Picking Platforms, Best Times to post on Social Media & Other Secrets

As the owners of an Orlando social media firm, my business partner Shalyn Dever and I get asked to speak to groups all over Florida and beyond. We love talking about our passion — social media.

If you’re new to social media, it can be overwhelming. There are several social networking platforms, with new ones cropping up every day.

Take Pinterest, for example. We’ve recently given two presentations about Pinterest, and our team’s blog posts about Pinterest have generated lots of shares and subsequent traffic.

Ashley & Shalyn with business owners after a Pinterest presentation at the UCF Incubator in Winter Springs

Though we presented the topic to two different groups within a month of each other, we had to make significant updates to the presentation with the launch of Pinterest’s own analytics a few weeks ago.

Just last week our client, Hoverfly Technologies, ignited a social media firestorm when video clips of its aerial robot demonstration for the Golf Channel went viral on Twitter’s new platform, Vine.

 

I know what you’re thinking … “Vine? I can’t even keep up with Twitter … I’m late to social media! How can I keep up with this?”

First of all, know that even social media strategists don’t know everything because our industry evolves every day. Though Facebook wasn’t the first social network, it was arguably the first to usher in the social revolution we know today – and it was only founded in 2004.

Instead of viewing social media as a missed bus you’re sprinting after, think of it as a party that’s just getting good. Welcome, we’re glad you could make it!

The social media party is just getting started!

Second, know that you don’t HAVE to be everywhere. This is not about keepin’ up with the Joneses.

Instead of signing up for every platform just because, focus on what’s right for your organization.

Shalyn and I always say that’s it’s about quality, not quantity.

It’s better to pick one or two platforms that make sense for you and have a strong presence on these, rather than have mediocre, barely-filled out profiles on every platform that simply collect dust. Yawn.

Just as you would approach any marketing strategy, think of your target market first. Who do you want to reach? Once you know who they are, now ask yourself where these folks hang out.

The answer to that question should guide your decisions as to what platforms to join. For example, if your market is women, you gotta be on Pinterest. Do you own a B2B company? Then LinkedIn should be your BFF.

Once you pick your platforms and set up your optimized profiles, we recommend doing some listening first. One of my favorite analogies is that social media is like a cocktail party.

Social media is like a cocktail party; listen first, then join in.

You wouldn’t just barge in, break up circles of attendees and start babbling … much less shouting self-promotions.

Instead, you’d come in, scan the room, maybe find a friend your two, observe and listen to the conversation and then join in.

“But what do I say?” you may ask. Again, thinking about Marketing 101 … who matters most? Your target market.

It’s ALL about them, and what they care about. Remember, the point of social media is that it is a way to create conversation. Social media is a dialogue, not a monologue, or worse, a broadcast.

You should talk to and with your target market. You should give them lots of useful info. Yes, when you get on a social media, you have your own profile and you fill it with it info about yourself, but in reality, good social media is others-focused.

How many people do you know who only talk about themselves and how fabulous they are? What do you think about them? … My point exactly.

You may have heard about the 70-20-10 rule in business, social learning, etc. It’s also relevant to social media.

• 70% of your updates should be valuable content that’s laser focused on your customers’ needs.
• 20% of your updates should be about sharing your followers’ content with others. Most social networks are about reciprocity … Scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Share my update, later I will share yours, too.
• Only 10% of your updates should be about your company, your specials and promotions.

Mind you, these guidelines are mostly relative to your posts, but remember that social media is about dialogue so you should be commenting, chatting and connecting with your fans and followers to truly create a community and build loyalty.

“But how much should I post and when?” you may ask. Social media platforms are fluid, streams of content.

Think of the baggage claim conveyor belts at the airports. The bags go around and around, but if you don’t look out at the right time, you might miss your bag.

Social streams are like continually moving conveyor belts. Are you putting enough content out so that your followers see it at the right time?

Similarly, you must continually offer relevant, useful updates on social media to increase the probability of your fans and followers seeing your brand in their newsfeeds.

Bit.ly, a popular link-shortening services, calculates a half life: the amount of time at which a link will receive half of the clicks it will ever receive after it’s reached its peak.

Bit.ly  found the following:

The mean half life of a link on Twitter is 2.8 hours, on Facebook it’s 3.2 hours and via ‘direct’ sources (like email or IM clients) it’s 3.4 hours. So you can expect, on average, an extra 24 minutes of attention if you post on Facebook than if you post on Twitter … Links that originate from YouTube have a half life of 7.4 hours.

