David Murdico
Ecclesiastes – aka King Solomon, that famous guy from the Bible – once wrote:
“Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.”
I don’t care of you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or celebrate Festivus… that holiday for the rest of us, the quote applies to anyone trying to figure out that perfect time to post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, their blog or whatever.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant – They’re afraid their seeds will blow away. But by the time the wind subsides, the rain starts and then their seeds will wash away, or the birds will eat them.
Whoever looks at the clouds will not reap – Apparently it isn’t good to reap in the rain. I’m not a farmer, but after you wait for the crops to dry out, the next thing you know it’s fire season and your crops get all burned up, or the birds eat them.
Apparently birds hate social media updates.
There’s ALWAYS going to be some good reason not to update at certain times and contradicting reasons to update at those same times. Don’t update between this time or that because people are in meetings, eating lunch or driving – or post at these times specific because according to research that’s when people are anxiously waiting for social media updates.
Guess what? If you’re a brand, business or startup, hardly anyone is ever anxiously waiting for your social media updates. They’ll like and share them if they’re good, but they’re not sitting around waiting for them.
It’s up to you as the marketing director, brand manager, product manager, social media manager or agency to write super inviting, catchy content, share visuals and videos and MAKE them pay attention whether the wind is blowing or the clouds are rolling in.
We exist in a 24/7 world and no matter when you post, somebody is awake somewhere, paying attention, and willing to pay money for whatever it is you’re selling or share with their friends, provided your updates are compelling enough.
- Be prolific and post a lot, so each update doesn’t carry the weight of the world.
- See when you get the best reactions
- Decide whether it was the content or the timing that got the best reaction
- Update spur of the moment, when you are inspired.
- Selfie sticks are cool
- People like pictures of your food
- At the same time, plan out updates and schedule them as a backup
- Stop thinking so much.
- Figure out for yourself what works best, and stop reading articles like this written for lazy people
- Don’t rest your hopes on one stupid social media update. You can always make more of them.
Nobody is checking their new Apple Watch to see when it’s time for them to check Twitter for your update. They’ll see it when they check Twitter. So tweet it a lot.
“A hungry man doesn’t wait for when he’s told the fish are supposed to be biting”
I wrote that one. Just now.
General George Patton, that badass general from the movie Patton once said:
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”
So hit me with the charts and graphs and statistics, but I’ll put one violently executed, ill-timed amazing update up against your perfectly timed “Happy Follow Friday everybody #FF” any day.
“The best time to post social media updates is whenever you’re posting social media updates”
I wrote that one too. Just now.
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