As might be expected, the best day and time of day to share content via social media depends on your target audience (business or consumer) and the specific social platform you're using, according to research by Compendium.
Based on social sharing data from 300 companies using the Compendium content marketing platform, the research found the following:
- When sharing B2B content via LinkedIn, Sunday is the most effective day of the week (ranked by number of clicks generated), whereas Monday is the most effective day of the week for sharing B2C content with LinkedIn members.
- When sharing B2B content with Twitter followers, Wednesday is the most effective day of the week, whereas when sharing B2C tweets, Mondays and Wednesdays are more effective than any other day of the week.
Below, other findings from Compendium.
Timing of Social Shares
Timing is important, too. The best time of the day to post content similarly varies by business type and social channel:
- Twitter: B2B tweets tend to be most effective from 10 AM to 11 AM, whereas B2C tweets are more effective from noon to 2 PM.
- Facebook: B2C posts are most effective round the noon hour, and in the early afternoon, roughly 3 PM to 5 PM, whereas B2B posts tend to generate interest around 11 AM.
- LinkedIn: B2B content shared on LinkedIn is most effective in the morning, from 9 AM to 11 AM, whereas B2C content is most effective around lunch time.
Social-Sharing Practices: Punctuation and Symbols
Use of question marks and exclamation points
Various social-sharing practices, such as including question marks and exclamation points tend to impact click levels, the study found.
Neither business nor consumer audiences care much for question marks in social content:
- B2B posts on LinkedIn generate 25% fewer clicks if they include a question mark, and B2C posts generate 45% fewer clicks.
- B2B tweets generate 39% fewer clicks if they include a question mark, and B2C tweets generate 52% fewer clicks.
The results are mixed regarding the use of exclamation marks.
Twitter users (both business and consumer) tend to prefer less emotion (no exclamation marks).
However, LinkedIn users appear more sanguine: B2B posts on LinkedIn generate 26% more clicks if they include an exclamation mark, and B2C messages generate 27% more clicks.
Hashtags and numbers
B2B messages on LinkedIn generate 25% more clicks if they include a hashtag, but B2C messages on LinkedIn generate 20% fewer clicks if they include one.
Not surprisingly, B2B messages on Twitter generate 193% more clicks if they include a hashtag, but B2C messages on Twitter generate 82% fewer clicks if they include one.
Using numbers in LinkedIn content (to business or consumer audiences) has no real impact on click rates, Compendium found.
However, when sharing content via Twitter, including a number generates 50% more clicks for B2B content, and 3.5% more clicks for B2C content.
About the data: Findings are based on social media data from more than 300 companies on the Compendium platform in 2012. Compendium examined Web analytics and Bitly data for content shared to Twitter and LinkedIn via the Compendium Platform, and it surveyed blog administrators.
