Timing matters. In a healthcare practice, timing for treatment or surgery is a primary consideration for successful results. The same is true for your practice’s social media posts.
The best time to post will ultimately be dependent on your specific audience and their social media activity. Most social platforms offer analytics so you can see when your audience is engaged and what posts receive the most engagement.
Some questions to ask when considering your posts and engagement on social media apps include:
- When is your audience most active on a social platform?
- Is there high traffic on the platform at the time?
- How is the algorithm sorting posts?
- What content are you posting?
- When is your audience most receptive to your content?
The answers to these questions can help your specific practice develop a strategy for what to post and when to post, but each platform has its nuances. When the characteristics of the platform are added to your strategy, your practice can begin to target higher engagement. The American Marketing Association analyzed the best time for posting on social media platforms based on user activity.1
Facebook:
Facebook is most suitable for the over 35 patient base, with 2.19 billion users today.² The best time to post for Facebook in the US are Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays during 9:00 am and 1:00 pm. Avoid weekends because engagement declines significantly on Saturdays and Sundays.
Instagram:
Instagram users are generally under the age of 44 with a billion monthly users globally.³ Instagram sees the most engagement in the mid-morning time frame. 10a.m. – 1 p.m. is the best time to post with Tuesdays and Wednesdays having the highest activity. Like Facebook, the weekends show a decline in activity with Sundays being the lowest engagement.
Twitter:
Twitter is expected to grow with the new changes in ownership. Today, one quarter of US adults use Twitter with 70% of the audience being male.4 Twitter users are most actively engaged at 9 a.m. throughout the week and even on Saturdays. Most likely people are looking to Twitter for breaking news, but posting during this time can help reach your audience. The best days to post on Twitter are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Staying within the trend, Sundays have low engagement.
Google My Business:
Saving the biggest and baddest platform for last, Google My Business takes 92% of the search engine market worldwide.⁵ Google My Business is a great place to provide real-time updates about your business. These posts show up in the search results drawing attention to your practice’s latest news. The best time to post is early morning between 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.
There is no perfect time to post each day for your practice, but scheduling your posts doesn’t have to be random. Asking questions about the platform and your content, along with understanding each platform’s unique characteristics, can help your practice drive higher engagement and reach with every post.
Holly Breen Olds has served the healthcare industry with over 20 years of expertise in healthcare marketing for physicians, hospitals and the medical device sector across the US.
