Really, Seriously, when is the Best Time to Post on Facebook?

This question is so very elusive that even Facebook itself refuses to answer it.  Google has 3,690,000 results.  Bing has 964,000,000 results.  So to make things a bit easier for you, I looked at ten of the first search results on Google and Bing when I typed in "What is the Best Time to Post on Facebook".  

I made a chart of what each person or company said and finally came up with...you got it, lots of different answers!  I focused on: best day to post, worst day to post, best time to post, and best overall best day and time to post.  I found many inconsistencies along with some similarities. 

The biggest similarity in these articles and posts was that the highest traffic time on Facebook is Wednesdays at 3 pm ET.  4/10 links listed this as the single highest traffic hour on Facebook.  The whole point of posting on Facebook is so that your fans and customers actually see your content, so use this information to your advantage!  

I found pretty high consistency that between posting in the hours of 1:00pm-4:00pm, the 3:00 hour, and between 8:00pm-7:00am.  Generally it was said that these hours yield high visibility and reach.  8:00am was a close runner-up.  Honestly, the best time to post was incredibly inconsistent between the articles and it was difficult to make a concise conclusion.

There was also a high level of inconsistency with the best and worst day to post.  I have listed them below as it was extremely confusing and didn't really give me much of an answer.  I figure you can look at the source and pick which one you want to believe!

Daniel Decker

-Best Day: Wednesday

-Worst Day: Sunday

Marketing Spot

-Best Day: Sunday

-Worst Day: Thursday

Mashable

-Best Day: N/A

-Worst Day: N/A

Black Box Social Media

-Best Day: Thursday and Friday

-Worst Day: N/A

Matt Southern

-Best Day: N/A

-Worst Day: N/A

Web Pro News

-Best Day: Saturday

-Worst Day: N/A

Entrepreneur

-Best Day: N/A

-Worst Day: Thursday

Huffington Post

-Best Day: Saturday and Sunday

-Worst Day: Wednesday

I Strategy Conference

-Best Day: Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday

-Worst Day: N/A

Media Bistro

-Best Day: N/A

-Worst Day: N/A

So, in conclusion...well, I do not really have much of one.  My advice is to look at your industry and your customer base to try to decide which days are best and worst to post.  For example, if you are a bar, you probably want to post the most Fridays and Saturdays.  Use your best judgement and experiment!

The same goes with the best time to post.  You can measure traffic all you want, but your type of traffic might happen to browse your page or see your post at odd hours or only on certain days.  Gauge your audience and evaluate your target market to get the most out of your Facebook page.  And there is no harm in experimenting!  Keep track of when you are putting up your posts and do an evaluation about a week later; how many people saw your post, liked it, commented on it, and shared it.  Keep in mind that that is not a foolproof way to evaluating your site as content has a huge effect on engagement.  

I hope I saved you time and also provided you with some answers by evaluating several blogs, posts, and articles about the topic.  Unfortunately there is no true right or wrong and the social media market is constantly changing, so it really is hard to answer this question completely.

What has and has not worked for your business?  What times and days work best for you?  Please share below!

'Till next time ~Melissa

"There is no black magic to successfully attracting customers via the web" ~Rand Fishkin, SEOMOZ

Here are the links to the blogs and websites I used for research, feel free to explore:

http://www.danieldecker.net/when-is-the-best-time-to-post-on-facebook-heres-the-answer/

http://themarketingspot.com/2011/05/my-study-whats-the-best-time-to-post-on-facebook.html

http://mashable.com/2012/05/09/best-time-to-post-on-facebook/

http://blackboxsocialmedia.com/best-time-to-post-on-facebook/

http://mattsouthern.com/2012/09/16/what-is-the-best-time-to-post-on-facebook/

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/13492.aspx 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/220166

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/28/facebook-marketing-secrets-best-time-to-post_n_1924134.html 

http://www.istrategyconference.com/blog/?category=Social-Media&title=Whens-the-Best-Time-to-Post-on-Facebook&pid=809

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/best-time-to-post_b32507

Twylah-a new way to tweet

What the heck is Twylah you say?  I was asking myself the same question when I came across this new social media.

Since not too many people know, let's start from the beginning!

What is Twylah?

The company's page states it like this: 

Twylah helps you significantly leverage your Twitter efforts.  Currently, individuals and brands are spending a lot of time on Twitter, and not necessarily seeing direct returns on their investment.  Twylah is a tool that captures the value of your Twitter efforts and allows you to realize true returns.  We do this by creating engaging, navigable websites of your tweets, which we call “Twitter Brand Pages.”

I find this description confusing and incomplete, so I wrote up my own description:

Twylah is a new social media platform that helps keep company tweets organized, relevant, and more searchable on search engines. The personalized pages make it easy for followers to retweet tweets from current to months old, follow the company's other social media sites, and easily search for tweets by topic.  It also allows the company to easily see what tweets are trending, what topics they tweet about most, and gives good statistics about what is being clicked on and when.

