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

Is Google+ worth the effort?

With the beginning of 2013, I'm sure many companies are starting to think about how to manage their social media marketing.  There are so many social media sites that a business owner may choose to cut out some of them to make more time for the others.  Is Google+ on your list?

Many believe the largest benefit of having a Google+ account is for search results.  It's a Google product so that equals better search results right?  Not necessarily.   Google+ plus has a small following compared to many of the other social media sites-just 170 million users, or 8% of the total social media usage in February 2012.  Odds are pretty high that your customers do not have a Google+ account and therefore will not be searching for it through that social media site, plus it is hard to search within Google+.  However, like I said before, it's a Google product!  The search engine displays +pages in their search.  On top of that, the more people that add you into your circle increases the searchabilty on its own. Google is Google and always will be-they are the most used search engine and it really cannot hurt to have a page within their platform.  I do not thinking having a page is too much to ask and really can have great benefits.

Now, having a page and truly using it are two different things.  I personally do not believe it is important to go out of your way to post on your Google+ page.  Add your page to your HootSuite and double up your posts from your Facebook or another social network to simplify this process.  You may ask why I say this?  As a Google+ user, I maybe scroll down my news feed once every two weeks.  My thinking is I can get way more updates from Facebook and I happen to like the format better.  Daina Middleton, author of Marketing in the Participation Age, puts it well, "The reality is Google+ is not very exciting to use and lacks participation as a consequence". Google+ Does have some cool features like Hangouts and their mobile app is much approved, so they are getting there but it is hard to know if it will truly take off and gain the massive followings of Twitter and Facebook. 

All that being said, Google+ does have an easy to use format and is making improvements to become a more interactive social media platform.  Once users or businesses set up a page, it is easy to navigate and read.  I think it needs improvement on their search feature so it takes you to pages instead of posts that mention the words you search for and actually helps you find what you are looking for.  Honestly their search function is quite useless unless you know the name of what you are looking for.  I think Google could also skip automatically adding people and pages into your circles when you set up a page. They are a pain to remove once you add them.

As Google+ evolves and gains more followers it will be interesting to see how it takes off and the changes they will make.  How will they really distinguish themselves from Facebook?  How can they make themselves so user-friendly that people absolutely cannot live without it?  How can they benefit businesses more?  

If Google+ really tries, maybe they can be of more use to businesses as Facebook pushes business further and further away by limiting the number of fans and charging to promote posts....but that is another topic for another day!

What is your business's experience with Google+?  Do you have an account?  How often do you use it?  Please share below!

~Melissa

Ps. Add me to your circle on Google+ if you have one for new blogs almost every week!  

"Effective engagement is inspired by the empathy that develops simply by being human." ~ Brian Solis

Thank you to these bloggers for your help! 

http://www.famousbloggers.net/google-brand-page-worth-time.html

http://heidicohen.com/2012-biggest-marketing-surprises/

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

Don't forget about the tourists!

As a local business, you do all you can to get your name out in your community.  Whether it be through an ad in the newspaper, through social media, or through a TV commercial, a local merchant's focus is usually on the people that already live an their prospective areas.  But as a business owner, did you ever stop to think how you can advertise to the tourists and visitors?

Many may think of tourists as a lost cause; they will visit what they want to visit and stop where they want to stop.  This may be true in some cases, but more than likely, they will pick up a visitor's guide, check out a tourism website, or stop to talk to the front desk worker at the hotel they are staying at to get more information about what they can see and do.

Since my current location is Lansing, Michigan, I wanted to gather some stats on the business that tourists bring to the area every year just to put some numbers to my point.  Did you know:

• Tourists spend around $424 million in Greater Lansing every year
• Lansing welcomes almost 5 million visitors to the area each year
• Guests pay the region taxes on various services adding $3.7 million in local taxes and $23 million in state taxes
• The overall result impact of tourism in the area is over $160 million dollars in revenue each year!
• **Thanks to the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau for the stats!  www.lansing.org**

Did you learn something?  I know I did when I first saw these numbers.  This just made me realize how important it is to get your name out to tourists can be!  So the first step may be to define a tourist. Well, a tourist (in my opinion) is anyone who visits an area for a specific amount of time for any reason.  In an area like Lansing, visitors have endless reasons to come here: sporting events, parents visiting their sons and daughters at college, conventions, important legislative events, business meetings, interviews, visit family, and go on vacation, just to name a few!

Now the important question-how does a local business owner reach out to a tourist that may be coming from really anywhere in the world?  Personally, I think being in a visitor's guide is essential for hotels, restaurants, shops, public transportation, and so many other types of businesses.  Maybe place fliers around the local hotels if you are allowed.  Work with other businesses to promote at the same time so you can cover more ground.  Put fliers in the airport. Have fliers at your local visitors center or chamber of commerce. Team up with the university to offer student-parent discounts.  If you are really web savvy  make sure you are up on your search engine optimization so when someone searches "things to do in Lansing" they will find you.  Make sure you are on tourism websites like tripadvisor.com, chamber websites, area tourism websites (like www.lansing.org), local newspaper sites (like www.lansingstatejournal.com), and so many more.  Really the options are endless!!

A good way to test how easy you are to find, put yourself in the shoes of a tourist.  Visit a hotel or the airport and check out the fliers there.  Google your business.  Google "tourism in _______ (your location)". Check out facebook sites that promote businesses to tourists.  Check out the tourism websites and see what other businesses like yours are already on your site and take a look at your competition! And then make sure your act on these findings and get your name out to tourists!!

Overall, yes, it is extremely important to advertise to your potential regular customers (locals) as this is where a large chuck of your income will come from.  However, I hope this helps stress the importance of being available to the people who do not live in this area and will be coming to visit!

What is your experience in working with tourists at your business?  What ideas do you have to advertise to them?

Thanks so much everyone, see you next week!

-Melissa

             "The traveler sees what he sees.  The tourist sees what he has come to see".  ~G.K. Chesterton