Facebook: Is There a Best Time to Post?

Are you wondering when and/or if there’s a good time to post to facebook? Would you believe that there hasn’t been a proven science to it all yet? There are so many variables that making conclusions on the best time to post depends on a number of factors that are specific to every business: What’s your industry? What location is audience based? When are they online? Are you sponsoring your post? Ash Read, Content crafter at Buffer wrote about this and has some great thoughts we completely agree on.  Even with facebook Insights, which would be the obvious first place to start, Read states “Personally, I think our {Buffer’s} data on the Facebook Page is pretty inconclusive at the moment. It’s clear that posts published between around 10 am – 12 pm seem to do well, as do posts at around 5 pm. But I’d love to test a bunch more variables before making any clear conclusions.”

On their Business blog, Facebook’s VP of Advertising Technology, Brian Boland explains:

On average, there are 1,500 stories that could appear in a person’s News Feed each time they log onto Facebook. For people with lots of friends and Page likes, as many as 15,000 potential stories could appear any time they log on.

As a result, competition in News Feed — the place on Facebook where people view content from their family and friends, as well as businesses — is increasing, and it’s becoming harder for any story to gain exposure in News Feed.

Ash Read also states a great point.  “If you want to succeed on Facebook, your content will be the most important factor. Not the time it’s posted. Of course, timing can have an effect on performance if the post is timely or more relevant at set time – such as content aimed at reaching sports fans at the time when games are happening. But largely, your social media success relies on the strength of your content.” Read more of his article HERE.