Think back about your target market. When are they most active? When do they respond the most? Marketing is an experiment; that’s why it’s essential to measure and track everything. You can see what works, what doesn’t, and then pivot quickly.

That said, every now and then thought-leaders in the social media world reveal their findings on best times to post on social media platforms. Firms like Buddy Media and RadiumOne’s Po.st have published their discoveries recently, and the info is definitely worth sharing.

7-9 a.m.  is the best time to post on LinkedIn

9 a.m. is the time for the highest share count in the U.S.

9-11 a.m. is an active time on Google+, with a peak around 10 a.m.

10 a.m.- 12 p.m. is peak time for sharing content. Though sharing is big during this time, 9-11 a.m. is worst for clicks when sharing an article, some say because most people are busy at work … well, working.

12-2 p.m. is time garnering the most shares and highest click back rates

1-3 p.m. is the most active time for Twitter with a peak at 1 p.m., and also the highest time for click backs in the U.S. Remember that Tweeting during this time definitely means that more people will see your Tweet, but that your content is also competing against more messages. Tweeting earlier in the week is better than at the end of the week.

1-6 p.m. is a consistent time for sharing and click backs

1-5 p.m. is an active time on Facebook, with a peak at 5 p.m.

2-4 p.m. is an active time for Pinterest

5-6 p.m. is another active time for LinkedIn

8-10 p.m. is another peak sharing time

8 p.m. – 1 a.m. is another active time for Pinterest with a peak at 11 p.m.

Because Pinterest pinners are 97% women, I think 11 p.m. is a peak because that’s when the day is done, dishes are washed and the kiddies are in bed. (Where are the men? Check Google+, where 71% of the users are male. About 50% of Google+ users are 24 or younger.)

Keep in mind that these stats will be different for different time zones.

Days of the week:

Wednesday is the slowest day on Facebook with 7.4% lower interactions.

Thursday from 1-4 p.m. offers great post potential.

Just because your work week is Monday through Friday doesn’t mean that your social media should be confined to these days.

Saturday and Sunday offer some of the best opportunities in the week for Facebook. In fact, weekends get 69% higher interaction, yet only 11% of brands publish on weekends.

According to HubSpot, 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturdays are excellent times for Facebook engagement.

Thursday is an active day for clothing, fashion and other leisure brands.

Sunday is another strong day for leisure brands.

Monday is an active day for retail and technology.

Facebook & Twitter:

Less is more on Facebook, brands that post only 1-2 times a day get 19% more engagement.

Use photos whenever possible on Facebook and you can get a 39% higher than average interaction. Videos and links don’t get nearly as high engagement.

Have a health, beauty, or food or beverage brand? Use emoticons and you can get an increased interaction rate. The one below is the most effective:

Less is more — posts with 80 characters or less receive 23% higher interaction than longer posts.

The most effective calls to action on Facebook include these phrases:

• like
• caption this
• share
• yes or no
• thumbs-up, thumbs down

On Facebook, avoid these words:

• take
• click
• submit
• check
• shop

Ask and you shall receive. When fans are specifically asked to share a post, they react remarkably well with 7x more interaction. When fans are asked to like a post, they are 3x more likely to do so.

Post that use ‘win’ and ‘winner’ get more interaction, 68% and 45% respectively.

Posts that have ‘giveaway’ as a keyword get 42% higher interaction.

Because long URLs receive 16% higher interaction rates than shortened URLs, it is beneficial to use the display URL in your post. This gives your fans a heads-up as to where you are sending them.

Use questions to ignite engagement. Place the question at the end of the post, don’t bury it in the middle.

Using the ‘fill in the blank’ strategy, brands can receive 4x as many comments as those that don’t.

Also use ‘true or false’ questions to incite engagement.

What works for your organization? Have more questions about social media? Give us a call at 321-236-0083!

