by Penne Cole

Created on: November 04, 2011

The best social media strategies succeed in engaging their target audience. Perhaps not surprisingly, the timing of your posts plays a major part in the success of your campaign. It stands to reason that publishing new content during working hours when accessing Facebook, Twitter and the like is frowned upon may not be the best strategy. But when are the best times for social media engagement?

A study by Buddy Media found that Facebook experiences three traffic peak times: in the early morning around 7 a.m., immediately after work at about 5 p.m., and late at night at around 11 p.m. The study, covering 200 Buddy Media clients for 14 days, found that the day of the week also makes a difference. Engagement on Thursday and Friday is up by 18% compared to other days. However, peak engagement times vary by industry.

Entertainment: If you’re in the entertainment industry, aim to post your updates on the weekend. This is when people are looking to go for a concert or watch a movie.

Media: Weekends are also good for media-related posts. However, media companies should avoid Mondays.

Automotive: Buddy Media found that engagement for automotive-related posts is highest on Sundays.

Business and Finance: While business and finance companies tend to spread their posts evenly throughout the week, the study found that Wednesdays and Thursdays are when people are most engaged with business and finance content.

Retail: Perhaps not surprisingly, shoppers are more engaged with content on Sundays, when they have more free time to browse the internet.

Fashion: Thursdays are big days for the fashion-related content as people start to think about their wardrobes for a Friday or weekend night out.

Healthcare and Beauty: Like Fashion, Thursday is the biggest day for the healthcare and beauty industry as people gear up for the weekend.

Sports: Sports fans tend to have more time to trawl the internet for posts on their favorite teams on the weekends. Sundays, in particular, are big days for sports.

Travel and Hospitality: Look to maximize your campaigns on Thursdays and Fridays as people start to wind down and are starting to look forward to their days away from the office.

While the Buddy Media study did not cover Twitter, marketers can use WhenToTweet.com to analyze when their followers are most active. The site provides personalized recommendations on when to tweet based on their followers’ activity. In general, late nights are the best times to hit the Twitter space.

Social media campaigns can be maximized by posting updates when your target audience is most likely to engage with your content. In general, early mornings, late nights, and immediately after work are the best times. Try to avoid posting new content during working hours.

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