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Social media is an invaluable tool that businesses use every day to reach their target demographics in order to increase awareness, boost sales and leads, and most importantly connect and interact with their followers. In my last blog post, “Social Media: One Of The Most Important Aspects Of Digital Marketing,” I discussed the benefits your business will receive when using social media to engage with your audience. In today’s blog, I will discuss when it is the right time to post on these platforms, depending on the type of audience your business is targeting.

Of course, the main goal of social media is to build relationships with your followers and educate them about your brand, but it is also important to gain the trust of prospective consumers so they can recognize the need for your business and complete the buying process in the digital marketing sales funnel.

There are two audiences that your business may be trying to target:

  • B2C or “Business to Consumer” – These companies are selling their product or service direct to the customers themselves.
  • B2B or “Business to Business” – These companies are selling their product or service to other businesses.

Now let’s break them down with each individual social media platform:

  1. Instagram: Over 60% of the users in the U.S. use Instagram daily to interact with different brands and to consume different content from friends and family. Hubspot.com states that the best time for businesses to post to their consumers is during “off-work hours,” which is around 1 pm and 5 pm. B2B organizations are said to have higher click-through rates from 12 pm – 1 pm, 5 pm – 6 pm, and 8 pm – 9 pm, when people are relaxing at the end of their day. After further research, they found that Friday is the best day to post on Instagram than any other day of the week.
  2. Facebook: This network is the most popular social platform for marketing, despite its decline in organic reach and push toward paid ads. CoSchedule.com states that for B2C it is best to post when people are on “break” during the day, which they claim is from the hours of 9 am – 10 am, 12 pm – 1 pm, and 4 pm – 5 pm. B2B marketers should share their content from 9 am, and 3 pm – 4 pm. After closer consideration, they found that from Thursday through Sunday are the best days to post on Facebook.
  3. Twitter: Similar to Facebook, people use Twitter on both mobile devices and desktops, both at work and at home. Research from QuickSprout.com discovered that B2B accounts received 14% more engagement during the week than on the weekends. So that would be you’re best time to post. Meanwhile, B2C marketers should post Wednesday through Sunday for higher click-through rates (CTR) and more engagement from followers. The best time of the day to tweet depends on whether your goals are for more retweets or higher CTR. If you want retweets, the best time is around 5 pm. If you are looking at CTR, then 12 pm and 6 pm are your best times since people are typically on the app during a break from work or on a commute home.
  4. LinkedIn: This platform is great to use for B2B lead generation, which is why it is best to post your content on Monday through Friday during business hours. Fannit.com reports that the best times to post on this platform are from 7 am – 8 am and 5 pm – 6 pm. They even did research that found you will get the most clicks and shares on Tuesdays, 10 am – 11 am, and the WORST engagement on Monday and Friday.