If you’re like most organisations, you probably don’t post to Facebook — or indeed, any social medium — on Saturdays or Sundays.
Sadly, you’re missing out on the opportunity to engage with a large slice of your prospects and customers, while your competitors are snoozing their way through the weekend.
Mobile has changed everything
Sure, many people don’t go near their computers at the weekend. But did you know that the vast majority of consumers now access Facebook through their smartphones and tablets?
An incredible 1.74 billion Facebook users access the social network through their mobile device in a typical month (February 2017 data) — and more than a billion of us ONLY connect with Facebook via mobile.
And mobiles are always with us — and always on.
And, Facebook being where so many of peoples’ friends are, it’s easy to see why we spend so much time on our Facebook feeds, especially during the weekend when our time is not so taken up with work and other distractions.
Higher Engagement at the Weekends
So what exactly can you expect if you post at the weekends?
32% higher engagement, for one. Take a look at this data, drawn from a 2016 infographic summarising 16 research studies.
A 2016 study by Hubspot ranked 12-1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday as one of the best three windows to post on Facebook.
That makes sense, of course, since life does still go on at the weekends. We still have things to do. But checking Facebook over (a later) breakfast and lunch is typical behaviour.
What Brands Actually Do at Weekends
This consumer behaviour isn’t new, of course — we’ve seen similar behaviour over the last seven years that we’ve been creating social media courses.
So have brands been paying attention?
Not enough, it seems.
Everypost shared the results of Marketing analytics firm TrackMaven analyzed 4,618 blogs published by brands over a year and evaluated which days of the week actually generated the most engagement across social media. Here is what they found, which may come as a surprise to social media marketers who focus mainly on posting content during the weekdays.
Average Posting Frequency by Day of the Week
Mondays: 17.2%
Tuesdays & Wednesdays: 18%
Thursdays: 17.9%
Fridays: 15.9%
Saturdays: 6.3%
Sundays: 6.8%
Average Social Shares by Day of the Week
Mondays: 12.5%
Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays: 14.1%
Fridays: 12.7%
Saturdays: 18%
Sundays: 14.6%
So what does this tell us? Even though most brands are posting content during the week, the 13% of posts that were published on Saturdays and Sundays actually generated the most social shares overall.
So here’s our recommendation: post at the weekends* (doh!), as well as during the week.
You’ll have less competition from other brands, and more engagement from consumers. Win win.
*You don’t actually have to be at your computer at the weekends. Social posting tools such as Hootsuite, and even Facebook itself, allow you to pre-prepare and pre-schedule your posts.
Are Your Posts Actually Getting Seen by Your Followers?
Of course, we shouldn’t ignore the elephant in the room — Facebook has dialled back on the percentage of your followers who will actually see your posts, with the result that (across the more than 23,000 NZ Facebook pages we track, just half a percent (0.55%) of those pages’ followers will engage with their posts.
Appalling? Yes. But YOU can do better.
In fact, our online training courses are all about teaching you how to use social media more effectively, so that you can dramatically improve on your performance on Facebook and other social networks.
Here are the current courses (click on the links for more details about each course):
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING COURSES
Facebook Accelerator Programme
So you have a few hundred (or a few thousand) followers on Facebook but now you want to know how to get to the next level? Our Facebook Accelerator seven-part online course will lead you through the steps necessary to supercharge your Facebook presence and get Kiwi consumers engaging with you and your brands.
For more details of the Facebook Accelerator programme, please click here.
The Principles & Practice of Social Media Marketing
This is a thirteen-part eCourse providing a comprehensive introduction to Social Media Marketing, from the Basics to detailed instructions on how to build and run a Social Media Marketing programme.
For more details of the Social Media Marketing online course, please click here.
The Complete Facebook Marketing Course
For those who wish to master Facebook Marketing in its entirety, we’ve created a ten-week online training programme which will take you from absolute beginner on Facebook to highly effective Facebook communicator.
For more details of the Complete Facebook Marketing programme, please click here.
How to Prepare an Effective Social Media Brief
Even if you don’t intend to become directly involved in social media yourself, you may still need to understand the principles, practices and opportunities of social media — for example, if you need to brief someone about running a social media campaign. This programme is designed to provide you with the insights necessary to prepare an effective brief.
For more details of the How to Prepare an Effective Social Media Brief programme, please click here.
How to Use LinkedIn Effectively – For Your Business And Your Career
This is a seven-part online training eCourse providing a comprehensive introduction to LinkedIn, from the basics to detailed instructions on how to use LinkedIn to promote your organisation, build your personal reputation, find a job, recruit prospective employees and even make sales.
For more details of the How to Use LinkedIn Effectively programme, please click here.
ONLINE VIDEO MARKETING COURSE
Online Video is no longer an “up-and-coming” marketing tactic — it’s here, and it’s a powerful way to communicate your brand story, explain your value proposition, and build relationships with your customers and prospects.
Remember the old cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words? According to an estimate by Dr James McQuivey of Forrester Research, one minute of video is equal to 1.8 million words.
So let’s cut to the chase. It’s well past time for you to upskill yourself in online video marketing. That’s why we’re launching our newest short course on the topic.
For more details of the Online Video Marketing course, please click here.
