We recently ran our Social Media Strategy Masterclass, did you catch it? It received 4.8 stars out of five and 75% of the attendees were from the library community. We took some of the social media findings and summarized them in this blog post.
In October 2020, Statistica ranks the top 10 social media platforms as:
Facebook
YouTube
WhatsApp
Facebook Messenger
Weixin/WeChat
Instagram
TikTok
QQ
Douyin
Sina Weibo
Here are our top tips for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn:
Facebook algorithms make it challenging to generate organic reach
Show your existing following what's on/talk about new products
Buffer has found that Facebook posts with 80 characters or less receive 66% higher engagement
Facebook is particularly good for promoting your external content – e.g. blog posts, reports, or videos
76% of users seek interesting content when they visit Facebook
Don’t post a link without a description. Accompany it with brief, attention-grabbing text to signal what the content is about, or pose a question that it answers
Top Facebook tips – create discussion, think about timing, post often and vary the content
Facebook Global Engagement - SproutSocial
Facebook Education Engagement - SproutSocial
Best time:
1-4pm on Thursday and Friday
Other optimal times:
12–1pm on weekends
1pm will get you the most shares, while 3pm will get you the most clicks
A 2020 SproutSocial report shows overall best time to post on Facebook is Wednesday from 11am and 1–2pm
Brilliant customer service and engagement tool: 67% of B2B marketers use Twitter
Ideal tweet length is 120–130 characters – demonstrate the highest click-through rate (CTR)
Including one or two hashtags can double the engagement – (21% higher engagement than those with three or more)
Use a trending topic or event hashtag, or own hashtag for larger events
When writing your copy, think pithy and witty
Emojis can enhance your social media copy
Twitter Global Engagement - SproutSocial
Twitter Education Engagement - SproutSocial
Best time:
During weekdays from 12–3pm
The peak best time is 5pm
Thursday lunchtimes create the best engagement, followed by Monday between 5pm–6pm (SOURCE: Shareable)
Worst time:
Avoid tweeting between 8pm and 9am
The worst day to post is Monday (SOURCE: SproutSocial)
An estimated 70% of businesses are using Instagram
83% of Instagrammers say they discover new products and services via the app
Images are the main focus on Instagram
Copy complements visuals and enhances them
Convey your message in as few words as possible with important info at the start – cuts off after three lines
Make sure there's cohesion between the message in your text and image
Using your caption to provide context is especially important when sharing videos
Hashtags help grow your audience for free but make sure you’re using them right. Only use if relevant to post
The sweet spot seems to be around seven hashtags - those Instagram posts seem to get the most engagement (SOURCE: Piqora)
Instagram Global Engagement - SproutSocial
Instagram Education Engagement - SproutSocial
Best time:
Most consistent engagement can be found Monday through Friday 9am–4pm
There’s also a strong case to be made for Instagram being the most addictive app, with engagement sprawling across the working week
Worst time:
Engagement becomes lower every day before 6am and after 9pm
94% of B2B marketers use the platform as a content distribution channel, LinkedIn is also a good place to re-post and link back content
The LinkedIn algorithm favours videos loaded into LinkedIn
Organic reach a real opportunity
Post the link in the comments and tag people in the comments
675 million active monthly users and 47% of them are using the platform every day
Share industry news, quotes from industry leaders/influencers and industry statistics
LinkedIn Global Engagement - SproutSocial
Best time:
Post on a weekday from 9am–5pm
Tuesday posts get higher engagement than any other day
Wednesday is the best time to post on LinkedIn if you’re a B2B brand according to Hootsuite
Worst time:
8pm
Posts on the weekends and evenings do not gain much engagement
Get in touch if you're looking for any marketing support: team@internationalbunch.com
Other resources of interest include: