whatever’s on your mind or share something arbitrary and off topic just because you feel like it. Few people who go to a Facebook business page want to hear what you think about a sporting event or your political opinions.
Business posts
Posts meant to reflect well on your business need to be:
- Appropriate to your business and its goals
- Safe for work
- Non-controversial (for most businesses)
- Respectful of all readers
- Engaging
Here’s a good example of an engaging, business-minded facebook post:
What’s Time Got to Do With It?
You might be wondering why time is even in the equation as to when to post on Facebook. After all, you can communicate 24/7 online, and isn’t any time of the day a great time to say hey to your audience? Well, yes and no. Posting at all is better than never posting, but if you have a really important post that it’s essential to have all your readers see, then there actually is a best time to post on Facebook.
Interestingly, the best times to post on Facebook 2021 might differ from even a few years ago. The world’s schedule rarely stays the same year after year, and even certain TV shows being scheduled or sporting events being scheduled might affect when your audience is available to respond to your posts. More than asking what time is the best time to post, what you’re really asking here is the best time to post on Facebook for maximum exposure.
A Good Example
Let’s say that you are about to announce a huge sale on one of your online books. You want everyone who reads your business Facebook to be involved in the discussion, like the post, and then share it with their friends and family so that you get a viral event out of it. Knowing the worst time to post on Facebook is a really good hint that you have at least one day you wouldn’t want to pull out all the bells and whistles to announce that post. Most studies and publications agree that Sunday is a horrible time to announce something huge on Facebook or any other social media page. Here is a great chart that can give you a good idea of when to post based on your business goals:
(Image credit: promorepublic)
The reasons for this are probably evident in your everyday life. What do the folks you know do on Sunday? Known far and wide by most cultures and people as a day of rest, people usually have a day off work on Sunday. They usually know that most businesses are closed that day. And they often have time to catch up on real world household projects and errands that they might have had to put off during the work week.
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You can see why Sunday would be a bad time, then, to announce anything huge and important online. Your audience is probably going to be busy on Sunday, either at church, taking a nap, fishing at a lake, or finishing a kitchen remodeling project since it’s the only day of the week they have to get something done. If you announce something huge during this worst time to post on Facebook, the chances are that by Monday, folks will completely skip over that Sunday post to see your Monday post instead.
So When is a Good Time to Post?
We’ve already ruled Sunday out for just about any major post (unless there’s an emergency announcement you need to share, such as something about safety or something that your readers really need to know). That leaves 6 other days of the week for you to get your important thoughts and business news out. There are many publications like Unmetric that have put their two pennies in on this debate. Their take was that Thursday and Friday are terrific days to post, as people have exciting weekends planned and might be really entertained by your announcements (or want to attend an event or sale you might have going on over the weekend).
As for the actual time, the general consensus is that between noon and 4 PM are the ideal times to share any type of post on Facebook. It’s also seen as the best time to post on instagram for likes or the best time to post on Twitter for likes. The idea of posting for likes brings us to the crux of the whole posting at a certain time strategy. Unmetric summed it up perfectly:
(Image credit: unmetric)
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A Timely Post for a Timely Response
You don’t post on social media just to communicate something with a brick wall of space. You’re posting because you know that the people you serve with a product, service, or information are all watching your page and might want to read what you have to share. Your entire strategy isn’t just to share, though; the end game is to get them to respond to what you’ve written and then share it throughout the world wide web of info. You want them to take that post viral, and when you hit that sweet spot and post during the best time to post on Instagram for likes, or that critical best time to post on Twitter, you are giving your business and content the best chance to be shared.
The idea of a response is nothing new. In the old days, before people took to social media to advertise ideas and share information, business would advertise in – you guessed it – Sunday papers. Sunday was the sweet spot for print advertising because everyone was at home sharing a lazy day off. That was the perfect time to catch dad sitting in his recliner, relaxing, and read to see an ad for a new television set right after his intriguing news section. Take this La-Z-Boy recliner ad from the 1980’s, the ideal place for this ad was in the Sunday edition of the newspaper:
The Internet is just like that, only much more informal and a lot trickier to advertise to. You have so many millions of people reading through just one section of a site, or exploring one subject at the same time, that you rarely know the entire audience of people you’re posting to. A post that might make one person laugh will send another spiraling into a response of rage. It’s a delicate, and sometimes painful, tightrope act.
The Idea
- You want your post to be seen by the most people, and it’s generally agreed on that your chances of catching the most people reading your social media post will be the greatest at between noon and 4 PM.
- You want to make an entertaining or intriguing post, but you don’t want it to be controversial or upset anyone. So you’re looking for a response, but you are trying to avoid the “bad” reaction and response.
- To reach the most people and get the kind of positive response you want, don’t just post off the top of your head. Really put a lot of thought into your post, read and re-read, and make sure you post at the above mentioned times or at times that you see your audience is online the most.
