Chart of the Day: Average share of weekly activity on Twitter and Facebook
So, here's the thing. Most businesses don't utilise social media effectively enough to generate a return on their efforts. But with a few simple tweaks anyone can make Social work for their business. Start by considering the following questions:
1. Which platform is right for your business and target audience?
Consider who your target audience is and find the right social media platform(s). If you are a B2B business Linkedin is probably the best place for you and Snapchat is better aligned to targeting under 23 consumers. Which a little research you can find the right audience for you.
2. What content are you posting? The Sell-Inform-Entertain balance
One area where businesses fall down on social is posting promotional content too often in their eagerness to push a sale through the channel rather than posting engaging informative content that builds brand loyalty. Look at your posts, would you click on them and do they make you feel? Is it 'meh', or do they inspire passion and action.
3. When are you scheduling the posts?
Once you have chosen your platform, created your content, added tracking codes (don't forget your social media tracking codes in Google Analytics) it's time to pick a time to set it free into the wild. But when should you send it? Monday, Tuesday...Friday?
This is the subject of today's chart of the day. Having worked with many companies on their social media, I have always found that most posts are scheduled during working hours Monday to Friday, 9-5, mainly for the obvious reason that it is when the marketing team is busy working at their desks! But, so are most other people, even your target audience.
In the latest Nielsen Social Media Report they break down the average share of weekly activity on Facebook and Twitter and you can see a clear spike of activity at the weekend. It's almost unbelievable, particularly, on a Sunday which dwarfs any other day of the week. Will you be changing your scheduling habits to attract a greater reach to your business? It's particularly relevant to B2C marketing, but B2B marketing can benefit from some weekend activity too.