n this next of our series on Facebook Engagement we look at what times of day and week major brands are getting the best results from their Facebook posts.
Facebook users consume most content from their stream, and a typical stream is a rapidly moving feast. Perhaps the one thing all Facebook posts share in common is the certainty and speed with which they will soon be replaced by new content.
With social content, timing is critical.
Hitting the target consumer at exactly the right time - when they are in the right mood to not only take in your content, but respond to it - is the goal.
Having national and global audiences spread across numerous time zones only exacerbates the challenges that brands face in getting the timing of their social activities right.
First we first look at posting activity by day of week:
In particular we observe an increase in the number of comments received when a post is made on the weekend, presumably because people have more time.
Next we look at the response by time of day. Note that the while the majority of posting activity in this study was targeted at US based audiences, there is still a challenge in interpreting the data due to time zone differences. Hence we have split the day into 3 broad sections, specified in Central Standard Time.
Off hour posting does not seem to be viewed as an intrusion by Fans. In fact, response rates are higher on average after 6pm.
It could also be the case that the reduced posting frequency by brands on the weekend and evening time periods reduces clutter, creating more opportunity for those that do post to catch a Fan's attention.
Finally, we combined all non-business hours posts, including posts on weekends, evenings and holidays, and looked at the response levels.
As always, we need to reinforce that these are aggregate results. We observe a lot of variation between brands, and it is critically important to consider each specific situation and analyze each brand on its own merits. However there are some general rules of thumb we can give to brands targeting a non-business audience:
Facebook users consume most content from their stream, and a typical stream is a rapidly moving feast. Perhaps the one thing all Facebook posts share in common is the certainty and speed with which they will soon be replaced by new content.
With social content, timing is critical.
Hitting the target consumer at exactly the right time - when they are in the right mood to not only take in your content, but respond to it - is the goal.
Having national and global audiences spread across numerous time zones only exacerbates the challenges that brands face in getting the timing of their social activities right.
First we first look at posting activity by day of week:
Posts on the weekend perform about 16% better on average.
Next we look at the response by time of day. Note that the while the majority of posting activity in this study was targeted at US based audiences, there is still a challenge in interpreting the data due to time zone differences. Hence we have split the day into 3 broad sections, specified in Central Standard Time.
Posts made in the evening get approximately 10% better response.
Off hour posting does not seem to be viewed as an intrusion by Fans. In fact, response rates are higher on average after 6pm.
It could also be the case that the reduced posting frequency by brands on the weekend and evening time periods reduces clutter, creating more opportunity for those that do post to catch a Fan's attention.
Finally, we combined all non-business hours posts, including posts on weekends, evenings and holidays, and looked at the response levels.
Posts made outside of business hours get approximately 20% better response.
As always, we need to reinforce that these are aggregate results. We observe a lot of variation between brands, and it is critically important to consider each specific situation and analyze each brand on its own merits. However there are some general rules of thumb we can give to brands targeting a non-business audience:
- Do not only post in business hours
- Consider posting at least equally across the days of the week,
- Consider the evening as at least an equal day part compared to the day time
- Take into account holidays and other cultural events
- Consider that your audience may be in multiple timezones
Track Social offers enterprise clients the ability to optimize social content timing across timezones as part of an overall program of Social Content Optimization. For more information, and to apply for a free assessment of your brand's social performance.
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