Exceptions to Best Times to Post on Facebook 2021
The agreed on “best times” to post don’t always go for every audience. For example, if you run a Facebook page that’s an after Sunday school discussion group at 2 PM on Sunday, you will obviously want to post your heart out on Sunday. Just because fewer people are online on Sunday and maybe reading social media doesn’t mean that your specific page might not have an abundance of Sunday readers.
Using Facebook stats and other stats you might want to pay for will help you see exactly when your audience is online. Instagram also has statistics that might shed light on when the best time to post on Instagram for likes is for your particular page. Track your stats for a few weeks, see when the bulk of your traffic is browsing your social media pages, and set aside those average times for when to announce your most important events. Take a look at the Diib® Social Analytics tool and you’ll see the isolation of the different demographics and times, making target marketing decisions easy.
Making your Post Count
The time you post – by itself – will never guarantee that you’re going to have a successful post that’s liked and shared a lot. For example, you could post “Hi, I’m here,” every day for the rest of eternity at the “best time to post,” and by the third “Hi, I’m here,” your audience is probably going to find a new hobby or place to get their information. Your words really, really matter more than the time you post.
Images are a way to enhance your announcements and posts so that people are more likely to share them. The Internet has become a lot more visual over the years. Compared to the virtual wall of text (and turtle-slow loading images) of the early 2000s, today’s web is almost like looking at the real world. Almost every site, including Facebook, has videos, live videos, images, animations, memes, and even animated text. It’s a living, breathing world on social media, and you can use all of these tools to get more attention with your posts.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media websites make it easy to spice your posts up for your readers and grab more attention than just a few sentences would. Emoticons, animated gifs, stickers, and so much more allow you to carry on a more lively conversation with your readers and increase your chances that someone will want to share your stories.
Some tips for better posts include:
- Keep it upbeat and optimistic
- Share links that are meaningful to you (even if they come from your own website)
- If you get responses, don’t be afraid to ask questions instead of just blurting an opinion out
- Answer questions from visitors in a clear, concise way
- Never talk down to anyone in your posts
Take a look at this good example from Netflix:
When it’s Showtime
Some time during your social media adventure, you’ll have the biggest post of all to share. It will be so big that you’ll have a hard time waiting for that best time to post on Facebook for maximum exposure. It might be at the worst possible time to post, when you know that none of your audience is around. Don’t post it. Wait.
A little patience goes a long way, especially when you’ve got a way to talk to your visitors and customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What’s the rush? Unless you’re sharing information that includes something about safety or security, almost every post can wait until that perfect time when everyone is already on your social media page and interacting with each other in a lively, entertaining way.
It’s normal to sometimes get “cold feet” before making a big post. Maybe you’re nervous that people will ignore it. Maybe you’re afraid that it won’t be as successful as you hope it will be. Relax. All posts that you post to your business Facebook page are meaningful to your future success, so even if not a soul responds, it’s still worth posting, and it’s still worthwhile.
Chances are, though, that if you follow the posting tips here and keep things genuine and optimistic with your audience, your post will be a big hit. And if this post isn’t a big hit, the next one will be. That’s the grand thing about social media communication. Like the universe, it’s vast and infinite. There are endless opportunities to increase your audience participation, increase your success, and increase your viral posting.
FACT: 86 % of US marketers are using Facebook for advertising. 78 % of American consumers have discovered retail products to buy via Facebook.
Almost no regular business post is going to go viral, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important and necessary to post. Just keeping a constant stream of communication alive between you and your audience is going to be an important part of your long-term success online. Even when they’re not responding, your audience likes to know you’re there, that your brand is accessible. Your page alone puts a face to your business, a human voice in writing that people can associate with what you have to offer.
Even someone with a personal page trying to increase their personal success online benefits from making sure that they post when the audience is actually out there and listening. Sometimes if people don’t check in with a page on a certain day, they don’t go back and read the previous day’s posts. So it’s vital that you really pick your best time to post and then go for it on that day. Your audience may never see that post if you don’t get the message out on the right day.
We hope that you found this article useful.
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FAQ’s
In an aggregation of studies, the findings of the best day to post on Facebook for maximum exposure is either Saturday, Thursday, Friday or Wednesday at 1 PM, 3 PM or 9 AM.
The main reason you would want to post on Facebook would be to increase your social media presence, which would, in turn, increase website traffic. Facebook Ads are relevant and lucrative; the best benefit being your ability to target your desired audience.
The use of hashtags on Facebook is definitely growing and, quite likely, is due to the fact that users can link their Facebook and Instagram accounts. This allows them to cross post to both channels, which can make them valuable when used on Facebook when done correctly.
Experts suggest posting twice a day, before your older comments and likes drop off. At a minimum, you should be posting 2-3 times a week with a maximum of 10 times a week. Don’t post more than twice a day.
It’s a little complicated to figure out, however, Facebook assigns a score to every post that could possibly appear in a person’s feed. They then use those scores to figure out when that person visits their feed.
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