With 436 million monthly active users worldwide and 52% of Twitter users using the platform daily, Twitter has been the go-to platform for up-to-the-minute conversations and breaking news. And 2021 didn’t slow down with the COVID-19 pandemic going into its second year. Brands looking to participate in trending topics need to be timely but conscious of the brand’s values in the process.
Now, with new features like Twitter Spaces and Twitter Communities, businesses and brands alike can further build relationships with followers. And as a platform for conversations and customer care, it’s important to understand how to use Twitter for business in a meaningful way.
If you’re interested in learning how to identify your best times to post on Instagram and other social profiles, start a free trial of Sprout Social and test our ViralPost® feature with your profiles.
- What are the best times to post on Twitter?
- What are the best times to post on Twitter by industry?
- How to find your own best times to post on social media
- How we gathered the data
Best Times to Post on Twitter
- Best times to post on Twitter: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 9 a.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter: Tuesdays and Wednesdays
- Worst days to post on Twitter: Sundays
Twitter peak times for engagement shifted significantly compared to last year, becoming much more concentrated during mid mornings and middays throughout the week. This could reflect greater attention to developing news and updates, as well as a desire for entertainment via viral Tweets and memes.
Remember that Twitter’s use extends beyond breaking news and viral content. Many brands use Twitter as part of their customer care strategy, as an alternative to calling customer support. This is particularly important for the platform as brands continue to build trust between their customers and proactively improve customer experience through social listening as well.
All of these focus areas means brands can have multiple, and sometimes competing, priorities on Twitter. The top times to post on Twitter we found above may help you determine when you should focus on prioritizing publishing new content versus devoting resources to customer support or consider a multiple Twitter account strategy.
Best Times to Post on Twitter by Industry
Being armed with the best times to post on Twitter is a great start to any social media content calendar, it’s important to see how the data translates to your specific industry. With the help of our Data Science team, we were able to capture the best times to post on Instagram within ten industries.
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Consumer Goods
- Best times to post on Twitter for Consumer Goods: Tuesdays at 9.m., Wednesdays at 3 a.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter for Consumer Goods: Wednesdays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Consumer Goods: Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays
Consumer goods industry covers a large portfolio of products, including food and non-food categories, ranging from food and beverages to clothing and footwear and everything in between. Despite a nearly 5% increase in the demand for consumer packaged goods in the US, social media engagement of consumer goods was relatively low.
Even though most weekdays saw some engagement on Twitter in the early morning hours around 3 a.m., the best times to post were Tuesdays at 9 p.m. and Wednesdays at 3 a.m. Weekends had the lowest engagement for this industry.
Consumer goods social media resources
- How to master social media for retail and win more customers
- How to set ecommerce social media up for success
- Mobile commerce: what it is and why you should care
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Education
- Best times to post on Twitter for Education: Mondays at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter for Education: Mondays, Tuesdays and Sundays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Education: Thursdays and Saturdays
Higher education and educational institutions saw an interesting shift and a new day for engagement opportunities on Twitter compared to last year. Mondays continue to have the highest engagement this year and Sundays evenings have entered the arena starting around 4 p.m. This could be in anticipation of the week ahead.
From highlighting student life to sharing school updates, a social media strategy for education needs to fulfill multiple functions. Keep in mind that some schools manage multiple social profiles (per college, athletics, etc.) to meet these needs and effectively target distinct audiences at the right time.
Higher education social media resources
- University branding: How to build your school’s brand on social media
- Higher ed playbook: Using social to unite your university
- 12 Ways to use social media for education
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Finance
- Best times to post on Twitter for Finance: Tuesdays at 4 p.m., Wednesdays at 4 a.m., Fridays at 11 a.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter for Finance: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Finance: Mondays, Saturday, Sundays
Interestingly, top times on Twitter for financial institutions were highly varied, perhaps reflecting a global audience’s ready engagement with short updates on news and markets worldwide. Highest engagement times ranged from Tuesdays at 4 p.m., Wednesdays at 4 a.m. or Fridays at 11 a.m.
This may be due to the highly regulated nature of the finance industry or, after performing their own social testing, banks and financial businesses are focusing their efforts on other platforms, such as Facebook. The highly varied engagement times could perhaps reflect a global audience’s ready engagement with short updates on news and markets worldwide.
