The Ultimate Best Time to Post on Your Social Media Accounts

by Sarah K Perlman | Sep 1, 2021 | Uncategorized

My social feeds—especially LinkedIn—are constantly filled with updates on the best time to post content to social media. As I read all these updates, I find myself wondering if they are truly applicable to today’s users.

My belief is that the ultimate best time to post on your social media accounts is NOW. Why?

Don’t build your entire strategy on too many (or too few) users.

Most of the information on the best times to post to social media are reporting on data from the platforms users as a whole. This data set is so large that it draws generalities and paints a picture that is unreliable. It’s like saying “the best time to buy milk is before a storm.” Just because lots of people do it doesn’t mean it’s the right time for you.

A common best practice is to monitor your social analytics on each platform. Being able to see when your audience is most engaged with your content can lead to valuable insights. This is a great PART of your strategy, but shouldn’t be the final answer. If you want to engage new followers, who’s to say that they are on at the same times as your current followers?

Algorithms are changing constantly.

The number of updates to the LinkedIn algorithms is directly proportionate to the number of posts on how to beat them. With every change that comes out, experts are putting out new guidelines on how best to be seen. In practical use, however, you’ll drive yourself crazy trying to maintain all these tips and tricks. I interact on my LinkedIn account daily, and even with so many factors for what is shown in my feed I still end up viewing the same content more than once.

The best tip for being seen is to foster engagement. Every time someone reacts to a post or comments on it, others will be seeing it also. Find ways to delight and entertain your audience with your posts and you’ll reach a wider audience organically.

If you wait for the perfect time, you’ll miss your audience completely.

It can be tempting to craft a strategy that plans on reaching people at the “perfect” time. The problem with this is that while you’re spending so much time on your strategy, you’re missing opportunities to reach your audience! It’s inefficient and doesn’t allow for flexibility.

But what about scheduling your social posts, you say? This is a beneficial way to save time, so if you’re scheduling posts in advance, by all means follow your platform metrics as a guide. But if breaking news hits, you’re better off posting it right away than waiting for a magic window.

What do you think? Am I way off base? I’d love to hear feedback on these thoughts.

How to Get Started With a Content Strategy

by Sarah K Perlman | Aug 26, 2021 | Uncategorized

We hear all about content creation these days and how important it is to provide value to your customers. But how can you get started if you don’t currently have a strategy around content?

1. Just get started. I’m facing this myself right now. I have so many ideas for blog posts but I know the importance of having a strategy. But remembering Mark Twain’s advice, it’s best to just get started. If you have ideas, record them right away! Then flesh them out when you can. You want to get moving on your content strategy, but it won’t hurt to post while you’re developing it. You can categorize your posts as you build your strategy.
2. Talk to your customers. The whole point of creating content is to provide your customers with beneficial information. What do they need to know? What are their pain points and how should they address those issues? What kind of solutions can they put into practice immediately? You want to position your business as a resource for learning more. Be the source of the answers they seek.
3. Identify your content pillars. These are the large “buckets” that your content will fall into. You can always add more, but start somewhere. List the categories your posts will fall into. For example, my pillars include content creation (how meta), branding, and social media management, to name a few.
4. Build out your web. Ideally, you’ll have overarching pillar posts that are connected to other, more specialized posts. For example, I plan to have a branding pillar post with general information all about how to brand your company or yourself. Then I’ll link within that post to all the more specific posts I create, like Using Color for Your Personal Brand. You can think of it as a web of connected content, with the more interlinking the better. The interlinking is key; it will identify your site as an expert in your pillar topics in Google’s algorithm. Creating a plan for building out your web will give you direction for the content you need to create.
5. Don’t forget to repurpose content! If your leadership writes a blog post, share it! Link to it! This is helping to promote your brand and you can use this as “free” content in your strategy.
6. Share on ALL your social accounts. Your content strategy should include sharing on all of your social media platforms. It can sometimes feel like overkill from a marketer’s standpoint because we are looking at every platform. But remember, you have different followers on different platforms and if you only post in some places, you’ll be missing out on visibility from other sources.
7. Go with the flow. Remember that this is a fluid process and you’ll should be making constant adjustments to your content strategy. Always be on the lookout for new ideas that will help your customers achieve their goals.