Twitter has a massive average monthly user base of 330 million and counting. This makes it both an invaluable tool for businesses and an amazing platform that can connect you with audiences on a global level. The problem is, how do you know that you’re getting the most out of Twitter? How do you know that your tweets are being seen by the right people, at the right time? Twitter is a fantastic marketing tool, there’s no doubt about that. Plus, it’s free. Unfortunately, it’s also very transitory. Something can be old news on Twitter in a matter of mere minutes, unless it picks up steam and goes viral. So how can you be sure you’re making the most of it? In other words, when’s the best time to tweet?
With Twitter, timing is critical. To get the most out of your strategy, you should try and use every element of the platform to your advantage. The first important thing, of course, is having a strategy. You can’t just post randomly on Twitter and expect it to have effects. Consistency of posting is far more important than quantity of posting, and it should be a (roughly) 3:1 mix of other content and your own, respectively. So you need to have a good Twitter strategy from the get-go!
If you’re wondering “When’s the best time to tweet?”, first consider where the majority of your audience is based…and don’t tweet when they’re asleep!
You can either come up with this yourself, or you can white-label the task out to experienced pros. It depends on how much time and money you have to sink into creating perfect social copy. Just remember that a solid social media strategy demands constant care and attention to maximise its desired effect. It can be a smart move to outsource your social media to a well-versed company, saving you a lot of time and resources in the process.
Any social media company worth their salt will know that when you post is just as important than what you post. If your tweet doesn’t reach anybody, was it ever really there in the first place? One good rule of thumb is that people generally like to start and end their days on Twitter. They’ll reach for the phone first thing in the morning and browse a little before they sleep. This makes the morning and evening premium tweeting times. Several studies confirm this and suggest that these periods pick up the most engagements.
It’s important not to confuse popular times to tweet with popular engagement times. They’re two completely different things, and in fact can sometimes be inversely opposed. You should also take the type of business you are into account, and who you’re trying to reach. Timezones are important – if you’re tweeting to a U.S. audience when you’re on London time, you’re going to need to get your hours right. Different markets will have their own trends and eccentricities too. If you want to handle your social media yourself, be prepared to do some research; timing is everything!
