Want Your Posts to go Viral? On Social Media, Timing Is Everything

Ah, the busy life of the business professional – good for you if you’ve implemented a social media campaign strategy into your hectic schedule.  But, did you know that there are certain times of the day and specific days of the week that the content you post is more likely to go viral?  According to data put forth on Bitly.com, it’s true! 

The data indicate, for example, that on Twitter, “…posting in the afternoon earlier in the week is your best chance at achieving a high click count (1-3pm Monday through Thursday). Posting after 8pm should be avoided. Specifically, don’t bother posting after 3pm on a Friday since, as far as being a gateway to drive traffic to your content, it appears that Twitter doesn’t work on weekends.”

                                                                                                                           

This does make a lot of sense if you think about it – how productive, after all, do you think most people are after 3:00 on Friday?  The research furthermore maintains that the peak of Twitter activity occurs prior to the optimal time to post.  Twitter’s busiest time tends to be between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm, Monday through Thursday.  Should you post on Twitter during its peak hours, while there are more people clicking, it might raise the average number of clicks, however, your posts may not be receiving all the attention they deserve due to the fact that there will obviously be more competition for this attention. 

For Facebook, the data states that, “Links posted from 1pm to 4pm result in the highest average click throughs. The peak time of the week was on Wednesday at 3pm. Links posted after 8pm and before 8am will have more difficulty achieving high amounts of attention. As with Twitter, avoid posting on the weekends.”  It appears that Facebook traffic tends to peak around the middle of the week, from the hours of 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm and begins to fade more after 4:00 pm.  Moreover, the research contends that although traffic counts are comparable at 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm, if you post at 7:00 pm, you will garner more clicks than you would posting at 8:00 pm.

With respect to Tumblr, one of our  favorite blogging sites, there’s currently a vast difference from Twitter and Facebook.  The data from Bitly show that posting on Tumblr after 4:00 pm stands to garner optimal results, and that, “…postings after 7pm on average receive more clicks over 24 hours than content posted mid-day during the week. Friday evening, a no-man’s land on other platforms, is an optimal time to post on Tumblr. Bitly traffic from Tumblr peaks between 7pm and 10pm on Monday and Tuesday, with similar traffic on Sunday. ”

So, there you have it – valuable information on optimal times to post on three of the most prevalent social media sites out there.  As you’re undoubtedly pressed for time on most days of your life, knowing what times it’s most worth posting will help with your strategy!