Finance social media resources
- 6 Social media tips for banks and financial institutions
- How social media drives cryptocurrency for users & brands
- Navigating social media compliance across regulated industries
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Healthcare
- Best times to post on Twitter for Healthcare: Mondays at 1—2 p.m., Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and noon, Wednesdays at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Thursdays at 8 a.m. and noon—1 p.m., Fridays 8—9 p.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter for Healthcare: Tuesdays through Fridays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Healthcare: Saturdays and Sundays
Healthcare services and institutions have spent the last few years with an overwhelming challenge responding to global audiences. As the pandemic went into its second year and vaccines were being distributed, engagement with healthcare institutions on Twitter grew compared to last year.
Each weekday saw its own peak engagement time, varying at some point between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Healthcare businesses saw their engagement on Twitter expand to new times compared to last year. With the many healthcare news and updates in 2021, we can assume audiences were looking for answers to their questions or sharing their experiences.
Healthcare social media resources
- Social media and healthcare: how to prioritize what patients need
- Why healthcare orgs should invest in social listening, stat
- Supporting HIPAA Compliance on social: a cheat sheet
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Hospitality
- Best times to post on Twitter for Hospitality: Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter for Hospitality: Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Hospitality: Tuesdays, Fridays, Sundays
Hotels and hospitality brands saw a major shift in Twitter engagement times. Engagement used to be more consistent throughout the week, but now we see less engagement during regular business hours and more engagement later in the evenings.
Current best time to post on Twitter for hospitality is Wednesdays at 8 p.m. The highest days of engagement for hospitality brands on Twitter are Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Hospitality social media resources
- Sprout for travel and hospitality: Deliver a five-star experience on social
- Social Spotlight: Hilton’s pandemic strategy proves the business value of social
- How Loews Hotels & Co succeeds at scale with Sprout Social’s all-in-one platform
- When to create separate social media accounts for your multilocation business [Free Worksheet]
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Media
- Best times to post on Twitter for Media: Mondays at 10 a.m., Tuesdays 9 to 11 a.m., Wednesdays 10 a.m. to noon
- Best days to post on Twitter for Media: Tuesdays through Thursdays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Media: Saturdays
Engagement for media or journalistic industry accounts was consistent from early weekday morning hours through the afternoons. In fact, this industry saw higher engagement on Twitter compared to last year, with engagement expanding through all hours of the day.
We see high Twitter engagement for the media industry Mondays at 10 a.m., Tuesdays 9 to 11 a.m., Wednesdays 10 a.m. to noon. We also see strong engagement Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Media social media resources
- Social media and journalism: how to effectively reach the public
- How to supercharge your media relations strategy with social
- 9 visual journalists changing the way we tell stories with data
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Nonprofit
- Best times to post on Twitter for Nonprofits: Mondays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesdays 9 a.m. to 1p.m., Thursdays 10 a.m. to noon, Fridays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter for Nonprofits: Every day but mostly Mondays through Fridays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Nonprofits: None
Nonprofits saw stronger engagement on Twitter compared to last year. Our data for the best times to post on Instagram for nonprofits shows solid engagement throughout the week, especially in the mornings to early afternoons, as well as the weekend. The best times for nonprofit engagement on Twitter are Mondays through Fridays between 9 a.m. and noon.
Even with this consistent audience engagement, it’s important for nonprofits to test their own best times to post. Whether it’s through AB social testing or using Sprout’s Optimal Send Times feature, you can find what works best for your organization and test which platforms your target audience is on the most.
Nonprofit social media resources
- How Sprout Social helps not-for-profits transform awareness into action
- A strategic guide to social media for nonprofits
- Turning moments into momentum: How nonprofits can leverage #GivingTuesday year-round
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Restaurants
- Best times to post on Twitter for Restaurants: Mondays at noon
- Best days to post on Twitter for Restaurants: Mondays and Wednesdays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Restaurants: Sundays
In 2021, restaurants continued to deal with online orders, curbside or delivery services, outdoor seating, and limited indoor dining. Communicating changes with employees and diners was important as local ordinances fluctuated throughout the year.
Twitter engagement for restaurants and bars shifted in terms of days of highest engagement. Last year showed Wednesdays had the highest engagement, but this year we see a shift to noon on Mondays. Keep in mind that different platforms offer a unique way for businesses to connect with their customers. Offering unique promotions and updates suited for each platform will keep your restaurant in mind for potential customers.
