For efficiency, community managers like to be able to schedule their postings in advance. The question then arises is to know at what time of day to program them?
Web specialists usually agree that the best time is… when users are on the platform! Obviously.
“Because newsfeed algorithms (especially Facebook and Instagram algorithms) consider “recency” as one of the major ranking signals, posting your content when your followers are online is one of the simplest ways to improve your organic reach”, Hootsuite experts advise.
In this context, it is up to each manager to study the behaviour of their own community, by testing the commitment of their followers at different times and days of the week. They will discover that they are speaking to an evening or morning wildlife, people who consult the platform during the week or weekend, etc.
For example, Hootsuite compiled the engagement history of its own users, to determine the best posting time. It discovered that, even though the largest volume of overall Facebook and Instagram traffic started at around 3 PM and continued in the evening, their customer’s traffic was denser and more reactive in the morning. For them, the optimal window was identified between 6 AM and 12 PM for Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram has a second posting window at the end of the afternoon, at the end of the work shift, to catch users checking their telephones when they finish the day.
The LinkedIn relevance algorithm
In its analysis, Hootsuite realized another very interesting element, compared to the algorithmic ranking of content on LinkedIn. It turns out that on the professional networking platform, the relevance of content is more important than their seniority.
Most LinkedIn users view the content of their newsfeed in “relevant” rather than “recent” mode (see the option at the top right of your LinkedIn newsfeed).
“I can still post in the United Kingdom at noon, which gets a bit of traction and as soon as North America is online, several hours later, suddenly the engagement explodes, says Iain Beable, social media strategist on Hootsuite’s website. The algorithm knows that this content is relevant to these users. Usually, our audience will see our postings at the top of their feed, even if it’s a few hours old.”
Other factors to consider
The time and day of posting are not the only factors to consider when wanting to increase the scope of your postings. On platforms that favour recent postings, it is equally important to space your messages, so as not to overwrite previous postings.
Then, the exchanges that result from a posting are take into account in most content management algorithms. Another question arises then, will you be on the platform to moderate the comments and fuel the exchanges?
Happy posting!
