Time Your Tweets Terrifically Tomorrow

Business is not about "doing", business is about "achieving". A simple statement that has no argument. When it comes to SMM you can tilt the playing field in your favor; knowing the "right way" to do things and knowing the "right time" to do things.

Let's focus on the "right time". When is the "right time" to "tweet" or share on Twitter? Earlier in the year bit.ly released their findings and I, along with many other people shared the news. Here is my original post: http://netprofitsmedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/best-time-to-post_4558.html.


To summarize, "According to the study and results published by bit.ly, the link shortening and tracking service, to get the most clicks to your link on Twitter post between 1:00pm - 3:00pm. Fewest clicks result from posting after 3:00pm on Friday and on weekends. Posting after 8:00pm should be avoided."

Additionally I urged readers to perform their own testing. I have for several months since the bit.ly report came out and here's what I found.  For testing purpose I used two separate accounts, Stumble Upon and Crowdbooster.

Test Results

The stats for my Stumble Upon account indicate best times to post to Twitter are at 3:40am, 1:50pm and 3:15pm as shown in the graph.  This is very similar to the bit.ly report but I would have totally missed the very early morning time period which appears to be quite significant to my particular followers.

However, based upon my Crowdbooster account the best time to post to Twitter is between 10-11am Central which would be 11am-12noon EST., see highlighted section. 

Based on Crowdbooster I need to post to Twitter almost two full hours earlier than the Stumble Upon report and there is no indication of an early morning bump.

So now we have the bit.ly report, and my own findings using Stumble Upon and Crowdbooster. All times Eastern:

bit.ly Report: 1pm-3pm
Stumble Upon:  3:40am-6:00am, 1:50pm-3:15pm
Crowdbooster: 11:00am - 12:00pm

Summary

These findings illustrate that we can get close to finding the "right time" to post on Twitter and definitely maximize efforts but there is no simple one-size fits all answer.  If you have not yet started your own testing I hope you see the importance of doing so and monitoring results for your firm or clients.  Your results may duplicate these findings or you may find an entirely different "best time" for posting.

A Promotion Worth Repeating

Just finished up with an interesting promotion for a client using Foursquare check-ins and a baseball ticket giveaway. Here is the concept, goal and results.

Background:

Basically, the client continually offers a Foursquare check-in. They give away a free margarita for every check in, are very happy with the results, and see the number of check-ins grow each month. They receive just about 5x’s more check-ins monthly than their competitors and promote check-ins online and in-house.

Concept:

The owner received four free baseball tickets from a supplier and wanted to use them to promote the business. I suggested having a contest using Foursquare, picking a date and rewarding the Mayor of Foursquare on that date with a pair of the tickets.



Goal:

Increase check-ins on Foursquare by adding a promotional element / contest. The Foursquare Mayor on a selected date would be given two baseball tickets as a thank you / reward.

Timeframe:

Promote contest for two weeks prior to promotion deadline.

Results:

Foursquare check-ins increased 40% during the two week promotion period. Additionally, check-ins maintained an 11% ongoing lift when compared to before the contest.

Additional brand impressions: 2700

Cost per each additional viral impression under $0.03 each

Assumptions, each customer that checked in has a modest viral reach of 130 friends.

Estimated cost per pair of tickets $100

Needless to say this client is very excited about these results and looks forward to additional promotions in the future.