Restaurant social media resources
- The complete guide to social media for restaurants & bars
- Social media marketing for franchise businesses
- How to effectively run a multi-location review management strategy
- Social Spotlight: How Tim Hortons puts people first in its social strategy
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Tech
- Best times to post on Twitter for Tech: Thursdays at noon, Sundays at 3 p.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter for Tech: Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Tech: Tuesdays
In the last year alone, tech companies – including SaaS, software and B2B – have seen growth in social media engagement on both Facebook and Twitter. Social platforms are incredibly effective for staying in touch with current customers, allowing brands to create a community around their products and offer meaningful customer care.
It might be surprising to see that software and tech had a large number of engagement times on Twitter. However, it’s a perfect fit for tech companies and B2B brands to respond to customer care on Twitter in real-time. Compared to last year, engagement on Twitter nearly doubled and expanded to all days of the week. Best times to engage with customers for the tech industry are Thursdays at noon, Sundays at 3 p.m., but every day shows promise with moderate or high engagement times.
Tech social media resources
- How to put together a top-tier SaaS marketing strategy
- 5 stats for social media marketers in the software industry
- 4 overlooked B2B market research methods for understanding your customers
Best Times to Post on Twitter for Travel and Tourism
- Best times to post on Twitter for Travel & Tourism: Wednesdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
- Best days to post on Twitter for Travel & Tourism: Tuesdays and Wednesdays
- Worst days to post on Twitter for Travel & Tourism: Saturdays and Sundays
Travel and tourism industries saw a drop in engagement on Twitter as many travel restrictions were lifted in 2021. Whether it was participating in “virtual” tourism, local exploration or discovering new destinations, our data shows that audiences were less responsive to engagement efforts by travel and tourism brands.
On Twitter, there was primarily higher engagement on Wednesdays throughout the US workday and the highest engagement being at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m
Travel and tourism social media resources
- How to set up a travel social media marketing strategy
- Hello from the outside: Exploring the great outdoors while staying close to home
- The ultimate social media for museums guide
How to find your own best times to post on social media
Social marketers can plan content more effectively when they’re armed with data on the top times to post across social networks. Still, as platforms evolve with how brands and consumers are using social, there are new ways to innovate interactions all the time. New content formats and trends might help you reach your audience in unexpected ways, or even find new segments and personas you weren’t focusing on before.
More tips for content scheduling and social strategies
- Building your social media marketing strategy for 2022
- How to craft an effective social media content strategy
- 20 social media ideas to keep your brand’s feed fresh
- Creating a 30-day social media plan
While posting at peak engagement times is a go-to strategy, a detailed analysis of your audience might reveal less busy times when your specific audience is active, but competitors are not. A tool like Sprout Social can help you dig into your own analytics and develop tailored findings for your accounts to complement the wide range of data across industries we’ve surveyed here.
With Sprout’s tools like post tagging and cross-channel reporting, you can separate different factors like network or types of media and drill down into how your posting time influenced your social success.
Sprout’s very own ViralPost® algorithm uses the same types of data we’ve looked at across all our customer accounts to determine the best time to post for your individual account. ViralPost® algorithmically determines the results for our Optimal Send Times feature, a publishing option on our Professional and Advanced plans.
With Optimal Send Times, the specific times that your own audience engages the most are identified based on your publishing history. ViralPost® also continually updates and refines to save you time from doing repeated analyses yourself.
Want to see it in action? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of Sprout Social.
If you’re looking for more of our findings from this year’s study of our customer data, see what we learned about the best times to post on social media and across ten industries on these networks:
How we gathered the data
We understand that these reports can raise questions about just where the data is coming from. That’s why we want to be clear about the data we pulled and how we got here.
First off, we were lucky enough to work with Sprout Social’s very own data science team to gather this information from our customers. Joel Booth, a Senior Data Scientist at Sprout, explained how it all works.
“Sprout integrates with the different social media platforms via their API, which allows the application to receive messages on behalf of our customers,” Booth said. “Essentially, this is how we power features such as Sprout’s Smart Inbox and Reports.”
Now’s the time to test your content calendar. Are you posting when your followers are most active? Start your free trial of Sprout Social and discover your best times to post on social media today.
The post The best times to post on Twitter 2022 appeared first on Sprout Social.
from Sprout Social https://ift.tt/wylHMkh
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment