3 Common Social Media Myths Debunked!

I’ve read quite a few articles lately about the proper places and times to post, the length of the hashtags that are the most successful, and where to place URLs in the post on social media to make them the most successful. While some of these recommendations could be true for some businesses, I believe that if you’re knowledgable about your target market and creative enough with your social media campaign, it will be successful. Without giving away too many of my social media secrets, I’ll take my myth-busting day-by-day, starting with the days of the week:

Myth #1: Monday Mornings are a great time to post on social media.

Think about this one. What are you usually doing on Monday mornings? Are you avidly checking your Facebook and Twitter feeds? Probably not. Instead, you’re often left sorting through the mixture of junk emails and possible client crises that have accumulated over the weekend. After that you will most likely have a team meeting, or other meetings for that matter, to devote your time. Ironically, we have often seen our Monday afternoon posts provide the most reach on Facebook. This is because the post will show throughout the week (if you’re lucky) to the people who may not have seen it initially.

Myth #2: Thursdays at 3:30pm are the best time to post on social media.

While this one could still hold true to email marketing campaigns, I have personally seen no indication that this is remotely true for social media platforms. Thursday afternoon posts usually see the lowest reach out of the week in our experience. This could be due to the overkill of posts on Thursdays at 3:30pm, and your post gets lost in the abundance of other posts hogging up news feeds. Recently, we started posting articles on Thursday mornings around 9:30am. After only an hour, they had over twice as many views than average, and three times as many post clicks. Mondays are the new Thursdays.

Myth #3: If you post on Fridays, nobody will see it.

If you’re posting on Fridays and not getting any results, change what you’re posting. Fridays are supposed to be fun and less stressful than the rest of the week, that’s why Casual Fridays were created. Instead of posting anything related to your company or your industry, try posting a YouTube video or a “behind-the-scenes” picture from your office. I’ve said this once, and I’ll say it again: your employees are your best source of promotion on social media. If you decide to post a YouTube video that your employee shared with you, tag them in the post; it will instantly boost your reach! If you post a picture that includes employees, tag them. Especially now that everyone’s entire extended family is on social media, they will LOVE the opportunity to see their granddaughter or grandson “hard at work” (whatever floats your boat, Grandma).

Set Up a Schedule

The easiest way to start testing these debunked myths for yourself is to begin posting as regularly as possible. Set up a schedule, and try posting on different platforms at different times of the day. Not only will it help your customer base know when to check back for future updates, but it will also give you an idea of what results will populate from specific days of the week and different times of the day that will generate the best results. Or you can start posting on every social media platform every 10 minutes, like BuzzFeed, but we don’t suggest it unless you have around 2 million followers, like BuzzFeed.

SEE ALSO: 3 Simple Ways to Get More Followers on Social Media