You may have spent time contemplating the content of your blogs and how to best reach your audience, but have you ever wondered when to post? What times of the day will you gain the highest readership? What day of the week is your audience most likely to comment on your blog? These metrics will prove to be very important to your blog’s success. After all, what good is great content if you are posting it at times when people are not interested?
To bring you the best research on this topic, I turned to Dan Zarrella, a “social media marketing scientist” who takes social topics and tests them to devise helpful metrics from which marketers can benefit. Below represents his newest infographic which lists the graphs measuring three metrics for blog posts.
Here are some takeaways based on Dan’s research. The time is based on EST.
- Based on all metrics, most activity occurs in the morning hours.
- Links peak close to 8 am
- Comments are highest between 8 am and 10 am
- Blogs receive the most views between 10 am and 11 am
It would make sense that many people would choose to read blogs just as they start their day since they will be seeking fresh content for their industries. You will also notice some activity towards the end of the day for views since people will occasionally check their favorite blogs at the end of their workday.
Day of the Week
It’s also important to know which days of the week will fare the best with your audience. According to research I gathered on the subject, here are some interesting statistics:
- Mondays seem to be a slow day for blog readers. Many people use Monday to catch up on work.
- Weekends are not a popular time to post blogs. People are busy doing other things and tending to household duties, spending time with their families, etc. Of course, this will depend on your audience.
- Posting twice a day, rather than once, will increase engagement
- Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday seem to be the best days to post blog content. The Friday crowd may enjoy a lighter post since the TGIF attitude is in the air.
Testing
These metrics are meant to guide you, not function as die-hard rules. Use them as a basis for your own personal testing. According to Dan, his metrics may not represent the ideal scenario for your industry. They should be used as a starting point for your own testing. Your audience will differ from other blogs, so testing is extremely important.
For example, according to the results of the experiments, the best times to post are in the morning. But what if your audience consisted of work-at-home mothers who are busy getting their children off to school in the morning and use the rest of the day to read their blogs? Schedule posts during different days and times and check your analytics to determine how your audience responds to the timing.
Dan Zarella offers this free webinar that discusses social timing: The Science of Timing
Jenna Scaglione is a content writer, internet marketer, and a lover of family, friends and life. Jenna enjoys learning, growing and discovering the newest and latest trends on the internet. Known as "Lady Content", she lives in sunny Socal where she helps her clients around the world increase brand awareness on the internet through content writing and social media.
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