To get an idea of what these pages look like, check out one of my company's pages here.  

I believe the greatest benefit to having a Twylah page is that the page helps keep all of your tweets relevant all the time.  Users can easily click on a topic and quickly look through all of your tweets, back through forever.  The site also makes it easy to share all your tweets via other social media sites.  This means that old tweets still have the power to generate more traffic and likes on your facebook, pinterest, and google +.  Another huge benefit is when users get redirected to your Twylah page, they will not be distracted by other people's tweets and may 
(hopefully!) get lost in the endless tweets from the past!  And a final benefit is that a user does not need to sign up for Twylah to view your page and posts; huge for generating traffic and letting people browse your page with no sign up hassle.  

There are still concerns with this platform, however.  My first concern is this social media site has been around since 2011 and I'm just hearing about it now.  I think this fault falls on the laps of the creators as they do not have a Twitter page for their business, nor do they make it easy to find them on other social media.  Their facebook page only has 400 likes.  So, how long will this be around? Hard to say, only time will tell.   And the other main concern is that people have to click on it; meaning that they have to click on the link from your twitter in order to view your Twylah page unless they have one of their own.  I do not personally have a page, but will look into this and report back from my findings from a user standpoint and not a business standpoint.  

I had to read several blogs to get more information and would like to share them here in case you would like additional blogs to look at: 

http://windmillnetworking.com/2011/09/09/twitter-seo-think-twylah/ 
http://scobleizer.com/2011/05/25/twylah-lets-media-brands-and-celebrities-monetize-their-twitter-stream/

Thanks to all the other bloggers for your help!

Until next week!!

~Melissa

The Importance of Google-ing your Business

Have you ever thought of the importance of looking into what people say about your business online?  Not just on social media where you can see it, but on blogs, customer review sites, and even in the media; your business is being mentioned whether you like it or not!

I just started a new job at a large company in Lansing, Michigan.  Part of my daily tasks are to google the business and see what comes up.  Never thought to do that?  You'd be surprised what comes up!  Besides the simple knowledge of knowing what is on the internet, it is important to correct information or inform your customers of the correct information.  Let's say it's as simple as having the wrong operating on hours up on a website that advertises local businesses.  This is a very simple but quite important correction to make!  But incorrect information can be so much worse than that; articles like this state that a customer that had a bad experience is twice as likely to talk about it than someone that had a good experience; whether their facts are right or not.

When doing research about your company on the web, these websites are key:
1. Google.com and google.com/news
2. Bing.com
3. Your local newspaper's website
4. Wikipedia
5. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and all other social media sites

Although you cannot remove or change all information about your company, good or bad, it is important to address the issues that you can. You want to ensure that you handle it in the best and most well thought out way you can.  There are some important things to remember as you respond to customers on the web:

1. Always be friendly!  Whether you are responding to a good or bad comment, you want to treat the customer well because once it is online, it is out there for all to see.  The old mantra that "the customer is always right" will apply 99% of the time and can backfire easily if not handled correctly.

2.  Always follow up if you say you are going to follow up.  If you respond to a tweet or facebook post with "I have to check with the manager, but will get back to you", it is important to follow up!  The concern that they were addressing will only be amplified if you do not follow through with your word.  

3.  Remember that traffic and mentions are good! So try to avoid deleting things other people have written (unless you have to of course) and instead redirect them to your website, social media sites, or give them the correct information.  

It is a good thing for people to be mentioning your business online, it's just important to keep tabs on who says what and that the information is as accurate as possible!  Hopefully these simple tips have shown you where to look and what to do with what you find, please let me know if you have any additional suggestions about google-ing your business.  Also feel free to share stories about what you have found and how you handled it!

Thanks everyone, until next time!

~Melissa

"The only thing Google has failed to do, so far, is fail" ~ John Battelle

12-12-12 Promotion Ideas

So this is a short and sweet blog, but a very fun one!  What a neat once in a life time date-why not celebrate it with neat deals and steals at your business?

These deals will obviously vary based on your business, but be creative!  I have a few ideas via WhizBang Training's Facebook page and have also thought of some of my own:

1) Sell baked goods? Price 12 donuts for $12
2) Have a celebration at 12-noon with cookies or pie
3) Raffle off 12 door prizes at 12 minutes after the hour
4) Have longer hours? Run a great sale from 12-12 for one day only!
5) Have more expensive merchandise?  How about buy one get one for $12?
6) Looking to run a longer campaign?  Kick off your 12 days of Christmas sales on that day.
7) Give the first 12 people in your door that day a gift certificate
8) Sell items on your clearance rack for an extra discount: 4/$12 or 3/$12 or 2/$12
9) Do you run a bar or liquor store? How about a make your own 12-pack for $12!

