1.
For my personal interest profile project, I am adhering to best practices by 1. Identifying where my primary audience exists and ensuring I am posting content that can potentially reach that audience.
In this case, my audience isi on highly relevant Facebook Groups dedicated to the games I publish on my YouTube channel. YouTube does not offer the same social networking features like Facebook, that is why I am leveraging the relevancy of Facebook groups to reach my audience.
I include Twitter in my social media strategy too, many gamers can be found on Twitter, and they are highly social. For example, I have racked up hundreds of followers just through following back accounts on Twitter!
So far, my YouTube channel has specialized in games that appeal to an older audience in their 30s and 40s. It is safe to assume that much of my audience hold down full-time jobs during the week and lead busy lives in their careers and families.
That is why, without having researched into ideal posting times prior to this course, I have targeted Sunday’s for my most important content publishes. Many articles have suggested that Sunday mornings are some of the best times to reach people on Facebook. It makes sense, few people are at work, and many are spending their downtime on their favorite social media platforms.
Lastly, I have made extensive use of video to grow my personal interest profile. This is kind of by default, seeing how I am actively trying to grow, promote, and populate my DM Wyvern gaming channel on YouTube with content — and YouTube is only about video.
Studies have shown that videos can generate the most significant reach and engagement over social media, and my personal interest profile has benefited from this, seeing how my videos reach over 150+ views per video. Not bad for an obscure channel!
2.
Why is it essential for a brand to know the ideal posting times for its audience? That is an excellent question.
Almost every social media platform features some feed. This feed is an “… an updated list of all the new content posted by the accounts a user follows on social media…”
When a user on a social media network posts content, it will instantly appear on their feed — and importantly, on the timelines of everyone connected with them. However, for the people connected to that user, it will not stay there forever. That post might show up on their feeds and then be gone in a flash.
It is best to imagine social media feeds like a rushing river. Every post contributes to that river and helps move it along. Think of each post like a flotation device; when a user posts to their feed, it is like tossing that flotation device into the social media feed’s rushing current.
The moment a post is thrown into that current, it is quickly carried downstream as users contribute their content to that feed. Moreover, what happens after a flotation device is thrown into a swiftly flowing river? It is carried downstream and vanishes from view.
Furthermore, like that flotation device, just as quickly as a post appears on the social media feed, it almost always soon disappears in the rush of the social media networks feed. That is why if “… you’re creating content for social media at any scale, you know that a key challenge is rising above the noise and getting eyes on your posts… Knowing when to post on every social platform is one important way to stay a step ahead and make sense of the
That is why if a brand only has a limited window of time to ensure a post is seen, then brands must give their posts the best chance to be seen and engaged by social media users — and timing is important to meeting that goal.
There are constant discussions about what time is best to reach users on social media networks. For example, according to some studies, the best time to post on Facebook to reach users based in PST and EST time zones here in the US is between 8 am, and 10 am.
3.
However, these are very broad recommendations and might not reflect the audience a brand has or is trying to reach. Every good social media manager or marketer is looking to target their most important audience and fortunately, there are tools out there that can help recommend ideal posting time zones tailored for specific audiences.
Say a brand is looking to execute the timing of posts better. PromoRepublic’s Autopilot is a popular tool that can analyze the peak engagement for a Facebook page. Based on that analysis, Autopilot suggests the best time options and the most relevant types of content for that audience.
Using Autopilot is very straightforward. Looking into PromoRepublic’s proprietary dashboard, hook into the social media account used (in this case, Facebook) and then turn on Autopilot by clicking the activation button within the dashboard.
Now, when creating a new post, within PromoRepublic’s dashboard, click on any day within the calendar — and based on the analytics of that Facebook page, Autopilot will suggest optimal times for that post to best reach the page’s audience.
In summary, when brands post — they should post smart. That means spending the time and effort to find out the best days and times to reach their audience. Because just like a good movie, social media managers and marketers want to make sure their posts and content get in front of a relevant audience.
