Want more Facebook likes? Post at the right time of day!

Timing is everything. Whether it is cooking, delivering a comedy punchline, or writing a Facebook status update. Picking the right time to post an update, send an email, or deliver a text can be absolutely crucial – as the response rate can differ massively depending on the time and day you send it.

For instance, if you have an office job, statistics show that when people get to their desk, 86% will open up their emails only to quickly delete the spam or the promotional emails from their mailboxes – leaving just the important ones in place. It instantly makes the day seem a lot less of a challenge when there is less admin to go through, and psychologically, it puts them in the right frame of mind to move forward with their day. Therefore, if you’re a company sending out your offers, don’t do it late at night, as your email will probably get deleted the moment people start work.

If you send your newsletter around 10:30am, it arrives fresh into their inbox, and is less likely to be removed as it doesn’t have a whole heap of junk emails either side of it

However, when the time gets to around 10.30am, people are fully into the flow of their work-day and have already responded to a number of their emails, so if you send your newsletter around this time, it arrives fresh into their inbox, and is less likely to be removed as it doesn’t have a whole heap of junk emails either side of it. Similarly, the same goes for the afternoon, therefore at 2pm, you’ll find people are on the clock-watching wind-down, so a mid-afternoon email is also a definite winner.

The day of the week that you send an email will also have a massive effect on your click-throughs, with weekday opens being much higher than the weekend. Mondays have a lower open-rate than Tuesdays – simply because of the high volume of admin to deal with at the start of the week, therefore Tuesdays to Thursdays are ideal.

When it comes to social media though, life is a little different. It has been noted that nearly 80% of people who have their phones next to them whilst they sleep will look at social media within 5 minutes of waking up. Whilst in a bleary eyed state, and quite possibly a grump (or maybe that’s just me?), you should not expect people to be liking your statuses from the night before as they will have a lot to catch up on – shared viral posts, Facebook adverts and much more. Plus, with a shower, breakfast and getting ready to contend with before leaving the house, time is precious.

People start to get excited that home-time is around the corner, and that up-turn in the psychological state has a massive bearing on the generosity of dishing out their Likes

As the day progresses, although people may flick on to Facebook or Twitter during the day, the best time of day to post an update is around 4.30pm. People start to get excited that home-time is around the corner, and that up-turn in the psychological state has a massive bearing on the generosity of dishing out their Likes. For instance, you could post an update saying you’re sat on the toilet, but if you do it during the afternoon – just watch those thumbs-ups pour in!

Similarly, when people get home from work, although they will probably crack on with cooking the dinner, they will have some chill time straight afterwards. Much more time is spent looking at social media, usually as a second screen whilst simultaneously watching TV. The way the seemingly random (but calculated) Facebook timeline algorithm works, you’re most likely to see a status that was posted between up to two and four hours ago – and guess what, that post will be yours!

If you’re a business, there are lots of things to consider when using social media. Whilst the content of your posts and emails will be a significant factor in determining whether your marketing is successful or not, you should be aware that choosing the time of your post can also be a major factor in making your post stand out from the crowd.

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