As you sit feverishly tapping at a keyboard, it can sometimes be hard to remember that social media is all about the people at the other end of that computer screen. They have lives; perhaps they need to take the kids to an after-school club, or they may be off to the pub, or in the summer months, spending their time outside, rather than indoors on their phone, so it’s about time you looked at your social media timing.

All these factors impact when they are online and when you should therefore be posting.

We spend more time outside during the summer

It’s light outside, hopefully warm (it was very warm this summer) and it’s not raining (again we did have a drought this time around!). So ask yourself, when are your followers most likely to be online? The answer is, of course, later in the evening than they would be during the winter. 

That’s precisely why Facebook will suggest you post at 7pm each day, as people are starting to come inside and move their starey gaze to their phone or tablet (yep some people do still use those for things other than placating their children from time to time).

But what about the winter?

Winter can be quite a vague term, so for the purpose of this blog post, we are referring to ‘winter’ as when the clocks go back (we do know this makes winter seem like quite a long haul but bear with us on this one!).

We’re using this definition because the moving of the clocks does have a significant impact on the overall timing of your post-publication (and if it doesn’t then it should!). That’s because people will more readily be inside from 5pm – purely because it’s dark outside (and cold, wet, windy…. You get the picture!).

So what do you need to do?

Try tweaking your social media timing by posting earlier in the evenings once Halloween is over, purely because if you don’t, your post will be closer to bedtime (we’re saying this is 10 – 11pm for most), which gives it less time to mature and reach more people during day one, which is a vital time for any social media post (engagement is almost always significantly lower the day after the day of posting).

Whilst there is no golden rule for posting as every page has a unique set of followers, it is a good bet to trial this once those clocks do go back. Match these new timings with some post momentum and you’re setting yourself up for a win! 

And remember…. Days get longer after 21^st December… and it might be warm next year too!