When: LinkedIn

If you're looking to maximize your LinkedIn reach and engagement, it's important to consider the best days and times to post on the platform. With over 700 million active users, LinkedIn is a powerful tool for professionals to connect, network, and share their expertise. But with so much competition for attention, knowing when to post can make a significant difference in the success of your content.

Here are some of the best days and times to post on LinkedIn:

1. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

According to studies, these are the most popular days for professionals to engage on LinkedIn. Tuesdays tend to be the busiest day, with a peak between 10 am to 11 am, while Wednesdays see high engagement throughout the day, and Thursdays tend to have the highest click-through rates.

1. Late Morning or Early Afternoon

The best times to post on LinkedIn are during working hours, as professionals are more likely to check their feeds during these times. The sweet spot for posting tends to be between 10 am to 11 am and 1 pm to 2 pm, when people are taking breaks or catching up on industry news.

1. Avoid Mondays and Fridays

Mondays tend to be the least active days on LinkedIn, as people are catching up on emails and getting back into work mode. Fridays also tend to be slow, as people are wrapping up their work week and preparing for the weekend.

1. Experiment and Track Your Results

While these are general guidelines, it's important to experiment and track your results to find the best days and times for your specific audience. LinkedIn's analytics tools can provide valuable insights into the performance of your posts, including engagement rates, click-through rates, and the demographics of your audience.

In addition to timing, other factors can impact the success of your LinkedIn posts, such as the quality of your content, the use of visuals, and the use of relevant hashtags. By paying attention to these details and using data to inform your strategy, you can increase your visibility, build your network, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

In conclusion, posting on LinkedIn can be a valuable way to reach your target audience, but timing is key. By posting on the right days and at the right times, you can maximize your reach and engagement, and build your professional brand on this powerful platform.

In Social Media, Reality Trumps Perfection

As many of you have discovered, social media can be a powerful marketing tool and an excellent way to engage with customers and prospects. But where’s all of that content going to come from? You’re great at running your business, but you’re crazy busy -- and you probably didn’t sign on to be a professional writer and can’t afford to hire one. Here’s great news: Social media is not meant to be perfect. In fact, perfectionism can diminish your social media impact. 

Mistakes keep it human

The emphasis in “social” is on being real and transparent and on speaking with a human voice. So an occasional misspelled word or use of imperfect grammar is not only acceptable, but is often viewed as refreshing and humanizing.

On being transparent

Let’s delve into the transparency aspect. At my live seminars, I often ask audience members about their businesses. Recently I heard from one attendee who is the owner of a hobby store with nine employees. They sell radio-controlled airplanes, cars and boats. I asked how his employees behave when FedEx or UPS delivers the newest, hottest item. The response, as expected, was, “They practically fight over each other to be the first to open the box!” 

The power of reality

Now think about how you might market that hot new item. What would have the biggest impact? A professionally produced television commercial? Or taping 30 seconds of true excitement, using just a smartphone or flip-style video camera, and posting it on YouTube? You can’t fake enthusiasm, and there’s nothing more powerful than reality. You’ve worked hard to make your customers happy, and, in fact, you’ve created many fans. A quick video testimonial has a trust value that commercials do not even approach.

Sharing – as good as creating

More good news: Over half the content on social media is shared content. Finding and sharing can be as impactful as creating! I live in the digital marketing space. It’s my hobby, my passion and my vocation. On most days, I scan dozens of blogs related to digital marketing. When I find something that would resonate with my audience, I share it! I simply hit a button and post the link to Facebook or Twitter. 

Filter info for your customers

My followers are small business owners. Marketing is important to them, but they can’t justify spending the time to stay as current on digital marketing. They have businesses to run and their own areas of expertise to explore in detail. I serve as a filter for them, trading my expertise for their attention. I’m also building loyalty with them and differentiating myself by saving them time. All of you are experts at what you do; you know far more than your customers – that’s why they come to you with the same questions day after day. So put that expertise, that experience to work for you by sharing what you know and what you find valuable via social media.

Is it worth sharing?

How do you know if your content – what you’ve found or what you’ve created – is social-worthy? Good social content should always pass two tests: 

1.    Is it likely that your followers will want to share it with their followers? 

2.    Second, will it incite your followers to comment on it? 

Comments create content

The second test leads to one of the most compelling properties of social media. When lots of people comment on something you post, they’re essentially creating new content for you – on your behalf, as advocates for you. Remember when Tom Sawyer got his friends to whitewash the fence for him? Perhaps credit for inventing social media marketing should go to Mark Twain.