The possibilities truly are endless though, so get creative!  And once you have your idea, make sure you promote it well.  Include it in your email newsletter, post about it in advance on your social media sites, do mailers with your best customers, and advertise it in your store with posters and fliers.

What are your ideas for 12/12/12 promotions?  Please share below!

Till next time,
~Melissa

"You don't want to invent new ideas, not new rules" ~Dan Heath

How often should I email my customers?

The most asked question when it comes to email marketing is: How often should I email my customers?

Once per week?  Once per month?  Three times per month?  Every day?

Well the answer is......yes.

The trick is finding a good balance of emails sent for you and your business.  Over-mailing your list can be damaging; too many emails is an easy excuse to unsubscribe.  And if you send too many in a short time period it is unlikely that someone would read them before you send the next one.  Under-mailing can also be harmful, however, as you want your customers to think about you often.  It is generally agreed that only once per month is not enough but once a day is too much as this article refers to. 

The way I look at it is you need to analyze what kind of relationship you have with your customer and what kind of business you own.  You need to sit down and say to yourself, "If I subscribed to an email list of a company like this, how often would I want to be emailed their sales pitch and updates?".  

Just this week I unsubscribed from a list because I was getting an email every other day for a product I bought once, use maybe once a month, and do not have a plan to purchase again.  On the other hand, I am on the email list of a few retail stores that email every single day and I do not unsubscribe.  I really enjoy the newsletter style email marketing that is once per month; there is always actual content and I find myself reading it every single month I receive one.  

But this is just me.

You need to discover what your customer wants and what they are comfortable with!  There is no harm in asking your customers what they prefer.  You may not get everyone to respond, but at least you would get a little feedback.  Try a facebook post or an email survey to try to get a response and at least a little feedback so you can keep those customers you try so hard to gain!

Unfortunately the answer to the question 'how often' still remains yes.  There is no right or wrong answer; you just need to find out what you and your customers are comfortable with.

Until next time and Happy Turkey Day!
Melissa

"There are no magic wands, no hidden tricks, and no secret handshakes that can bring you immediate success, but with time, energy, and determination you can get there"  ~Darren Rowse

https://plus.google.com/102584250252348512231/posts

Cash Mobs: long term benefit or short term boom?

The idea of a cash mob is fairly simple:  a locally owned small business sets a date and time where they try to get as many people as they can to come into their store and spend at least $20 a person within that time period.  Usually it is on a week night and lasts about three hours.  

My question today is whether or not events like these have a long term benefit or if they give a small business a boost in sales for just that one day.  To look into this further, I spoke with Derek Drushel from Joey’s Pet Outfitters in Williamston, MI.  Their business just held a cash mob a few weeks ago and I asked him a few questions about the success of the event.

I wanted to analyze the long and short term benefits of doing a cash mob.  First I asked him how successful he thought the event was.  “It went well,” said Derek, “It definitely was a significant portion of our sales that day, and I think it helped our average ticket sale even with people who weren't part of the event because it created a more positive buzz in the store." He followed up by saying, “anytime you can up the overall energy level in the store it's a good thing.”  His answers followed much of the research that I conducted about the short term benefits of cash mobs.  On average, a cash mob will double or even triple a store’s normal sales for the day; it makes sense that an event such as this could have such a positive effect on a small business for that one particular day.

But I wanted to know what he thought of the long term effects of the event.  I asked if he thought he gained any lifetime customers from the event and if he found that many of the people that came to the store that night were new customers. “Unfortunately I don't think it was really a longtime business builder for the majority of folks who came in…it had more of a one-time feel than you would hope,” said Derek.  In the articles that I found online, there was little mention of the long term effects of a cash mob.  I personally believe that most of the people that attend the event would tend to be current customers as they probably will want to support a business they are already familiar with.  It is difficult to get the news out to new potential customers as the way most cash mobs are promoted is usually through social media.  Derek did follow up by saying, “we did add some business, however, from those people that knew about our store, but maybe didn't realize all we had to offer.” So even though their store may not have gained new life long customers, they may have turned occasional shoppers into life time customers through this event. 

So in conclusion, it is really hard to say what kind of benefits-short or long term-a business will have from a cash mob event.  There are things you can do to improve your odds of a good turn out however.  

1) Promote your event via social media, print media, and your local chamber of commerce.  Use as many avenues as you can to promote the event if you want to attract new customers.

2) Promote your event as a “Shop Local” event.  This is a huge trend right now and will be sure to attract at least a few more customers for the event.

3) Don’t forget about your current customers!  These customers are the ones that will most likely become life time shoppers as they already do business with you, so make sure to send them a personal invite to attend.

Best of luck to all of you with this new business trend! Please comment if you have any tips and tricks from your business’s experience with cash mobs.

-Melissa

Thank you to Derek Drushel from Joey’s Pet Fitters for your insight for this blog!  To learn more about Joey’s Pet Outfitters, check them out on Facebook and also on their website.

 “The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” – Nolan Bushnell