Timing is the Key To Life and Social Media

For those obsessed with getting content out to the maximum amount of people possible on Social Media channels, figuring out the best time to share content can be frustrating. Applying real-world logic, you might think that after school is great for kids, lunch-time works for adults, and the weekends are for DIYers and crafty folk. Luckily, the people at SumAll.com have done the appropriate research and created some awesome infographics to help you understand exactly when to share content. They looked at millions upon millions of posts and measured “success” by how many likes, reposts, and other forms of interaction each article would get on all Social Media platforms.

There are two sides to this coin: when to post and when not to post. Knowing your audience is key, but knowing their reading habits is really the holy grail of social media. Let’s take a look at the best times to post:

First thing to notice is that all of these times are based in Eastern Standard Time. Sorry Californians, but business starts before you wake up, so if you want to capture the widest audience possible, stick to these Eastern times or consider adapting this to West Coast if that’s the only audience you are interested in.

Twitter gets the busiest in the middle of the day, when people have time to reflect on their news feed and provide some post-lunch commentary. Mondays and Wednesdays have proven to be the busiest as well, as that’s when news, media, and life seems to pick up from the weekend’s malaise.

Facebook follows suit, as family and friends congregate online during the middle of the day, either after lunch or before the night begins.

LinkedIn keeps things professional, so people are networking with whoever they met that day right after the workday is over, or looking for a new job right after leaving the one that they just left!

InstaGram also favors photos, and seeing as how 99.99% of posts are of what people are eating for dinner, it’s no shock that their prime time is right in that sweet spot.

Tumblr is a late-night party, as the photo-fueled blog and media service gets cranking after hours. The layout and speed at which content is delivered is perfect for an information nightcap without having to read a bunch of text, much like the other services on this list.

Pinterest follows suit with it’s image heavy brethren in Tumblr, offering a visual media experience after a day’s worth of reading text from every other site. Weekends stand out as popular days for people to either build their collection of things that want or actually make, cook, and buy the things they have been collecting all week.

Google+ is the earliest riser of the bunch, probably due to 98.99% of all users being Google employees (ha!).

Now that you know when to post, how about knowing when not to post? Subverting these recommended times can be smart, if you’re trying not to get caught in the tidal wave of information, but treading in some of these “dead zones” will ensure that nothing you post will ever get read.

The common trend here is to not post when people are sleeping. For LinkedIn, posting during business hours isn't all that helpful, as your audience is working and shouldn't be checking LinkedIn! Google+ has the largest dead zone, encompassing 14 hours of the day when the audience just isn't there. Tumblr has a similarly small window, as the fun doesn't start until after dinner, but dries up around midnight.

As always, no amount of research and sample data will guarantee your success online. You have to know your audience, cater to their schedule, and compromise as best as you can to cast the widest net. Starting with these facts and figures is a great launching pad, but be sure to track your own success to determine what works best for you.

Thanks again to SumAll.com for their hard work compiling this data and their awesome infographics.