Rangefinder - June 2017

PINTEREST

IDEAL POSTING FREQUENCY

3+ tweets per day

PROFILE PICTURE

180 x 180

COVER PHOTO

820 x 312

SHARED IMAGE

1200 x 630

HIGHLIGHTED IMAGE

1200 x 717

IDEAL POSTING

FREQUENCY

2 posts per day IDEAL POSTING TIME

Sprout Social found that Thursday was the best day to post (specifically at 1 p.m.) and that 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. were strong posting windows. As far as days, Sprout recommends Wednesday to Sunday as optimal for driving engagement.

Your guide to how much, how
often and how big your photo
posts should be on the world’s
most popular social networks.

BY GREG SCOBLETE

Thanks to the magic of scheduling tools like Bu;er and HootSuite, you don’t need to be chained to a desk at all hours to keep your social media feed humming, but you still need to optimize your posts by timing them to reach the largest possible audience. It wouldn’t really be true to say that we’re all glued to screens, scanning social media feeds 24/7. Rather, people tend to be active on social networks at given times. Knowing when and how frequently to populate your social media feed can help you fire o; posts, tweets and status updates like precision-guided munitions.

To compile our quick cheat sheet of optimal posting times, frequencies and image sizes, we’ve leaned on the research of companies like Sprout Social (which makes social media software tools) and the aforementioned Bu;er (which makes a social media scheduler).

It’s important to note that these are broad-brush guidelines distilled from the experience of millions of users. One of the best guides to your social media activity are your own analytics. Making a close study of when your fans and followers are active and when they’re engaged with your social media content is the best way to refine these generalities into your own specific best practices. And remember: Social media is a fickle beast. The algorithms that govern engagement and the visibility of your content can (and do) change frequently; what works today may not indefinitely. But who doesn’t like being kept on their toes?

*All measurements are in pixels.

IDEAL POSTING TIME

According to a survey of social media managers by the software firm Later, ideal posting is lunch ( 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and the late evening ( 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.).

Weekends are also ideal for reaching consumers, but important posts should also be scheduled for weekdays, especially if you’re marketing to a business.

INS TAGRAM

THE SWEET SPOT

Weekdays at 4 p.m. is good
for audiences on both U.S.
coasts: It’s near the end of
a workday for the East and
lunch time out West.

PROFILE PICTURE

110 x 110

PHOTO THUMBNAILS

161 x 161

PHOTO SIZE (APP)

1080 x 1080

IDEAL POSTING FREQUENCY 1-2 posts per day

FACEBOOK
TWITTER

PROFILE PICTURE

400 x 400

HEADER PHOTO

1500 x 500

POST PHOTO

506 x 253

A tool like Tweriod can
analyze your Twitter feed
and suggest ideal posting times
based on your followers
and activity.

IDEAL POSTING TIME

Bu;er found that posting tweets in the early morning hours ( 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.) will get them the most clicks. Posts at noon and at 6 p.m. also generate higher-than-average click-throughs. Tweeting during the evening and nighttime will earn more favorites and retweets, and click-through rates in general are highest during the weekend.

IDEAL POSTING TIME

Pinterest users tend to be a later crowd. Adobe Spark noted that the best chance for a re-pin occurs at 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and between 8 p.m. and

1 a.m. It also makes sense to avoid after-school hours and dinnertime. Sprout Social found that Friday, Saturday and Sunday were the best days to post, and that late-night posts in the 2 a.m. and