So most of you should probably have a Facebook page for your small business. If you don’t already, then don’t freak out! We have discussed why you should create a social media presence regarding your small business. We showed you how to start your own Facebook page that clients can actually find and even shared with you how for just $1 you can create a professional cover photo for said page. So now that we’ve got the basics down – we’re going to move towards your strategy. So lets start by answering how in the world you can be successful with finding the best time to post on Facebook.

I know strategy can sound like a scary word if you’ve never learned about managing your social media in this way. But all that it really means is that you have a plan and that you adhere to it in regards to what and when you share content.

There are a lot of studies out there that have been done for each social media platform that has been around long enough. A whole host of data is gathered. There will be recommended times for posting that come out of all of these data sets. But they don’t know your small business or the fans of it’s Facebook page. You do.

The great thing about Facebook in particular is that all of this data is yours. You don’t have to pay for it and you know it is tailored to your audience that currently likes your page! But how do you find it?

The Secret to Find the Best Time to Post on Facebook

After pulling up your Facebook Page, you’ll be selecting Insights on the top portion of your page. Then select Posts on the left hand side.

After selecting both of these options you will be shown a graph. This simply shows you when the fans for your Facebook page are most likely to be online.

Analyzing Facebook Insights

But what good is data if you have it but aren’t sure how to use it? The secret to find the best time to post on Facebook not only relies on you being able to retrieve those metrics – but interpret them.

When interpreting the graph of your Small Businesses Facebook Page, you should look for a few key indicators:

• Time time when your Facebook audience is primarily not online
• When your Facebook audience is primarily online
• A time when a larger percentage of your Facebook audience is online

If we were to interpret the data that if from my Dare to Cultivate Facebook Page shared above we could note the following:

• Between 10 PM and 6 AM my Facebook audience is primarily not online
• From 8 AM and 8 PM my Facebook audience is primarily online
• There are noticeable changes in the amount of people in my Facebook audience that are online at 9 AM, 2 PM and 7 PM

If my Facebook audience is primarily not online, there is not much reason to post because engagement would be limited. So between 10 PM and 6 AM you will probably not see posts on my Facebook page that are regularly scheduled.

If my Facebook audience is primarily online it would probably be safe to post at any time between 8 AM and 8 PM. But it would be even better to schedule my posts to align with the slight increase of fans at 9 AM , 2 PM and 7 PM.

Scheduling Posts

Now that you’ve interpreted all of this information to find the best time to post on Facebook – lets put it to work!

You may be thinking to yourself – I have a life. There’s no way that I can get on Facebook that many times a day. Do I put these updates together live or do I save them in my drafts? Well, worry no more. You can schedule your posts within Facebook as part of the Publishing Tools tab.

Select Scheduled Posts on the left hand side of the page and then Create on the top right.

Once you’ve done this you’ll create a post just as you would in real time. You can upload a graphic/photo, share a link, etc! When you are satisfied you’ll need to select schedule in the lower right hand corner of the post.

You will select the calendar button and select a date. Select the minutes and hour to the right hand side of this to set a time. Select AM or PM by typing either in. Then select schedule one final time and you will be all good to go!

Your Graph Will Change

So really, once you find this data there is no excuse to not know when to share content.

It’s important to note this graph will vary according to each weekday and is updated with data according to your local time zone that you have identified. So the frequency and type of posts that you share may vary. You may only post three times on your Facebook page on Tuesday and four on Saturday if aligning with your audience activity. So be sure to take into account the differences when planning your posts.

Want to see how your fans will behave another day of the week? Just simply hover over the abbreviation for the day at the top of the data and this will show how it varies and give you more information so you can make a plan for the remainder of the week.

Variations In Audience Activity to Note

There are a few different things that are important to note when looking at your Facebook Insights.

• In general, it makes sense for a lot of  Facebook page audiences availability to look like mine (if you are in the United States). I.E. it’s dead at night. This is when most people are sleeping. However – if you cater to different time zones internationally your graph could look VERY different.
• If your data shows that you do have off-peak times throughout the day, you could do a test. See how posts published then fare. Since less people are active, less of your audience is bombarded with other things on your Facebook news feed. They may be able to interact with and see your content more this way.

There is still more to cover to help you get started as a beginner to Facebook as a small business. But I think the best time to post on Facebook is a great start!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren