When is the best time to tweet? How about the best time to update your Facebook status? Or Instagram? We're all looking for a shortcut but here is the hard truth.
There is no perfect time to tweet that works for every person or business. There is only the perfect time to tweet that works for you and your readers. Articles or experts that argue otherwise are usually presenting some form of aggregated data, which any data analyst will tell you, tends to clump.
Believing in clumps of aggregated data is falling victim to the shotgun fallacy. Aim a shotgun at the side of a barn, pull the trigger, and there will be hundreds of little holes spread across the barn. But there will also be a clump of those shots in the middle. A shotgun fallacy is when you draw a target around that clump and tell everyone, "I hit the target!"
For example, some social media experts will tell you that people check Twitter at 9:00 on Saturday. Though for a bike retailer, 9:00am on a Saturday may be the most popular time for their customers to be out riding their bike. So, that tweet is essentially wasted. Instead posting between 11 and noon might be better, when their customers are finished with their bike ride and checking their feeds.
I encourage the bike retailers I work with to test multiple times and track which times of day create the most engagement. Turning your calendar to the viewership f your audience is the best way to get huge results from your social channels.
Thank you for reading this far. If you have found this piece valuable I would appreciate it if you shared it on your social channels. Thanks again, Donny