If you're looking for better results from your social media strategy, finding the right time to post to your social networks is a huge step forward both in terms of maximizing your reach potential and growing your online audience.
Twitter and Facebook have a corresponding pattern of usage. If you want your tweets or posts to receive the maximum amount of impressions, it is recommended by almost every social media expert to publish them between 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST, Monday through Thursday. Tumblr, however, because of its significantly different age demographic, has a "drastically different pattern of usage", bitly says.
To maximize your impact, you should try your best to post mainly at night. The optimal time to post on Tumblr, according to bitly, is between the hours of 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST on Monday through Thursday, not including just about anytime on Sunday. According to click-thru research, it is strongly suggested you match your post schedule around that of a high school or college student's schedule, as the 13-24 age demographic indubitably makes up the largest percentage of Tumblr users. Whereas Facebook is very fast paced in usage patterns, the majority of Tumblr users tend to visit the platform with the intention of staying awhile, easily making it one of the most engaging social sites in the world.
It is most certainly worth saving your best content for these times. Simply because you have gathered the content and are ready to publish it does not warrant you actually publish it right away. This is without question something you have learn, as you naturally want to publish the content immediately so that you can quickly see the effects. An option Tumblr makes available to its users as an advanced posting option is the ability to schedule your content in as far in advance as you'd like.
Why does posting at these optimal times work? Easy. The Tumblr dashboard as well as Tumblr search results (when a user searches a specific tag) displays the most recent content. Posting content when no one is on Tumblr is a waste of your time, and perhaps even a waste of a potentially viral post. You want to post content when people are actually on Tumblr if you desire it to be seen.
Additional times other than 7 p.m. to 10 p.m optimal for posting include:
- Before school - In other words, 4 a.m to 7 a.m. EST Monday through Friday.
- During lunch - This is a time when many users take a quick peak at their Tumblr.
With all that said, remember this: posting during these "hot spots" does in no way guarantee your content will be picked up. Though timing is important, the quality of your content must be up to par as well if you hope to gain any traction in increasing your engagement.