Image credits: David Domingo, Owen Jones, Sharla Sava

 

About Ashley

Ashley Cisneros is a co-founder of Chatter Buzz Media, an Orlando Internet marketing firm that helps companies and organizations engage with their target markets through inbound marketing via the Internet. Chatter Buzz Media, which won the Social Madness competition for the Orlando small business market, is a full-service digital marketing firm specializing in website design, search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing and content creation. Prior to founding Chatter Buzz, Ashley worked as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, technical writer, marketing manager, public relations practitioner and freelance journalist. To see Ashley's content writing, visit www.ashleycisneros.com. You can also reach Ashley on her personal Google+ page or the Ashley Cisneros Google+ page.

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Category: Social Media Marketing

Post Tagged with best times to post, Facebook, how to pick a platform, LinkedIn, marketing, Pinterest, reports, social media, statistics, target market, Twitter, when to post

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Dental Braces Regression: Caution For Young Adults

Dental Braces Regression: Caution for Young Adults

Young adults, whether first-time brace wearers or those who had been forced to wear dental braces during their childhood or teenage years, and who had already managed to have them removed, need to be vigilant and watch out for any hint of regression.

In a nutshell, teeth that are undergoing regression are those that were initially placed back into alignment through the use of braces, but which have become misaligned again. The sad truth about regression is that those experiencing it have no choice but to have braces installed again – either that, or put up with crooked teeth and a correspondingly lopsided smile for the rest of their lives.

Those who do experience regression need not fret, however; the dentists at Winter Garden Smiles, your Winter Garden and Orlando area dentist, can offer state-of-the-art, dental solutions that can help them enjoy straight teeth again.

The very mention of the word ‘braces’ can make many a former ‘metalmouth’ shudder, and that should come as no surprise given how disfiguring and painful metal braces are. But having braces installed nowadays is a process very far removed from the excruciating, time-consuming process it used to be. In places like Winter Garden, Invisalign – breakthrough technology helps straighten teeth using clear and practically invisible aligners that are custom-molded to fit one’s mouth and which can be removed during meals and while brushing – is a viable and effective alternative to metal braces for first-time brace wearers.

 

Quite a few Invisalign reviews are positive, and no wonder; its advantages over wire and bracket braces are manifold: completely invisible, removable during meals, with less potential side effects on gums, and far more comfortable. In addition, Windermere Invisalign specialists and Ocoee Invisalign experts alike, including those at Winter Garden Smiles, have found it to be extremely effective, as Invisalign before and after comparisons have shown.

While the modern process is far more comfortable and faster than the older procedure it replaces, it can involve a certain expense and can also take a little time to install. Moreover, the teeth of those who wear braces, even advanced Invisalign braces, can suffer regression if these patients don’t watch out. It’s therefore in the best interest of young adults to ensure that they wear their braces and appliances as directed by their dentists and orthodontic specialists in order to stave off any chance of regression and enjoy perfect smiles for the rest of their lives.

 

If you are need of Invisalign, visit Winter Garden Smiles, your Winter Garden, Orlando, Windermere, Ocoee, Apopka, and Minneola Family & Pediatric Dental Practice. Click for directions, or call 407-287-6443.

Mitel 5000 phones

Mitel 5000 phones, which along with the Mitel HX 5000 controller are core components of the Mitel 5000 Communications Platform (CP), can help small- and medium-sized business users leverage key benefits offered by today’s converged networks and their network infrastructure investments. 

Mitel 5000 phones

Mitel 5000 phones, which along with the Mitel HX 5000 controller are core components of the Mitel 5000 Communications Platform (CP), can help small- and medium-sized business users leverage key benefits offered by today’s converged networks and their network infrastructure investments. 

Orlando Web Design

Orlando Website Design and SEO

Orlando Website Design and SEO

Orlando Web Design

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING HELPING BUSINESSES SUCCEED

