Developing your social media posting strategy?
Here are 3 stats you should focus on
Whether you’ve just started your business and created a whole bunch of social media accounts, or are looking to improve your results, some of the answers may be found in three common statistics.
If you’re just getting started with social media, using statistics and best practices readily available from companies like Buffer, CoSchedule or Hootsuite are probably a good starting point. For more experienced users, those statistics might be clouding some simple opportunities available from examining trends that pop up from your own accounts.
From beginner to expert we believe the following 3 statistics continue to be the most important pieces of developing vibrant and active social media results.
1. Determine which types of posts get the most engagement
Start with creating some loose categories for your posts, such as sales, humorous and general information, and then make note of posts that included either photos, videos or articles.
Once you’ve defined your categories, go through your older posts and find which ones received the most attention. Did your sales messages get shared more often when they included videos or photos? Did humorous posts get liked more than helpful articles?
Identifying which types of posts did well can help you determine what you should post more frequently. That’s not to say you shouldn’t still share helpful tips or only use videos (based on the results of your review), but if specific kinds of posts drive better engagement then use those kind of posts to help achieve your objectives.
2. Determine what days give you the best results
Not all days are created equal. Your audience may have a loose schedule that drives when they have time to interact with your content. Look at the past three months and make notes on which days had the highest engagement. Find the days with the most activity, and use that information to determine your best days to share information. You might be surprised to see the results.
3. Determine what times see the best results
Once you have a good feel for which posts and what days have the most action, you can dig a little deeper and start looking at what times typically have the best engagement levels.
If you can’t see any particular trends in your previous posts, then run some tests by consciously posting at specific times of the day. Try posting the great content you know your audience loves at specific times of the day. Start with a general posting plan that focuses on mornings, afternoons or evenings and measure your results. For those with a desire to maximize their results, determine the best general time of day then focus on another series of test to determine the exact hours that yield the best result.
Knowing when your audience is online, and actively looking at your content is critical. With the amount of content out there and available to your audience, planning your posts to achieve maximum effectiveness just makes good business sense.
Conclusion
By taking the time to review and analyze the type of content you are sharing, what days you are posting that content, and the specific times you post, you learn three important things:
- What types of content your audience likes to see, and actively engages with
- What days they are most likely to see it, and as a result engage with it.
- And when they are most likely to be checking in with your business online
This information will provide you the tools you need to drive increases in your social traffic, not by chance but by actively determining what your audience wants, and when they want it. Repeating these activities over time will help you show your audience that you are listening to what they want, and helping to create that feeling of shared values that make your audience into brand ambassadors, not just occasional customers.
Looking to have a conversation about your own social media usage? Get in touch with us - we'd love to help you develop a new strategy!