divendres, 8 d’abril del 2011

20 Takeaways from The Science of Timing Webinar #TimeSci | Search Marketing Blog

..."This is why I was intrigued by the recent HubSpot online seminar entitled “The Science of Timing”, a webinar devoted to the best times to tweet, blog, email and engage in Social Media based upon actual scientific data. Hooray for data!


Plus it was conducted by Dan Zarrella, whose title is “Social Media Scientist”. That’s right, an actual scientist, not just some self-professed Guru, Rock Star, or Social Media Expert. Ok, maybe he isn’t an actual real life, honest to God, lab coat wearing accredited scientist, but his webinar was based upon 3 years of statistical research, which is why I thought I would share 20 takeaways from his recent online presentation."




Twitter & Facebook
• Avoid the online crowds; there is a much better chance that your voice will be heard when others are not talking.


• 50% of the US population lives in the Eastern Time Zone. Tweet accordingly.


• If you are looking for re-tweets, late in the day and late in the week are the best times to tweet.


• Re-tweet activity tends to be at its heaviest between 2 and 5 PM Eastern Time.


• Twitter click through rates (CTR) don’t actually dip on Saturday and Sunday and are better than Mondays and Thursdays. Schedule some weekend tweets.


• Tweet more! In the early days of Twitter most experts warned of tweeting too often as it would frequently fill up your followers’ Twitter streams leading them to unfollow you. This is no longer the case, as more and more people are now active on Twitter and follow a larger number of profiles.


• While it is important to tweet more, it is also equally important to make sure to spread out your tweets over the course of the day, don’t send them all out at once. You don’t want to crowd your own content.


• Use the online service TweetWhen.com which will show you the times and days you get the most re-tweets-per-tweet for your account.


• It is ok to tweet out the same piece of content, however, you want to make sure to change up the tag lines and how you say it. Don’t send out the exact same tweet.


• Weekends are the best time for sharing information on Facebook.


• There is little difference between the B2B and B2C consumer when it comes to timing of social media communications.


Email Marketing
• Experiment with sending out emails during the weekend, as they tend to get more opens and a higher click through rate on Saturday and Sundays.


• Early mornings in when most people typically open and read their email. If your email is waiting for them, they are more likely to read it.


• Send more email. A higher frequency of emails sent doesn’t not correlate with a higher rate of unsubscribers.


• Your newest subscribers are your best subscribers as they have a higher click through rate (CTR).


Blogging
• Know your audience. Men tend to read blogs more frequently during the evenings and at night than women do.


• If you are looking for comments, putting a blog up during the weekend is your best bet.


• If you are looking for links, you should post your blog very early in the morning.


• People will read and view blogs most often on Mondays


• Blog more frequently as this leads to more unique views and inbound links.

In case you might have missed this webinar and are interested in seeing the slides and actual data, I’ve embedded the slide share below.



While there was some very actionable data presented based upon his research, it is important to remember that every industry is different, which is why it is imperative that you know your audience and experiment with different times and days of the week.

There are certain times and days that will most likely lead to more re-tweets, click throughs and engagement, but this should not be the only factor that determines how you engage in social media activity, but be just one of many for consideration. An example would be if you are blogging about breaking news or something that pertains to a recent event, then timeliness is certainly more important than waiting for that prime click through rate time. Yet if used correctly, these guidelines can help you increase your social activity exposure and interaction.