Social Me-di-ahhh it's so early

Your alarm goes off and it's 4:00 a.m. (most likely your cell phone and not a real alarm clock) and what is the first thing that you do?  If you are like me, you are most likely crazy for waking up at 4:00 a.m., however, I have an hour and a half commute to work each way because of the traffic in our Metropolitan area.  But "YES" you guessed it...I check my Social Media updates. Who has the latest "Tweet", who did what on "Facebook", who read my "Blog", who LinkedIn me, and who gave me a +1 on Google+.

I’m able to think clearly first thing in the morning. After a long day at work paired with an evening networking event or dinner plans, I come home EXHAUSTED, both physically and mentally. Often, the stresses of the day weigh on me and I’m in no place to write (or even go to the gym and run). But in the morning, after a solid night’s sleep, my mind is clear.

Half of social media users are so involved with Facebook and Twitter that they check the sites first thing in the morning — 16% say this is how they get their morning “news”.

iPhone owners use Facebook and Twitter more often and in more places: 28% of iPhone owners visit Twitter or Facebook before getting out of bed in the morning, compared with just 18% of all social media consumers under age 25 and 8% of those age 25+. Similarly, 26% of iPhone owners check in with Twitter or Facebook before turning on the TV, compared with 17% each of all social media consumers.

So what does this mean to marketers?

Any time you share content to a social network, whether its an update, a picture, or a link to your recent blog entry, that post is occurring on a specific day of the week and time of day. What you may not have realized is that each social network has peaks and valleys in usage. Ideally, your post would go out during a peak usage time, enabling you to achieve the maximum amount of exposure for your update.

Not only do we want to look at what times are getting the most users on the more popular social networks, we also want to look at the times that have the least usage, and avoid wasting time trying to be active during those periods.

Follow these simple rules and you will be fine:

Facebook

-The best time to post is from 1pm to 4pm, and the worst time is between 8pm and 8am.

-Traffic builds after 9am, and the peak time is Wednesday at 3pm. Traffic fades after 4pm and avoid posting on weekends.

Twitter

-The best time to post is from 1pm to 3pm, and the worst time is between 8pm and 9am.

-Traffic builds after 11am, and the peak time is Monday through Thursday. Traffic fades after 3pm and avoid posting after 3pm on Friday.

LinkedIn

-The best time to post is from 7am to 9am or 5pm to 6pm, and the worst time is between 10pm and 6am.

-Traffic builds before and after business hours, and the peak times are Tuesday through Thursday. -Traffic fades during 9am to 12pm and 1pm to 5pm, and avoid posting on Mondays and Fridays.

Google+

-The best time to post is from 9am to 11am, and the worst time is between 6pm and 8am.

-Traffic builds after 9am, and the peak time is during work hours. Traffic fades after 5pm and avoid posting in the evening.

Pinterest

-The best time to post is from 2pm to 4pm or 8pm to 1am, and the worst time is between 5pm and 7pm.

-Traffic builds after 12pm, and the peak time is Saturday morning. Traffic fades after 5pm and avoid posting in the late afternoon.

Good luck and let me know what works best for you!