Social Media Marketing had been all the rage these days. With sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn gaining worldwide popularity, it’s easy for a lot of businesses to see the potential of these avenues to be one of the leading lead generation tactics. Unfortunately, there are a few old-fashioned managers and marketing agencies out there who think that social media is “just for teens” or a passing fad. Statistics show differently. At this time, 79% of all adults in the US are active in at least one social media network, and Digital Marketing Specialists eMarketer predicts that by the end of 2012, there will be 1.4 billion social media users worldwide. Even if your customers really aren’t on social media, and it’s becoming really difficult to make the case that they’re not, it still offers a number of advantages that make it an absolute necessity for any decent inbound marketing strategy. If you just happen to be one of those poor souls that work for a boss that doesn’t believe in social media, or are just interested in seeing if social media is worth your time, the talking points in this article may help you convince them otherwise. 1) Social Media Activity Affects Organic Search Results Did you know that search engines index the status updates, tweets, and blog posts that you make on social media accounts? Take any of your favorite big name brands, plug it into Google and chances are that their Twitter, Tumblr, or LinkedIn accounts will be in the top 10 results. Google has started integrating Google+ status updates into its search results, and all major search engines have been indexing material from social media sites for quite some time now. Search engines also use social media activity to determine how relevant your content is and every “like” and “share” your content gets helps drive your site to the top of the SERP pages. 2) Social Media Gives You More Control Over Your Brand Image Social media allows you to take control of how your brand is presented online. How does it do this? First, it is important to note that 25% of any big brand’s search engine results come from third-party review sites and blogs that you have no control over. Now, we already know that search engines index content from social media sites like Facebook, but one thing that a lot of people overlook is that these sites also have a lot of clout with search engines. In other words, content on social media sites pertaining to a specific brand or product are considered more relevant and authoritative compared to similar content on third party sites and blogs. 3) User Generated Content is Important Speaking of content, user-generated content is becoming more and more important these days. According to eMarketer, 65% of users ages 18-24 consulted social media networks for information about a brand before making a purchase decision, and according to eConsultancy, ⅔ of all consumers use search engines. With numbers like that, it’s hard to make the case that your audience simply “isn’t on social media”, because in all likelihood, they probably are (I know I’ve made that point before, but it bears repeating). Social media networks are great for getting user generated content to people who are actually interested in it. 4) Helps You Maintain Your Image Within Your Industry Now, let’s pretend for a second that your customers really aren’t a part of the statistics we quoted in the last point. Would social media still be useful to your organization? The answer is yes, because even without your customers, there would still be people like colleagues, competitors, potential employees and/or business partners, all of which use social media on a daily basis. These people expect to learn from and communicate with you, and your activity on social media sites will demonstrate your knowledge in your industry and help you increase your visibility, and ultimately allowing you to open up new avenues for growth. 5) Helps You Reach Out To Other Companies Customers This point is almost self-explanatory. If you think about it, your competitor’s customers are very likely to be on social media, and reaching out to them by sharing their content, and engaging them in conversations could open you up to the possibility of referral business or give you access to an entirely new audience. 6) Helps Expand Your Overall Reach Social media helps your company expand its overall “reach”. Reach is defined as the concept that each of your followers each have their own followers. Let’s say for example that you have 100 followers, and each of them has 100 of their own followers. Now, let’s say that you created a blog post that each of those first 100 people shared with their groups of followers. You would have reached 10,000 people in very little time. Through the wonders of social media reposting and sharing, your content can be spread quickly and easily through these vast, interconnected networks of followers. Even if a large portion of those followers are not part of your target audience, chances are that some of them are, and that’s what matters most: Getting relevant content to people who care about it. 7) Helps Reduce the Cost of Generating Leads A crucial part of any good marketing effort is to measuring the cost of acquiring your customers (the cost of customer acquisition, or COCA). Consider that a job like email marketing will require that you purchase specialized software, and hire people to manage it, costing time and money. With social media, no special software investment is required, and only a few man hours a week are needed to maintain the profiles. Now, social media often gets a bad rap for not generating as many customers as other avenues like email marketing, but oftentimes, they’re only measuring engagement metrics such as “likes” and “comments”, and not taking into account the end-goal: customer acquisition. Furthermore, social media should be used as a complement to existing marketing activities, and not on its own. 8 ) Helps Ensure That Nobody Takes Your Name It’s gotten to the point where it would be wrong to think that your audience will never be on social media, and even if you’re not ready to jump onto the social media bandwagon, it would be a good idea to at least take the account names before someone else does. 9) Helps Plan For The Future Over time, businesses and people change. The audiences that you once thought you’d never cater to may one day become your primary audience, or the people who once thought they’d never be interested in your services may one day become your biggest customers. Since the only constant in the world of business is change, wouldn’t it be better to have a network of connections, ready-made to cater to any changes in the business environment, as opposed to having to build one from scratch whenever things change? About the Author: Enrico Tuvera is a Content Writer Specialist with Orlando Florida Website Design and SEO Marketing , a company that provide web designs, Graphic design, Search marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and especially Search Engine Optimization (SEO).