There’s a Time & a Place : Why post details matter
Though it may seem normal in our day-to-day lives, some people don’t spend all day browsing social media. Many people only log onto their social channels once or twice a day, sometimes even once or twice a week. It is important to know these tendencies of your audience in order to more appropriately deliver your content, especially in accordance with the various algorithms and trends of the apps and social channels.
I have often made the mistake of creating content and wanting to post it immediately despite the possibility for low engagement. Though sometimes I may get lucky, more often than not, my timing is detrimental to the success of my content. On one of my social channels, I have noticed that a majority of my audience resides across the pond in the United Kingdom. As much as I want to post according to my schedule and times that work best for me, it is important for me to be considerate of my audience (as well as my own success). 7pm Eastern Standard Time might be when I normally post, but my audience in the United Kingdom aren’t likely to see the post since they are likely asleep. Many apps push posts further back in the feed the longer they are on the feed. By the time my audience wakes up, my post could be so far down their feed that they won’t find it. Not to mention, many users don’t check their social channels in the morning.
Instagram is an app that has a very specific algorithm, with very specific post timings. Similar to my experiences, content posted at the wrong time on instagram might not ever reach your target audience. Fortunately, there are tools that exist to help creators and social media managers find the perfect posting times for their audience on Instagram (and other platforms too!). Some apps have nailed the ideal times down to a science, and it would benefit you to invest in these tools. Hootesuite is an amazing tool that allows you to not only further analyze your audience and ideal posting times, but schedule your posts as well. So if you have an audience that is awake when you are asleep, you don’t have to set your alarm to post, Hootesuite will do it for you! The Preview app also allows you to schedule your posts according to the ideal time. This is a great app to use if you are just starting out or wanting to experiment with scheduling and posting times on your small channel.
We put a great amount of effort into our content and posts, whether we like to admit it or not. We are doing ourselves a disservice if we are not posting at the appropriate times to make sure our audience can see our hard work. Adopting these simple tools and learning these simple skills will only benefit your account and feed, and certainly help take some weight off of your shoulders.
https://neilpatel.com/blog/science-of-social-timing/
https://thepreviewapp.com/posting-instagram-different-times-important/
