Is it just me, or is there just too much conflicting advice on the web for social media marketing?<\/p>\n
Type \u201cThe best time to post to social media\u201d\u00a0into Google and you\u2019ll receive about 822,000,000 results in 0.34 seconds. Sift through the articles, videos, blogs and infographics, and you\u2019ll get all sorts of advice, packaged as gospel, most typically:<\/p>\n
It makes sense, right? People have more time to read at these particular moments, so it seems logical to post your content then. Not quite.<\/p>\n
The volume of Get Invited\u2019s audience is unique across each social channel and varies from day to day. For example, if we\u00a0were to post between 12-2.00pm on Twitter, on a Tuesday, I could only expect to reach a maximum of 12% of my audience, compared to a potential 36% at 4.30pm. Additionally, traffic on Facebook doesn\u2019t pick up until after 7.00pm most days. (GMT).<\/p>\n
Best practice guidelines are very useful. However they don\u2019t\u00a0 consider your specific audience, content, and often location, and so must be taken with a pinch of salt.<\/p>\n
Over the past 5 years I have worked on 15\u00a0social media accounts (and counting). I\u2019ve studied the infographics, made mistakes and conversed with industry. So, whats the real secret to running successful social media campaigns? Good old fashioned (controlled) trial and error.<\/p>\n
Not the \u2018one-size-fits-all\u2019 answer you would hope for, but it is effective. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
Content that is eligible to be shown in our news feed is increasing at a faster rate than people\u2019s ability to consume it. There are over 1,000 algorithms on Facebook alone that shapes our timeline feed, and at any given time, your post is competing with 1,500 others, all fighting for the 300 spots available.<\/p>\n
Over the past 2 years I\u2019ve experienced a noticeable drop in the organic reach of my posts for business, particularly on Facebook. As more and more brands compete for attention, it is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve organic traction across the channels, and it\u2019s only going to get harder.<\/p>\n
With all of the top channels working towards a paid advertising model, paid content distribution is inevitable to maintain the audience volumes we have become accustomed to. However marketers are still having to their\u00a0our game to create better content for organic traction.<\/p>\n
Managing social media accounts can give you a 6th sense for your audience, but that\u2019s not enough. We\u2019ve all posted that tumbleweed post that we were convinced was golden, or dealt with a problematic follower. It\u2019s just the nature of the beast.<\/p>\n
Trialling different content is the best way to find out what your audience likes, and dislikes, and reduces the chances of failure. However, as with any other marketing tactic, your message must be targeted, and match your existing company values.<\/p>\n
If you aren\u2019t sure of your online audience, there are tools to help you.\u00a0DemographicsPro<\/a> have a free version that profiles your current Twitter following, right down to where they shop. With Facebook I find it useful to take 15% of fans, and check out their profiles. These really help paint a picture of your current social community, which you can then compare with your ideal customer profile.<\/p>\n When it comes to your own marketing messages, you will already know what you want to say, so establishing the type of content that your audience engages with first, will help you come up with ways to trickle your own messages into future content.\u00a0 Gary Vaynerchuk, author of \u2019Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook\u2019,<\/a> expands on the 4.1.1. rule, of how to connect with your audience and still achieve your marketing goals. He advises that if you provide enough meaningful content to your audience, then it\u2019s perfectly OK to be transparent and share your own agenda.<\/p>\n Ultimately if you want to improve, you\u2019re going to have to listen to your audience. Each week, I record the engagement on our social communication e.g. likes, RT\u2019s, pins. I\u2019ve been doing this for the past 6 months, which has allowed me to, over time, refine the type of content that our audience favours, and the amount.<\/p>\n You can still look at best practice guides for inspiration, but it will never be as accurate, or as creative, as listening to your own audience.<\/p>\n When is the best time to post on social media? It\u2019s simple. When your audience is online.<\/p>\nTiming is Everything<\/b><\/h2>\n