Social Media Posting Standards for 2018
CJ Haag
October 5, 2018
One of the main social media questions that I get asked a lot is “When is the best time to post to my social accounts?” This question is very simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, the answer is not.
There are a few things to consider when scheduling your social media posts. First, all social platforms have different optimal days and times to post. Second, all social platforms have different preferred frequencies on how often to post. Third, your industry or target audience may vary from the typical posting performance averages. Lastly, the optimal days and frequencies for posting changes continually.
Hopefully, you can see how answering a client’s seemingly simple question requires more than a blanket statement for an answer. It takes time to consider the platform, content frequency, industry, target audience, and several other factors.
Should your content, industry, and target audience fall into the 2018 performance averages, we would be looking at the below recommendations.
Frequency: It’s important that if you’re trying to grow your audience that you post very consistently on facebook. One post a day is recommended, two posts a day as a maximum and three posts a week at the very minimum.
Best Days: Weekends tend to have higher engagement on posts with Thursdays and Fridays as a close second. So, if you’re limited on the time you have to actually post on facebook, try hitting at least a couple of these days for the best results.
Best Times: The optimum times to post change very frequently, but current data suggests that the best times are 9am, 1pm, and 3pm. I still often post early in the morning and later in the evening. It’s a good idea to switch it up and not constantly post at the exact times every day. Check your facebook analytics to see when your posts are being most effective.
Frequency: Successful instagram users post a couple of times a day. The recommended amount is one to two posts a day with three being your maximum posts per day. However, if you are unable to keep up with posting so frequently on instagram, then it is recommended that you post as consistently as you can maintain.
Best Days: Mondays and Thursdays are currently the best days to post. Instagram gets less traffic on the weekends so if you’re going to post, try posting during the week as frequently as you can.
Best Times: Mornings and evenings tend to have the most traffic on instagram. But also right around the 2am mark has a lot of traffic. You will need to test this out among your followers and check your analytics to see what works best for your account.
Frequency: To be fairly successful at gaining a following on twitter, it’s suggested that you tweet 15 times a day with a minimum of 2-3 tweets and a maximum of 30 tweets. Yes, that sounds like a lot, but generally, a tweet is a very short post. Also, once you’ve gained a good amount of followers, you can cut back a bit.
Best Days: Currently, Wednesdays have the most traffic on twitter. So, if you are planning on hitting twitter with a lot of tweets, then go ahead and post on Wednesdays.
Best Times: Afternoons on twitter have the highest traffic times. So, posting heavily in the afternoons will be your best bet.
Frequency: If you’re a frequent pinterest user then you know how easy it is to lose track of time pinning one item after the next. Currently, 11 pins per day is the average with 3 pins a day being a minimum and 30 pins a day being a maximum.
Best Days: Weekends are the best days to post, but you can certainly post throughout the week with success.
Best Times: Afternoons, late evenings and middle of the nights are optimum times to pin.
Google +
Frequency: Google+ is a social platform really geared for businesses and professionals. This platform has had its ups and downs over the past several years, but it’s quickly picking up more users and professionals are finding more value in Google+. The goal in frequency is to post up to 2 times per day and keeping the max at about 3-4 times a week.
Best Days: Wednesday is the best to post on Google+.
Best Times: Mornings and afternoons are the most popular times to post. Avoid posting early mornings and late evenings.
Frequency: Linkedin is a fairly laid back social platform with a maximum posting frequency of just once per day and a maximum of 3-4 posts per week. You can certainly get by with posting just 1-2 times per week.
Best Days: Mid-week days Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to post.
Best Times: Successful times to post on Linkedin are pretty varied with 7-8am, Noon and 5-6pm being the most popular times to post.
Looking to simplify all this information?
You’re in luck because we have assembled the 2018 social posting guidelines into an infographic for you!
Don’t have time to keep up with your social media strategy? Contact us at Fuzzy Duck and we can get your social strategy back on track!
