Should you post business content on weekends?

One of the side-effects of the global pandemic is that your business’s online community and target audience is online more frequently and for longer times. Even if you don’t have an online store, your business is now operating in a 24/7 environment as your audience is still searching for information, scrolling through social media and creating their own content using your products. So should you post business content on weekends?

Put simply, yes, especially if you’re posting content that relates to the home, garden, food, beverage, travel, leisure or recreation niches. However, no matter what niche your business is in, posting content over the weekend can bring long-term benefits to your business.

If you’re using social media for a business, you want the best return on your investment. You’ve invested time & creativity into your content & putting it out there hoping your target audience will see it, isn’t enough. The best way of ensuring reach is to post at the optimum time, when most of your audience is online.

So when is the best time to post?

The bad news – there isn’t a universal best time to post on Instagram or Facebook.

The good news – it’s easy to find YOUR best time.

Every social media profile has its own unique audience, often with followers located in different time zones, so it’s important to understand when YOUR audience is online.

If you’re posting for a business account, you can check your audience’s activity in your Insights (Professional Dashboard on Instagram).

How to check your Insights on Instagram (mobile device instructions):

When you are in your Profile:

tap Professional Dashboard
tap Account Insights – See all
tap Total Followers.
Scroll down through the Follower Breakdown page to the Most Active Times section (at bottom of page).
You will see a chart that shows the hours & days of the week.
Tap on one of the hour bars eg. 6pm. A no. will appear revealing how many of your audience are online at that time.
Tap Days. The chart will show the data for what days your audience is online.

In addition to knowing YOUR best time, there are some generic times that suit particular content.

Retail

Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 12 noon. To maximise exposure to people scrolling Instagram while on their lunch breaks.

Food & Beverage

On average, Fridays are the best day of the week for engagement.
However, Wednesday & Thursday evenings, all day Saturday and Sunday pm, are also good for engagement.

Travel & Tourism

Friday is the best performing day for Travel & Tourism content as people are planning their weekends.
Sunday evening, Monday & Tuesday are also strong engagement days as users are looking at places/activities they may have just been/done, or are about to do.

Fitness & Self-Care

Wednesday, when people hit the mid-week slump, or Sunday when people are planning, are the best times for engagement. Mondays and Saturdays also perform well.

Professional Services

Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday from 9-10am.

If you are posting educational content such as blog posts or videos, posting mid-morning usually suits professionals as they often prefer to browse this type of content earlier in their day rather than later at night.